computer-based information systems and services in agriculture, chaired by Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. on May 19 and 20, 1982. Because of its National Rural Information Services Development Program and its close working relationship with the National Agricultural Library and other parts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Commission was asked by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to assist in planning the workshop and selecting witnesses.

NCLIS made a key contribution to the hearing/workshop by arranging for testimony by Dr. Glenn Wilde, Assistant Dean for Extension and Continuing Education, Utah State University, and Dr. Russell Youmans, Director of the Western Rural Development Center at the University of Oregon, as representatives of the Intermountain Community Learning/Information Services Project (ICLIS). The hearing/workshop was the first opportunity for the ICLIS consortium to inform Congress directly about its efforts to provide information services through computers and

telecommunications to small communities in rural America. The Commission cooperates closely with ICLIS by providing guidance, assistance and visibility to this innovative project.

Photo on preceding page:

Children use an electronic blackboard at the model community learning/information center, an NCLIS-sponsored exhibit at the World Future Society Assembly.

VI. Resource Sharing and
Applications of Technology

NCLIS TASK FORCES

The Task Force on the Role of the Special Library in Nationwide

Networks and Cooperative Programs, cosponsored by NCLIS and the Special Libraries Association (SLA), held its first meeting early in FY 1981 and completed its deliberations in FY 1982. This project followed up on the examination of library and information service needs of organizations and professions, one of the five major themes of the White House Conference on Library and Information Services. During its existence, the task force and four working groups of the members gathered and analyzed a great deal of information. When they found that there was little reliable information on the degree and nature of special library participation in networking and cooperative activities, they conducted two surveys to fill this information gap. The first, conducted with the help of 42 of the 50 chapters of SLA, asked the SLA membership to report on the participation of their libraries in formal networks and cooperative activities. The second survey asked the directors of 17 major networks and the three largest bibliographic utilities for similar information.

Contrary to the widely held perception, these surveys found that special library participation in networks is much greater than expected. Special libraries make up at least 35% of the total membership of the responding networks and 21% of the membership of bibliographic utilities. Fifty percent of the responding libraries reported participation in formal networking or cooperative programs. It is quite clear that special libraries are already a significant segment of the networking population and more can be expected to participate as awareness of the benefits of participation grows.