It is especially enjoyable for me to join you this evening as you celebrate the achievements of the North Suburban Library System member libraries over this past year. And what a special thrill to be able to see your wonderful exhibits! It's a great way of celebrating NSLS member libraries' creativity, cooperation, and excellence.
I am delighted for this chance to talk with a group composed of committed library leaders, supporters, and advocates! It is an opportunity for me to talk about the National Commission's current activities and about th e issues that affect libraries and information. It is also a chance to personally thank all of you for your contributions to your communities, OUR state and OUR Nation.
As some of you may know, the National Commission is a small and independent micro Federal agency charged by law to advise the President and the Congress by recommending policies and developing overall plans to meet the library and information needs of all the people of the United States. The Commission was established in 1970 by Public Law 91-345. We are currently planning events to celebrate our 25th anniversary.
Along with my 14 colleagues on the Commission and our small dedicated staff of seven, I take our mission very seriously. In a very real sense, we are a citizen's group charged to do three things: 1.) determine the n eeds of the people for libraries and information services; 2.) translate these needs into recommended national policy; and, 3.) advise the President, Congress, state and local governments and others on the implementation of national policy.
President Clinton designated me to be NCLIS Chairperson in November, 1993, following my confirmation by the Senate as a member of the Commission. My appointment to NCLIS was no accident. I actively sought it. I work ed to assume the leadership of the National Commission because I believe that NCLIS plays a critical role in assuring a healthy and vibrant future for America's libraries. This is a very important time for our libraries.
I also believe that my job as NCLIS Chairperson is to do everything I can to assist you, the leaders of the library community, in your work to help every American reach his or her potential. I know that, now more than ever, there is a growing need for good library service in both urban and rural areas, in all regions of the country. I know this from personal observation and listening to concerned persons, librarians and users, elected leaders and professionals. I al so know this from spending a great deal of my life supporting public libraries.
I have worked with my fellow Commissioners over the past year to develop a proactive, powerful, and dynamic agenda, one that will address opportunities and challenges of an increasingly critical magnitude. In accomplishing this role, to assure that NCLIS provides the best possible advice to our elected leaders, we have sought opportunities to cooperate, to reach out, to provide mutual support, and to strengthen our partnerships with many different organizations . The wealthiest society in the history of the world will only continue as a great Nation in the future if we continue to provide libraries with the support they need to meet the needs of all the people.
As a strong supporter of libraries, I believe that a vibrant and healthy democratic society cannot function without good libraries, competent librarians, capable library staff, and dedicated citizen supporters. In providing the management, policies, direction, and governance for publicly supported libraries, each of you contribute to the social order of your communities. With the support and confidence of the public, you serve the public good. This service in today' s world is not always accomplished easily.
Today, libraries face numerous challenges. In many communities, harsh economic conditions have reduced library funding at the same time that demand for services is increasing. In addition, library supporters are begi nning to understand the changing economic, political, and technological influences on today's libraries.
If you expected to hear a librarian's reflections about the National Commission and the role of lay leadership for Illinois libraries, I am going to disappoint you. I am a lawyer, not a librarian. In fact, by law the Commission is composed primarily of non-librarians who have "...special competence or interest in the needs of our society for library and information services...."
Although I am not a librarian, I have had the good fortune to be a life-long user and supporter of libraries. In fact, my husband Paul and I have a long-term love affair going with libraries that began many years ago.
Since my appointment as NCLIS Chairperson, I have met with representatives from the library community, from government, from the information industry, and with average citizens. These meetings reveal concern about the future of libraries, given the rapid advance of information and communications technology.
This concern is echoed in a recent Time magazine story about "Battles on the Frontiers of Cyberspace." Regardless of where you turn, people are fascinated with the information superhighway. Many news accounts herald the advent of interactive multimedia network services to the home. These services promise an endless series of videos-on-demand and shopping services.
