GROWTH OF LRS AND ITS WORKLOAD IN 20 YEARS

Mr. JAYSON. Twenty years ago, when the Service was established, we had 131 employees. Let me tell you a little bit about what has been going on during those 20 years and, more specifically, about the last

year.

During those 20 years the nature of the use of the Service and the nature of the subject coverage have changed considerably. As you know, the Service tries to be flexible and to shift its organizational structure and its staffing to reflect congressional interests. We add subject specialists in new areas when congressional interests, on a longtime basis, requires it.

Twenty years ago much of our work was essentially reference work. We were digging up factual data; we prepared compilations and bibliographies and reports that were essentially the historical development of issues. We are still doing a good deal of that but today we are spending more time in preparing extensive background reports, analytical studies, pro and con reports, and reports useful in congressional oversight; we are preparing draft statements, position papers, legal opinions; we are doing translations; we hold briefings and consultations with Members and their staffs; and we are assisting committees in different aspects of their work.

Twenty years ago, during fiscal year 1947, the Legislative Reference Service handled some 23,000 inquiries with a staff of 131 people. This year, fiscal year 1967, we estimate we will have handled over 120,000 inquiries with a permanent staff of 258. While the staff has almost doubled in the 20-year period, the workload, as the Librarian mentioned, has gone up more than fivefold.

I think it was Mr. Langen who commented during the hearings last year that this really should not be surprising because it is probably comparable to the increase in workload that has taken place in almost every congressional office during that same period. As you know, the Federal Government has assumed so many more responsibilities, it is engaged in so many more programs, than it had 20 years ago in all fields social welfare, education, domestic and foreign trade, scientific research and development, space exploration, military commitments. The Government today is involved in more problems that are more difficult and more complex and more urgent than ever before, and all of this is of direct congressional interest and concern, and therefore, inevitably, it is reflected in the workload of the Legislative Reference Service.

WORK FOR COMMITTEES

Mr. ANDREWS. You do work for congressional committees as well as for Members?

Mr. JAYSON. Yes. Most of our heaviest work is for committees. Mr. ANDREWS. Do you have more requests for assistance from committees than from Members?

Mr. JAYSON. Not numberwise but in terms of effort, yes.

STEPS TAKEN TO MEET CONSTANTLY RISING WORKLOAD

During the last fiscal year, 1966, the Legislative Reference Service handled 117,000 inquiries as a total. Now, how do you handle a workload that has gone up fivefold with a staff that has hardly doubled? We have tried to absorb some of the increased workload by devising new techniques and procedurers. For example, in some instances we have realined our staff. Several years ago we established a Natural Resources Division to concentrate on such subjects as agriculture, forestry, minerals, flood control, water pollution, and the like. More recently we established a Science Policy Research Division to provide assistance to Members in science and science-related areas. During the current fiscal year we established a Reference Division to handle most of the constitutent inquiries referred to the Service, and to handle the sort of inquiries we get from Members that can be answered very quickly, almost over the telephone.

To meet recurring inquiries on the same issue or general problem, we now make much use of the multilith process. When an issue gets hot and there are many requests for reports on the same sort of thing, we multilith a general report. Each month we send to each congressional office our "green sheet," which lists the reports we multilithed during the past month. This [indicating] is the "green sheet" that will be issued this week covering reports we issued last month.

I have a few reports here; let me give you some of the titles to illustrate the types of reports that we multilith:

This report is entitled "Precedents of the House of Representatives Relating to Exclusion, Expulsion, and Censure." You realize, of course, that issues involved in the Powell case resulted in an influx of inquiries on this subject.

Here is another, "Federal Tax Sharing: Historical Development and Arguments For and Against Recent Proposals."

Here is another, "Wiretapping and Eavesdropping: An Appraisal of the Legal Issues Arising From Their Use."

Mr. ANDREWS. Do you prepare those reports on your own initiative or as a result of inquiries?

