This task force was also responsible for the removal of a substantial barrier to special library participation in OCLC, the largest of the bibliographic utilities. The OCLC requirement that libraries contribute all of their current Roman alphabet online cataloging to the OCLC data base was perceived as a major barrier to participation by special libraries in the private for-profit sector. In response to an inquiry from the president of SLA and the task force chairman, OCLC clarified its requirement and agreed to "accept the judgement of the library" and "place the burden [on the library] of honoring in good faith the requirement to contribute all holdings other than those that would generally create security or competitive difficulties."

The draft report of the task force includes 13 specific recommendations for action grouped into four areas of concern. These are: 1) improving awareness of special library participation in networking and encouraging wider participation; 2) segregating the myths and realities of barriers and constraints to special library participation in networking, and acting to remove or reduce the real ones; 3) coping with the impact of rapidly changing technology; and 4) meeting future network implementation needs. Recommendations in each of these areas presume some future NCLIS participation.

A preliminary report on the task force's findings was delivered by Patricia Berger, Chief of the Library and Information Services Division, U.S. National Bureau of Standards, and chairman of the task force, at the June Commission meeting. During FY 1983, NCLIS will be examining the report and its recommendations to develop plans for implementation. The report will be published in the spring of 1983 by NCLIS and the Special Libraries Association. The Task Force on Library and Information Services to Cultural Minorities was established in April 1980 to "review the status of library and information programs in support of the library and information needs and interests of minority groups." This responded to the Commission's legislative mandate and also followed up on the examination of user needs at the White House Conference. Under the chairmanship of E.J. Josey, Chief of the Bureau of Specialist Library Services, New York State Education Department, the task force completed its work in August 1982 and has sent the draft report to the Commission for presentation at its November meeting. The report contains 42 recommendations for strengthening and promoting library services for minorities in five broad areas: needs, materials and resources, personnel, programming, and funding. Elements treated in the recommendations include legislation, distribution of existing funds, cooperative ventures, recruitment of minorities into librarianship, pre- and in-service education of library personnel, collection development and preservation, and literacy programs. The findings and recommendations in the report will be

helpful to libraries as they endeavor to provide basic library and information services adequate to meet the needs of their local communities in general, and of their cultural minorities in particular. The Task Force on Community Information and Referral Services was established in February 1980 and given the charge to "review the status of community information and referral (CI&R) in libraries and social service agencies and to make recommendations to NCLIS on the appropriate role for libraries in the field of CI&R in the future." This was a followup effort on another of the White House Conference's major themes, library and information services for meeting personel needs. The task force, under the chairmanship of Robert Croneberger, Director, Memphis-Shelby County Public Library and Information Center, has completed its work, and the final report with recommendations was submitted to the Commission in 1982. The report validates the assumption that CI&R is a vital service that can and should be provided by libraries as an important extension of quality reference service in meeting the changing needs of communities in the 1980s and beyond. Task force recommendations include: educating all parties, librarians, legislators, and the general public about CI&R; making provision for CI&R in library legislation at all levels (federal, state and local); extensive promotional efforts; and conducting research on the impact of CI&R on users and on the application of automation to CI&R. This report should benefit groups working to implement the resolutions from the White House Conference on Library and Information Services dealing with community information and referral, and some of its

recommendations are particularly relevant to the proposed revision of the Library Services and Construction Act.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL LIBRARY COOPERATION PROJECT

In 1980, NCLIS and the Library of Congress undertook a study to determine ways to improve the coodination of library services and activities within and among the various levels of government (federal, state and local) to meet national, state and local needs. The project director for this study was Alphonse F. Trezza, former NCLIS Executive Director. The study report, Toward a Federal Library and Information Services Network: A Proposal, was published in the spring of 1982 by the Library of Congress.

The study found that interactions between and among federal libraries are generally not as frequent or effective as those between federal and non-federal libraries. Federal and non-federal libraries often rely on each other for resources beyond their own holdings, but these are frequently informal arrangements. Interactions between

federal libraries, even within the same agency, range from sophisticated computer-mediated intra-agency networks to virtually no interactions other than traditional interlibrary loans.

The report recommends the establishment of a federal library and information services network based on existing strengths and organization, and the development of a central federal holdings database using the extensive computerized records already available in a number of agencies. The report also recommends initiating and maintaining a program of in-service training to help federal libraries cope with the rapid changes in the field and improve their

effectiveness in the procurement of library materials and services. The proposed network and database would be important not only to federal libraries but also to non-federal libraries and library users throughout the country as a major resource.

