1988 APPROPRIATIONS
On January 5 President Reagan forwarded his FY’88 budget recommendations to Congress. There were a few surprises, for most recommendations mirrored those of the past several years. Zero funds were recommended for the grants program of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The proposed budget called for the elimination of funds for FY’88, as well as the recission of three-fourths of the FY’87 money, for the Historic Preservation Fund, which provides appropriations for the State Historic Preservation Offices and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Administration recommends a $12 million cut in the National Endowment for the Humanities’ budget, which would reduce the current $139 million budget to approximately $127 million, Under the proposed budget, the National Archives would receive an increase of approximately $10 million, the amount needed to absorb inflationary costs, pay salary increases, plus some additional money to begin processing the papers of the Reagan Administration, However, many basic needs, such as shortage of staff to prepare adequate descriptions of records, preserve documents, process declassification backlog, and assist researchers, will not be met by this budget.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
On April 25 the revisions to the Freedom of Information Act, which were recently passed as a part of the Anti Drug Abuse Act of 1986, will take effect. The major intent of the FOIA amendments was to protect confidential law enforcement informants and files and to establish new fee provisions. The amended fee provisions includes fees for document search, review, and duplication when records are requested for commercial use; however, there is a fee waiver for scholarly research. P.L. 99-500 states that “fees will be limited to reasonable standard charges for document duplication when … the request is made by an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, whose purpose is scholarly or scientific research.” In clarifying the meaning of this language, Representative Glenn English (D-OK), prepared an analysis of the fee waiver section which states that “a request made by a professor or other member of the professional staff of an educational or scientific institution should be presumed to have been made by the institution.” Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is also to be commended for his efforts to assure that the new fee waiver provisions will end the current policy of using fees to deter FOIA requests by scholars. An added plus for the new bill is that it provides that the first one hundred pages of duplication will be free for non-commercial requesters.
It may be too early to anticipate the impact of these amendments on access to information, but the Congressional Research Service has concluded that this legislation does not represent a narrowing of the FOIA but rather provides some commonsense direction in applying FOIA exemptions.
LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
On December 10 Daniel J. Boorstin, the Librarian of Congress, announced his intention to retire this coming June and to devote more time to writing and lecturing. Boorstin’s twelve-year tenure as the twelfth Librarian of Congress has been characterized by greater public visibility for the Library and more systematic interaction with the world of scholarship and learning. In 1980 Boorstin established a Council of Scholars to serve as a link between the Library of Congress and the world of scholarship and to advise the Librarian on its collections and services.
Boorstin’s forceful support of the Library of Congress was most evident in 1I986 when he eloquently protested the deep cuts in the Library’s budget. As a token of admiration for the Library of Congress, Boorstin and his wife are making a $100,000 gift to establish, in recognition of the Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, the Daniel J. and Ruth F. Boorstin Publication Fund. The position of Librarian of Congress is a presidential appointment requiring Senate confirmation.
