As the Library prepared for its Bicentennial celebration in the year 2000, it marked many historic milestones during fiscal year 1998, including three centenary celebrations: the opening of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the establishment of the Music Division and the placement of the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress — all of which occurred in 1897.
Left, in 1998, the Library reopened the historic Coolidge Auditiorium in October with a series of concerts, including a series by the Julliard Quartet; right, Dr. Billington, FOLUSA President Heather Cameron, Dr. Boorstin, FOLUSA Executive Director Sandy Dolnick and Center for the Book Director John Cole unveil a bronze plaque designating the Jefferson Building as a Literary Landmark in June. - James Scherlis and Lorenzo Wright
Other highlights included increased physical security (collections, facilities, staff) and computer resources, including work to ensure that the Library's information systems will function properly in the year 2000; the awarding of a contract for the development of an Integrated Library System; and major progress toward the goal of digitizing millions of items by the Library's Bicentennial year as a gift to the nation. The Library reduced its arrearage of uncataloged materials by another 861,000 items, received a number of important new acquisitions and improved service to the Congress and the nation through the use of technology.
Bicentennial
Director of Information Technology Services Herbert Becker, Deputy Librarian Donald Scott and Assocate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb join ILS project Director Barbara Tillett to celebrate the award of a contract the development of an Integrated Library System in May. - Donna Urschel
The Library will be 200 years old in the year 2000, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation. Planning for the Library's Bicentennial commemoration began with the appointment of a steering committee of senior Library managers under the leadership of the Librarian of Congress, the establishment of the theme "Libraries, Creativity, Liberty" and the goal to inspire creativity in the century ahead by stimulating greater use of the Library of Congress and libraries everywhere.
In June 1998, a bicentennial program manager was appointed to coordinate the effort. In October, Congress approved a commemorative coin to mark the historic occasion in 2000, and a U.S. postage stamp was designed. Planning began on a number of key Bicentennial initiatives such as "Local Legacies," a project to document cultural traditions and events in each congressional district at the turn of the century.
Milestones
During fiscal 1998, a number of Library offices, programs and facilities celebrated anniversaries. The Center for the Book, one of the Library's most visible education outreach programs, celebrated its 20th anniversary in October. On Oct. 30, the Library of Congress reopened its historic Coolidge Auditorium with a season of festivals honoring the centenary of the Music Division. The Library celebrated the centenary of the Thomas Jefferson Building on Nov. 4 with a commemorative stamp cancellation, the opening of the exhibition "Book Palace of the American People," and the unveiling of a plaque honoring the key role that Vermont Rep. Justin S. Morrill (1810-1898) played in obtaining the original Library of Congress building. On June 26, the Jefferson Building was designated a Literary Landmark by the Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (FOLUSA), an affiliate of the American Library Association. On Dec. 10, the Copyright Office celebrated the centenary of its establishment as a separate office in the Library of Congress, and the creation of a Register of Copyrights position.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, the American Library Association held its annual meeting in Washington. In June, the Library welcomed participants to the weeklong conference with an array of Library-sponsored programs, events, tours and learning opportunities. A reception in the Great Hall marked the centennial of the Library of Congress Subject Headings and the 25th anniversary of the Library's oldest cooperative cataloging program, CONSER (Cooperative Online Serials).
Left, the Library hosted eductors for the second year of its American Memory Fellows Educators Institute; right, Civilization magazine completed its fourth year of publication. - N. Alicia Byers
Strategic Plan
The Library's 1997-2004 Strategic Plan identified the mission, priorities, values and objectives to take the Library into the 21st century. During fiscal 1998, the Library linked the plan's objectives to the budget by defining core processes and developing an annual program performance-planning process. Planning efforts were rewarded with an unqualified "clean" audit opinion on the Library's 1997 Consolidated Financial Statements by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP.
Legislative Support to Congress
Serving Congress is the Library's highest priority. During the year, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) delivered approximately 560,000 research responses to members and committees of Congress. CRS assisted Congress in dealing with the full range of its domestic concerns, including banking and finance, campaign finance reform, clean air, congressional legal concerns, education and patient protection legislation. In the international sphere, CRS assisted Congress on issues such as defense policy and budget, foreign policy and regional issues and global financial crises and the international finance system.
The Law Library answered nearly 4,300 in-person reference requests from congressional users. Law Library research staff produced 710 written reports for Congress, including comprehensive multinational studies on issues such as human rights, health care, crime and violence, government and finance.
