ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ Ju n e 2000 / 519

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e Lynne E. Bradley

N eeded: A c a d e m ic lib ra ria n s to 
fig h t cuts to  lib ra ry  fu n d in g
T he G overnm ent Printing Office (G PO ) an d  
th e  F e d e ra l D e p o s ito ry  L ibrary P ro g ram  
(FDLP) are slated for th e largest cu ts in a 
FY2001 legislative branch appropriations bill, 
if the b u d g et num b ers p assed  in a May 9 
vote by the full H ouse A ppropriations Com
m ittee prevail. In a strict party line vote the 
H ouse leadership took aim  at GPO, w hich 
could receive a 25.3% cut if the H ouse FY2001 
ap p ro p riatio n s num bers prevail ($77 million 
less than FY2000).

This w ould translate into a 60% cut to the 
FDLP a n d  w o u ld  e lim in a te  p rin ted  a n d  o ther 
tangible formats, forcing federal governm ent 
inform ation at depository libraries to b e only 
available electronically. GPO w ould no  longer 
print th e  U.S. Code; it w o u ld  only b e  avail
ab le online or by purchase, likely at great 
ex p en se, thro u g h  private sources.

Legislative branch app ro p riatio n s also in
clude the Library o f C ongress (LC), the G ov
ern m en t A ccounting Office (GAO), th e  C api
tal Hill Police, a n d  o th er agencies. P ro p o
nents o f th e cuts cite this y ear’s bu d g et reso
lution (H. Con. Res. 290) to justify these cuts.

At LC, the H ouse ap p ro p riato rs p ro p o s e d  
d e e p  cuts for the Copyright Office an d  the 
C ongressional R esearch Service, w hich could 
b o th  loose significant nu m b ers o f staff. The 
Copyright Office co u ld  receive a $5 million 
dollar cut from  its $12 m illion ap p ro p riated  
b udget. This co u ld  possibly elim inate 130 of 
the approxim ately 520 jobs in the Copyright 
Office. T here m ay also b e less funding than 
n e e d e d  in the digital future projects at the 
LC. T he im pact o f these cuts o n  GPO an d  LC 
and their services to the American public have 
b e e n  sum m arized in recent ALAWONs.

As w e go to press, the H ouse legislative 
b ran ch  ap p ro p riatio n s bill could go to the 
H ouse floor som etim e during May. (T here is 
n o  bill n u m b e r at this w riting.) T he ALA

online Legislative Action C enter (LAC) can 
p ro v id e  s a m p le  letters a n d  fu rth e r b a c k
g ro u n d  o n  this issue. T he LAC can be used 
to g en erate e-mail a n d /o r letters to Congress 
an d  allow s users to custom ize th e sam ple 
letters o r w rite their ow n.

T he ALA Office o f G overnm ent Relations 
has also w ritten various ALAWONs ab o u t this 
critical situation. For further b ack g ro u n d  in
form ation see ALAWON, Volume 9, Nos. 42, 
41, 40, an d  36.

A cadem ic librarians are ask ed  to  w rite let
ters, m ake calls an d  se n d  e-mail to their sen a
tors an d  representatives. Invite th em  into 
depository libraries and o th er academ ic li
braries that use d epository materials during 
the M emorial Day C ongressional Recess and 
o th e r recess tim es in th e  co m in g  w eeks. 
S upporters sh o u ld  also ask depository library 
u sers to express their concerns. Researchers, 
local governm ents, an d  the business co m
m unity as w ell as professors, students, and 
the general public are all consum ers o f fed
eral g o v ernm ent inform ation.

O u r congressional officials m ust be e n
gag ed  an d  un d erstan d  these issues if they 
are to successfully o p p o se  these cuts. They 
n eed  to see firsthand that, w hile m uch go v
ern m e n t inform ation is currently available 
electronically, there is still an extrem ely large 
percentage o f governm ent docum ents that are 
not currently o r can n o t be available online. 
More than 25,000 titles are only available from 
federal agencies in tangible formats. Titles 
like the U .S. Code cannot realistically b e used 
online. We are not yet in a “p a p e rle ss” soci
ety!

T he A m erican p u b lic ’s ability to access 
g o v ernm ent inform ation is severely threat
e n e d  by these cuts. It is the library com m u
nity that m ust rally to save this im portant re
source for all citizens. For further inform a
tion contact: Lynne Bradley or Mary Costabile 
at the ALA Office o f G overnm ent Relations at 
( 8 0 0 )  9 4 1 -8 4 7 8  o r  e - m a il th e m  at 
leb@ alawash.org o r mrc@alawsh.org. See also 
t h e  G O D O R T  W eb  s i te  a t h t t p : / /  
w w w .lib.berkeley.edu/goclort/#g o d o rt. ■

Lynne E. Bradley is Office of Government Relations director 
of ALA’s Washington Office; e-m ail: leb@alawash.org

mailto:leb@alawash.org
mailto:mrc@alawsh.org
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/godort/%23godort
mailto:leb@alawash.org


520 /C&RL News ■ June 2000