Jeanne Hurley Simon
Chairperson
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
16 July 1995
7:30 - 9:00 am
1. Introduction
Thank you for that warm welcome and introduction. I am delighted to be here and to greet all of you attending the National Conference on Legal Information Issues.
I want to thank James Heller of the College of William and Mary Law School for inviting me to speak briefly at this breakfast. I also want to recognize Bob Willard who is a member of the National Commission. I think he is here this morning. It was through Bob’s leadership that the National Commission is meeting here in Pittsburgh in conjunction with the AALL meeting and your National Conference.
James Heller indicated that I should talk this morning about NCLIS’ role in PROMOTING THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC. Let me give you a general overview of NCLIS and then I’ll offer a few comments about the Commission’s current activities.
2. NCLIS
The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science was created twenty-five years ago, this week. NCLIS was established by Public Law 91-345, signed July 20, 1970. We are a fifteen-member, independent government agency located in the executive branch of the Federal government.
Our Commission functions as a citizens’ advisory panel for the Nation. Fourteen Commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms, but only five NCLIS members are professional librarians or information specialists. The Commission’s membership currently includes a university administrator (Joel Valdez), a professor (Mary Furlong), a county comptroller (Frank Lucchino), and the vice president of a legal information publisher (Bob Willard - Lawyers Cooperative Publishing). The Librarian of Congress is the only NCLIS member who serves on a permanent basis. Winston Tabb currently serves on the Commission for Jim Billington.
As members of the National Commission, our job is to represent citizens’ needs for library and information services and to develop plans that assure the library and information needs of the people are met adequately. We have statutory responsibility to advise the President and the Congress on national and international library and information policies and plans. In addition, the Commission is responsible for promoting
“...research and development activities which will extend and improve the Nation’s library and information-handling capability as essential links in the national and international communications and cooperative networks.”
As you can see, we have an extremely broad mandate. But we are also among the very smallest of the federal agencies. To let you know just how small an agency we are - - - the Commission belongs to the Small Agency Council, to which any agency with fewer than 6,000 employees can belong!
There is a subset of the Small Agency Council, called the Micro Agency Group, to which any agency with fewer than 100 employees can belong. The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science has less than ten staff members, so we might be characterized as a mini-micro Small Federal Agency!
In the last year-and-a-half, since the President appointed me Chairperson of NCLIS, I have had my horizons expanded. I have learned more about libraries and information science than most people know in a lifetime. I have also discovered that librarians are among the most interesting and committed people in any profession - - - even in the field of law. Like attorneys, librarians must understand their communities extremely well to meet their patron’s information needs. Understanding people’s information needs requires that we seek opportunities to form cooperatives and partnerships that cross over traditional boundaries and distinctions.
3. Current NCLIS activities and concerns
As all of you are perhaps aware, the Federal sector is in the midst of change. News stories are everywhere about proposals for radical and fundamental ways to “re-invent”, “re-define”, “re-position”, “re-duce”, or “re-incarnate” government. Many of these proposals involve the elimination of agencies, programs, and functions from the Federal scene.
The National Commission is right in the midst of the changes that are sweeping the Federal sector. Let me talk briefly about four topics with which the Commission is involved. These will give you an idea of how we are working to address issues related to promoting the dissemination of information to the public.
A.) First, the Commission has recently reissued the Principles of Public Information” in the 9 June 1995 Federal Register. We are seeking comments that will help us in reviewing the applicability, relevance, and usability of these eight principles in the current environment. They were originally adopted by NCLIS in 1990 as a foundation for governmental decisions about public information and for use in developing information policies regarding the creation, use and dissemination of public information. The Principles of Public Information have specific relevance to the changes that Congress is proposing in the operation of GPO’s Depository Library Program. NCLIS is considering the comments we have received.
B.) Last month, NCLIS issued a study on Internet Costs and Public Libraries to serve as a guide for public libraries and communities that are planning to take advantage of the Internet in providing information to the public. This report resulted from work done in 1994 by NCLIS consultants on Public Libraries and the Internet: Study Results, Policy Issues, and Recommendations that showed that only 20.9 percent of public libraries in the U.S. were involved with the Internet.
C.) Since the spring of 1994, the Commission has been involved with developing Congressional proposals for changing and reauthorizing the major Federal support program for libraries: the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) We are following the progress of two bills, one in the House (H.R. 1617) and the other in the Senate (S. 856) that propose radically different futures for library support programs from the Federal sector. Whether the future lies in block grants as the House bill proposes, or whether the future lies in moving responsibility for library support programs from the Department of Education to a newly created Institute of Museum and Library Services in the National Endowments, we are working to assure that the Federal sector continues to support and promote the dissemination of information to the public.
D.) Finally, then, the Commission had an opportunity to focus attention on an important issue that is of concern to law librarians as well as to college, university, public and special libraries at our meeting here in Pittsburgh. Bob Oakley met with us to review the status of issues relating to the fair use provision of the U.S. Copyright law. Balancing the needs of owners and users of copyrighted materials is becoming increasingly important as we more rapidly toward and electronic information age. The Commission is considering what role we might develop in helping the library and publishing communities face difficult and complex issues in the future.
I hope that this brief review of our current concerns and discussions has been helpful to you. I hope it demonstrates how the Commission has been working to fulfill our broad mission and what we are doing from the user’s perspective to promote the dissemination of information.
I believe strongly that libraries and librarians must find ways to extend and continue our rich history of cooperation, collaboration, and commitment, not only among librarians, but with those who use libraries and information. This National Conference on Legal Information Issues is an excellent example of involving law librarians with the legal community to focus attention on information issues of concern to the society.
Your Conference program reflects a priority for strengthening partnerships and for shaping new information technology to improve the vital links between the people and justice. I congratulate you for this fine Conference program. I hope you will learn much, enjoy your time together and enjoy Pittsburgh, too!
If there is time I would be pleased to take a few questions. Thank you.