ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


4 2 0  /  C&RL News

Washington 
Hotline

Lynne E. B rad ley

N G I in itiatives
Next G en eratio n  In tern et 
(NGI) and access to govern­
ment information have been 
two important issues mov­
ing forward even as much 
of Washington was absorbed 
in how the White House and 
C ongress w ere reso lv in g  
budget conflicts.

The Clinton Administra­
tion proposed an NGI initia­
tive involving research and 
d e v e lo p m e n t p ro g ra m s  
across federal agencies, with 
$100 million requested for FY98. The draft docu­
ment was prepared by the Large Scale Network­
ing Working Group of the Computing, Infor­
m ation, and C om m unications Research & 
D evelopm ent Subcommittee and posted for 
public comments, due May 15.

The draft concept paper (http://w w w .hpcc. 
g o v /n g i-co n cep t-0 8 A p r9 7 /) n o tes th at the 
present Internet technology, designed for a 
network of thousands, is laboring to serve a 
network of millions, but new technology, pro­
tocols, and standards can be developed to lead 
to an NGI at rates thousands of times faster 
than today. The Advisory Committee on High-
Performance Computing and Communications, 
Information Technology and the Next Genera­
tion Internet had input into the draft and will 
be commenting further on it. Two members of 
the committee, Ching-chih Chen (Simmons Col­
lege) and Sherrilynne Fuller (University of 
Washington) bring library experience to the 
issue.

It is expected that ALA will comment on a 
num ber of points including that a strong and 
specific plan be developed for diffusion of the 
NGI research and development results not just 
to industry but to government, education, and 
libraries; and that progress toward the NGI be 
balanced with interoperability with the first 
generation Internet. ALA also will emphasize 
that the NGI budget should reflect a civilian as 
well as a military focus.

C ongressional h earin gs
Key congressional hearings have focused re­

Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director o f 
ALA’s Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org.

cently on access to govern­
m ent inform ation and re­
lated proposals for the revi­
sion of Title 44.

Francis J. Buckley Jr. 
(chair of the Inter-associa
tio n  W o rk in g  G ro u p  on 
G o v ern m en t In fo rm atio n  
Policy) testified in May be­
fore the Senate Committee 
on Rules and Administration 
on proposed revisions to the 
law governing government 
printing, dissemination, and 
the Federal Depository Li­

brary Program. The hearing focused on a draft 
bill, “Government Printing Office Act of 1997,” 
which is the latest proposal to revise parts of 
Title 44 of the United States Code. University 
of Kentucky and Western Kentucky University 
staff have created a Web version of the April 
14 version of the draft bill linking it to relevant 
parts of the U.S. Code (http://w w w .uky.edu/ 
Libraries/jcpbill.html).

Senator John Warner (R-VA) chaired the first 
part of the hearing before turning the gavel 
over to Senator Wendell Ford (D-KY). Both 
senators, and every witness, said they were in 
favor of strengthening the Federal Depository 
Library Program. Senator Ford was impassioned 
in questioning Sally Katzen of the Office of 
Management and Budget about compliance is­
sues, and was quite critical of the practices of 
the National Technical Information Service. The 
Department of Justice representative, Richard 
Shiffrin, was concerned only about the consti­
tutional issues, believing that any government 
operational function, such as printing, should 
be performed in the executive branch.

Also in May, the House Subcommittee on 
G overnm ent Management, Information and 
Technology, chaired by Representative Steve 
Horn (R-CA), held a hearing on the Govern­
ment Printing Office and executive branch in­
fo rm a tio n  d is s e m in a tio n . R obert O ak ley  
(Georgetown University Law Center) testified 
on behalf of the six major library organizations 
including ALA. Oakley stressed that users need 
both print and electronic formats, and a strong, 
centralized, coordinated program for efficient 
and effective access to government informa­
tion. His sta te m e n t is at: h ttp ://w w w .ll. 
georgetown.edu/aallwash/lettest.html. ■

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