ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


November 1985 /  543

W A S H I N G T O N  H O T L I N E

(202) 547-4440; ALA0070 ALA Washington Office

HEA II: Letters needed. The House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee is 
in the midst of “marking up" a Higher Education Act reauthorization bill. The 
staff draft of HEA II follows very closely the recommendations for Title II 
library programs developed by the ACRL Legislation Committee, endorsed by ACRL 
and ALA, and submitted jointly by ALA and the Association of Research 
Libraries. The draft includes:

1) Need criteria for II-A college library resources grants. Grants of 
between $2,000 and $10,000 depending on enrollment range to libraries ranking 
below the norm in their institutional class when scored for both “materials 
expenditures/FTE student" and “volumes held/FTE student." Maintenance of 
effort required. Inadequate funding would cause fewer, not smaller, grants to 
the most needy.

2) Continuation of II-B library training and research and II-C research 
library programs.

3) New II-D college library technology and cooperation grants— a minimum 
of $15,000 for up to a 3-year period. One-third matching required.

The House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee needs assurance that the 
academic library community supports these recommendations. See the list of 
subcommittee members in this issue. If your Representative is not on this 
list, write to Chairman Bill Ford. Indicate your support for extension of HEA 
II along the lines above, and give details about how one or more parts of 
title II will help your library. Send a blind copy to the ALA Washington 
Office. If you need more information on this or other legislative issues, 
call me or send an ALANET electronic message using the numbers above.

Ford's postal remarks. According to the September 18 CHRONICLE OF HIGHER 
EDUCATION, Rep. Bill Ford assailed college librarians at the September 6 HEA 
II hearings for lobbying in support of tiny programs in higher education, but 
not being active on funding for preferred postal rates. “Get your asso­
ciations to wake up," Ford was quoted as saying, “I haven't heard anything 
from the library community."

ALA Washington Office Director Eileen Cooke wrote to Ford September 9 
pointing out the extraordinary efforts of the library community this year on 
postal issues, the top priority given postal funding on the April 16 Library 
Legislative Day, the speaker from Ford's postal staff at ALA Annual 
Conference, the ACRL survey of college library postal costs, and offering any 
other help needed.

On September 25 Ford replied: “Please don't mistake my anxiety for hosti­
lity. I know full well that ALA has fought for “revenue forgone" as hard as— 
and maybe harder— than any other group in town… Perhaps my frustration with 
some of your allies in the community who have not been so active spilled over 
and exhibited itself during your appearance. Please be assured, though, that 
I know I can always count on ALA."

Carol C. Henderson 
Deputy Director