ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 524 / C&RL News ■ July/August 1998 W a s h i n g t o n H o t l i n e Lynn E. Bradley Lib ra ry Fu n d in g and the C o u n ty Fair Librarians and library supporters will have the benefit of the August recess to call and visit local Congressional offices or see repre­ sentatives and senators at the county fair. In this tight budget year, it is critical to ask them to support strong funding for library pro­ grams. A conference on the differences between House and Senate bills usually occurs by mid-September. The FY99 Labor-HHS- Education appropriations bill is often final­ ized by October 1, the end of the fiscal year. Below are details of the various national library funding streams, as well as funding for major library programs. Please use local examples of how funding for national librar­ ies benefits your constituents. Don’t forget there are federal depository libraries in ev­ ery state where government information is available to the public. M essages fo r C o n g re ss Library of Congress (LOC): 1) Fund the LOC at the requested $397 million for FY99. The LOC provides bibliographic, reference, pres­ ervation, and other services and expertise that support and coordinate with other libraries; 2) provide a permanent reauthorization for the Library’s American Folklife Center (S. 1971); and 3) support the Library’s bicenten­ nial plans as a celebration of America’s li­ braries. National Agricultural Library (NAL Fund the NAL at least $2.5 million above the President’s level funding request of $19 mil­ lion. NAL cooperates with a network of other libraries to provide key materials on which the rural and scientific communities depend. NAL has cut services because it has had to service its collections at 1991 budget levels. National Education Library (NEL): Fund National Education Library adequately as part of the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement bud­ get. This key educational resource empha­ Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director o f ALA's Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org sizes electronic linkages and backup to other libraries and resources in the field of educa­ tion. National Library of Medicine (NLM): Fund the National Library of Medicine adequately. The requested level is $174,725,000 for FY99. NLM has recently made its MEDLINE data­ base available at no fee on the Internet. Us­ age has skyrocketed; public and other librar­ ies find it a health resource very popular with the general public. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS): Fund NCLIS at the requested level of $1 million. In addition to advising Congress and the President on library and information policy and partnering on library research and statistics, NCLIS serves as the library advisory body to the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Library Statistics and Research: Fund the Office of Educational Research and Improve­ ment (OERI) at the requested level of $689.4 million, especially its statistics/research com­ ponent. OERI’s National Center for Educa­ tion Statistics, in partnership with NCLIS, con­ ducts surveys and publishes basic data on libraries that is used by libraries, educational institutions, and all levels of government. Department of Education research institutes, such as the one on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning, conduct needed research and disseminate results to improve practice. National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Fund NEH at the requested level of $136 million. Library eligibility and involve­ ment in NEH's public programming, preser­ vation assistance, state-based assistance, and challenge grants helps spread and preserve America’s literary, historic, and social tradi­ tions. Elementary and Secondary Education Programs. Fund adequately ESEA, the Im­ proving America’s Schools Act, and other el­ ementary/secondary education and technol­ ogy programs. School library media centers and the librarians who staff them are a key part of student achievement efforts through provision of relevant reading materials, cur- mailto:leb@alawash.org C&RL News ■ July/A ugust 1998 / 525 ricular support in print, audiovisual, and elec­ tronic formats, and the teaching of critical information skills. Higher Education Act (HEA): Reauthorize and fund the HEA postsecondary education program. Academic libraries as a central part of advanced learning and a key support of academic research benefit from HEA. The college work-study program also provides library work opportunities, the opportunity to learn in-depth information-seeking skills, and potential career possibilities. The inter­ (Federal work study cont. f rom page 492) F o rtu n a te ly fo r lib ra ria n s w h o w ish to ta k e a d v a n ta g e o f th e w o rk -stu d y p ro g ra m , th e n atu re o f lib ra ry w o rk e n c o u ra g e s th e d e s ig n o f s u b s ta n tiv e s tu d e n t jo b s. nature, many supervisors tend to avoid the task of correcting employee mistakes. Al­ though it may be tempting for these indi­ viduals to cite fear of complaints to finan­ cial aid officers as an excuse not to discipline work-study students, library supervisors should exercise fairness in their supervision of all employees. By doing so, and by keep­ ing open lines of communication with the financial aid office, they prevent complaints from occurring and make those that do oc­ cur understandable to others. C o n c lu s io n Some of the criticism that scholars direct against the outcome of the work-study pro­ gram is legitimate. Well-qualified and moti­ vated college students may miss on-campus employment opportunities because they fail to meet the financial aid criteria. And, be­ cause the federal government pays the wages of work-study students, students may end up with “make-work” jobs designed to put them to work in the absence of any real need to do so. It is also true that supervi­ sors sometimes hire poorly motivated or un­ qualified individuals who desire financial aid but have no real interest in working. national education program assists some aca­ demic libraries in acquiring needed interna­ tional and foreign-language materials. Next Generation Internet (NGI): Fund NGI at the requested $110 million. Just as the ARPANET and NSFNET and NREN initia­ tives led to today’s Internet and benefited educational institutions, libraries, and the p u b lic , N GI activities w ill p ro d u ce leading-edge innovation with broad public benefits, if NGI is focused on applications research as well as bigger “pipes.” In spite of these potential problems, it is by following the com mon sense prin­ ciples of job design and personnel m an­ agement that librarians can make the pro­ gram work as intended. Librarians who follow these com m only accepted prin ­ ciples will provide their departments with student help at little or no cost to the library’s budget. These principles include the creation of meaningful jobs and the practice of ap­ propriate hiring, training, and supervisory techniques. In this time of financial hard­ ships for institutions of higher learning, librarians should view the successful em­ ployment of work-study students in librar­ ies as a challenge worth meeting. N o te s 1. Department of Education, The Fed­ eral Student F in a n c ia l A id H andbook, Chapter 7, p. 7. 2. Kenneth C. Petress, “A System in Need of Repair: The College Work Study Program,” College Student Jo u rn a l 28, no. 1: 116- 118. 3. Ibid. 4. Thomas V. DiBacco, “Colleges Should Restrict the Kinds of On-Campus Jobs that Students Are Perm itted to H o ld ,” The C hronicle o f H igher E ducation (July 8, 1987): 38-39. 5. Petress, “A System in Need of Re­ pair,” 117. 6. Petress discusses the subject of em­ ployers w ho elect to “endure an ineffec­ tive work study student rather than suffer the agony of being placed on the discharg­ ing employer list” in “A System in Need of Repair,” 118. 5 2 6 /C&RL News ■ July/August 1998