MAALL -- The Millennium: Assessing - Advancing - Leading - Libraries<BR>
Annual Meeting of Mid-America Association of Law Libraries

"MAALL -- The Millennium: Assessing - Advancing - Leading - Libraries"

Keynote Speech
October 24, 1996 -- Noon -- Luncheon at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Jeanne Hurley Simon
Chairperson
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science


1) Introduction


Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. And thanks for inviting me to join you at the annual meeting of the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries. Your theme, "MAALL: The Millennium: Assessing - Advancing - Leading - Libraries" is one of the most clever and inventive program titles I've seen in a long time!

My remarks today relate to the theme of this meeting by focusing on the work of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). I hope you will find my remarks to be thought-provoking for all of you as you consider the impending millennium.

Before talking about NCLIS, let me just say how delighted that Paul and I are to be coming back to southern Illinois! Now, don't get me wrong - - - nothing can quite substitute for being in Washington, DC. There is a special thrill to be working on behalf of all the people of the United States.

On the other hand, there's nothing like coming home. So, we feel we have the best of both worlds. After our transition back home is complete over the next several months, I will continue as chairperson of the National Commission. And I expect to return to Washington often to conduct Commission business.

2) Background on Commission


As a context for my remarks, you should know that the Commission is an independent federal agency, established in 1970. We are one of the smallest agencies, but our mandate is very large -- that is, we advise the President and the Congress on national and international policy matters affecting libraries and information services.

Fourteen of the 16 Commissioners are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms. The Librarian of Congress, Jim Billington, is our 15th member. There is also a newly created 16th member of NCLIS. She is Diane Frankel the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). As a result of recently enacted legislation, Diane services ex officio on NCLIS. I will return in a few minutes to say a few more words about the newly-created IMLS.

I just mentioned that the Commission was formed in 1970. Commissioners held their first meeting in 1971, so 1995 and 1996 are our 25th anniversary years. This occasion has provided NCLIS an historic vantage point to review the challenges and accomplishments of the last quarter century. But, as much as we have enjoyed looking back, we are also very enthusiastic about the future. And we are preparing, as you are at this meeting, for the arrival of the millennium.

3) Outlook from Congress


At this time last year, it was rather difficult to be enthusiastic about the future, though we at the Commission tried and -- I feel -- succeeded. In any case, last year many agencies, including the Commission, had no regular budgets for over half the fiscal year. Many agencies were threatened with reduced appropriations. Others were cut back drastically and a few, like the Office of Technology Assessment in the legislative branch, were eliminated altogether. I'm not saying that all the cuts were or are bad. We do need to streamline and operate more efficiently. We do need to be very focused on why the federal government is involved in the things that our agencies are supposed to be doing. But we also need to understand the consequences of program reductions and budget cuts in order to plan wisely.

There are several reasons why the Commission survived last year's fiscal challenges and why we're so optimistic about NCLIS and why I am looking forward to what can be done by the year 2001. We are very optimistic about the prospects for libraries and information services for the new century.

The first reason for optimism is that the Commission has an approved budget for the new federal fiscal year that began October 1! Compared with 1996, this is truly a luxury! We can plan for 1997, knowing the resources we have for the upcoming months. We are optimistic too because of the support we have seen and heard from Congress this past year. There haven't been nearly as many "discouraging words," believe me, in 1996 as in 1995! In 1996 the words about libraries and information services, literacy and adult education have been encouraging indeed.

4) Assessing and Advancing Issues


The second reason for optimism is that the Commission is focusing its resources on the national issues that matter most in advancing libraries and information services into the next century. We are focusing on matters of intellectual property, of information policy, of access and equity in the national information infrastructure, and of direct federal financial support to local libraries. I want to cover each of those areas briefly.

5) Intellectual Property


Regarding intellectual property, the 104th Congress may be remembered for what it did not pass regarding copyright. You may recall that companion bills were introduced in 1995 to implement the recommendations of the 1995 report of the Information Infrastructure Task Force, titled Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure. This report discussed the application of the existing copyright law to digital information and recommended changes to adapt the law to the needs of the global information society.

Many in the library and educational communities viewed the report and the subsequent copyright bills as unbalanced towards protection of the exclusive rights and interests of copyright owners and distributors. Also, these bills were see to slight the "fair use" needs of users, especially for digital information.

In February I testified in a House hearing on the copyright bills and this summer I communicated with the Senate about a different bill (S. 1961) to transfer the Copyright Office into a new Intellectual Property Office in the Department of Commerce. The Patent and Trademark Office is already in the Department of Commerce. The Copyright Office, as you know, is in the Library of Congress. It is frightening the effect that a hasty move on a proposal of this magnitude could have on registration of and access to copyrighted materials.

Fortunately -- in my view -- none of the major copyright bills passed this session of Congress. However, we must all continue to be vigilant about copyright initiatives so that intellectual property is protected but also so that it is as widely and easily available and that fair use is maintained.

6) Information Policy


In another major area -- that of information policy -- the Commission is planning new and important projects related to the electronic dissemination of government information. We are excited about going forward in these areas of federal policy that are at the core of the Commission's mission.

