President Clinton signs Telecommunications Act
Have digital library, will travel
Electronic cataloging speeds procedure
NASA and the Library of Congress
The museum-library connection
During the ceremony, Dr. Billington was acknowledged for the pioneering role the Library is playing as a major intellectual-content provider on the Internet.
"It is fitting that we mark this moment here in the Library of Congress," said President Clinton. "It is Thomas Jefferson's building. Most of you know Jefferson deeded his books to the Library after our first Library burned in the War of 1812. The volumes that line these walls grew out of Jefferson's legacy. ...Today the information revolution is spreading light-the light Jefferson spoke about-all across our land and across the world. It will allow every American child to bring the ideas stored in this reading room into his or her own living room."
Vice President Albert Gore, who in 1993 came to the Library to join Dr. Billington in hosting a conference on the Information Superhighway, said, "This legislation will expand and strengthen universal service. ...It allows open access to the pipelines of knowledge."
Also delivering messages were Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.); Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.); Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.); Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Va.); Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.); and Ron Brown, the Secretary of Commerce.
The event was historic in two ways: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first bill to be signed into law at the Library of Congress and the first to be signed in cyberspace. After the president signed the bill on paper, he also "signed" it electronically-the entire event was available in real time over the Internet using a high-speed, fiber-optic synchronous optical network link.
Lily Tomlin, playing Ernestine the phone operator, brought her own brand of levity to the august occasion. "Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" she asked Mr. Gore, who was trying to reach Washington's Calvin Coolidge High School to speak with students about their use of the Information Superhighway.
Ms. Tomlin appeared on a monitor via the Internet connection. "Oh, Mr. Veep. Surfing the 'Net, downloading images of global climate change again? You crazy guy. It's true what I've been telling my friends. You're not stiff, you're just a techno-nerd.
"Hold on to your semiconductor. I'll load the software right away. ...You and the president are infonauts," she said as she placed the call and signed off.
"How do you think this bill will have an impact on your lives?" the vice president asked the students.
"Thanks to the telecommunications bill, I believe that it will open up new horizons for international access for cultures all over the world," said one student.
"I'd like to thank you for signing the telecom bill. It will make advances in technology readily available to a diverse group of people," another one said.
President Clinton began his remarks by thanking the Library for hosting the signing. "My understanding is this may be the first time in three decades when a bill has been signed on Capitol Hill."
The event was fraught with symbolism, from the setting-the Main Reading Room, which for many is the heart of the Library and a symbol of learning-to the pen used for the signing: the same one President Eisenhower used when he signed the Interstate Highway Act of 1957, "which met the challenge of changeäand literally brought Americans closer together," the president said. "That same spirit of connection and communication is the driving force behind the Telecommunications Act of 1996."
The chief sponsor of the 1957 law was Albert Gore Sr., the vice president's father, who received the pen from Eisenhower. "His son is in many ways the father of this legislation because he's worked on it for more than 20 years, since he first began to promote what he called, in the phrase he coined, the Information Superhighway."
One provision of the bill mandates that schools, libraries and hospitals receive telecommunications services at reduced cost. "This simple act will bring us one giant step closer to realizing the challenge I put forward in the State of the Union [address], to connect all our classrooms and libraries to the Information Superhighway by the year 2000."
President Clinton also said he was "very proud" that the bill requires use of the so-called V-chip, which will screen out television programming that parents want their children to avoid.
Speaker Gingrich acknowledged Dr. Billington as "a leader on a world basis in knitting the world together" through the Library's National Digital Library Program. Speaker Gingrich also praised the Library for its THOMAS on-line legislative system, which he announced to the public at a ceremony at the Library in January 1995.
Secretary Brown, who is chairman of the National Information Infrastructure Task Force, introduced Dr. Billington as someone who is "bringing the Library of Congress into the Information Age. Through the National Digital Library Program, the Library of Congress is creating on-line access to its catalog, its exhibitions and its unique American collections, as well as to congressional information."
"As an avid inventor and educator," said the Librarian, "Jefferson, were he here today, would surely be intrigued with this new world of computer and telecommunications technology- and glad to see so many entrepreneurial forces gathered together with national political leaders in the building that bears his name."
Those entrepreneurial forces were well represented in the reading room by Ted Turner, whose Turner Classic Movies channel helps support the Library's National Film Registry Tour. The tour was funded by the Madison Council, the Library's private sector advisory group, several of whose members are in the communications industry and were present: John Hendricks of the Discovery Channel, Glenn Jones of Jones Intercable, Jean Monty of Northern Telecom, Donald Newhouse of Advance Publications, William O'Shea of Reuters Ltd. and Ray Smith of Bell Atlantic. Also among the more than 300 in the audience was Jack Valenti of the Motion Picture Association of America.
"We like to think that [Jefferson] would also be pleased to see the Library launching through a new kind of public-private partnership: an ambitious program to digitize 5 million items from our unique collections of Americana for educational and inspirational use in schools, libraries and homes all over America," Dr. Billington continued.
"Inventing a new nation required studying a lot of past history in Jefferson's time, and new technologies can help us in our own time to rediscover the old records and values that can lead us on to new creativity. America's free libraries keep democracy dynamic by using new means to give more people more access to the ever expanding body of human knowledge."
