EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To achieve its promise, the National Information Infrastructure (NII) requires that a wide array of electronic information resources be easily accessed over the emerging digital highways. The Library of Congress hosted a one-day conference, “Delivering Electronic Information in a Knowledge-Based Democracy,” to explore the public policy framework essential to creating these resources and making them broadly available. Participants from a variety of sectors contributed to wide-ranging discussions on issues related to building digital libraries, defining roles of various players, and promoting both the public interest and economic growth. Several Members of Congress, representing different parties and regions, concurred with Vice President Gore that an advanced information infrastructure can empower citizens to participate more effectively in our representative democracy, dramatically improve educational opportunities, and create new jobs. Accomplishing this involves developing a consensus on the vision for the future, involving all elements of the public and private sectors, and transforming existing institutions. The Librarian of Congress emphasized the need to sustain in the digital age the democratic equal access to information that libraries provided in the age of print. Access to networks and the creation of vast stores of online, digital, multimedia materials dramatically change the way libraries and librarians can operate. Libraries confront the task of simultaneously maintaining existing paper-based collections, digitizing selected materials, and providing access to the rapidly growing volume of information originating in digital form. Librarians will increasingly become managers, organizers, and creators of distributed sources of knowledge as compared to custodians of collections. Collaboration between the public and private sectors is essential to promoting an advanced information infrastructure. Partnerships are needed for carrying out demonstration projects, developing standards, and improving access to networked information. Participants emphasized the importance of private sector investments in building digital highways and creating electronic products and services. Government's role should be to promote private sector investment and innovation, encourage open systems, ensure the public interest, and make Government information openly available. Government can most effectively support the development of an advanced information infrastructure through policies that eliminate barriers to the application of new technologies and that promote the public good. Key topics for the public policy agenda include: DELIVERING ELECTRONIC INFORMATION IN A Summary of Proceedings INTRODUCTION On July 14, 1993, the Library of Congress convened 40 leaders from Government, the private sector, libraries, and the academic and user communities to explore issues related to electronic information delivery. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington chaired the day-long meeting and Vice President Al Gore served as honorary chair of the conference. The goal of the conference was to help shape the public policy framework for creating an advanced information infrastructure that both promotes the public interest and fosters economic growth. Although much of the debate surrounding the development of a national information infrastructure (NII) has focused on the building of the digital highways for transmitting information, this conference focused its attention on the content to be transmitted. Specifically, the conference was organized around the three following themes that are vital to creating a robust and diverse array of electronic information resources: • Building, locating, and preserving the electronic store of knowledge; • Public and private sector roles; and • Mechanisms for safeguarding intellectual property rights. The morning sessions, led by Vice President Gore and Librarian of Congress Billington, shaped the major issues involved in the development of the NII. Several Members of Congress with strong interests in this issue area also participated in the morning session. The afternoon sessions focused on the three specific themes and discussed various models for accomplishing policy objectives. The open discussion format permitted a wide-ranging debate on various aspects of building an advanced information infrastructure and resulted in a productive mingling of ideas among participants representing diverse perspectives. As stated by Dr. Billington, "We see this as a dynamic process where people present not only their own perspectives but have the chance to listen to others, to evolve thinking. We see it as a beginning of a continuing effort which we are happy to host here at the Library, to convene players in the electronic information age in order to forge new relationships, as well as move toward framing or suggesting some policies." This summary will provide highlights of the day's proceedings. The first section presents the key elements of remarks by Vice President Gore, several Members of Congress who attended the conference, and Dr. Billington. The second section gives perspectives on the evolving roles of institutions in the new digital environment as reflected in comments of the participants. The third section offers a discussion of several key issues participants saw as critical to the public policy agenda. PREPARED REMARKS Vice President Gore Reflecting the conference focus, Vice President Gore stated that digital libraries are as central to the creation of the national information infrastructure as is the development of information superhighways. He began the discussion by offering a vision of American society in the 21st Century and issuing a challenge to the conference participants. The Vice President sketched an image of a young child at home accessing, in exciting, captivating, and energizing forms, an entire universe of knowledge. This universe would be available in ways that corresponded with that child's natural curiosity, responding instantaneously to questions as they occurred to the child. The challenge, then, involved establishing a consensus on the steps needed to configure data