NATIONAL RURAL INFORMATION SERVICES DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

A consensus is developing among those concerned with the problems of rural America that our local communities are "information poor" and that they should be assisted in "capacity building." The latter term is now frequently discussed in reports and papers on rural development. It is an all-encompassing term that, in the case of federal action, means "assisting communities in planning for and adapting to rapid social, economic and demographic change, and to increasing their ability to deliver [essential] services in rural areas."* Fundamental to this need for capacity building is a reliable, locally based information resource or information center.

P.L. 91-345, the Commission's enabling legislation, directs the Commission to pay special attention to the information needs of rural areas. The Commission's National Rural Information Services

Development Program is focused on providing better library and information services to rural America's local governments,

community institutions, businesses, and individual citizens. With the cooperation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Library and other components of USDA, the Commission has assumed leadership for this program.

The goal of the National Rural Information Services

Development Program is a restatement of the first program objective of the Commission's 1975 National Program Document: "Ensure that basic minimums of library and information services adequate to meet

* "Social and Economic Trends in Rural America"; White House Rural Development Background Paper, Washington, D.C., October 1979.

the needs of all local communities are satisfied." Consideration of this goal emphasizes that the local library is the first institution that a citizen looks to for information. The rural library is an accepted local institution, but its resources at the present time are very limited. The Commission has worked very closely during the past year with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Intermountain Community Learning/Information Services (ICLIS) Project in support of a program to strengthen rural libraries in four intermountain states-Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming-by changing the rural library into a learning/information center that is responsive to the personal, business, professional, and governmental information needs of local citizens and organizations.

Another significant activity under the Rural Information Services Development Program during FY 1982 was the joint Congressional hearing on the changing information needs of rural America and the concurrent demonstration-exhibit of the future rural community learning/information center, discussed in the preceding section.

NCLIS/IBM PARTNERSHIP

During FY 1982 the Commission took the initiative in forming a unique new partnership with the private sector. This cooperative project combines the resources of private enterprise, a major private educational institution, and an independent agency in the federal government (NCLIS) in an investigation of technology and libraries. Beginning in FY 1983, NCLIS will work with the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and the Drexel University School of Library and Information Science to encourage bright students to enter the information field and to improve cooperation and communication between the public and private sectors. IBM's contribution is to lend NCLIS highly trained personnel to work on specific projects. The goals of this new program include the following: (1) Examine the projected information environment of 1985 and the impact of information technology on various segments of the population;

(2) Help identify the qualities that make new technologies more useful and acceptable;

(3) Assist with the development of better and more effective

mechanisms of communication with major libraries, information centers, and key library and information associations; and (4) Assist with other policy issues of interest to the profession.

The Commission's agreement with IBM was finalized as the fiscal year came to a close. This project is discussed in greater detail under "Future Directions and Plans."

SHARING WITH ASSOCIATIONS

At the invitation of state and regional library groups, the Executive Director participated in library and information-related meetings around the country to describe the Commission's activities and encourage cooperation with it. Visits during FY 1982 included the following: Kentucky Library Association, Metropolitan Atlanta Library Association, Pennsylvania Library Association, 1981 Pittsburgh Conference, California State Library, Texas Library Association, New Mexico Library Association, Virginia Library Association, New Jersey Library Association, and Connecticut Chapter of the Special Libraries Association. At each meeting, in addition to giving a presentation, the Executive Director met informally with key individuals to discuss the Commission's programs and interests. While attending many of these meetings, the Executive Director was interviewed about the Commission for newspapers, professional journals and radio programs.

The Commission's professional cooperation with private sector groups included an address given by the Executive Director at the Chemical Abstract Service's 75th anniversary symposium. Dr. Bearman's speech was entitled, "Is the Past Really Prologue?" Other speakers included Edward E. David, Jr., President of Exxon Research and Engineering Company; Paul Rhyner, Ciba-Geigy Ltd., Basel, Switzerland; and Dale B. Baker, Director, Chemical Abstracts Service.

Commissioners and NCLIS staff participated in a number of major library and information science professional conferences during the fiscal year. These included the American Society for Information Science (ASIS), the Special Libraries Association (SLA), the American Library Association (ALA), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS) conferences. At the ASIS annual meeting in October 1981, the Commission sponsored a panel session entitled "Federal Information; Its Dissemination, Diffusion, Use and Usefulness." The presentation was keyed to the Commission's involvement in improving the dissemination of federal information, one of its three major goals for FY 1982.