ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


Ju ly /A u g u st 1989 /  597

WASHINGTON 
HOTLINE

Carol C. Henderson (202) 547-4440; (ALA0025)
Deputy Director, ALA Washington Office

Federal Information Policy. Summarizing recent development on this topic in one 
page will be a challenge. To take the latest first, the June 15 Federal Register (54 FR 25554­
59) contains the Office of Management and Budget response to public comments on its January 
4 notice on electronic dissemination, two-thirds of which came from the library community.
The notice formally withdrew the January proposal and announced that OMB would review 
and revise parts of Circular A -130, OMB’s 1985 policy statement on Federal Information 
Resources Management. ALA and the Association of Research Libraries had urged that this be 
done. Librarians are urged to give the notice a close reading and comment by the August 14 
deadline.

The Paperwork Reduction Act, which authorizes the information policy activities of 
OMB, is up for reauthorization in this Congress. The House Subcommittee on Government In­
formation, Justice and Agriculture has conducted a series of hearings on federal information 
dissemination policies and practices. Witnesses included three ACRL members: Kaye Gapen, 
Nancy Kranich, and Harold Shill. Chairman Robert Wise (D-WV) has introduced HR 2381 to 
reform the information dissemination policy functions of OMB. Sections of this bill may be in­
corporated in PRA legislation being developed by the parent Government Operations Com­
mittee chaired by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI). The Working Group on Government In­
formation Policy in which ARL, ALA and other public interest groups have participated has 
reviewed and commented on a draft of this legislation. The Senate Governmental Affairs Com­
mittee has a new subcommittee this year on Government Information and Regulations. Sub­
committee Chair Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) has also held PRA reauthorization hearings.

The House Administration Subcommittee on Procurement and Printing has held a series 
of hearings to review the printing chapters of Title 44 of the U.S. Code in light of the changes 
in the past decade in electronic information format, distribution, and technology. Sandra 
McAninch, chair of ALA’s GODORT, was among the witnesses. Chairman Jim Bates (D-CA) 
said the subcommittee would rely on the OTA report, Informing the Nation, and future legisla­
tion is expected.

The May 30 issue of GPO’s Administrative Notes announced: "On May 3, 1989, the 
GPO received Congressional approval to implement the electronic dissemination pilot projects 
that have been under review since June 1988." The projects include two online products (the 
Commerce Department’s Electronic Bulletin Board, and the Energy Department’s Energy Re­
search Abstracts) and three CD-ROM products (various censuses from the Bureau of the 
Census, the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory, and the Congressional Record through the Joint 
Committee on Printing). On May 22, 1989, the GPO General Counsel provided a legal opinion 
that allows GPO to include additional electronically formatted products in the Depository Li­
brary Program.