But, with all this talk about the convergence of different industries and technologies, claims about the greatest technological marvel of the modern era, and the ultimate triumph of Marshall McLuhan's global village, I still believe in books and, yes, I still believe in libraries.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am not exactly a cheerleader for new information technology. If you live, as I do, with someone who uses a manual Royal typewriter to write his books, you don't take easily to c omputers and you aren't yet comfortable "surfing" the Internet. But, despite my limited exposure to cyberspace, I have learned enough about new technology developments to be excited about the profound impact these new developments can have on our libraries in America. I say can, because I do not believe that the digital library of the future is a sure thing. There is a lot of work to be done to realize the vision of the virtual library presented by visionaries in the libr ary field. We must work to assure that libraries are not "road-kill" on the information superhighway.
At present, the Commission is exploring what is required for libraries to enable patrons to take advantage of new advanced network communication technologies that are rapidly becoming such an integral part of our natio nal culture. We found last year that only 20% of the nation's 9,000 public libraries have access to the Internet and that very few are providing public access to the network.
The NCLIS Internet study shows some interesting disparities between different regions of the country. Nearly 15% of the public libraries in the midwest responded to the NCLIS survey that they are connected to the Inte rnet. This compares with 19% in the south, 30% in the west, and 25% in the northeast.
The survey shows that only 17% of rural public libraries (serving 25,000 or less) are connected to the Internet, while 79% of urban public libraries (serving 250,000 or greater) are using Internet. The survey also sho ws that public libraries serving small communities (less than 5,000 residents) receive only 30% of funding for connecting to Internet from local government, while libraries serving populations over one million receive 60% local funds for Internet connecti ons. Thus, rural public libraries are more dependent upon state and federal support for connecting to the information superhighway than those libraries serving urban areas.
The Commission's study demonstrates the need to develop connections for our nation's libraries to offer electronic services to isolated rural areas, to economically deprived urban centers, and to schools. Libraries ca n provide an on-ramp for public access to the information superhighway. But in order to serve as more than dynamic cul de sacs on the information superhighway, rural and urban libraries in all regions of the country require leadership and support from st ate and federal governments, as well as support from local and private sector partners, to lead the nation in a transition to the digital future.
The coming digital information future, however, may not involve libraries in the driver's seat. Some pundits are predicting that the advancing information superhighway will make libraries obsolete. They argue that ne twork access to global information services will bypass the need for libraries to provide access to information networks. After all, why do we need libraries when our homes will have access to broadband interactive communication networks and links to glo bal knowledge delivery services, along with entertainment and interactive communication services?
Well, my friends, to me the answer is clear. John Brademas, President of New York University, and author of Public Law 91-345 which established the Commission, writes in his 1989 book In Praise of Libraries:
"Libraries and librarians today, whether in the U.S., Britain, France, or Spain, are operating on the frontiers of automation and technology. Yet complex as the new library world has become, libraries re main fundamentally about readers, writers, and books."
Libraries need to provide the leadership needed to establish community links to a network infrastructure. Such inter networking links are changing the way industries do business and the way governments relate to the citizens. They can also change the role of the library in achieving the full potential of new interactive communications media.
Libraries must integrate traditional services with digital communication networks by establishing partnerships with technology and community interests. Many of the NSLS libraries offer good examples of this cutting-ed ge technology in the innovative services you are offering. If libraries do not follow your example by providing opportunities for the creative integration of new electronic information technologies, libraries may well become historic artifacts in the nex t century.
Similarly, new information infrastructures that by-pass libraries will only create chaos. The current state of the Internet is a good example of unorganized data. Without navigational tools that apply the principles of library organizational structure for collections, we will forever be adrift in cyberspace. The people don't need 500 channels that offer additional access to the popular culture reflected by network television. We need more channels that link our sch ools, our businesses, and our communities to the knowledge resources that are needed to operate in the global information society.
So then, what policies are needed to promote the development of a new public electronic gateway to knowledge? How can we be assured that libraries provide consumer access points to advanced electronic information and communications technologies?