and deliver it to the child through appropriate networks. The Vice President observed that an advanced information infrastructure will solidify the standing of America's information marketplace as the most robust and competitive in the world. The private sector will create an entirely new generation of information services, just as unimaginable as electronic mail was before the existence of Internet. To tap this enormous potential, however, the United States must make the necessary investments to build the national information superhighway. Construction of this information superhighway, the Vice President stressed, required the collaboration of the public and private sectors. He likened the effort to the construction of the interstate highway system in the 1950s and 1960s. The interstate system spawned the creation by states of a vast number of four-lane, limited access, high-quality highways. This construction frenzy occurred only after the vision of an interstate system became ubiquitous, the standards were set, and the location of the backbone interstate highway became known. In today's setting, the private sector will build the information superhighway. There will be, however, an appropriate role for the Government in supporting the advanced backbone network, setting the standards, ensuring interoperability, guaranteeing benefits to the public, and developing the vision of future generations of information products and services. In addition, Government and the private sector need to work together to extend the national information infrastructure to schools and libraries. Vice President Gore noted that the Administration has initiated several efforts as part of a new Government-wide policy for supporting the national information infrastructure. These included forging consistent and coherent telecommunications and information policies by bringing together key agencies under the aegis of the White House Information Infrastructure Task Force; enhancing public access to Government information by establishing clear dissemination guidelines through revisions to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130; and supporting networking efforts by schools and libraries through demonstration projects of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce. The Vice President concluded by observing the critical linkage between information and representative democracy. The printing press first gave Americans the civic knowledge needed to choose their political leaders. What, then, will become possible if citizens are empowered with the array of knowledge someday available through the national information infrastructure? Members of Congress Three members of Congress-Sen. Robert Kerrey (D-NE), Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA)—also offered their thoughts on creating an advanced information infrastructure. Although representing different political and regional interests, each observed that the emerging information technologies allowed us to empower citizens to make decisions about their lives and to rethink prevailing regulations and bureaucracies. All also noted the need to establish partnerships to make this future a reality. Senator Kerrey offered his vision of a digital library that would link the technology in the home to the curricula of the classrooms. From their homes, students would access the library's multimedia collections to enhance their learning in school. Senator Kerrey suggested that we take advantage of this and other information technology tools to revisit the public education systems established throughout America at the beginning of the 20th century. Noting that school boards devote the bulk of their efforts in arranging for children to come to school, he proposed a new approach centered around the knowledge students will need during the course of their lives. Implementing this proposal will require bringing together parents, teachers, information specialists, policymakers, and the business community as well as changing regulatory structures. The successful accomplishment of these goals would result additionally in the creation of new jobs and wealth. Representative Gingrich also proposed a vision of the future, one in which the intersection of the electronic and computer revolutions would reshape citizens' relationships with their Government. He saw the creation of this new vision to be the key challenge facing policymakers. The information revolution provides an opportunity to transform current structures fundamentally and to challenge existing bureaucratic structures. By 2010, Representative Gingrich forecast, we may have in place a home-based capacity for reeducation, job search, health maintenance, and other resources. He urged a debate over the potential power each citizen could have under such a system; how to maximize the opportunity to get this power; and what the Government should do to ensure that this occurs. He also challenged participants to describe these future opportunities in language understandable by the average American so that they can get "hooked on the dream." Representative Gingrich proposed information empowerment zone demonstration projects to test how to deliver information to meet the needs of the poorest Americans. Representative Markey concurred with his colleagues in noting the tremendous societal possibilities offered by the emerging information infrastructure. In a future America, a child may be able to plug into digital libraries as easily as into video games. To make this vision a reality and to meet new challenges of rapid technological change and massive global competition, Representative Markey called for updating current telecommunications rules and regulations. In addition, he advocated a diversity of competing providers of information services to the home and a redefinition of universal service in the digital era. Finally, he urged steps to protect privacy and to ensure that all Americans, regardless of income or race, have full access to the benefits of the information highway. The Librarian of Congress Dr. Billington then presented his thoughts on the role of the Library of Congress and other major research libraries in a digital world. Dr. Billington noted that the Library of |