ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


A p ril 1983 /  127

by Carol C. Henderson 
Deputy Director 

ALA Washington Office

The news from Washington so far this year is both good and bad. President 
Reagan has once more recommended elimination of federal library grant programs 
for academic and public libraries, even though Congress firmly rejected such a 
proposal last year. The outcome of the proposed federal standards for librar­
ians is still not known, although Congress has asked the General Accounting 
Office to review the standards as the first part of a major pay equity study.

There was a recent attempt by the White House to remove Dr. Robert Warner, 
the U.S. Archivist, and replace him with a political appointee without archival 
experience. Fortunately this attempt appears to have been headed off, but it 
is highly inappropriate for the position even to have been considered a polit­
ical post. No previous Administration has considered it so.

On a more positive note, new and revised bills have been introduced in 
Congress to restore a tax deduction for artwork or manuscripts donated by their 
creators to libraries and museums. Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)‚ the leader on this 
issue in the last Congress, has introduced S. 427. Rep. Tom Downey (D-NY)‚ the 
new Chairman of the Congressional Arts Caucus, has an identical bill, HP 1285. 
Downey introduced his bill at a reception and press conference with authors 
William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut, and Herman Wouk. (For details on these bills, 
see the daily Congressional Record, Feb. 3, pp. S996-98‚ and Feb. 7, pp. H326- 
27.) Both legislators are looking for additional cosponsors for their bills.

The House passed March 2 a bill, HR 1310, to improve mathemetics and 
science education. The postsecondary education portions of the measure would 
authorize assistance for teacher scholarships and institute programs‚ improve­
ment of institutional programs in math, science, and critical foreign lan­
guages, educational research programs including information technologies, and 
reauthorization of the minority institutions science improvement program.
Bills in response to the crisis in math and science education had also been 
introduced in the Senate, and hearings were scheduled in March.

Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) has introduced HR 1720, the Emergency Educational 
Facilities Repair and Renovation for Jobs Act, which may become part of a 
larger jobs bill to provide needed repairs to the "infrastructure" and provide 
jobs for the unemployed. HR 1720 would authorize $1 billion per year for the 
reconstruction or renovation of academic facilities and libraries, as well as 
funds for public libraries and schools.

The outlook for these promising congressional developments is uncertain, 
but momentum has been gathering for the tax measure involving manuscript dona­
tions. Math and science education, as well as a jobs program to alleviate 
high unemployment, are high congressional priorities. In addition, hearings 
on reauthorization of the Library Services and Construction Act had been 
scheduled for mid-March by the House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee.

W A S H I N G T O N H O T L I N E