ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 820 / C&RL News ■ O ctober 2000 W a s h i n g t o n H o t l i n e Lynne E. Bradley Com ments sought on NCLIS access to governm ent Inform ation study T h e ALA W ashington O ffic e en c o u ra g e s acad em ic librarians, w h eth er they are of- ficially “d ocu m ents librarian s” o r not, to follow and m ake com m en t on the current study on g ov ern m en t inform ation b ein g con d u cted by the U.S. N ational Com m is­ sio n on Libraries and Inform ation S cie n c e (NCLIS). T he Com mission is proceeding rapidly with its study o f the federal governm ent’s P o­ lices on access to governm ent information. With an extrem ely challeng in g sched u le, NCLIS has established four study panels and a Board o f Experts to address a broad range o f issues in order to “identify reforms neces- sary in the federal governm ent’s public in­ formation dissemination m achinery.” NCLIS is in terested in s ee k in g public c o m m en t from m any sta k e h o ld e rs , and certain ly the a cad em ic library and high er e d u catio n com m unity are im portant stak e­ holders in this arena. T o p articipate, a c a ­ d em ic librarians are en co u rag ed to follow th e status o f th e study and s e e the various p u blic reports and com m en ts at the NCLIS w eb site at: http://www.nclis.gov/govt/ assess/assess. html. Background and panel m embership B a sed u p on a req u est from Sen ato r Jo h n McCain (R -A rizona), ch air o f th e Sen ate C om m erce C om m ittee, NCLIS exp an d ed its efforts to study governm ent inform ation is­ sues b ased u p on w ork b eg u n w hen the p rop osal cam e forw ard from the Clinton Adm inistration to c lo s e the N ational T e c h ­ nical Inform ation Service (N TIS) in August 1999. That p rop osal su gg ested disbanding NTIS and m oving its fu n ctions to the Li­ brary o f C on gress. It was broad ly recog- Lynne E. Bradley is Office o f Government Relations director o f ALA's Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org nized that the efforts o f NCLIS and others on the NTIS issue cou ld n o t b e “ad dressed in an isolated e v e n t” and should b e see n as “part o f a fram ew ork o f reform s n eed ed in p u blic inform ation d issem in ation over- a ll.” NCLIS now has a D ec em b e r 15, 2000, d ead lin e to provide a final rep ort to C on ­ g ress and th e A dm in istration . T h e fo u r study p anels are: P an el O n e -N T IS B u si­ ness M odel; P anel T w o -In tern a l g o v ern ­ m ent U sers; P anel T h ree—External (to gov ­ e rn m en t) U sers; and P anel F o u r-P u b lic - Private S ecto r Partnerships. ALA P residen t Nancy K ranich, U niver­ sity o f I llin o is L ibrary D ire c to r S h a ro n H o g a n , S u p e r in te n d e n t o f D o c u m e n ts Francis B u ck ley , and ALA’s D irecto r o f the O ffic e o f Inform ation T ech n o lo g y Policy Rick W eingarten are som e o f th e m em bers o f the panels. M em bers o f th e B oard o f E xperts, in- clu d ing T hom as Susm an, a con su ltan t to ALA on g o v ern m en t inform ation issues, will b e d ev elo p in g various w hite papers and providing an overview o f the w ork o f th e v ario u s p a n els. Susm an w ill review T itle 4 4 reform leg isla tio n to d eterm in e “w h eth er there are any ‘lesso n s learned ' that cou ld b e relevan t to th e study’s find- ings and reco m m en d a tio n s.” Congress and adm inistration negotiating FY2001 appropriations At this writing, con gressional c on ferees and rep resen tatives from th e Clinton Adm inis­ tration are beh in d clo sed d oors in final ne- go tiatio n s on th e several ap p rop riation s bills rem aining fo r FY 2001. Having only returned from their summer recess after Labor Day, Congress cannot end this session and go hom e to campaign until all work is done on the FY2001 budget items. True hard ball is being played behind those closed doors, so watch for more information in next m onth’s coiumn. ■ http://www.nclis.gov/govt/ mailto:leb@alawash.org C&RL News O ctober 2000 / 821■