ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


7 6 /C & R L N ew s

N ew s from W ashington
Budget im passe stalls legislation
The federal budget impasse betw een the Con­
gressional majority and the Clinton adminis­
tration has meant a halt to work on most other
pieces o f library-related legislation. The Sen­
ate-House conference committee negotiations
on the renewal of the Library Services and
Construction Act (LSCA) as a reinvented Li­
brary Services and Technology Act (LSTA) has
been postponed during the budget standoff.

Just before a type of end-of-year “recess,”
some congressional staffers reported that there
was general agreement among conferees on
S. 652, the Telecommunications Act of 1995.
Other reports stated that some Republicans
remained skeptical and could not yet agree
to a potential final version of the bill. Amidst
the highly charged political atmosphere, this
is becoming increasingly difficult, even though
this legislation had been developed in a rela­
tively bipartisan manner.

ALA has been advised that the Snowe-Rock-
efeller-Kerrey-Exon provision, w hich m an­
dates a type of affordable telecommunications
rates for K– 12 schools and libraries, was kept
substantially intact in the final version. Unfor­

 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

tunately, library advocates remain gravely con­
cerned that the “family online em pow erm ent’’ 
(or the “cyber-censorhip” provision) was kept. 
This provision would still make mere “display” 
or “indecent” material over online services a 
criminal offense— a feature that could seriously 
threaten libraries as providers and publishers 
o f online information.

ALA in D.C. offers toll-free num ber
ALA members outside the Washington, D.C., 
metropolitan area can now use a toll-free 800 
num ber to contact the ALA Washington Of­
fice and the Office of Information Technol­
ogy Policy (OITP). The num ber is (800) 941- 
8478.

The new  service is part of ALA’s expan­
sion of its W ashington p resence to better 
implement ALA Goal 2000, w hich promotes 
the public’s participation in a free and open 
information society.

The 800 num ber complements new  voice 
mail and after-hours phone service installed 
with the recent move of the Washington Of­
fice and OITP to expanded facilities.— Lynn 
Bradley, deputy director, ALA/Wasbington ■

Jo Burgess, h ead  o f  C ollection  C on servation  
at Indiana U niversity, d em on strates b o o k  re­
pairin g du rin g P reservation A w areness Week. 
The p oster (left) pu blicizes th e event.



February 1996/ 77

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