Krents, Harold, member of the board of directors of Recording for the Page 74 Markuson, Barbara Evans, project director, Cooperative Bibliographic Center for Indiana Libraries, Indianapolis, Ind., prepared statement of 31 Martin, Allie Beth, prepared statement of- 5 Trezza, Alphonse F., executive director, National Commission on Libraries and Information Science: Prepared statement of____ 49 Letter with enclosures to Chairman Brademas, dated December 55 APPENDIX Alternatives for Financing the Public Library. Foote, Marcelle K., director, Indiana State Library, State of Indiana, In- 85 350 171 349 349 350 Toward a National Program for Library and Information Services: goals for action 237 LIBRARY SERVICES EXTENSION MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1975 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SELECT EDUCATION OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:40 a.m., in Room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. John Brademas (Chairman of the subcommittee), presiding. Members present: Representatives Brademas, Lehman, Miller, Peyser, and Pressler. Staff members present: Jack G. Duncan, counsel; Thomas Birch, legislative assistant; Christopher T. Cross, minority legislative as sociate. [Text of H.R. 11233 follows:] [H.R. 11233, 94th Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To amend the Library Services and Construction Act to extend the authorizations of appropriations contained in such Act, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) section 4(a)(1) of the Library Services and Construction Act (20 U.S.C. 351b(a)(1)), hereinafter in this Act referred to as the "Act", is amended by striking out "and" immediately after "1975," and by inserting immediately before the period at the end thereof the following: ", such sums as may be necessary for the period beginning July 1, 1976, and ending September 30, 1976, $100,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977, $110,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978, $130,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1979, and such sums as may be necessary for the fiscal years ending September 30, 1980, and September 30, 1981". (b) Section 4(a) (2) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 351b (a) (2)) is amended by striking out "and" immediately after "1975," and by inserting immediately before the period at the end thereof the following: ", and such sums as may be necessary for the period beginning July 1, 1976, and ending September 30, 1976, and for the fiscal years ending September 30, 1977, September 30, 1978, September 30, 1979, September 30, 1980, and September 30, 1981". (c) Section 4(a) (3) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 351b(a)(3)) is amended by striking out "and" immediately after "1975," and by inserting immediately before the period at the end thereof the following: ". such sums as may be necessary for the period begining July 1, 1976, and ending September 30, 1976, $10,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977, $15,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978, $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1979, and such sums as may be necessary for the fiscal years ending September 30, 1980, and September 30, 1981". (d) Section 4(a) (4) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 351b(a) (4)) is amended by striking out "and" immediately after "1975," and by inserting immediately before the period at the end thereof the following: ", the period beginning July 1, 1976, and ending September 30, 1976, and the fiscal years ending September 30, 1977, September 30, 1978, September 30, 1979, September 30, 1980, and September 30, 1981". SEC. 2. (a) The Act (20 U.S.C. 351 et seq.) is amended by inserting immediately after section 7 the following new section: "ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS "SEC. 8. The amount expended by any State, from an allotment received under this Act for any fiscal year, for administrative costs in connection with any program or activity carried out by such State under this Act shall be matched by such State from funds other than Federal funds.". (b) Section 102(b) of the Act (20 U.S.C. 353 (b)) is amended by inserting immediately after "Subject to" the following: "the provisions of section 8 and". Mr. BRADEMAS. The Subcommittee on Select Education will come to order for the purpose of oversight hearings on the operation of the programs authorized under the Library Services and Construction Act and on proposals to extend that act. The Chair would note that the act expires at the end of the fiscal year 1976, and that the new congressional budget timetable makes it imperative that we begin the renewal process for the Library Services and Construction Act as soon as possible. The Library Services and Construction Act, which was initially passed in 1964, has been very important in extending library service to special target groups such as the handicapped, the aging, the hospitalized, the bilingual, and the disadvantaged, both rural and urban. The Library Services and Construction Act also emphasizes assistance to metropolitan libraries that serve as regional resource centers, and strengthening State library administrative agencies responsible for coordinating services on a statewide basis. Library Services and Construction Act matching grants have enabled communities throughout the country to build new libraries and remodel outdated ones, and the program also has promoted cooperation among different types of libraries across jurisdictional lines. The subcommittee is pleased to have with us today representatives from libraries across the country. We are also pleased to have with us Ervin J. Gaines, executive director of the Urban Libraries Council; and Alphonse F. Trezza, Executive Director of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. Finally, we will have a panel representing the Administration. The Chair would also like to announce that the subcommittee will also hear from witnesses on a proposal, H.R. 10999, which would authorize the Secretary of HEW to distribute funds to the Recording for the Blind, Inc., to assist in carrying out certain projects. This bill has been introduced by Mr. Quie, the ranking minority member of the Education and Labor Committee, and myself, and we look forward to hearing your views on this particular measure. Let me first welcome the panel representing the American Library Association; Allie Beth Martin, president of the ALA, from Oklahoma; John A. Humphry, assistant commissioner for libraries, New York State