Subject: ARL Announces..Library Associations Urge Enactment of Title 44 Bill
Julia C Blixrud (jblix@arl.org)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 15:33:56 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 15:33:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Julia C Blixrud <jblix@arl.org> To: ARL-ANNOUNCE List <arl-announce@arl.org> Subject: ARL Announces..Library Associations Urge Enactment of Title 44 Bill Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.96.980730152149.22999G-100000@a.cni.org>
ARL Announces....
Librarians Testify in Support of Bill to Revise Title 44
to Improve Public Access to Government Publications
Librarians representing seven national library associations testified
on Wednesday, July 29, on S. 2288, the Wendell H. Ford Government
Publications Reform Act of 1998. They urged Congress to enact S. 2288
this year to strengthen the Federal Depository Library Program and
improve and enhance public access to publications in all formats from
all three branches of government.
Following is a media release with more details:
IAWG MEDIA RELEASE JULY 29, 1998
Inter-Association Working Group on Government Information Policy
American Association of Law Libraries * American Library Association
Association of Research Libraries * Chief Officers of State Library
Agencies * Medical Library Association * Special Libraries Association
Urban Libraries Council
WASHINGTON, DC - Three librarians representing seven national library
associations testified before the Senate Committee on Rules and
Administration on Wednesday, July 29, 1998. The committee, under the
leadership of Senator John Warner (R-VA), Chairman, and Senator Wendell
Ford (D-KY), Ranking Minority Member, is examining S. 2288 and ways to
revise Title 44 of the United States Code to improve public access to
government information in the 21st century.
Note: Copies of the library community's testimony is available from the
IAWG website: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/IAWG/
Testifying for the library community on July 29 were:
* Barbara J. Ford, Executive Director, University Library Services,
Virginia Commonwealth University, and immediate past- president of the
American Library Association (ALA);
* Daniel P. O'Mahony , Government Documents Coordinator, Brown
University Library, and Chair of the Inter-Association Working Group on
Government Information Policy; and
* Robert L. Oakley, Library Director, Georgetown University Law Center,
and Washington Affairs Representatives for the American Association of
Law Libraries (AALL).
Their testimony was presented on behalf of the ALA, AALL, the
Association of Research Libraries, the Chief Officers of State Library
Agencies, the Medical Library Association, the Special Libraries
Association, and the Urban Libraries Council.
Ms. Ford testified that "the reforms articulated in S. 2288 are
critical to maintaining a viable system for public access to government
publications and for enhancing that system to handle the challenges of
new technologies in the 21st century."
Mr. O'Mahony underscored the need for reform this year: "Every day that
goes by that these provisions are not in effect, the American public
loses access to information that they have paid for and that they have a
right to, today and in the future."
Prof. Oakley highlighted the government's partnership with the American
people in making government publications accessible to all. "The federal
government must fulfill its part of the partnership by establishing a
framework that will remain vital and relevant in the 21st century by
investing in systems and services that provide the public with government
publications in all formats, and by assuring that valuable government
information created today will be preserved for future generations."
All three library community witnesses reiterated the importance of
enacting S. 2288 this year to close the loopholes in the current law and
to improve and enhance public access to publications from all three
branches of government regardless of format.
Key provisions of S. 2288, the Wendell H. Ford Government Publications
Reform Act of 1998, include:
* S. 2288 provides for the reorganization of the Government Printing
Office into the Government Publications Office, and elevates the
Superintendent of Documents to a new presidentially-appointed
Superintendent of Government Publications Access Programs.
* S. 2288 affirms the long-standing policy of no-fee public access to
federal government publications through a system of
geographically-dispersed designated libraries. The bill changes the name
of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to the Federal
Publications Access Library Program, and renames Federal Depository
Libraries as Federal Publications Access Libraries.
* S. 2288 explicitly expands the scope of the FDLP to include publications
in all formats from all three branches of government, and recognizes the
challenges and opportunities of electronic information technologies.
* S. 2288 expands the definition of "Government publication" in Chapter 19
to:
any information product or discrete set of Government information,
regardless of form or format, that is created or compiled-- (i) by the
Government, or (ii) at Government expense in whole or in part, or (iii)
as required by law; and that an agency discloses, disseminates, or makes
available to the public; and shall not include information that is
required for official use only or is for strictly internal
administrative or operational purposes having no public interest or
educational value, and publications classified for reasons of national
security.
* S. 2288 resolves the problem of "fugitive documents" by establishing
incentives as well as strong enforcement mechanisms to ensure
participation in the Program and compliance by agencies with the Chapter
19 dissemination requirements of Title 44.
* S. 2288 requires that publishing agencies notify the Superintendent of
their intent to produce, procure, substantially modify, or terminate the
production of government publications so that the Superintendent may
include the publications in the program.
* S. 2288 addresses the loss of electronic government information by
establishing in law the affirmative responsibility of the federal
government to provide current, continuous, and future public access to
electronic publications at no fee to the public. The bill gives the
Superintendent the responsibility to establish and coordinate a system of
permanent public access for all branches of government, and to establish
certifying criteria to ensure the authenticity of electronic government
publications.
* S. 2288 allows the Superintendent to request the electronic source files
of government publications from agencies so that the Superintendent may
produce the publication in an appropriate format(s) for the program, and
to enable the Superintendent to provide permanent public access to
electronic publications.
* S. 2288 continues the annual authorization of appropriations that are
necessary for the salaries and expenses of the Superintendent's Federal
Publication Access Library Program.
* S. 2288 authorizes the Superintendent to issue regulations to improve
the dissemination of government publications and to maintain permanent
public access to federal government publications.
* S. 2288 prevents any agency from delegating or contracting for the
creation, storage, reproduction, or dissemination of a government
publication without providing in advance for the full content of that
information to be made available to the Superintendent for inclusion in
the Program.
The Inter-Association Working Group on Government Information Policy
(IAWG) was established in February 1997 as a cooperative team of
representatives from seven national library associations working to
enhance public access to government information through the revision of
Title 44 of the U.S. Code, the law governing public printing,
procurement, and the Federal Depository Library Program. For more
information about the IAWG, please see our website at:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/IAWG/
or contact Daniel O'Mahony, IAWG Chair, at 401/863-2522 or IAWG@brown.edu
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