Objective 6. Encourage the private sector (comprising organizations which are not directly tax-supported) to become an active partner in the development of the National Program. The private sector has long been involved in using and providing information, and has built up a large body of expertise in handling information. In recent years it has initiated many new types of information services. Two distinct components of this sector can be identified as having the capacity to make special contributions to the National Program; the special libraries and information centers (in both for-profit and not-forprofit organizations); and various service organizations. Special libraries and information centers in the private sector in business and industry, in museums and hospitals, and in other organizations of all kinds, often have important collections of material and the capability of providing quick, up-todate analytical service for their own organizations. They are user-oriented, have frequently taken advantage of new technology, and have developed tools to assist them to serve their users more effectively. They have a history of informal cooperation. Certain segments of the private sector have developed new types of information services for sale to information users of all kinds, including libraries in the public and private sectors. Many of these services employ unconventional products which derive from applications of the new technology, such as microfiche, video cassettes, on-line, computerized data banks, facsimile transmission, and CATV. In some cases, the new services represent innovative extensions of past practices. Taken together, the new commercial and other private sector information services are growing rapidly in number, function, and value. Since information has an economic value of its own, the use of commercial and other private sector information services is becoming accepted as a reliable and cost-effective method of obtaining information. While little precedent exists for incorporating private sector resources and services into the country's functional information structure, it seems essential that they be made an integral part of any National Program. Objective 7. Establish a locus of Federal responsibility charged with implementing the national network and coordinating the National Program under the policy guidance of the National Commission. The National Commission is a policy-making and planning body. It is not empowered by law to operate programs. What is needed, as a matter of first priority, is a locus of Federal responsibility, some agency in the Federal establishment, where policies with respect to library and information service activities can be transplanted into action. Such an agency's initial responsibilities would include: implementing a nationwide network, coordinating the National Program, and putting into practice related policies enunciated by the National Commission. It would also have authority to make grants and contracts, establish standards and encourage their adoption, and undertake other functions consistent with the Commission's policies to implement a program of national concern. One of the most important issues to be resolved in pursuing a National Program of Library and Information Services is deciding what kind of permanent operating agency is required at a Federal level for this purpose and recommending where the agency should be located in the government. It may not, strictly speaking, be necessary to create a new Federal agency. It may be that the proposed functions of the National Program could be assigned to several existing agencies merely by broadening their responsibilities. The important thing is that the new National Program will require new administrative and operational functions and that, at present, there seems to be no natural home to accommodate them. The Commission firmly believes that the responsibility of the agency, whether old or new, should be neither all-encompassing, nor authoritarian, nor prescriptive, nor regulatory, but rather, that it should be supportive and coordinating. This agency is seen as one which would encourage cooperative efforts at every level and which would coordinate backup national services. It would have no control whatsoever over the content of the information flowing over the nationwide network. It would, however, be backed by legislation to enable it to obtain the necessary funding from the Congress for meeting the crucial needs of the National Program. It would also be authorized to require compliance with standards for nationwide compatibility as a condition of continued funding. Whatever central authority is eventually established to direct the National Program, local autonomy and the maximum degree possible of local self-determination should be one of the program's major tenets. The variations of needs and existing levels of services and resources are so great that it would be difficult for a central authority to be fully cognizant of the diverse needs of all. It is not yet clear where an agency responsible for library and information service belongs in the organizational hierarchy of the Federal Government, or whether there is an existing agency to which this role would be appropriate. Three existing national agencies have been mentioned as possibilities. (1) The Library of Congress; (2) The Office of Libraries and Learning Resources, U.S. Office of Education; and (3) The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Recognizing the importance of the relationship between the proposed program and the private sector, some people have suggested that the new responsibilities and functions be assigned to a quasi-governmental agency organized along the lines of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It is far from clear at the moment what the best solution might be, and the Commission, therefore, feels that these and other alternatives should be thoroughly investigated. The Commission cannot stress strongly enough the urgency attached to finding a suitable home in government for implementing, coordinating and integrating library and information service on a national scale. Objective 8. Plan, develop and implement a nationwide network of library and information service. The National Commission believes that only by interrelating the pluralistic cooperative programs of the past and providing a national frame of reference for future development will the nation be able to achieve optimum exploitation of the rich information and knowledge resources in the United States. The next section describes the main elements of the proposed nationwide network whose purpose, as indicated earlier, is to tie together information systems at all levels; Federal, multistate, individual state, and local, as well as compatible systems found in the private sector. The aim is to permit rapid delivery of needed services and materials to people in all jurisdictions without artificial institutional or geographic constraints. Meeting the above eight priority objectives constitutes the sum of the Commission's proposed program. It attacks problems and deficiencies on a broad front and provides a comprehensive approach toward their solution. In some instances, existing programs would be strengthened or reoriented. In other cases, the Commission would initiate new programssuch as the nationwide network. To bring this all about will require new legislation. This legislation would need to: define the total program; assign responsibilities and functions within the Federal Government to relevant agencies; provide needed authorizations; specify the criteria for participation in the network; and authorize multiyear appropriations commensurate with program and accountability requirements. The Nationwide Network Concept A nationwide network of libraries and information centers means an integrated system encompassing state networks, multistate networks, and specialized networks in the public and private sectors. The Federal Government would force no library or information service to join the network, but it would provide technical inducements and funding incentives to state governments and the private sector to strengthen their ability to affiliate. At first, network affiliation is expected to occur organizationally through formal agreements or contractual relationships among groups of libraries and other information facilities. But later, the Federal Government would provide financial and other incentives to the states and to the private sector to enable them to achieve working interconnection. In certain specific instances, the Federal Government would assume responsibility for the interstate portion of the network's activity. Specifically, it would collaborate with appropriate professional societies in promulgating interstate technical standards, and it would support the introduction of additional computer and telecommunications facilities as needed for interstate purposes, and help establish protocols governing the way transactions are handled by the network. The commercial communication carriers are already building up their capacity to handle the type of traffic which is expected to flow over a nationwide network of libraries and information centers. Within the National Program here advanced, the Commission sees the national network as a flexible, voluntary, and evolving confederation of those who deal with the nation's vast information resources. The following pages discuss major Federal responsibilities as identified by the National Com mission. (1) To encourage and promulgate standards. Without doubt, an essential function, to be performed by the agency responsible for implementing the nationwide network, will be that of encouraging and guiding the development and adoption of common standards and common practices, adherence to which is implicit in system design and implementation of a nationwide information network. These standards include those required to assure interconnection between intrastate networks, multistate networks, and specialized networks in the public and private sectors. The importance of establishing standards at the national level cannot be overstated. It is the principal method for achieving economies of scale and reducing duplication among libraries and other members of the information community. Current research in computer networking clearly indicates the need for standards covering a variety of areas, including computer hardware and software, access protocols, data communications, data standards, data elements and codes, and bibliographic standards. Careful attention to standards problems and requirements at the design stage can significantly reduce the incompatibilities and interconnection problems that arise when independently developed systems are integrated into a coherent operating network. The establishment of standards late in the network development process would be disruptive, costly, and, frequently, ineffective. The Institute for Computer Sciences and Technology (ICST) at the National Bureau of Standards has governmentwide responsibility for developing mandatory Fed |