Washington, DC - Recognizing Jeanne Simon for her "leadership and sustained volunteer service at the highest national level in promoting library and information science and the information profession in the federal community," the Federal Librarians Round Table (FLRT) presented its 1998 Achievement Award to Mrs. Simon, the Chairperson of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS).

At a luncheon on June 27, 1998, FLRT honored Mrs. Simon as a "powerful advocate for libraries," citing her work as Chairperson of the Commission since 1993, her teaching responsibilities as adjunct professor of library affairs at Southern Carbondale (IL) University, and her activism with the first White House Conference on Library and Information Services.

Mrs. Simon received a handsome wood plaque and a set of brass bookends representing the "doors of knowledge" giving entrance to the Library of Congress Jefferson Building. In her acceptance, Mrs. Simon thanked the round table "for the recognition you are according me, which I would like to say also reflects credit on my hard working fellow Commissioners and our Commission's staff."

Mrs. Simon highlighted an NCLIS initiative of special importance to federal librarians: the survey on the flow of government information products into the federal Depository Library System. Mrs. Simon remarked, "As agencies migrate more and more of their publications from print and microform mediums to electronic mediums ... the price that is being paid in terms of reduced public access is a very high one and getting higher all the time....This price is not just being paid by John Q. Public, but by Members of Congress, the judiciary, the administration, levels of state and local government, our international partners, and the private sector."

FLRT is a unit of the American Library Association established to promote library and information service in the Federal Community; to promote appropriate use of federal library and information service resources; and to provide an environment for the stimulation of research and development relating to the planning, development, and operation of federal libraries and information activities.

NCLIS is a permanent independent agency of the federal government charged by public law 91-345 to advise the President and the Congress on national and international library and information policies and plans.