URGENT ! ! Help Needed for Federal School Library Media Funding

[Tom Hart <hart@LIS.FSU.EDU>]

                          FEDERAL LIBRARY PROGRAMS
                  Reaching Out, Ramping Up, and Retrainig
                        All For 57 Cents Per Person !

      For the Cost of a Ball-Point Pen, Don't Write Library Funding Out

                         PASS A BUCK FOR LIBRARIES !

      We should strive for every child in America, in every school in America,
      no matter how rural, no matter how poor, to have electronic access to the
      world of knowledge.  That is a national asset.  We should strive to make
      it easy for every scholar to interact electronically.  That's a national
      asset. and the work done here (at the Library of Congress) and work done
      at other libraries across the country are the most cost-effective invest-
      ment in learning that we make.  And they have all too often been neglected
      because they don't have a big union and they don't have a big lobby and
      they don't count in the way people keep score nowadays, but, if you care
      about knowledge, here is a place to spend more, not less, money...

                  --House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Jan. 5, 1995 (at the dedication
                    of THOMAS [http://thomas.loc.gov], the Lib. of Cong. World
                    Wide Web access for bills and laws as they are being conside
 red
                    in Congress.)

School Library Media Specialists Nationwide need to join a bandwagon to get
Federal Funding back for School Libraries.  In 1994, we earned authorization
of $200 million as a part of ESEA.  It is called IMPROVING AMERICA'S SCHOOLS
ACT.  We are a part of Title III, Part F (School Library Media Resources
Program).

THE BIG HURDLE IS IN 1995 ! !  WE ARE SEEKING ACTUAL APPROPRIATIONS THAT
WILL AFFECT EVERY PUBLIC SCHOOL IN AMERICA ! !

YOU, THE MEMBERS OF LMNET, ARE ABLE TO MAKE THE MOST RAPID RESPONSES TO YOUR
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.  I WILL SEND YOU THE E-MAIL ADDRESSES OF HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES MEMBERS IN A LATER MESSAGE. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT MOST
SENATORS DO NOT HAVE E-MAIL ADDRESSES AND AREN'T INTERESTED IN THEM.  WE
WILL NEED TO TRY TO REACH SENATORS BY LETTERS AND PHONE.

APPROPRIATIONS BILLS WILL BE TAKEN UP LATER IN THE YEAR, BUT WE NEED EACH OF
YOU TO MAKE A CONTACT WITH YOUR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS IN
THE NEXT TWO MONTHS:

    1.  Make an appointment with their staff and bring active students and
        parents with you.  You might get lucky and actually talk with your
        Senator and Representative.

    2.  Send a letter and/or organize a letter writing campaign by parents,
        faculty and students.

    3.  Be ready to phone when we need you at a later time.

    4.  Be ready to E-mail your member of Congress.

WHAT IS THE FEDERAL ROLE IN SUPPORT OF LIBRARIES?

Most library funding is local, but federal stimulus funds administered by
the Department of Education are concentrated on three crically important and
appropriate national goals:

    *  To extend outreach to those for whom library service requires extra
       effort or special materials (such as new Americans, those with
       disabilities);

    *  To adapt new technologies to identify, preserve, and share library and
       information resources across institutional, local, and state boundaries;

    *  To support education, research, and demonstrations in the library and
       information science field.

These goals relate directly to national priorities such as:

    *  School libraries desperately need the funding authorized by the School
       Library Media Resources Program in the new Improving America's Schools
       Act (ESEA III, Part F).  In California, a prisoner has better access to
       libraries than a school child; many schools inthe state have no libraries
 .
       Students need a variety of information resources in all formats in school
       as they are being taught in order to develop intellectual curiosity and
       critical thinking skills.

As you make contacts with members of Congress and their staffs, we must be
perceived as essential for the continuation and success of our society !
Remember, most of them only remember school libraries as they were when they
went to school.  One letter I received from a library media specialist in
1994 expressed it the way others should:

    Clearly, if the United States needs a work force that is capable of
    critical thinking, then school libraries must be adequately funded.
    If a work force is needed that can read and reason well, then school
    libraries must be adequately funded.  In short, if the economic
    security of the United States depends on an educated, competititive
    work force, then school libraries must be funded, and funded very
    very well.  As the situation now stands, I would venture to say that
    the prison population in most states has better access to information
    in well-equipped libraries than our school children.  Please do
    whatever is necessary to ensure passage of the Elementary and Secondary
    School Library Media Act.

OF COURSE WE MUST MAKE CONTACTS WITH ALL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, BUT THE
FOLLOWING STATES ARE CRITICAL, SINCE THEY HAVE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE AND
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEES:

    PENNSYLVANIA (SENATE CHAIR); ILLINOIS (HOUSE CHAIR); FLORIDA (3);
WISCONSIN (3); ARKANSAS; CALIFORNIA; HAWAII; IOWA; MARYLAND; MISSISSIPPI;
MISSOURI; NEVADA; NEW HAMPSHIRE; NEW YORK; OHIO; OKLAHOMA; OREGON; SOUTH
CAROLINA; TEXAS; VERMONT; AND WEST VIRGINIA.

SENATE AND HOUSE MEMBERS OF THE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEES ON
LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION ARE:

SENATE

Majority                                   Minority
Arlen Specter, PA, Chair                   Tom Harkin, IO
Mark Hatfield, OR                          Robert C. Byrd, WV
Thad Cochran, MS                           Ernest F. Hollings, SC
Connie Mack, FL                            Daniel K. Inouye, HI
Christopher S. Bond, MO                    Dale Bumpers, AK
James M. Jeffords, VT                      Harry Reid, NV
Judd Gregg, NH                             Herb Kohl, WS

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Majority                                   Minority
John Edward Porter, IL, Chair              David R. Obey, WS
C. W. Bill Young, FL                       Louis Stokes, OH
Henry Bonilla, TX                          Steny H. Hoyer, MD
Ernest Jim Istook, Jr., OK                 Nancy Pelosi, CA
Dan Miller, FL                             Nita M. Lowey, NY
************************* _________***********************************
| Tom Hart              <__    _ * \ -  /      Tom Hart               |
| <hart@lis.fsu.edu>       \--/  \     |       2610 Mayfair Rd.       |
| Professor, School of Lib        |     \      Tallahassee, FL 32303  |
| and Info Studies,               /      |     Home (904) 385-7550    |
| Florida State University,       |      /                            |
| Tallahassee, FL 32306-2048       \     |                            |   |
| Office Phone: 904/644-8122        \   /                             |
| Fax 904/644-9763                   \ /                              |
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Internet:  hart@lis.fsu.edu