ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


24 / CirRL News

Washington
 Hotline

 

Carol C. Henderson 
ALA Washington Office

(202) 547-4440; (ALA0025)

Congress adjourned the first session o f the 102nd Congress just before Thanksgiving. 
Among the items receiving last-minute approval were the following:

NREN. Legislation to establish the National Research and Education Network is on its 
way to the W hite House at this writing, and the President is expected to sign it. On November 20 
and 22, the House and Senate each passed a final House-Senate compromise version o f S. 272, 
the High-Performance Computing Act first introduced by Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-TN). Several 
last-minute hurdles had to be overcome and the inevitable compromises were made. 
Nevertheless, the bill’s provisions regarding libraries and education remain essentially intact.

Funding. Congress increased funding for Higher Education Act library programs 66.6 
percent for fiscal year 1992, despite a zero budget request for these programs by President Bush. 
The HEA II-B library fellowship program was increased by $5 million, a level o f funding not 
matched for more than 20 years.

The HEA section 607 program for acquisition of periodicals published outside the United 
States (under the HEA title VI international education program) received first-time funding of 
$500,000. This funding for section 607 was just in time; the Senate bill to reauthorize the entire 
Higher Education A ct omitted authorizations for unfunded programs, but will restore a separate 
$1 million authorization for section 607 when the bill reaches the Senate floor next year. (The 
House version, also scheduled for floor action next year, would authorize $8.5 million for 
section 607.)

The HEA II-D college library technology program was increased by $2.5 million. 
However, House-Senate conferees agreed to Senate language which earmarks the II-D increase 
for a biotechnology information education demonstration project at Iowa State University in the 
home state o f Tom Harkin (D-IA), Senate subcommittee chairman.

The original bill containing funding for education and library programs was vetoed by 
President Bush over one provision which would have restricted use of funds to promulgate 
regulations barring employees o f federally funded health clinics from discussing abortion with 
their patients. A new bill with identical funding levels but without the abortion counseling 
provision was developed, passed, and signed after the House failed by 12 votes to override the 
veto.

Final funding levels for FY 1992 for selected programs o f interest to C&RL News readers 
are shown in the table on the next page.



January 1992 / 25

FIN A L FU N D IN G  LEVELS FO R  FISCAL YEAR 1992

PR O G R A M  FY  91 FU N D IN G FY 92 FU N D IN G

G PO  SuDocs $25,745,000 $26,327,000
H E A II-B lib. training 651,000 5,000,000

II-B lib. research 325,000 325,000
II-C  research libraries 5,855 ,0 0 0 5,855,000
II-D  college lib. tech. 3,904,000 6,404,000
IV -C  college w ork study 594,681,000 615,000,000
VI international educ. 2 8,669,000 34,000,000
V I-A , Sec. 607 foreign jrls. 0 500,000

Library o f Congress 305,071,000 322,228,000
LSCA  I public library services 83,898,000 83,898,000

II pub. lib. construction 19,218,000 16,718,000
III interlibrary cooperation 19,908,000 19,908,000
V for. lang, m trls. pub. libs. 976,000 976,000
V I library literacy 8,163,000 8,163,000

N ational A gricultural Library 16,798,000 17,715,000
N ational A rchives 126,969,000 146,143,000
Natl. Ctr. for Educ. Statistics 6 3,524,000 7 7,213,000
N CLIS 732,000 831,000
Natl. E ndow m ent for H um anities 170,005,000 175,955,000
Natl. H istorical Pubs. &  R ecords Com. 5,250,000 5,400,000
N ational Library o f M edicine &  M L A A 91,408,000 100,303,000
Postal revenue forgone subsidy 4 7 2 ,592,000 4 7 0 ,000,000

(W H C L IS  cord. fr o m  page 22)

W hen I attended the first group m eeting on 
“Access to  G overnm ent Inform ation in th e  E lec­
tronic Age,” I took along a copy o f the W H C L ISII 
recom m endations. It tu rn e d  o u t that th e  m em ­
bers w ere thrilled to have language already w ritten 
upon which w e could draw  for resolutions. In 
p a rtic u la r, W H C L IS II R eco m m en d atio n  No: 
ACC04-1, which calls for Congress to  am end the 
Freedom  o f Inform ation Act, was used as a proto­
type for one o f th e F irst A m endm ent Congress 
resolutions.

T he resolution on am ending th e  F reedom  of 
Inform ation Act calls for a  national conference to 
draft strategies for addressing th e  complex pro b ­
lems o f electronic access to governm ent inform a­
tion at all levels. Library associations, including 
ALA, will b e  invited to  participate in the national 
conference, and th e  W H C L ISII recom m endations 
will undoubtedly b e  useful once again.

O th e r W H C L ISII recom m endations th at w ere 
useful in o u r discussions include those regarding 
open access to  governm ent inform ation regardless 
o f form at (N IP03-1) and inappropriate classifica­
tion o f public inform ation (NIP03-4).

I was somewhat surprised by the praise heaped 
on librarians by almost everyone I m et. T he lawyers 
and journalists voiced sincere appreciation for the 
resources and services they find in libraries, as well 
as for th e librarians they encounter. I h eard many 
com m ents about w hat great lobbyists librarians are, 
and how w e can get th e  ear o f politicians w hen 
others cannot. I t  seems librarians have a reputation 
for being politically neutral and prim arily con­
cern ed  w ith the public interest and ethical issues 
such as unrestricted access to public information, 
privacy protection for library users, fundam ental 
principles o f th e F reedom  o f Inform ation Act, and 
intellectual freedom. O ne law professor from the 
University o f Florida said som e o f his profession’s 
causes would have b een  lost over the past four years 
if it had n o t been for th e support o f librarians.

I hope o th e r ALA and ACRL m em bers will find 
similar opportunities to utilize W H C L ISII recom ­
m endations. Only through prom oting th e recom ­
m endations and m aintaining the netw ork o f those 
interested in public policy as it relates to library 
issues can the work o f W H C L ISII continue to be 
effective. ■  ■