First, we will work this year and next with the Government Printing Office to assess standards for creating and disseminating electronic government information. This study follows on the June 1996 report to Congress, Study to Identify Measures Necessary for a Successful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program.

This study will include the following aspects:


That's a lot, isn't it, but it's not all we're concerned about in the area of government information.

Also this year and next NCLIS will work to define what is required for a broader, policy look at government information. The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Office of Management and Budget have asked the Commission to assess executive and legislative policies and responsibilities for collecting and disseminating Federal government information. The findings and recommendations of such an assessment should in turn -- and to use your phraseology -- help advance the availability of government information into the next century.

7) Access and Equity in the National Information Infrastructure (NII)


Once again, to borrow from your meeting theme, along with assessing and advancing, I think the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science has been leading as well, especially in the area of libraries' concerns about equity and access in the National Information Infrastructure, or the NII.

We have completed three studies on public libraries and the Internet, giving us the first national data in this regard. The 1994 and 1996 studies also provide the first longitudinal data and show, as you may have read, a 113% increase in public libraries' connectivity in just two years -- from 20.9% in 1994 to 44.6% in 1996! The 1995 study developed cost models for public libraries connecting to the Internet.

We get requests for these reports from libraries, researchers, and policy specialists from all over the world. We have made the data widely available electronically (on our web page WWW.NCLIS.GOV), as well as in print form through the Federal depository library program. Furthermore, we used the data to advise the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council and also the Federal Communications Commission in its requests for comments on universal service provisions for schools and libraries.

We look forward to finding the resources and/or encouraging others to continue these studies and to expand them to include academic and school libraries. Both these are very important. Perhaps you read about the plans of 34 research universities to create an "Internet II" because their requirements for interactive network services have outgrown current Internet capabilities. What does that mean for the libraries on those campuses, not to mention the ones at other institutions not part of Internet II?

You have also heard about the NetDays by which citizens are contributing their time to install wiring within school buildings in order to provide students with access to the Internet. Do we know if the libraries in those schools are getting wired as well? With so much potential, what is the reality of school library media centers? We need to be sure that libraries in educational institutions are at the center of the educational revolution that technology is creating.

We will also need to develop those assessment and evaluation methods to measure the quality of Internet-based interactive information services, the extent to which the library's community uses such services, and the degree to which network services meet the community's needs. By the way, the community can be a campus or a corporation, not just a city or county. The Commission's work in this area has only just begun! There is so much to look forward to in Assessing - Advancing - Leading - Libraries for the next Millennium.

8) Federal Support for Libraries


Research into Internet connections and the quality and effectiveness of network services must include all types of libraries. As we look at the NII implications and potential for all types of libraries, we are supported by a new federal law that opens all facets of a 40-year old federal grants program available to academic, school and public libraries.

Of course, the venerable Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) included a Title III for interlibrary cooperation and resource-sharing, which accomplished great things and had an impact far outweighing its very modest funding. However, Title I, Public Library Services, and Title II, Public Library Construction, of the Library Services and Construction Act got the largest share of federal funding and the most attention over the years.

However, on 30 September a new law was enacted -- the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) -- and a new agency was established to administer it -- the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). These measures were approved as part of the much larger omnibus funding legislation, Public Law 104-208.

Administration of the federal library grant programs will transfer from the Department of Education to the Institute for Museum and Library Services. By the way, the Institute of Museum Services has existed for 20 years as an independent agency as a sister (or brother) agency to the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The new Institute of Museum and Library Services will remain with the endowments under the general umbrella of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.

The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science has an important new role to advise the Institute about general policies related to library programs supported by the new Library Services and Technology Act. Before that, though, we are working with the Institute and the Department of Education on the operational transition. The more we work, the more questions it seems there are, but it is important we get them answered so programs under the new LSTA can start promptly and clearly next year.

I mentioned earlier that the Commission has a new ex officio member: the director of the Institute of Museum and Library. By the terms of the new law, the Commission will also meet jointly once a year with the National Museum Services Board to advise on a provision of the Library Services and Technology Act for cooperative projects between libraries and museums. So, we face the new millennium with a new institutional partner. And we are very much looking forward to prospects for bringing these two educational communities closer together in our efforts to advance into the new millennium.

9) Conclusion


In short, and in closing, I see many reasons for those of us in the library and information communities to be encouraged and enthusiastic about the prospects for the next century. To realize the opportunities facing us, we need to be much more rigorous in our assessment of the quality and effectives of the services we provide our clients. Only then can we honestly work to advance them.

Finally, as to the matter of leading. We must be in the lead for the broadest and fairest use of copyrighted materials and government information. We must be vocal and visible advocates for the great contributions to and benefits from the National Information Infrastructure that libraries offer. We must be in the forefront to assure that policy and funding reflect that the reality that libraries are necessary to the public to assure access to all types of information well into the next century, and beyond. That policy and funding, by the way, are not just national, but state and local as well, as I'm sure you appreciate.

One last word. We must lead our communities in the fairest, broadest and best use of information and all the other marvelous cultural resources our libraries possess.

Thank you very much. If there is time, I will be glad to take questions.

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