Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
Hearing on
Public Access to Government Information in the 21st Century
Oral Testimony of
Jeanne Hurley Simon, Chairperson
U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
19 June 1996, 9:30 am
301 Russell Senate Office Building

Good morning. Mister Chairman, I'd like to continue the practice I enjoyed at yesterday's hearing of quoting Jefferson or Madison. I offer something from Thomas Jefferson that even has the word depository in it! Seriously, this statement is quite a guide for those of us concerned about public information, and I quote:

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion. (1) (End quote.)

I am pleased, on behalf of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, to submit this statement on public access to government information in the 21st century. Because of its mission and history, which are summarized in my written statement, the Commission appreciates the complex challenge, as Senator Ford said yesterday, of harnessing the technology to assure an informed public.

We also appreciate Congress' initiatives, including yesterday's and today's hearings, the mention of more hearings, as well as last year's legislative directives to examine the depository library program and legislative information systems.

My oral statement is distilled from the Commission's written statement, on which several of our Commissioners advised, and takes into account some of yesterday's valuable testimony, including that of Superintendent of Documents Wayne Kelley and American Library Association President Betty Turock.

I want to make several points today. They are:

1. The relevance of the Commission's 1990 Principles of Public Information;
2. The usefulness of statistics already collected about the rapid technological changes occurring in the library community;
3. The need for more information about the capacity of federal agencies, the Government Printing Office, libraries and the public for managing this transition to electronic information.

In addition, I want to emphasize two points that were made during yesterday's hearing. They are:

1. The need to build the capacity of individuals, of what one of our Commissioners calls the "human infrastructure" -- specifically, the ability of librarians to mediate electronic information resources;
2. The need for partnerships at the national level to help build capacity of content, dissemination and use of public information for all levels -- federal, state and local -- in all formats, both paper and electronic.

A. The Role of the National Commission

The Commission was established in 1970 as an independent, executive-branch agency to advise the President and the Congress on national and international policies and plans related to libraries and information services. We conduct studies, surveys and analyses that appraise the adequacies and deficiencies of current library and information services in order to provide recommendations and advice to federal, state, local and private agencies.

Fourteen Commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms. Only five NCLIS members are professional librarians or information professionals. The others are persons with special competence or interest in the needs of our society for library and information services. The Librarian of Congress is the 15th Commissioner. As a citizens' advisory body, we represent the public's interest. With this focus, the Commission is vitally interested in assuring that the public is guaranteed open and uninhibited access to information created, compiled and maintained by the federal government.

B. NCLIS' Principles of Public Information

Policy issues related to information access have been central to us since the 1970s, starting with the Rockefeller report, National Information Policy, which the Commission published and which noted:

"A great number of public policy questions are being generated by advances in computer and communications technology, by shifts in the United States economy from a manufacturing to an information base, and by citizen demands for clarification of their rights to have and control information."

These same information policy concerns are central to public access to government information in the 21st century. Over the last two decades the Commission has studied many of the Rockefeller report's public policy questions, one result of which was our 1990 issuance of the "Principles of Public Information." It was good to hear this committee's leaders at yesterday's hearing express strong commitment to public access to public information. We strongly agree, as the Preamble to our Principles of Public Information states, and I quote:

Public information helps to educate our people, stimulate our progress and solve our most complex economic, scientific and social problems. With the coming of the Information Age and its many new technologies, however, public information has expanded so quickly that basic principles regarding its creation, use and dissemination are in danger of being neglected or even forgotten. The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, therefore, reaffirms that the information policies of the U.S. government are based on the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, and on the recognition of public information as a national resources to be developed and preserved in the public interest. (End quote.)

We have copies with us of the Principles of Public Information and there are more in the office. The Principles are also well represented in GPO's report to Congress, published today. (2)

C.) Recent NCLIS Research on Library Networking & the Internet

Since the 1991 White House Conference on Libraries and Information Services, the Commission has sponsored programs and studies on implementing Conference recommendations relating libraries with information network technologies. One clear, consistent message from our activities on the roles of library and information services in the emerging national networked information infrastructure is the need for reliable and current national and state statistics on the extent of libraries' use of the Internet and network services.

