Legislative Branch Appropriations for 1979

In the rapid growth of the Service resulting from the mandate of the Legislative Reorgani-
zation Act of 1970 certain imbalances in staffing have occurred, primarily in the areas of
reference and the processing of inquiries.

a. (+10) Because of the importance of the quality of the initial reception of a request from our congressional client, it has been vital to increase staffing in our inquiry unit as inquiries increased, from 181,000 in fiscal 1971 to a projected 320,000 in 1978. As a result there are currently eight inquiry recorders on the CRS staff with indefinite status. We seek permanent funding for these positions and for two additional inquiry recorders to provide necessary improvements to the inquiry status information system. Space for the new positions has been provided by the installation of modular inquiry desks.

b. (+8) Congressional Reference Centers, located in House and Senate office buildings, have moved CRS reference services closer to our clients and made the most of the Service's limited space. Congressional acceptance of this activity is indicated by the fact that the Rayburn, Longworth, and Russell Reference Centers cleared more than 51,000 requests in fiscal 1977. Our request for eight new positions will allow us to staff fully the recently opened House Annex Reference Center and a proposed new center in the Cannon House Office Building.

The vast majority of our services must be "on-line", available to Members and congressional staff when they are working. We have, however, identified certain activities which can be handled by modified night shifts, using existing space and making more efficient use of other existing, expensive facilities. In additional to our continuing efforts to convert existing positions to a night shift mode, additional positions are required to cope with an expanding, more complicated workload; most of these additional positions will be on the night shifts.

158.

Emphasis on addition of research and policy analysis positions during the growth of the
CRS since 1970 led to an insufficient strengthening of information and reference service
staffing, although Member and committee requests increased from 105,000 in 1971 to a
projected 183,000 for fiscal 1979. Constituent requests increased correspondingly.

a. (+5) Five positions are requested to establish a night shift operation in the Library Services Division. Master file and hard copy operations of the automated Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) could be handled particularly well during hours outside the normal working day. SDI, which is gradually being offered to all congressional offices, contains citations to selected articles, pamphlets, documents and CRS reports, enabling recipients to keep abreast of new publications in their specific fields of interest. Practically all of the work is done with reproduction machines or microfiche cameras which can be effectively utilized during the evenings.

b. (+9) Nine positions are requested for the "fast response" Congressional Reference Division, for creation of night shift operations with similar advantages to those described above. The night staff, answering the increasing number of more routine, less complex reference inquiries, will help insure that rapid service can be provided on the thousands of urgent but more recurring requests for newspaper searches, books, documents, and kits of material on over 80 popular subjects. It will also enable the day reference staff to concentrate on the rush requests requiring immediate response as well as on the rising number of more complex reference questions.

159.

3.

c. (+1) One additional position is requested for development, installation and maintenance of the Inquiry Status Information System (ISIS), for which two minicomputers have been procured and installed. Space for this position is available at the computer site. ISIS will provide instant access to the status of all pending (uncompleted) requests and, through provision of overreference activities. night operation reports, improve management capabilities in both research and

Management and administration

+ 4 + $ 46,434

effectively used at night. CRS has made great strides in the application of word processing equipment which could be Addition of a secretarial pool in the evening will be responsive to the recommendations of congressional staff studies that CRS provide more support to and will tap a new part time secretarial market. its research functions, will make more efficient use of existing space and equipment, The four positions requested are also

qualified typists in the secretarial pool. urgently required for night data input to ISIS, a function which can be performed by

160.

Travel increases are requested for regular travel ($4,200) and attendance at
meetings ($2,700) to cover the higher costs of air fares and the increase in
per diem rates, and to cover the actual cost of local travel in fiscal 1977
($1,475).

Rent, communications and utilities. + 92,966

This category covers rental of microfiche reproduction equipment, photocopy
equipment, terminals associated with subscription data bases, word processing
equipment and miscellaneous equipment such as telecopiers, teletypewriters and
sound baffling devices. It also includes charges for local and long distance
telephone service and for postage. Increases requested to maintain the current
service in this category cover: (1) increased costs for rental of equipment
in use in the CRS during fiscal 1977 ($55,200); (2) the fiscal 1977 costs of
local telephone service ($11,266); (3) the fiscal 1977 costs of long distance
telephone service and the increased rates generated by establishment of the
Multischedule Private Lines Tariff effective June 6, 1977 ($22,600); and (4)
the fiscal 1977 level of postage costs based on the most recent postage samplings
conducted by the Library ($3,900).

Printing and reproduction ..........

38,000

The current level increases are requested to cover the 9 percent increase in
GPO costs as announced in GPO Circular Letter No. 135, dated April 15, 1977.
This rate increase applies to printing of publications ($23,000) and printing
of forms ($3,500). The object class increase also covers the increased cost
of microfilm raw materials and microfilm processing ($11,500).

161.

The amount requested to sustain the current level in this object class is the
largest because of the wide variety of services covered. Included are graphics
services, loyalty investigations, services of other agencies, tuition and
training, professional and consultant services, and data base subscriptions.

The increases requested are the result of (1) the fiscal 1977 cost of providing
graphics services to Members and committees of Congress as well as a 10 percent
increase in the cost of providing those services ($43,700); (2) an 8 percent
increase in the cost of having security investigations conducted and the annuali-
zation of the current turnover rate in sensitive positions requiring such investi-
gations ($7,000); (3) the necessity of reimbursing the Department of Justice and
the Energy Research and Development Administration for continued use of their
data bases which had been provided free of charge until 1977 ($37,000); (4) the
increased cost of providing the current level of training to continue to enhance
research capabilities through staff development ($8,000); (5) the increased rates
for professional and consultant services contracted to prepare research studies
for Members and committees of Congress ($60,000); and (6) price increases in the
costs of access to modeling, statistical, informational, and bibliographic data
bases currently used to perform analysis and provide data in response to Congress-
ional requests ($170,000).

Supplies and materials .....

$ 25,442

The increase requested in this category covers an estimated 10 percent increase
in the cost of office supplies and the increased cost of pamphlets and documents
used in kits prepared by the CRS on topics of current legislative interest
which are maintained in order to quickly respond to Congressional inquiries on
subjects for which there are a large number of similar requests.

162.

Grāmatas

Legislative Branch Appropriations for 1979: Hearings Before a Subcommittee ...