February 25, 1997

Guy Lamolinara, Public Affairs (202) 707-9217
Anna Bohlin, FLICC Public Events Coordinator (202) 707-4822

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Sen. Larry Pressler To Speak at FLICC Forum on Information Policies

Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), author of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and Lawrence K. Grossman, past president of both NBC News and PBS, will join other communications and information experts at the 14th Annual FLICC Forum on "Clear Signals? Telecommunications, Convergence and the Quality of Information."

The Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) of the Library of Congress will host the forum on March 6, 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., in the Mumford Room, sixth floor of the Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.

As the FLICC Forum's "vision speaker," Sen. Pressler will examine the impact of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (signed into law in the Library's Main Reading Room) on business and industry and consider how new technologies will affect the quality of global information. "This is the most sweeping reform of telecommunications legislation in more than 60 years," Sen. Pressler has said. "It will benefit all Americans and spur deregulation of communications in the United States and across the world."

Following Sen. Pressler will be the keynote speech from Elliot Maxwell, the Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission, followed by a roundtable discussion on mandating universal access, operating in a global environment and balancing the interests of both information producers and users. Andrew Blau of the Benton Foundation and David Turetsky of the Department of Justice will join Sen. Pressler and Mr. Maxwell as they look at how the government and public will use new technologies.

The afternoon session will feature a keynote address from Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS and author of The Electronic Republic: Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age. Mr. Grossman will discuss telecommunications and the variety of information sources available, with a special emphasis on commercialism and consolidation.

He will then moderate the afternoon sessions that focus on diversity in information sources with regard to content, relevance and continuity. The first, with panelists William W. Burrington of America Online and Peggy Garvin of the Library of Congress, will ask how librarians will evaluate information resources and filtering software while helping users search for relevant and timely information. The second session, with panelists David Plocher of the Senate Committee of Governmental Affairs and Emmett Paige Jr., Assistant Secretary of Defense and Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, will look at how governmental agencies will ensure effective management of electronic information resources.

FLICC is an interagency committee established in 1965 (as the Federal Library Committee) to provide leadership in addressing policy issues that affect the dissemination of information to government employees and the public. In accordance with this mandate, FLICC has hosted forums on federal information policy, which over the past decades have become the annual status report on information access and dissemination policies.

For further information and to register for the FLICC Forum, contact Anna Bohlin, FLICC public events coordinator at (202) 707-4822.

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PR 97-31
2/25/97
ISSN 0731-3527