The Copyright Office provided policy advice and technical assistance to Congress on important copyright-related issues. As a result, a number of key pieces of legislation were enacted, including the No Electronic Theft Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright term extension bill.
Improved Service to Congress and the Nation Through Technology
Library acquisitions in 1998 included papers of composer Leonard Bernstein, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, and choreographer Martha Graham.
The Library continued to improve its cataloging, copyright, research, management and information delivery systems through the development and use of technology. Specific achievements in 1998 include:
THOMAS. Since January 5, 1995, THOMAS, a World Wide Web-based resource, has provided searching and access to legislative information and links to other legislative Internet resources. During fiscal year 1998, the amount of legislative information in THOMAS doubled through the addition of earlier files to provide continuous coverage from the 101st to the 105th Congress for Congressional Record, the texts of legislation and committee reports from the 103rd to 105th Congress. Searching features in THOMAS were enhanced through a new release of the search engine and addition of date limits. At the request of Congress, the Report of the Independent Counsel was mounted on THOMAS in mid-September, followed by two subsequent releases of testimony. The average 9.3 million monthly transaction volume for THOMAS more than doubled to 19 million for the month of September. As of September 30, 1998, more than 220 million transactions had been processed by THOMAS since its inception in January 1995; more than half of these transactions occurred in fiscal 1998.
Legislative Information System. Working with the Committee on House Oversight and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, in consultation with the House and Senate subcommittees on legislative branch appropriations, the Library developed a plan for a single integrated Legislative Information System (LIS) to serve Congress. The Library updated the LIS plan and briefed congressional staff on scheduled development work for 1998. Since the initial delivery of the Library's portion of the LIS on Jan. 7, 1997, the Library collaborated with House and Senate staffs to determine the most useful new search features and new content to add to the LIS. To ease the transition from the House legacy system to the new system, the LIS was enhanced with more traditional and familiar search features. Joint planning for data exchange among the House, Senate and Library occurred throughout fiscal 1998, and decisions on compatible technologies were made to ensure that information would flow smoothly from all legislative branch agencies into the LIS. The LIS was enhanced and more links were added to House and Senate information, increasing its prominence as the central point for locating legislative information.
Electronic Briefing Books. During fiscal 1998, CRS created three prototype electronic briefing books on the CRS home page highlighting issues on the congressional agenda. These briefing books offer instant, comprehensive access to information, analysis, key documents and historical perspectives on legislative issues before Congress dealing with electric utilities, global climate control and tobacco. Interactive electronic formats enable users to customize their online research. All briefing books include common elements (such as CRS products and experts and links to related issues and Web sites), but each is individually designed to present its subject area most effectively. At year's end, plans were under way to offer a broader range of briefing books, and new presentation formats were being explored.
Internet Resources. The Library continued to provide Congress and the nation with a growing amount of information through its Internet-based systems. Workstations with public access to the Internet were made available in many of the Library's reading rooms.
The Library's Internet-based systems were continually cited for excellence in 1998 and were included many "best of" lists, including PC Magazine, eBlast and Encyclopedia Britannica's Internet Guide. Throughout the year, an average of 60 million transactions were recorded on the Library's public electronic systems. In September 1998, the Library recorded a record 83 million transactions from both internal and public systems, more than double the fiscal 1997 monthly average.
Global Legal Information Network (GLIN). GLIN is a cooperative international network to which member nations contribute the full, authentic text of statutes and regulations to a database hosted by the Law Library of Congress. Twelve member countries are currently participating via the Internet. In March 1998, the Library put into production a new release of GLIN with expanded search capabilities and enhanced security features. At the fifth annual GLIN project directors meeting in September 1998, the Library demonstrated a prototype for the input of a new category of legal information, legal writings.
National Digital Library. The National Digital Library Program made significant progress during fiscal year 1998 toward the goal of making a critical mass of Americana freely accessible by the year 2000, the Library's Bicentennial. At year's end, more than 1.4 million Library of Congress digital files and 13,900 digital files from other collaborating institutions were available online or in digital archives at www.loc.gov/. More than 2 million additional digital files from both the Library's collections and other repositories were in various stages of production as part of a national collaborative effort.
During fiscal 1998, 16 new multimedia historical collections were added to the Library's World Wide Web site, including two winning collections from the Library of Congress Ameritech Competition. In the second year of the three-year nationwide competition, the program continued to provide financial and technical support to other archives and institutions in digitizing historically significant American collections. A total of 21 award winners have received support for their digitization efforts since the program's inception.
