ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries Septem ber 1 9 9 3 / 4 6 9 GPO access bill enacted O n Ju n e 8, President Clinton signed into law S. 564, the G overnm ent Printing Office Electronic Access Bill, noting that “this im portant step for­ w ard in the electronic dis­ sem ination o f Federal infor­ mation will provide valuable insights into the m ost effec­ tive m eans o f disseminating all public G overnm ent infor­ m ation.” The new law (PL 103-40) establishes in GPO a system to provide online access to the C ongressional Record, Federa Register, an d o th er ap p ro p riate publications distributed by th e S u p erin ten d en t o f D ocu ments. T he system will b e available w ithout charge to depository libraries, and at the incre m ental cost o f dissem ination to others. The system is to b e u p and running within o n e year; im plem entation is underw ay at GPO. Acting Public Printer Michael DiMario called the Ac “a landm ark piece o f legislation for G PO ” i remarks o n Ju n e 26 at ALA’s A nnual Confer ence. N etw orking applications bill passed The H ouse p assed H.R. 1757, the N ational In formation Infrastructure Act o f 1993, by a vote of 326-61 o n July 26. As introduced earlier this year by H ouse Science Subcom m ittee Chair man Rick B oucher (D-Va.), th e bill w as called the High Perform ance C om puting an d High Speed N etw orking A pplications Act. A new er version o f the “G ore II” bills from the previous Congress, the m easure w ould support netw ork ing applications in education, health care, li braries, an d governm ent information. In the Senate, com parable netw orking ap plications provisions are included in title VI o S. 4, the National C om petitiveness Act, d u e fo floor action soon. The ALA Council o n Ju n e 3 passed a resolution in strong support o f H.R. 1757, and recom m ended that som e o f its p ro visions be substituted for problem atic language in S. 4. T he Senate bill still includes a rigid 18- m onth tim etable for th e separation betw een experim ental test b e d netw orks an d o th er uses, and contains language that m ay inhibit state library agencies, state an d regional library net l ­ ­ t n ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ f r 0 ­ ­ W a sh in g to n H o tlin e C a ro l C. H e n d e rs o n w o rk s, a n d o th e r service an d sup p o rt organizations from fulfilling their missions o n behalf o f libraries. NTIA pilot projects bill O n July 14, House Telecom­ m u n icatio n s a n d F inance S u b c o m m itte e C h a irm a n E dw ard Markey (D-Mass.) introduced H.R. 2639, the T e le c o m m u n ic a tio n s a n d Inform ation Infrastructure and Public Broadcasting Fa­ cilities A ssistance Act o f 1993. Introduced at the request of the Admin­ istration, the bill w ould authorize the National Telecom m unications an d Information Admin­ istration in the D epartm ent o f Comm erce to aw ard m atching grants for interconnection and expansion of telecom m unications netw orks or systems for health care providers, educational institutions, research facilities, libraries, m use­ ums, state and local governm ents, an d other social service an d public information provid­ ers. For FY94, $51 million w ould be authorized, the sam e am ount requested by the Administra­ tion for FY94. The ALA W ashington Office w as asked by the H ouse subcom m ittee to provide com m ents on the bill. T he July 27 response from Director Eileen C ooke indicated that “H.R. 2639 has the potential to assist all types of libraries in their public m ission of providing equitable access for the American peo p le to a w ide variety of information resources in all formats.” The let­ ter also enclosed specific questions and sug­ gestions. Library program funding restored The final version o f a fiscal 1993 supplem ental restored the previously appropriated funds for the HEA II-A college library technology p ro ­ gram , the HEA II-B library research program, an d th e LSCA VI lib rary literacy p rogram . House-Senate conferees a d o p ted the Senate- p assed version o f H.R. 2244 w hich did no t defund these program s as the H ouse had done; the President has signed the bill. (c o n tin u e d o n p a g e 471) Carol C. H enderson is d ep u ty executive director o f ALA 's W ashington Office; bitnet: cch@ alawash.org mailto:cch@alawash.org September 1 9 9 3 /4 7 1 (Preservation News c o n ’t fr o m p a g e 470) AMIGOS distributes report on AIC meeting AMIGOS Preservation Service is distributing a report on key preservation-related sessions at the American Institute for Conservation o f His­ toric and Artistic Works (AIC) Annual Meeting June 1—6, 1993, in Denver, Colorado. Many of the sessions contained information on the pres­ ervation of library collections. Copies are available free of charge from Re­ becca Frank, AMIGOS Preservation Service, AMIGOS Bibliographic Council, Inc., 12200 Park Central Drive, Suite 500, Dallas, TX 75251; (800) 843-8482. ■ (Washington Hotline c o n ’t fr o m p a g e 469) The House has also passed H.R. 2518, a bill which funds all Higher Education Act library programs at current levels in FY 1994, despite the Administration’s request to eliminate them. The Senate has not yet taken u p this bill. ACRL Legislative N etw ork contacts regarding the supplem ental w ere effective and carried over to House actions for FY94. Copyright—software lending by libraries The Copyright Office is seeking public com­ ments on and information about the lending of com puter software by libraries in order to pre­ pare a report to Congress as required by the Computer Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990. Through negotiations spearheaded by ALA, the Act permits nonprofit libraries to lend com puter program s for nonprofit purposes, provided that each copy lent by the library bears a prescribed w arning of copyright. Comments are due O ctober 12. The ALA Washington Of­ fice w ould appreciate hearing by O ctober 1 from libraries which lend software and have suggestions for an ALA response. For the spe­ cific questions the Copyright Office is asking, see the July 13, 1993, Federal Register, pp. 37757-58, o r contact Dorothy Schrader at the Copyright Office, (202) 707-8380. ■