Mr. JAYSON. These are always started as the result of a request, and when we realize it is the kind of subject on which we will have other requests, in order to save time we will multilith the report.

Here is another, "Rail Rapid Transit for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area," and one on "Compensation for Victims of Crimes of Violence," and so on.

As a result of our "green sheet," which is sent automatically to congressional offices and committees monthly, more than 2,000 copies of our reports are distributed every month.

Another shortcut: We make very extensive use of xeroxing and photocopying of reports, articles, and materials to send to offices. Sometimes we find we do not have time to prepare a report of our own or that the fastest thing to do is to reproduce an article and send it to a Member's office. Last year our photocopying machines recorded over 50,000 reproductions. This year, as of the end of March, we had exceeded 650,000 reproductions, so that is rising rapidly.

We have organized teams of researchers to meet urgent issues and to turn out the more extensive studies requested of us. Our people have worked weekends and overtime throughout the year. We have

organized crash programs from time to time to meet part of exceptional backlogs. We have also turned to other departments of the Library for help from their staffs.

But when that is all said and done, we are still in rough shape because we simply have not had sufficient manpower to absorb the overall increase in our workload. We made a spot check of our arrearage on March 1 of this year. We found we had over 1,400 inquiries pending in our division. We asked our researchers to estimate the time it would take to answer them and we totaled up their information. We estimated we had a total backlog of almost 2,000 man-days of research work to complete.

WORKLOAD FLUCTUATIONS OVER THE YEAR

I brought along a chart that we keep in our Inquiry Unit, where inquiries are received from Members and committees, where they are recorded, and then distributed to the research divisions. Each day the inquiries that have been recorded are totaled up, and at the end of the week the weekly total is posted on the chart. We have been keeping this chart for 7 years. It is not completely accurate because while it covers the recorded inquiries, it does not cover inquiries for multilith reports or spot telephone calls, which come in the thousands, but it is a very useful management tool.

There are three points reflected on this chart with regard to our workload that I want to call to your attention. The first is, you can observe an almost identical pattern of intake of workload over the year throughout the 7-year period. The peak workload period comes in February, March, and April; it levels off during the summer months, and then it picks up and rises sharply in the fall. You will notice the peaks and valleys follow each other every year.

The second point I want to make is that each year the peak load goes higher and higher. In calendar year 1966 we thought we had reached quite a record, but, already in 1967 it has gone much higher. In fact, the peak has gone off the chart into the margin and we thought it would go off the chart entirely. This indicates our workload will be like this [indicating] this year, with calendar 1967 well above 1966. The third point I want to make is that the period during which the peak remains high has been lengthening every year. In other words, the period of sustained high volume activity grows longer each year. The chart shows something about the increased workload but, of course, it does not tell the whole story. Personally I dislike to get too involved in statistics; while they are useful, they do not tell the whole story. For example, statistics do not record the fact, when we total up the inquiries over a year, that one inquiry may be a telephone call asking, "Who wrote the Frank Merriwell books?" or "Who is our Ambassador to France?" which are inquiries that can be answered immediately, on the phone. Compare that to a request for a report on Soviet space programs during the last 5 years. Here is an actual report that we prepared that covers the Soviet space programs from 1962 to 1965, their goals and purposes, achievements, plans, and international implications. This took many months of work by a team of people.

EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH REPORTS ISSUED

Mr. ANDREWS. Who made the request for that report?

Mr. JAYSON. The Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences.

There are a great many of these. I have brought only a few as samples:

Congress and the Monopoly Problem, History of the Congressional Action in the Anti-Trust Field 1890–1966.

This was prepared for the Select Committee on Small Business.

Election Law Guidebook.

Information of Importance to Candidates for Office of U.S. Representative in the 90th Congress.

Mr. ANDREWS. Who requested that?

Mr. JAYSON. That was prepared for the Special Committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures in 1966, the House committee. Another is "Catalog of Federal Aids to State and Local Governments." This is one of three volumes on that subject.