Cartoon by cartoonist Pat Oliphant.
The National Digital Library Program continued to reach out to the education community with enhancements to the Learning Page and Today in History, two popular online features. In its second year, the Educators Institute brought 50 educators from 18 states to Washington to explore use of primary sources in education, to develop lesson plans that draw upon the Library's online collections and to share teaching ideas online with other teachers.
Geographic Information System. The Geography and Map Division (G&M) worked closely with the Congressional Research Service and Congressional Relations Office to produce customized maps and geographic information for members. The division also worked with the National Digital Library Program to digitize cartographic materials for electronic access throughout the nation on the Internet. Working closely with private sector partners, G&M continued to expand the collection of large-format images available through the Internet. A second major map collection, Railroad Maps, was introduced on June 24, 1998. By the end of the fiscal year, 1,522 maps (4,971 images) were made available to the world through the Map Collections home page, which now averages more than 350,000 computer transactions each month at memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html.
Technology Projects in Test Status
On May 15, the Library awarded a contract to the Endeavor Information Systems Inc. for its Voyager integrated software system. The new system will improve automation support for bibliographic control and inventory management activities at the Library through the use of a shared bibliographic database that integrates all major Library Services functional areas (e.g., acquisitions, cataloging, serials management, circulation, inventory control and reference).
The Copyright Office Electronic Registration, Recordation and Deposit System (CORDS), a major new system for digital registration and deposit of copyrighted works over the Internet, uses the latest advances in networking and computer technology. CORDS is being developed by the Copyright Office in collaboration with national high-technology research and development partners (the Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives). During fiscal 1998, the Copyright Office drafted a cooperative agreement with UMI, a national producer of dissertation microfilm. The agreement would permit electronic registration and deposit of as many as 20,000 dissertations per year.
The Electronic Cataloging in Publication (ECIP) project is enabling the Library to obtain texts of forthcoming publications from publishers via the Internet, catalog them entirely in an electronic environment and transmit the completed catalog records by electronic mail to the publisher for inclusion on the copyright page of the printed book. Staff cataloged 1,038 titles last year, bringing the cumulative total since the experiment's inception to more than 3,000.
Featured exhibitions at the Library this year included "The African American Odyssey," "Monstrous Craws and Character Flaws: Masterpieces of Cartoon and Caricature at the Library of Congress," and "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic."
Security of Facilities, Staff, Collections and Computer Resources
During fiscal 1998, two of the Library's congressional oversight committees — the House Oversight and Senate Rules and Administration — approved the comprehensive Security Plan that was completed at the end of fiscal 1997. The plan provides a framework for the security of the Library's staff, visitors, facilities, collections and other assets. At year's end, the plan was being updated to reflect major physical security enhancements resulting from recent incidents and increased threats. The Library installed and activated new state-of-the-art magnetometers and increased police coverage at many strategic locations, including public entrances and exterior patrols. An additional $16.9 million to enhance the security of Library staff, visitors and facilities was included in the omnibus year-end spending bill that President Clinton signed into law on Oct. 21. These funds were part of a $106.8 million package to improve the physical security of the Capitol complex, including the House and Senate office buildings.
The Library continued to implement a comprehensive computer security plan to safeguard the its valuable electronic resources, and a year 2000 plan to ensure that its computer systems will function properly at the turn of the century by testing, modifying or replacing systems as necessary. During year 1998, the Library identified 99 mission-critical systems, 41 of which were renovated, 16 validated and 15 implemented. Work began to develop contingency plans for mission-critical systems. An automated tracking system was developed and initiated to track and monitor progress.
Arrearage Reduction
The Library reduced the total unprocessed arrearage by 861,548 items while remaining current with new receipts. This represented a cumulative reduction of about 51.9 percent of the amount on hand at the time of the initial arrearage census in September 1989 — from 39.7 million to less than 19.1 million. Processing of print materials continued at very high levels, even as staffing levels continued to drop. In fiscal 1998, staff created cataloging records for 274,890 volumes. Building on the momentum generated during the past two years through the Program for Cooperative Cataloging, cooperative arrangements continued to flourish. PCC member institutions increased by 100 during the year to a record high of 339 and once again contributed record-breaking numbers of bibliographic records (57,926 including 37,559 for monographs and 20,367 for serials), name authorities (161,446), subject authorities (2,159) and the Library's classifications proposals (883), with additional contributions of 9,233 series authorities.
