Rockford Network Presentation
"Information Power!"

I have always had a interest women's issues. Several years ago I worked as a legislative analyst for the National Advisory Council of Women's Educational Programs. I also have done consulting with the Women's Initiative of the American Association of Retired Persons. I know first hand the importance of women, and women leaders, in society. By the way, I am also a member of the Association of American University Women, the League of Women Voters, and the Women's National Democratic Club.

I applaud the work of the Rockford Network to encourage women's professional career development. I have worked to develop opportunities to advance the role of women leaders in society. The way I see it, there is no more important work that we can do as American women, and there is no work more important for America's future, than to fulfill women's leadership potential, in business, in the professions, and in our communities.

When Estelle Black first talked with me last summer about the prospect of speaking to you, she told me about your theme for 1995: "Empowerment: The Promise and the Price."

Your theme is one of the few uses of "empowerment" I know about that links "power" with "price". This linkage reflects a mature approach to today's political reality. The insight and realism of your theme encouraged me to speak on Estelle's suggested topic. My topic is "Information Power!".

As a means of helping you to think about the Rockford Network's 1995 theme, I want to share some thoughts about the relationship between: "information", "power", and "empowerment". I hope by talking about : "information", "power", and "empowerment" we can reach a better understanding of what is required of women (and men, too) to assure that our daughters (and sons), and our granddaughters (and grandsons), are assured a society that is both just and civil. A society that embodies the fulfillment of the democratic vision.

I have a feeling that all of us understand intrinsically the meaning of: : "information", "power", and "empowerment". But I also know that the challenges and opportunities that women face today require that we understand the meaning of these three words in terms of today's dynamic rush for change and renewal.

I believe that, if we knew more about the relationship between information and power, America would be an empowered Nation. Perhaps then we would not be so dependent on public opinion pollsters to tell us what we think. Perhaps then we would better able to understand the role of the media in our lives. And perhaps then we would understand not only the "promise and price" of empowerment, but also the cost of ignorance. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

I am sure that all of you have heard a lot of talk recently about Congress cutting national programs to reduce the deficit and to cut taxes. From welfare programs to the arts endowment, from school lunches to aid for libraries, from summer youth job programs to public housing assistance, elected leaders are looking for ways to shrink government by reducing spending and eliminating programs. Some are even proposing that whole federal agencies, including Commerce, Education and HUD, be abolished.

Many of the proposals for change reflect an angry, "get-even" attitude of outrage. Proposals for change reflect arguments based more on attitude than on factual information. In fact, people are forming and passionately expressing views on the basis of no information at all. I keep hoping to hear the facts. I keep hoping to see the information supporting these proposals for change. But I haven't seen or heard this factual information.

Where are the proposals for change based on a thoughtful and balanced analysis of facts, where different arguments are presented, analyzed and discussed? Where are the proposals that result from a careful consideration of information developed by respected experts? If something is drastically wrong with our National vision and direction, shouldn't we be engaged in a broad-ranging examination of the alternatives to determine the best way to proceed based on the best possible information?

I am afraid that we seem to be in a rush to solve our problems by instituting simple, quick solutions. Our actions reveal a belief that "By eliminating government programs, we will achieve a better America" -- or so the argument seems to go. We behave as if the programs were the problem. We seem inclined to address complex economic and social problems by a simple and radical house-cleaning -- using a chainsaw instead of a broom.

At times I find myself wondering if Congress is out to clean our National household at the expense of some of our weaker family-members. I don't think that we will improve society, however, by simply trashing government programs.

• If only we were equally passionate for understanding and for factual information about our national problems and about potential solutions....

• If only we better understood the relationship between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom....

• If only we understood the critical importance of using information in the exercise of power....

• If only we truly understood the empowerment that access to information provides....

• If only we understood these things, perhaps we would be better prepared to face the 21st century with pride and optimism instead of with fear and dread.

I spoke a moment ago about my life-long involvement with women's issues. My other long-standing commitment is to libraries. And it is with libraries and information issues that I have been most concerned in the past several years.