The preliminary results from a recent ALA survey of electronic services in academic libraries show that most university libraries provide access to Internet-based services. The sample survey results reflect a high level of academic library involvement with emerging electronic technologies and services.

Libraries in 98.2% of doctoral-granting public universities report offering Internet access to electronic catalogs, as do libraries in 84.7% of doctoral-granting, private universities. In addition, libraries in 83.4% of public comprehensive universities and 64.2% of private comprehensive universities report offering Internet access services. Similarly, libraries in 63.3% of liberal arts colleges report offering electronic public catalog access.

Many of these academic libraries also serve the public as depositories for government documents. On the other hand, many public libraries are in the early stages with advanced communications and information services and networks such as the Internet. Therefore, in 1994 NCLIS sponsored research into the nature and extent of public libraries' involvement with the Internet and online information services. From January-March 1996 NCLIS sponsored a second survey of public libraries and the Internet so we would have longitudinal data. The major preliminary findings are as follows:

  • Connectivity increased rapidly, by 113% overall (from 20.9% to 44.6%) since 1994.
  • Discrepancies in connectivity based on size of population appear to have increased from 1994 to 1996, despite overall increases in public libraries' connections.
  • Public libraries serving populations under 5,000 are much less likely to be connected to the Internet than libraries serving populations from 100,000 to 1 million +.
  • Regions differ significantly in rates of public library-Internet connectivity and Internet-based service offerings.
  • More than 60% of U.S. public libraries could be connected to the Internet by 1997.
  • In smaller communities of 25,000 or less, the public library may provide the only means for the public Internet access.

    The Commission's survey of public libraries and the Internet reveals information about the ratio of public access Internet terminals to population size. For public libraries serving communities of more than one million, there is one text-based Internet public access terminal available for every 15,321 users. Worse still, there is only one graphical (World Wide Web) public access terminal for every 84,422 patrons in communities of over one million.

    Overall, regardless of the size of population served, public libraries offer one text-based Internet public service access terminal for every 20,150 users. Similarly, public libraries offer one multimedia Internet terminal for public access for every 26,525 patrons. From these results, it is quite clear that public libraries lack sufficient electronic service capacity for a successful transition to a more electronic depository system.

    NCLIS regards this type of current statistical information about the rapid changes, new capabilities and discrepancies in libraries as essential to effective planning for the public's electronic access to all types of information, including government information.

    D.) Next Steps

    The prepared statement submitted for the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science has some general predictions and considerations. It does not retrace all the information and proposals already gathered by this Committee, others in Congress, the Government Printing Office and other parties.

    Over the past several months, NCLIS has met with GPO representatives to discuss the need for identifying costs and implications of changes associated with the transition to a more electronic government information system. The Commission is preparing to assist the Congress and the GPO in understanding how the technological and economic developments discussed here today are affecting the public's need for information, especially government information. We need additional information to plan for the successful future integration of electronic government information services. This information includes assessment of the costs and usefullness of public access to government information products and services.

    To continue to improve and expand the ways to reach the government's customers with timely, useful information, we need to know more about a variety of matters, including

  • Information content that the public needs and wants
  • Information formats that the public needs and wants
  • Current practices and plans of federal departments and agencies for producing public information
  • Cataloging, indexing and locator tools to manage and access the vast amount of government information
  • Standards for dependability and interoperability of information and systems
  • Capabilities and constraints of present depository libraries
  • Effects of public policy developments (e.g., universal service provisions of new telecommunications law) on dissemination of information, especially in smaller, rural institutions and areas
  • Shifts in the process and cost of handling information.

    Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. The issues that this Committee is exploring have important implications for the future of the Depository Library Program, the Congress, and, most importantly, for the people of America.

    Footnotes: (1) Thomas Jefferson in letter to William Charles Jarvis, September 28, 1820, in Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett, 14th edition. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1968. p. 473 (2) Government Printing Office. Report to the Congress: Study to Identify Measures Necessary for a Successful Transition to a More Electronic Federal Depository Library Program. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1996.