Legislation Passed on White House Conference on Library and Information Service
Last month the President signed Public Law 100-382, which authorizes and requests the President to call and conduct a White House Conference on Library and Information Services (WHCLIS) to be held no earlier than September 1, 1989 and not later than September 30, 1991. The chief sponsors for the legislation, Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and Representative William Ford (D-MI), labored hard on this legislation. The next step is to gain passage of an appropriations bill to secure the funds that are now authorized. The last White House Conference on Library and Information Ser vices in 1979 brought together more than 3,600 participants to develop recommendations that would improve America’s library and information services in the decade of the 1980s. The 1979 Conference passed sixty-four resolutions, fifty-five of which have now been implemented totally or in part. Two of the most critical issues in the next decade for libraries are soaring costs, particularly of periodical subscriptions, and solutions to complex issues involved in the use and development of computerized technologies. “Because so much information becomes available only online and for a fee-use,” Senator Pell has noted, “the library role in guiding users to the most appropriate source in whatever format, and to providing access to those who could not otherwise afford needed information, will be “crucial.”
Presidential Directives and Records Accountability Bill Introduced
Last month Representative Jack Brooks (D-TX) introduced H.R. 5092, legislation that would require the registration of presidential directives with the Office of the Federal Register and their disclosure to the leadership of the Congress. “Secret presidential directives, entitled National Security Decision Directives (NSDD),” Brooks stated, “are being used to promulgate national policy…. The Congress, however, is neither informed of NSDD policies nor, in many instances, permitted to see the directives.” To strengthen accountability the legislation would require officers and employees of the executive office of the president to sign a notice of their obligations and requirements concerning the control, management, and preservation of presidential records. Additionally, H.R. 5092 would establish an office of records management within the executive office of the president to ensure compliance with the laws governing presidential records and would give the US Archivist explicit authority to determine what constitutes a presidential record.
Reagan Library
Plans are now moving forward on the construction of the Reagan Presidential Library. Under the terms of the Presidential Libraries Act, a report on the proposed facility must lay before the Congress for sixty days of continuous session to allow time for Congressional examination and approval. That period is now completed and the Congress has given its assent to the proposal. A ground-breaking ceremony is scheduled for this fall for the $60 million facility, will be built with private funding, on a 100 acre site in Ventura County, California.