Some would argue that the federal government can best contribute to the communications revolution by staying as far away as possible from making any decisions or having any involvement at all with the National Informat ion Infrastructure. They call on the government to eliminate all legal and regulatory impediments to competition in the communications field. Legislation to this effect is expected to pass Congress very soon.
Since 1934, U.S. telecommunication services have been regulated by governmental mandates promoting universal service. Now, the emphasis is shifting towards policies for fostering competition in phone and data services. Choices that will expand the choices available to customers. The twin goals are to promote a healthy growth rate for the emerging information economy, while, at the same time, assuring open access to new technologies and new network serv ices.
What is really required to usher in a new age of universal service and universal access where the public will enjoy the advantages of access to a modern, interactive information infrastructure? Won't AT&T, the Reg ional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC's), together with commercial partners in the information movement and management industry, provide access to vast knowledge resources which are now available only to the users of the very largest libraries? Won't open competition drive the prices down so that everyone will be able to cruise the information superhighway from home?
Well, yes and no. YES, the public needs to receive the benefits of the information age; but NO, our nation will not advance with information infrastructure policies that are at odds with democratic values. Future gov ernment policies must assure that basic rights and freedoms are safeguarded and secured on the information superhighway. This includes rights of privacy as well as the protection of intellectual property. The rules of the road on this new global info-ba hn must safeguard democracy from becoming road kill.
The solution to balancing economic and social concerns for the information superhighway involves the formation of partnerships between industry, government, and the public. Ultimately the success of the National Infor mation Infrastructure program will be measured by whether it empowers citizens, protects individual rights, and strengthens our democratic institutions. Cross-sector partnerships between business, government, libraries, and community groups need to becom e the rule in developing access to knowledge for the next century.
Vice President Gore speaks often about the vision of a global information infrastructure which is transforming our world through a digital revolution. But the Vice President also talks about the transforming power of electronic communications for entertaining, informing, educating, and for promoting democracy. Knowledge institutions must serve the research and information needs of the community and of industry. But the citizen's need for access must also be assured if we are to realize the tremendous opportunities resulting from the university's collaborative relationship with industry and government.
Historically, the introduction of new technologies challenges existing social, cultural, and institutional structures. This was true with automobiles, telephones, and television. So also with computers, faxes, cable television, and the Internet.
There seems to be an inherent danger, however, that the overload and excess which characterize much of television's electronic entertainment will dominate the emerging cyberspace of the information superhighway.
Today it is no longer a choice whether computer networks will re-shape the fabric of human society and consciousness; rather, the choice involves the kind of future we want to design with these new tools. They can cr eate a virtual reality where fear, confusion, violence, and anguish dominate. Where we are seduced by glittering images of a virtual cyberspace inhabited by a disembodied world of electronic pixels. Or, they can be used to create a virtual democracy whe re emancipation, creative inquiry, and knowledge dominate.
[pause]
In order to bring you up to date, let me talk for a few moments about some of the current activities and concerns of the National Commission. We just finished meeting last week (23-24 February 1995) in Annapolis, MD. Although all fifteen of us have monthly conference calls together, last week's meeting was the first time since late October that we have been all together. It was an extremely important and productive meeting, in part due to the superior quality of the group, but also due to the focus of our work together.
I don't think I need to tell you that Washington is in the midst of fundamental change. With the 104th Congress passing important new reform legislation and the Clinton Administration initiating revolutionary changes for restructuring the role of the federal government through the National Performance Review - Phase II, the winds of change are buffeting Washington's traditional structures. The NCLIS meeting last week provided an opportunity for Commissioners to discuss or agency's response to the Vice President's National Performance Review (NPR) Phase II. Vice President Gore sent a memorandum to each E xecutive Department and Agency in early January 1995 announcing plans for the second phase of NPR. Phase one concentrated on how government could operate in a customer-driven, streamlined mode. Phase two concentrates on what government sho uld be doing.
To quote from the Vice President's memorandum:
"This phase two review will examine the basic missions of government, looking a every single government program and agency to find and eliminate things that don't need to be done by the federal government. It will also sort out how best to do the things government should continue to do."