Library; Edward Ekman, trustee of the North Kingstown Public Library of Rhode Island; Beth A. Hamilton, executive director of the Illinois Regional Library Council, Chicago; and Barbara E. Markuson, project director of the Cooperative Bibliographic Center for Indiana Libraries in Indianapolis. We are very pleased to have you with us. I will be pleased before we hear from the first witness to yield to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Peyser. Mr. PEYSER. I thank the chairman for yielding, and I briefly want to say that I think it is of great importance not only to have the oversight and reports that we will be receiving from you but also the very definite effort that we will make under the leadership of our chairman, Mr. Brademas, who has been certainly one of the great friends in the library system throughout this country, to not only maintain this type of a program at a time of economic stress, but to do whatever we can to increase and encourage this program. I feel that in these times, everything dealing with education, as libraries do, should be emphasized and not deemphasized. And I think this is a very much bipartisan approach that the chairman and myself have on this, and I merely wanted to state that as a matter of record. We certainly welcome you here this morning and are anxious to hear your testimony. Mr. BRADEMAS. Thank you very much. Ms. Martin. STATEMENT OF ALLIE BETH MARTIN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, TULSA, OKLA.; PANEL OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: JOHN A. HUMPHRY, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR LIBRARIES, NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY, ALBANY, N.Y.; EDWARD EKMAN, TRUSTEE, NORTH KINGSTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY, NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I.; BETH A. HAMILTON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ILLINOIS REGIONAL LIBRARY COUNCIL, CHICAGO, ILL.; BARBARA E. MARKUSON, PROJECT DIRECTOR, COOPERATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHIC CENTER FOR INDIANA LIBRARIES, INDIANAPOLIS, IND. Ms. MARTIN. My name is Allie Beth Martin. I am director of the Tulsa City/County Library System, in Tulsa, Okla., and was recently appointed by House Speaker Carl Albert to serve on the Advisory Committee to the White House Conference on Library and Information Services. I am also president of the American Library Association, which I am representing here today. ALA is a nonprofit, educational organization of over 35,000 members, including librarians, trustees, educators, and library users. I am here today on behalf of our members to urge your support for extension of the Library Services and Construction Act. But, first, Mr. Chairman, I would like to convey to you our great appreciation for the strong leadership you have demonstrated in support of the White House Conference on Library and Information Services. This morning my summary will cover three points-the importance and value of LSCA and the accomplishments of the act, amendments being recommended by the American Library Association, and brief comments on the administration's library proposals. I shall touch lightly on the first point, the importance and the value of LSCA as my colleagues are prepared to address this point, but I do want to say very briefly that LSCA support has enabled libraries to extend and improve services to groups whoses access to libraries has been limited or nonexistent-low income families, bilingual families, the elderly, persons isolated by reason of distance or physical handi cap, the institutionalized. If the program should be discontinued, these groups would stand to lose the most. We have five suggestions for amendments to LSCA which are being recommended by the American Library Association. The first of these relates to the authorization. The American Library Association urges an extension of the Library Services and Construction Act, to allow time for the findings of the White House Conference to be collected and analyzed before major revision of Federal library legislation is considered. We recommend a 5-year extension, with specific authorization for the first 3 years, and for the remaining 2, such sums as necessary depending upon the findings of the State and National Conferences on Library and Information Services. While we recommend that authorizations for titles I and II be continued at existing levels, we strongly urge the committee to raise the authorization level for LSCA title III so that over a 3-year period it reaches at least $50 million. Our second recommendation for an amendment covers incentives for State support of libraries. The committee may want to give attention to the matching provisions of the act. A strong case can be made, in our opinion, for amending the law to require matching of Federal funds provided under title I by State funds, instead of allowing the local match option now possible. To allow sufficient time for States without aid programs to establish them, we propose that any State matching requirement be deferred in the legislation until 2 or perhaps 3 years after enactment. Our third recommendation for an amendment covers State administration. 1 At present, there is no limit on the amount of LSCA funds the States can use for administrative purposes. A 1974 GAO report to Congress recommended that such a limitation be established as one way of helping to insure that the target groups-such as the handicapped, the bilingual, the disadvantaged-are served in accordance with the purposes of the act. The association also supports this and suggests the committee may want to consider establishing a limit of no more than 10 percent of a State's LSCA title I funds that can be used for State administration and indirect costs. Our fourth recommendation for an amendment covers advance funding. The American Library Association further proposes that the extension of the Library Services and Construction Act make explicit the provision for advance or forward funding contained in the General Education Provisions Act to emphasize the urgent need for timely funding of LSCA. I also want to mention the special needs of urban metropolitan libraries. The central city library systems of major metropolitan areas have special needs that should not be overlooked. Because they are older and larger, they have rich collections lacking in the smaller libraries on their periphery. In addition to serving resident of outlying 1 "Federal Library Support Programs: Progress and Problems," GAO report to Congress, Dec. 30, 1974 (MWD-75-4). |