Secondary Storage
Linked to the Library's arrearage reduction effort is the development of a secondary storage site to house processed materials and to provide for growth of the collection through the first part of the 21st century. During the fiscal year, Congress authorized the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to acquire, on behalf of the Library, real property and improvements in Culpeper, Va., for use as a National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library and the AOC are working with the Packard Foundation, the donor of the facility, to renovate and make the new center ready for full use. The master plan for the renovation and development of the site was completed on Sept. 30, 1998, and approved by the Library's oversight committees in December 1998. The Library also continued to work closely with the Architect of the Capitol to ensure that the first storage module at the Fort Meade, Md., campus will meet environmental specifications and be ready for occupancy during the middle of calendar year 2000.
Important New Acquisitions
Important new acquisitions came to the Library through gift, exchange or purchase; the copyright deposit system; or through other federal agencies. Notable acquisitions during fiscal 1998 included the Pamela Harriman collection of 500,000 items belonging to this diplomat and political figure; papers of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg covering her career before appointment to the court; an addition of 2,000 items to the papers of Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan; the Martha Graham Archives, documenting the contribution of this pioneer in American dance; 32,000 papers of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay; additions to the records of the National Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People national office and the NAACP Washington Bureau; additions to the Irving Berlin Collection and the Leonard Bernstein Archives; and 60 drawings by political cartoonist Pat Oliphant.
"From Sea to Shining Sea: An American Sampler of Children's Books" and "Zion's Call: A Library of Congress Exhibition Marking Israel's Fiftieth Year."
Preservation Improvements
The Library improved the preservation of its vast and diverse collections by (1) completing the mass deacidification treatment of 80,000 additional volumes in American history using the Bookkeeper limited-production contract; (2) increasing processing efficiency through the elimination of redundant keying of data by creating an interface between the binding automation system and the Library's bibliographic database; (3) increasing production in binding (by 21 percent), in-house repair (by 21 percent), and boxing (by 30 percent) of Library materials; (4) completing the specifications for an internal text-page label which eliminates keying errors through the use of a Library of Congress Cataloging Number barcode; (5) establishing guidelines to assess the condition of brittle books, reformatting only those books deemed "too brittle to serve" and boxing those books considered "brittle but serviceable."
Copyright Office
The Copyright Office received nearly 645,000 claims and made 558,645 registrations in 1998. During the year, the Copyright Office processed 6,250 documents containing 23,140 restored titles under the Copyright Restoration Provision of the GATT Uruguay Round Agreements Act. Enacted on Jan. 1, 1996, this legislation restored the copyrights in a vast number of foreign works previously in the public domain in the United States. The office also processed 1,518 GATT registrations and 213 GATT Group registrations.
The Copyright Office concluded five Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels proceedings, setting rates for: (1) the satellite compulsory license, 17 U.S.C. 119; (2) the mechanical license, 17 U.S.C. 115; (3) the digital performance license, 17 U.S.C. 114; and (4) the noncommercial broadcasting license, 17 U.S.C. 118. The fifth proceeding determined the final distribution of the 1991 cable royalties among the claimants in the music category.
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) distributed more than 22 million items to some 769,000 readers in 1998. NLS made major advances in the development of a digital talking-book system, improved its nationwide machine-repair and recognition program (in cooperation with the telephone Pioneers of America, the Elfun Society and other repair volunteers), and enhanced the NLS/BPH Web site to include digital files for full-text braille books.
American Folklife Center
Signed into law by the President on Oct. 21, 1998, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 1999 included a provision to authorize permanently the American Folklife Center. At its annual meeting in Memphis, Feb. 12-13, 1998, the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance presented the center with a lifetime Achievement Award, designed to honor members of the folk community who have made lifelong contributions to sustaining and enriching the fields of folk music and dance.
Bringing Library Treasures to the People
The Library's collections were shared with hundreds of thousands of Americans through exhibitions, special events and symposia, traveling exhibitions and major publications. Two new exhibitions were added to the Library's Web site, bringing the total to 19 online exhibitions. The online version of "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" was periodically updated to reflect the rotation of artifacts in the permanent exhibition. Three new exhibit spaces opened during the year: the Thomas Jefferson building visitor's gallery, the Swann Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon and the Gershwin Room. Exhibition highlights included "The African American Odyssey" (displayed in all three Library buildings); "The Thomas Jefferson Building: ‘Book Palace of the American People'" (in honor of the building's centennial); "Monstrous Claws and Character Flaws" (the Swann Gallery's inaugural exhibition), "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic," which explored the role of religion in the founding of the American Colonies, the shaping of American life and politics and the formation of the American republic; "Zion's Call: A Library of Congress Exhibition Marking Israel's Fiftieth Year"; and "The Birth of Czechoslovakia: October 1918," which commemorated the 80th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia.