The Commission's response to the Vice President's charge took the form of a five-page Agency Options Review paper. We addressed the question:
"If your agency were eliminated, how would the goals or programs of your agency be undertaken - by other agencies, by states or localities, by the private sector, or not at all?"
We completed discussing the Commission's draft response to NPR II early Friday morning. The conclusion was both exciting and sobering. We discovered that the NPR II exercise forced us to identify why NCLIS is an essential national responsibility. The Commission fulfills a key role in determining the needs for policies to assure that all the people of the U.S. have the opportunity to participate in the global information age. No other organization is char ged with determining the library and information needs of the people from a national independent perspective with special attention to rural areas, the economically, socially, or culturally deprived, and the elderly.
The Commission meeting continued on Friday morning with presentations from the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, and the U.S. Postal Service. Each presentation concentrated on the programs and polic ies for offering citizens public access to federal information resources. Throughout the presentations there were elements of fear, excitement, and change. Throughout the presentations, the Commissioners kept returning to the importance of NCLIS's essen tial mission. If NCLIS were not providing advice to policy makers, how would the nation continue to identify the public's interest? Clearly, the Commission is needed now more than ever to help policy makers navigate through the complex technical and pol icy issues related to:
Finally, then, I am continuing to schedule meetings with Members and key staff from Senate and the House committees and subcommittees in an effort to help clarify the outlook for the Commission and for legislation and funding related to Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) and other library and information-related programs.
The outlook for libraries and information services at the national level is uncertain. The Administration's 1996 budget requests Congressional approval for a total of $106,927,000 for LSCA. This represents a 27% decr ease from 1995 LSCA appropriations (including funds for Higher Education Act (HEA) programs) which are $146,309,000. In addition, the President's 1996 budget proposes a recission of $12,942,000 from 1995 appropriations for library literacy programs and l ibrary education and training programs which are part of LSCA and HEA.
The Commission is in a key position to reassess the role of the federal government in assuring the most effective utilization of the nation's educational resources. Lacking a clear Constitutional mandate for a federal role related to education, libraries, or information services, federal action and involvement in these areas requires strong justification. This reassessment of the federal role would require hard evidence and facts, not assertions and beliefs.
In line with efforts to re-examine the role of the federal government on a wide range of programs, the Clinton Administration is placing strong emphasis on restructuring the relationship between the federal government and the states. Emphasizing the need to expand opportunity and shrink bureaucracy, the Administration is proposing to shift more responsibility to the states, localities, and the private sector. They are proposing the creation of a new federal governmen t and a new partnership based on trust and accountability. Cutting the size of the federal government and making it work better through streamlining are part of the plan. Consolidating categorical funding and requiring states to take responsibility for meeting performance standards are also part of the plan. Overall, the Administration's plan is a devolution of power and responsibility and opportunity to state governments.
It is clear that America and the world are evolving from an industrial era to a global information age society. Today, we are experiencing a transition that is altering the nature of relationships in fundamental ways. This can be seen in the Administration's proposals to dramatically restructure the relationship between the federal government and the states.
On a wider front, the information age is reinventing America. The new Speaker of the House calls on the nation to develop a new intellectual constitution for the future; one that offers new hope, new dialogue, new ac cess, and new partnerships. As an integral part of this new American intellectual constitution, citizens require national and state policies to assure intellectual participation. The Commission has the opportunity to identify and justify government's fu ndamental role in assuring involvement and participation in the global information age.
Libraries have over the centuries provided society with tools for human transformation. They enable us to explore possibilities and to engage responsibilities. They supply a context for civilization, and they offer u s a sense of meaning, purpose, and connectedness. Libraries connect us with our past; they give meaning to our future. They provide more than a conduit or channel for movement of information. They are the engines of good science, good knowledge, and go od society. And we need to assure that they provide the content and context for our global democratic society by assuring that libraries successfully navigate the crossroads to the future.
Thank you for the opportunity to share these thoughts about the Commission's recent activities. I look forward to working closely with you in the future.