Mr. ANDREWs. Who requested that?

Mr. JAYSON. A subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Government Operations.

Here is a report on "Policy Planning for Aeronautical Research and Development." The theme was, while we are spending so much money on our space programs, are we ignoring aviation?

"A Case Study of the Utilization of Federal Laboratory Resources." "Resolved: That the United States Should Substantially Reduce Its Foreign Policy Commitments," containing some of the debate material we prepare each year for the college and high school debate teams.

"Profile of Youth," which is a rather extensive report based on questionnaires sent out to various agencies.

"Enactments by the 89th Congress Concerning Education and Training."

This is just part of the recent work done by the Legislative Reference Service, mostly for committees. This is representative of the heavy workload.

BILL DIGEST

The statistics do not reflect the work we did in connection with the Bill Digest this year in trying to expand and improve its coverage. We have not only expanded its coverage and given it a new format, but we will have to continue to maintain it on this new basis. It will require an additional and continuous input of time and manpower to maintain the improved version from now on.

Mr. ANDREWS. Just what does this Bill Digest show-the gist of the bills that have been passed by Congress?

Mr. JAYSON. From the time the first bill is introduced in the hopper until the close of the session we have a staff that summarizes every public bill that has been introduced, sometimes with a sentence or paragraph or two, and sometimes with a full column. The Digest indicates the name of the Member who sponsored the bill, the number of the bill, the committee to which it was referred, and a very brief abstract of the bill. It is indexed so that if you want to know what bills are pend

ing, for example, with reference to lobbying or with reference to lotteries, you can find them when you refer to the index under those headings.

Mr. ANDREWS. Does any other agency do that work?

Mr. JAYSON. No, sir. When you say "other agencies" I take that to mean Federal agencies.

Mr. ANDREWS. You say no other Government agency puts out a digest like that?

Mr. JAYSON. Not that I know of. Some Government agencies may be doing it with regard to bills in which they have an interest, for their own agency staff, but not across the board.

The Bill Digest also indicates the legislative action taken on each

bill.

Mr. ANDREWS. How often do you get that out?

Mr. JAYSON. Approximately every 2 weeks during the session. It takes a great deal of effort. This is one of our operations that we think might be automated. But there, again, the statistics do not show the whole story of what we do in that regard.

REORGANIZATION BILL IMPACT

Finally, the proposed Legislative Reorganization Act of 1967, which has already passed the Senate and is now pending in the House Rules Committee, is going to require the Legislative Reference Service to undertake a whole variety of new responsibilities and services to assist the Congress. I certainly would hope we could have sufficient staff on hand to meet our current workload before these new duties come into being.

The $378,000 increase we are asking for 46 new positions will go a long way toward getting us to that point.

Mr. ANDREWS. Forty-six positions will give you a total of 304?
Mr. JAYSON. Yes, sir.

Mr. ANDREWS. I note on page 145 of the justifications that last fall the Legislative Reference Service "had to negotiate downward the intake and scope of inquiries because of its inability to handle them adequately." Will you explain that?

Mr. JAYSON. A typical situation would be when a committee wants a survey of the State laws throughout the country. To make a survey of all the State laws with reference to a particular subject would involve time and effort that would perhaps run 2 weeks. In that case we will talk to the committee and see if we can give a spot check of eight or nine States rather than examine the law of all 50 States.

NEW DIVISION FOR CONSTITUENT INQUIRIES

Mr. ANDREWS. We note at page 152 of the justifications that a new reference division has been established. Please describe the service rendered by this division.

Mr. JAYSON. The reference division was set up in order to handle almost all of the constituent inquiries and take them away from the subject divisions, because we felt that when these constituent inquiries were in the subject divisions we were eroding the time of our research specialists which was needed for their congressional inquiries. We set it up largely with reference librarians who could handle the constitu