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In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the American Library Association requests that the Committee take into consideration the Library of Congress' attempt to present a very basic budget during this year of austerity. We respectfully request that the Committee approve the full request of $192,900,000.

Sincerely,

Filent looke

Eileen D. Cooke

Director

ALA Washington Office

EDC:ss
Attachment

LIBRARIANS COMMENT ON LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SERVICES

Librarians from across the country have written concerning the importance of the support services provided by the Library of Congress to their own library operations and to improved access by their users to needed information and materials. A sampling of their comments follows:

ARIZONA The library had planned to have online access to the Library of Congress authority files (authorized name and subject headings) in the future. We feel that it is vital to have such access to LC's files in order to reduce the cost and inconsistencies of our local cataloging. We are users of OCLC which distributes LC-supplied bibliographic materials, but the problem is that no one other than the National Cataloging Authority (which is LC) can provide up-todate and accurate access to the base authority records. Improving LC's automated bibliographic systems and its dissemination is important to libraries of all types throughout the country.

CONNECTICUT The cataloging work performed at the Library of Congress has come to be the accepted standard throughout the country and as such has eliminated an untold amount of duplicative cataloging in local libraries, large and small. If LC's MARC (machine-readable cataloging) program or other vital services were reduced, local libraries would be faced with a corresponding need to reinstate more comprehensive cataloging programs at the expense of direct services to the public. The net cost to the thousands of towns, municipalities and institutions which depend upon LC services will only worsen the already difficult financial situation which most of us are in.

GEORGIA

The Library of Congress, with its staff of highly trained specialists, is much better equipped to catalog many publications that find surprisingly high use in libraries all over the country. Why, you may ask should certain cataloging data be standardized? A loose comparison may be made with the U.S. Bureau of Standards. If an item is to be loaned from library A to library B for the use of a patron of library B, then that item must be commonly identifiable by both libraries. With some publications this is simple; with others it is not.

ILLINOIS - At our library 87.5 percent of the cataloging information comes directly from the Library of Congress, leaving only 12.5 percent to be created locally. A conservative estimate would place the value of LC services and products to this library in the range of $600,000 per year. At the same time, a good portion of our unique 12.5 percent goes into the data base from which LC makes cataloging information available to other libraries. Many libraries contribute to make LC services more comprehensive, but most are dependent on LC for the majority of their cataloging information.

INDIANA

It is perhaps not as widely known as it should be that the Library of Congress directly supports the research and academic programs of libraries throughout the nation. LC establishes national procedures with which other libraries cooperate for the good of all. LC shares important information with other libraries through its publications which are issued on timely professional topics. LC helps to develop national standards to which other libraries adhere. LC's technical expertise and leadership on certain issues such as the implementation of new cataloging rules are of enormous importance to the effective work of other libraries. The staff of LC is impressively committed and dedicated and has been willing to share its expertise with librarians in the field in many ways.

MARYLAND

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It might be interesting to note that even as a small academic library, we depend on the Library of Congress for the following services: 1) Catalog Card Services, 2) Classification Standardization, 3) Materials for the Blind, 4) Automated Cataloging Services, 5) Interlibrary Loan Services. Such services can only be provided by a national library such as LC.

MASSACHUSETTS

If the Library of Congress were not able to catalog a popular book and disseminate that record with dispatch, which it is learning how to do better through automation techniques, that book would have to be cataloged over and over again by each library buying it. So if an "easy" book takes only 15 minutes to catalog (difficult ones may take up to an hour) and is accomplished at the minimum wage of $2.65 by one hundred libraries, the accumulated cost is $66.25. That is an unrealistically low estimate, but it gives a notion of the enormous amount of dollars LC saves taxpayers and other services by its rapid, high quality cataloging service.

MICHIGAN - Supposing every member of Congress had a small bit of research to do on exactly the same topic and each of you hired a professional researcher to find the same bit of information and write up a one-half page abstract? Would you not consider that duplication a waste of the taxpayers' money? It would seem more efficient and economical to hire one person and then distribute the report. This is what the Library of Congress does for us. Because a librarian there does catalog materials, and because I have access to that information quickly through computer networks and in printed form, I am able to provide much faster access in information for my patrons. Citizens can only be as well-informed as our ability to have access to current materials.

OREGON

The Congress and the Executive Department have wisely decreed that handicapped individuals should have equal access to education. The Library of Congress programs for services to the blind are an essential resource to all educational institutions as they work towards this goal for the visually handicapped. Without this national resource, these efforts would themselves be substantially handicapped.

