Public Law 91-345 91st Congress, S. 1519

July 20, 1970

An Act

To establish a National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Act".

STATEMENT OF POLICY

SEC. 2. The Congress hereby affirms that library and information services adequate to meet the needs of the people of the United States are essential to achieve national goals and to utilize most effectively the Nation's educational resources and that the Federal Government will cooperate with State and local governments and public and private agencies in assuring optimum provision of such services.

COMMISSION ESTABLISHED

SEC. 3. (a) There is hereby established as an independent agency within the executive branch, a National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (hereinafter referred to as the "Commission").

(b) The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare shall provide the Commission with necessary administrative services (including those related to budgeting, accounting, financial reporting, personnel, and procurement) for which payment shall be made in advance, or by reimbursement, from funds of the Commission and such amounts as may be agreed upon by the Commission and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

CONTRIBUTIONS

SEC. 4. The Commission shall have authority to accept in the name of the United States grants, gifts, or bequests of money for immediate disbursement in furtherance of the functions of the Commission. Such grants, gifts, or bequests, after acceptance by the Commission, shall be paid by the donor or his representative to the Treasurer of the United States whose receipts shall be their acquittance. The Treasurer of the United States shall enter them in a special account to the credit of the Commission for the purposes in each case specified.

FUNCTIONS

SEC. 5. (a) The Commission shall have the primary responsibility for developing or recommending overall plans for, and advising the appropriate governments and agencies on, the policy set forth in section 2. In carrying out that responsibility, the Commission shall

(1) advise the President and the Congress on the implementation of national policy by such statements, presentations, and reports as it deems appropriate;

(2) conduct studies, surveys, and analyses of the library and informational needs of the Nation, including the special library and informational needs of rural areas and of economically, socially, or culturally deprived persons, and the means by which these needs may be met through information centers, through the libraries of elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education, and through public, research, special, and other types of libraries;

(3) appraise the adequacies and deficiencies of current library and information resources and services and evaluate the effectiveness of current library and information science programs;

(4) develop overall plans for meeting national library and informational needs and for the coordination of activities at the Federal, State, and local levels, taking into consideration all of the library and informational resources of the Nation to meet those needs;

(5) be authorized to advise Federal, State, local, and private agencies regarding library and information sciences;

(6) promote research and development activities which will extend and improve the Nation's library and informationhandling capability as essential links in the national communications networks;

(7) submit to the President and the Congress (not later than January 31 of each year) a report on its activities during the preceding fiscal year; and

(8) make and publish such additional reports as it deems to be necessary, including, but not limited to, reports of consultants, transcripts of testimony, summary reports, and reports of other Commission findings, studies, and recommendations.

(b) The Commission is authorized to contract with Federal agencies and other public and private agencies to carry out any of its functions under subsection (a) and to publish and disseminate such reports, findings, studies, and records as it deems appropriate.

(e) The Commission is further authorized to conduct such hearings at such times and places as it deems appropriate for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(d) The heads of all Federal agencies are, to the extent not prohibited by law, directed to cooperate with the Commission in carrying out the purposes of this Act.

MEMBERSHIP

SEC. 6. (a) The Commission shall be composed of the Librarian of Congress and fourteen members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Five members of the Commission shall be professional librarians or information specialists, and the remainder shall be persons having special competence or interest in the needs of our society for library and information services, at least one of whom shall be knowledgeable with respect to the technological aspects of library and information services and sciences. One of the members of the Commission shall be designated by the President as Chairman of the Commission. The terms of office of the appointive members of the Commission shall be five years, except that (1) the terms of office of the members first appointed shall commence on the date of enactment of this Act and shall expire two at the end of one year, three at the end of two years, three at the end of three years, three at the end of four years, and three at the end of five years, as designated by the President at the time of appointment, and (2) a

member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term.

(b) Members of the Commission who are not in the regular full-time employ of the United States shall, while attending meetings or conferences of the Commission or otherwise engaged in the business of the Commission, be entitled to receive compensation at a rate fixed by the Chairman, but not exceeding the rate specified at the time of such service for grade GS-18 in section 5332 of title 5, United States Code, including traveltime, and while so serving on the business of the Commission away from their homes or regular places of business, they may be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for persons employed intermittently in the Government service.

