ALAWON v4n49 (May 30, 1995)
URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v4n49

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                                                             ISSN 1069-7799
                                  ALAWON
                      ALA Washington Office Newsline
                     An electronic publication of the
              American Library Association Washington Office

                            Volume 4, Number 49
                               May 30, 1995

   In this issue: (214 lines)
     * LSTA INTRODUCED IN SENATE; WOULD BE ADMINISTERED BY
          NEW INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES
     * SENATE BILL WOULD REAUTHORIZE ARTS AND HUMANITIES ENDOWMENTS

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            LSTA INTRODUCED IN SENATE; WOULD BE ADMINISTERED BY
               NEW INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES

Bipartisan leaders of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over library
programs have introduced a bill that includes the full (non-block grant
version) of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as recommended
by ALA and other library organizations.  S. 856 would also create a new
Institute of Museum and Library Services which would administer LSTA, thus
taking library programs (except for the ESEA School Library Media Resources
Program) out of the Department of Education.

The 185-page S. 856 was introduced on May 25 by Senators Jim Jeffords (R-
VT), Chairman of the Education, Arts and Humanities Subcommittee, Nancy
Kassebaum (R-KS), Chair of the parent Labor and Human Resources Committee,
ranking minority member Edward Kennedy (D-MA), ranking subcommittee
minority member Claiborne Pell (D-RI), Alan Simpson (R-WY), and Christopher
Dodd (D-CT).

The bill is a package that would amend the National Foundation on the Arts
and the Humanities Act of 1965 to reauthorize the National Endowment for
the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and to reauthorize
museum grants and library programs.  Libraries and museums would be
addressed by reconstituting the Institute of Museum Services and federal
library programs in a new combined Institute of Museum and Library Services
as an independent agency within the overall Foundation.

Senator Jeffords, in his introductory statement, said:  "We have
consolidated the Institute for Museum Services with the Library Services
Act and changed the focus of the latter to technology and access and
literacy programs for underserved communities."  Speaking to the potential
for joint library/museum projects, Jeffords continued:  "More than simply a
connection is the potential for invaluable collaboration and partnership
especially in the areas of technology and access."

Title II of S. 856, the Museum and Library Services Act, would establish an
Institute of Museum and Library Services, headed by a Director appointed by
the President for a 4-year term.  The Director of IMS as of the date of
enactment would become the first Director.  The second director must have
special competencies in library and information services, and directors
would then rotate every four years between museum and library backgrounds.

The Institute would establish an Office of Library Services headed by a
deputy director appointed by the director, and a similar Office of Museum
Services.  A National Museum Services Board, similar to the current IMS
advisory board, would advice the director on general policies relating to
museum services.

Advice to the director relating to library services would be provided by
the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, which
otherwise remains a separate and distinct entity with independent advisory
powers.  The Institute director would replace the Librarian of Congress as
an NCLIS member, and the number of librarians required on NCLIS would be
increased from 5 to 6.

The Library Services and Technology Act would be incorporated fully with
its emphasis on information access through technology, and information
empowerment through special services, with a special provision earmarking
funds for service to children in poverty.  Increased flexibility would be
provided to the state library administrative agencies to provide statewide
services and subgrants to public libraries, other types of libraries and
library consortia, or library linkages with other entities.

Certain provisions are new, more specific, or relate to the LSTA placement
in the new Institute rather than in the Department of Education.  A total
of $150 million (compared with current library program funding of $142
million) would be authorized in FY96--$75 million for technology, $75
million for special services.  Such sums as necessary would be authorized
for the following 4 years.  From 5-7 percent of appropriations for LSTA and
for museum grants ($50 million authorization) would be used for joint
library/museum projects.  Of appropriations for LSTA, 10 percent would be
used for federal administration of the program; and 2 percent for services
to Indian tribes (as proposed in LSTA).