Copublishing arrangements with trade publishers included Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States (Alfred A. Knopf), which won numerous awards and appeared on many "best of" lists; The Library of Congress: The Art and Architecture of the Thomas Jefferson Building (W.W. Norton & Co.); Oliphant's Anthem: Pat Oliphant at the Library of Congress (Andrews McMeel Publishing); and Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk about Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Freedom (The New Press).
The Visitor Services Office conducted 2,732 tours for 60,465 visitors (including 532 tours for 10,022 congressional constituents) and arranged for 655 professional appointments for 3,076 visiting dignitaries, professionals and students from 81 countries). More than 100 volunteers provided 21,589 hours of service, conducted 1,811 tours and responded to inquiries from 187,471 visitors.
The National Digital Library Program supported a Web broadcasting pilot program to explore the practicality of a regular nightly Library cybercast during the Library's Bicentennial year. The first pilot cybercast was the opening lecture by Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, of the 1998-99 poetry season on Oct. 8, 1998.
The bimonthly Civilization magazine, which is published under a licensing agreement with the Library, completed its fourth year of publication with nearly 250,000 paid subscribers who are also Library of Congress Associates.
Restoration and Renovation
The Library continued to execute its multiyear plan to outfit and occupy the remaining renovated spaces of the Thomas Jefferson and Adams buildings. Major milestones included relocating the Federal Library and Information Center Committee to newly renovated space in the John Adams Building; completing renovation of the Swann Gallery, the Gershwin Room and the Coolidge Auditorium; and completion of the roof replacement project by the end of calendar year 1998.
Gift and Trust Funds
During fiscal 1998, more than 1,100 private gifts to 90 different Library funds supported a variety of new and continuing programs, including the National Digital Library Program; the Junior Fellows Program; the opening of two major exhibitions featuring Library collections ("The African American Odyssey" and "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic"); and the preparation for a third major exhibition: "Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture." Gifts also supported preparation for a major joint exhibition with the British Library scheduled to open in 1999, the National Film Registry Tour, the Center for the Book and many other Library activities. Twenty new gift and trust funds were established including the Bob Hope Fund in support of the Bob Hope Pavilion of American Entertainment; the Edwin L. Cox American Legacy Fund (for acquisitions); the Harper-Inglis Memorial Trust Fund for Preservation; and other funds supporting conservation internships, the Adopt-a-Book program, Hebraic Section programs and state centers for the book.
Of particular note is a $10 million grant received from the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, which the foundation used to purchase a facility in Culpeper, Va., that will become the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. For the National Digital Library Program, more than $13 million was received, bringing the total in pledges and gifts from the private sector to $44.7 million toward a goal of $45 million.
Through the planned giving program, the Library received proceeds from a charitable remainder trust and additional gifts from Abraham and Julienne Krasnoff totaling more than $1 million to be added to the James H. Billington Trust Fund, which supports special projects by Library curators; $273,884 from the Marguerite Roll Trust to be added to the Marguerite Roll Local History and Genealogy Trust Fund; a charitable remainder trust of $50,000 from Edward and Joyce Miller to be added to a trust fund in support of the General Collections; four bequests totaling $521,412 from the estates of Irving Jurow (for the support of concerts featuring the harpsichord), Carolyn Just (in support of chamber music performances and recordings), Marjorie Mills Dadian (in support of the Armenian collections), and Charles A. Jahant (in support of the Jahant Collection of photographs in the Music Division).
Human Resources Improvement
During fiscal 1998, the Library's Internal University enhanced management and workforce knowledge and skills by coordinating more than 100 courses in 559 class sessions. Training courses covered facilitative leadership, computer software and administrative management for first-line supervisors. In partnership with the Office of Scholarly Programs, the Internal University established "Collections, Connections and Service," a series of lectures based on the collections to enhance staff knowledge and awareness of the richness and diversity of the Library's holdings. IU also established the quarterly "Leadership Lecture Series," a forum for managers and staff to learn from top corporate, government and leadership scholars about current, effective leadership practices and techniques. IU has formed professional partnerships with other federal training leaders to benchmark government training and build a database of successful key training programs to develop strategic links and joint ventures to maximize return on scarce training resources.