PENNSYLVANIA The efforts of the Library of Congress to provide centralized cataloging information available rapidly by putting it in machine-readable form and, thus, making it available through computer terminals must be commended as being one of the major breakthroughs in the operation of libraries during this century. I assure you that this is no understatement. The efforts of LC to be the hub of a network of the nation's libraries have had the happy effect of making much-needed information available to library users much more quickly than ever before.

TENNESSEE

Most of the nation's libraries depend on cataloging records produced through automation by the Library of Congress. Any reduction in appropriations will result in long delays for libraries in receiving cataloging information, thereby requiring individual libraries throughout the country to manually catalog materials. This duplication of effort will be far more costly than the funding needed by LC for supplying the automated services

American Library Association

Washington Office

March 1979

This letter is submitted on behalf of the American Library Association, a nonprofit educational organization whose 35,000 members are dedicated to the improvement of library service. We request that it be made part of the hearing record on FY 1980 appropriations for the Government Printing Office.

In many respects the concern of the American library community is a clear reflection of the public concern in the area of access to government information. Librarians throughout the nation serve the public in an intermediary capacity each day. It is the librarian's duty to know what information is available via publications of the government and what information is not. This role, in turn, leads to an awareness on the librarian's part of the diverse interests, information needs, and the expectations of the public.

It is because of our intimate knowledge of the usefulness of government publications, as well as our belief that the citizenry should have access to materials printed at public expense, that we support the budget request of $23,037,000 for GPO's Superintendent of Documents.

Because information is not a consumable commodity, making its existence widely known and available is to reap the greatest benefit from those dollars spent on its generation. Freely accessible government information increases accountability while also raising the consciousness of the public in topics ranging from the arts to zoology.

In recent months ALA has been working closely with the staff of the Joint Committee on Printing, and representatives of many other interested parties, including the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, to discuss possible revision of 44 USC.

Although many of our concerns focus on the Depository Library Program, it is important to note that there are over 100,000 libraries in the United States, only 1,250 of which are depository libraries. Nearly all of these libraries, whether serving elementary school children or university scholars, rely to some degree on a variety of publications printed by GPO.

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The thousands of non-depository libraries, like depository libraries, spend large sums of money acquiring and processing these publications, as well as assisting users in identifying appropriated sources of information and making the most efficient use of them. The sheer number and complexity of materials available from the government has led many librarians to seek special training before working with government publications. Most libraries acquiring even a modest number of publications on a regular basis find it necessary to establish special procedures for all aspects of the processing operation. In short, libraries make a substantial investment when making federal publications available. Any increase in the price of these materials will further shift the responsibility of the federal government to keep the public informed to the local library.

We would also like to put in a word for the citizens that take a personal interest in following particular government activities. Many government publications currently subsidized by appropriated funds are unique and indispensable. The Community Services Administration, for example announced in the September 28, 1978, Federal Register (43 F.R. 44532-44534) that it will use only the Federal Register to "...communicate proposed rules to grantees and will require grantees to have access to the daily publication of the Federal Register either through direct subscription or a circulating copy."

In another instance the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Interior announced the availability of a supplement to an environmental impact statement relating to the proposed Alaska national interest lands (43 F.R. 50055-50055). Had an interested party not received the original 1974 document, they would not be aware of the availability of this document, except for the announcement in the Federal Register. This notice lists 500 libraries which were sent copies of the document on a one-time basis, as the publication is not a depository item. We are gratified that the Office of the Secretary made the effort to be certain this publication is available to the public, but we would like to point out that their efforts would have limited utility if only commercial interests could afford publications such as the Federal Register.

As we mentioned above, the Depository Library Program is a major concern of our membership. Briefly stated, the program has improved dramatically in recent years, but the job is not yet complete. Many publications are still not available to depository libraries, and as some take the form of computer tape or another medium, we may lose those as well. The government's move to new technology should not lead to even more limited access on the part of the public.

Also of concern to depository librarians is the expansion of the Federal Information Centers program under the General Services Administration. While depository libraries offer in-depth assistance by professionals possessing graduate degrees and special training in the field of government publications, they receive neither funding for telephone communications with agencies in Washington, federally supported staff training, nor anything beyond the publications available through the depository program. At the same time Congress recently enacted a law which expands the Federal Information Centers program (PL 95-491) which utilizes minimally trained employees at a subprofessional level, and locates them in small offices with only a small number of resource publications. The American Library Association favors the continued investment in the already successful Depository Library Program.