President Clinton designated me to be Chairperson of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) in November, 1993 following my confirmation by the Senate as a member of the Commission. My appointment was no accident. I worked to be on the National Commission because I believe that this group plays a critical role in assuring a healthy and vibrant future for America.

The Commission plays a key role in recommending policies to the President and the Congress related to libraries and information. And it is in the area of information policy that I believe that NCLIS has the opportunity to address issues related to information power and the empowering nature of access to information.

Since coming to the Commission, I have sought to develop a proactive, powerful, and dynamic agenda in addressing opportunities and challenges of an increasingly critical magnitude. High on my list of the challenges we face is the prospect of a growing "informational underclass".

The gap between the information "haves" and the information"have-nots", to use Vice President Gore's words, presents barriers to those who lack access to the technology, the educational opportunity, and to the information resources required to be successful in the next century.

The Vice President referred to this point in speaking to a Forum on Telecommunications Policy held at UCLA in January, 1994. He said:

"We cannot tolerate -- nor in the long run can this nation afford -- a society in which some children become fully educated and others do not; in which some adults have access to training and lifelong education, and others do not."

Along with David Gordon, who writes in Presstime in December 1993, I believe that:

"It is time to expand the traditional "marketplace of ideas" concept to make it a marketplace of both ideas and information; to ensure everyone some opportunity to participate in that marketplace; and to let them share the potential benefits of access to a variety of information services."

The National Commission has concentrated attention over the past year on the role of libraries in the emerging "information superhighway" or the National Information Infrastructure, or what is more popularly known as the Internet. We believe that libraries provide a way for all parts of a community to gain access to new electronic information resources and services. Libraries offer a means of assuring "information equity" for all people of the nation.

So then, what are we to make of "information", "power", and "empowerment"? Simply put, if it is true that middle-class white male voters used the November 1994 elections to express their anger rather than to register their informed choices, then it is appropriate that we, as empowered women, use every means possible to reinstitute the intellectual standards required for a functioning democracy.

The people's will requires that ignorance be challenged by honesty and information. To accomplish this, the women of America must help reinstitute a belief in democracy and the will of an informed populace to govern. The Rockford Network provides an excellent opportunity for work in this area.

Let me share the results of a meeting last June that was planned by Joan R. Challinor, who was nominated to NCLIS in December 1994. Joan helped organize a conference a the Radcliffe College on "Women, Information, and the Future". The conference involved 218 women participants from 46 countries. It resulted in an information statement that reads, in part, as follows:

"Recognizing that the advancement of women in their struggle for equal human rights and for sustainable human development depends on access to information essential to their own political, social, economic and physical well-being, and to their families' health and social and economic betterment....

We encourage the participants in the in the United Nations Third World Conference on Women in Beijing to urge their governments

1. to make women's access to information and the means of dissemination a priority of public policy;

2. to expand their collection, dissemination, and preservation of data and documents on women;
3. to take advantage of new technologies and assure women's equitable access to them;

4. to utilize the skills of women in creating and maintaining networks."
   

Finally, then, let me share a favorite parable with you, the same one that Toni Morrison retold when she won the Nobel Prize for literature last year. In her acceptance speech, this outstanding African-American woman author told the story of an old blind woman, renowned for her wisdom, and a boy who decides to play a trick on her. The boy captures a bird, brings it to the old woman cupped in his hands, and says "Old woman, is this bird alive or dead?"

If she says "Dead", he can set it free. If she says "Alive", the boy will crush the bird.

She thinks for a moment, and then says to the boy: "The answer is in your hands."

Friends, the answer to "empowerment" through information power is truly in our hands and the hands of all Americans. We find ways to assure that all people have opportunities for empowerment by participating in the life of the mind and by assurance of access to information. If we do not accomplish this, we stand in danger of the worst possible future: a future where ignorance and lack of information rule. We must not let this be our future.

Thank you for the opportunity of sharing these thoughts with you this afternoon.