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effectiveness of government meetings by conducting formal educational programs monthly.

During a four week period in April and May, NCLIS Executive Director Toni Carbo Bearman took a leave of absence to serve as a Regents' Lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles. The purpose of the lectureship is to bring to the University distinguished individuals from non-academic senior level positions to provide for the enrichment of the instructional process. During her brief tenure at the University of California, Dr. Bearman presented lectures about the Commission and its activities at four campuses of the University of California and had informal interactions with the faculty, students, and staff.

Diane Yassenoff Rafferty joined the staff as a part-time Research Associate on November 13, 1983. Mrs. Rafferty has a Masters of Library Science degree and worked as a reference librarian at the Office of Technology Assessment before coming to NCLIS. Her major responsibilities include program management of the fee study and assistance to the Commission's legislative program.

INTERNAL OPERATIONS

During August and September the staff sought advice from a management consultant about work load, time management, and communications. The consultant reported quite favorably on the organizational strengths of the agency and made some

recommendations to help relieve the pressures on the staff that come from working in a very small organization like NCLIS. The staff members have discussed the consultant's report and are implementing his suggestions.

In December 1983, NCLIS fully automated its office with a Syntrex minicomputer that has 30 megabytes of storage, 11 remote terminals, and several printers. Each staff member has immediate access to word processing, intra-office communications, and many other computer programs. The office is now fully capable of receiving and transmitting information via electronic mail and also has access to online databases. By early summer the office automation equipment was upgraded to include SynPro, which integrates all the functions needed for personal computing, automatic file searching, word processing and communications, and which reads floppy disks from other micro-computers.

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VI. Future Plans

Ith

'n FY 1984 the Commission designated four major program areas that would encompass all its work in the foreseeable future. These four areas for which objectives have been defined through FY 1986 are: Access to Information; Improving

Library/Information Services to Meet Changing Needs;

Information Technology and Productivity; and Policy, Planning, and Advice. NCLIS will continue to work with the Executive and Legislative branches in areas of national significance to the library and information community and the users of library and information services. For example, the Commission will work with the Administration on Aging and ACTION to develop cooperative efforts to improve library and information services to the elderly. It will continue to work with the Department of State in the development of alternatives to UNESCO programs in the library, information and archives area. NCLIS will provide technical assistance to the Congress in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and will be available to aid the Congress on other pertinent legislation and related matters. In response to a specific request from the Congress, NCLIS will study the growth of censorship in school and public libraries during the past ten years and report its findings by the end of January 1986. The Commission will continue to work closely with the entire library and information community in all its areas of concern.

Keeping in mind its four comprehensive program areas, the Commission has carefully selected program objectives for FY 1985 and 1986 that will produce useful results and will help set policy for and improve library and information services in this country. With support from the Council on Library Resources, NCLIS will continue its assessment of the role of fees in supporting library and information services in public and academic libraries. NCLIS

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