Another 8 percent of LSTA appropriations would be used for a national
leadership program in library science.  Activities undertaken through
competitive grants or contracts may include:

  1. education and training of persons in library and information science,
     particularly in areas of new technology and other critical needs,
     including graduate fellowships, traineeships, institutes, or other
     programs;
  2. research and demonstration projects related to the improvement of
     libraries, education in library and information science, enhancement
     of library services through effective and efficient use of new
     technologies, and dissemination of information derived from such
     projects; and
  3. preservation or digitization of library materials and resources,
     giving priority to projects emphasizing coordination, avoidance of
     duplication, and access by researchers beyond the institution or
     library entity undertaking the project.

The national leadership program is an abbreviated version of some uses of
funds under the current Higher Education Act title II library programs.
Both HEA II and the current Library Services and Construction Act would be
repealed and replaced by the new act.  The Institute director is to give
strong consideration to individuals with experience in administering state-
based library programs, and is to make every effort to ensure that national
leadership activities are administered by appropriate library experts.

According to majority and minority staff of the Senate committee and
subcommittee, the thinking is that it is time that someone administering
library programs was able to speak directly to Congress about libraries.
Currently, libraries are nearly invisible in a larger bureaucracy, the
Department of Education, and Senate champions worry that Administrations of
both political parties have neglected or failed to support libraries.
Further, there is a recognition that libraries play many roles in support
of governmental functions and in support of their communities or
constituencies.  It may be time for libraries to be viewed as institutions
on their own merits, rather than having to fit into the purposes of a
mission agency (even one with a mission as central to libraries as
education).

More pragmatically, the introduction of S. 856 completes a strong message
from both House and Senate authorizing committees to the appropriations
committees that library programs are to continue, although with
considerable change.  This is critically important, since many library
programs have been on various hit lists, whether the Administration's
"reinventing government" elimination list, programs for potential
rescission (since fought back), or as nonbinding "assumptions" for
elimination (as in the House budget resolution background documents).

Since this proposal for a major administrative restructuring of library
programs occurred between ALA conferences, the ALA Committee on Legislation
and the Administrative Subcommittee of the ALA Executive Board, in
conference calls shortly before the introduction of S. 856, empowered the
ALA Washington Office to encourage the Senate sponsors in this approach as
a productive way to move reauthorization of library programs forward and to
ensure continuation of the critical federal role in support of key national
library priorities.

An upcoming issue of ALAWON will include a more detailed summary and
analysis of S. 856.

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       SENATE BILL WOULD REAUTHORIZE ARTS AND HUMANITIES ENDOWMENTS

S. 856, introduced May 25 by Senators Jim Jeffords (R-VT), Chairman of the
Education, Arts and Humanities Subcommittee, Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS), Chair
of the parent Labor and Human Resources Committee, Edward Kennedy (D-MA),
ranking minority member, Claiborne Pell (D-RI), ranking subcommittee
minority member, Alan Simpson (R-WY), and Christopher Dodd (D-CT), would
reauthorize the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment
for the Humanities.

The NEA and NEH statute would be amended and continued for five years at
slightly declining authorization levels.  NEA would be authorized for grant
programs at $139,700,000 for FY96, declining gradually to $128,870,000 in
FY 2000.  With donations included, the amount available to NEA could reach
a ceiling of $158,760,000, declining over 5 years to $146,440,000.

NEH would be authorized for grant programs at $148,330,000 for FY 96,
declining gradually to $136,820,000 in FY 2000.  With donations included,
the amount available to NEH could reach a ceiling of $168,560,000,
declining over 5 years to $155,490,000.  Both endowments would be limited
to 12 percent of appropriations for administrative purposes.

Percentages of funds are specified for both endowments among partnership
grants, national significance grants, and direct grants.  NEA funds would
be divided in a 40, 40, and 20 percent fashion among the three; NEH funds
would be divided 25, 37.5 and 37.5 percent among the three.  For NEH,
partnership grants mean programs of humanities councils at the state and
local levels.  NEH national grants include support for activities relating
to education and the public humanities that have a national audience and
are of national significance (such as projects in libraries and archives).
NEH direct grants encourage research and scholarship in the humanities
through activities such as fellowships for faculty and independent
scholars, dissertation grants, summer stipends, and funds for scholarly
publications, reference materials, basic research, institutional programs,
and preservation.

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