(e) (1) The Commission is authorized to appoint, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, covering appointments in the competitive service, such professional and technical personnel as may be necessary to enable it to carry out its function under this Act.

(2) The Commission may procure, without regard to the civil service or classification laws, temporary and intermittent services of such personnel as is necessary to the extent authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, but at rates not to exceed the rate specified at the time of such service for grade GS-18 in section 5332 of title 5, United States Code, including traveltime, and while so serving on the business of the Commission away from their homes or regular places of business they may be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5, United States Code, for persons employed intermittently in the Government service.

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 7. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated $500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1970, and $750,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1971, and for each succeeding year, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Act.

NOTE:

Amounts for 1972 and 1973 reflect comparability with the 1974 estimate.

1/ Not considered by the House.

2/ The Commission is operating under a Continuing Resolution through June 30, 1973, at a level of $406,000.

To operate the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science during its third year of existence, $406,000 and five positions are requested. These sums represent no increase in obligational authority or personnel over fiscal year 1973.

The budget provides for salaries for the staff and for the expenses of the Commission activities. These activities include meetings, studies, reports, and publications.

Frequent meetings of the Commission are required because the members have judged that the complexity and magnitude of the Commission's task demand regular and sustained policy planning sessions. With a very small executive and administrative staff, the need for an active, working Commission is intensified.

As stated in the enabling legislation (Public Law 91-345), Sec. 5(a)(2), the Commission, in carrying out its responsibilities, shall "conduct studies, surveys, and analyses of the library and informational needs of rural areas and of economically, socially, or culturally deprived persons, and the means by which these needs may be met through information centers, through the libraries of elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education, and through public, research, special, and other types of libraries."

Some examples of the studies, surveys, and analyses now required by the Commission are: (a) an analysis of the long-range capability, capacity, and adaptability of planned and existing Federal and regional computer networks to handle the bibliographic, text, and data retrieval problems that are already too unwieldy for manual processing; (b) a similar examination of the present and future capabilities of information communication and transmission systems that can be employed for printed, graphic, and oral library material; (c) an exploration of the potential of two-way cable television for the delivery of library information resources to locations remote from existing centers of library collections; (d) an analysis of the current difficulties that prevent the adoption of standards for micromaterials and microreading equipment for libraries; (e) development of a series of theoretical models of types of information service centers and libraries that would meet current and projected needs of users of information on a cost-effective basis; (f) development of measures of effectiveness for libraries and information systems that will enable the Commission to weigh the utility of current and projected library systems and services; (g) testing of such standards in a variety of types of libraries and information systems; (h) examination of the compacts now in force which permit the utilization of libraries within a given political area to be used by those in other areas and conversely the statutes that prevent such compacts from emerging; and (1) development of criteria and standards for the designation of certain non-Federal libraries and information resources as either national or regional resource centers of excellence.

These and other studies ll be needed to accomplish the functions set forth in Section 5(a)(3) and (4) of Public Law 91-345, to "appraise the adequacies and deficiencies of current library information resources and services and evaluate the effectiveness of current library and information science programs" and to "develop overall plans for meeting national library and informational needs and for the coordination of activities at the Federal, State, and local levels, taking into consideration all of the library and informational resources of the Nation to meet those needs."

Purpose: Advise the President and the Congress on the implementation of national policy, develop overall plans for meeting national library and informational needs, and coordinate activities at the Federal, State and local levels in meeting those needs.

Explanation: Through hearings, research, review, and analysis, the Commission will reach positions that it can recommend for action to libraries, groups or types of libraries, and to the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government.

Accomplishments in 1973: The Commission met 16 days to evaluate the present library and information services of the nation and to develop overall plans for meeting deficiencies and needs. The Commission held three regional planning conferences in fiscal year 1973 to which librarians, information specialists, and informed members of the "user" public were