Ending the proceedings with an inspirational message, Dr. Billington pointed to the top of the dome in the room, nearly 160 feet above his head. "There is a lovely lady looking down on us today-as she has on readers for 100 years-from inside the cupola at the highest point in this room. She is lifting back the veil of ignorance and is called simply Human Understanding. May we and all our communications serve her well in the years that lie ahead."
-Guy Lamolinara
Public Affairs Office
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Have digital library, will travel:LC takes its NDL Program on the road
Those atttending the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio expecting to encounter warm temperatures were in for something of a shock. On Friday, Jan. 19, the day before exhibits opened, thermometers were registering in the teens, and only the following morning did the mercury edge up past the freezing point.
But this city, known for its temperate climate, didn't disappoint for long. By the afternoon, crowds of people were strolling along the picturesque Riverwalk in shirtsleeves, dining at the many restaurants with tables set along the banks of the narrow San Antonio River or window shopping for souvenirs and Southwestern artifacts.
Nor did the conference itself disappoint - at least not judging by the paid-attendance figures and number of exhibitors, both of which set records.
The Library's exhibit booth in the convention center experienced heavy traffic from visitors wanting to see the latest offerings from the National Digital Library (NDL) Program, among other Library initiatives.
New Library digital collections, such as the Nation's Forum Sound Recordings and photographs by Carl Van Vechten, were available for viewing, as were the other collections that have helped to make the Library's World Wide Web homepage (http://www.loc.gov) one of the premier providers of intellectual content on the Internet. Already more than a million transactions per day are handled by the Library's on-line systems.
Want to know what Calvin Coolidge or Warren G. Harding sounded like? The Nation's Forum offers digitized versions of their speeches. The photographs of Carl Van Vechten, shot in 1932-1964, are especially strong in the arts, with portraits of singer Ethel Waters, bandleader Cab Calloway, actor-director Orson Welles and artist Diego Rivera, among many others. New collections are scheduled to go on-line later this month (a full report will be published in next month's issue).
Suzanne Thorin, associate librarian and coordinator of the Library's NDL Program, delivered a preconference talk on copyright in the digital age, an issue of special importance to LC, not only because it is placing intellectual content on the Internet but also because it is the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Her speech was part of a symposium sponsored by OCLC Online Computer Library Center.
"If the Internet is a new publishing tool, and we believe that it is, what are the new rules?" she asked. "How will the copyright law respond to the digital age? How can we as librarians facilitate access and at the same time protect the prerogative of rights holders to receive compensation?
"The intent of copyright is to encourage creativity by guaranteeing credit for original work."
During the President's Program at the conference, the NDL Program garnered praise from Delano Lewis, chair of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory (NIAA) Committee and president of National Public Radio.
Keeping with the program's theme, "information equity," Mr. Lewis discussed his work on the NIAA Committee and its focus on universal access to information. "Universal access is a big issue," he said, "and libraries have a key role to play. Not every home can afford the hardware and link" necessary to access the Internet.
According to Mr. Lewis, National Public Radio has formed "partnerships and alliances" to help it achieve its mission. "We have learned from our success. A program illustrative of [a public-private partnership] is the Library of Congress," with its National Digital Library Program, he said. (So far, the program has raised more than $21 million from private sources.)
"You are the trailblazers of a new frontier in the information revolution. I look forward to working with you as we chart America's future together."
-Guy Lamolinara
Public Affairs Office
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Electronic cataloging speeds procedure
Open just about any book and you'll see the familiar wording and information: "Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data." Previously, providing that information-including the LC catalog number and the International Standard Book Number-required publishers to deliver galleys to the Library via the mail.
But about 2 1/2 years ago, the Library initiated a research and design project to develop an electronic system for producing Cataloging in Publication (CIP) data. The system is enabling the Library to obtain galleys and manuscripts of forthcoming publications electronically and catalog these forthcoming titles entirely in an electronic environment.
The Library then transmits the completed bibliographic records via electronic mail to the publishers so that the records can be readily photocomposed and appear on the copyright page of the printed books. Twenty-six publishers are now participating in the ECIP (Electronic CIP) Pilot Project, which has produced cataloging for 375 titles as of January. At the same time, the ECIP Group is working to develop a large-scale production system, with the first phase scheduled for completion by this fall.
The CIP program at the Library has been a mainstay of U.S. library service for more than 20 years. The program provides prepublication cataloging records, or "CIP data," for monographs published in the United States and deemed most likely to be widely acquired by the nation's libraries. CIP cataloging is produced by the same expert Library staff who catalog published books and meets the same exacting standards of quality and authority control. All CIP records include both Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal classification numbers, so both academic and public libraries can use them in local catalogs with little or no adaptation. During fiscal 1995, the Library provided cataloging in the CIP program for 49,557 titles submitted by 3,878 publishers and imprints.
Cataloging staff base the descriptive and subject cataloging of a CIP title on an examination of front matter and excerpts from the galley or manuscript of the forthcoming book, which at present must be mailed to the Library. At the end of the cataloging process, the Cataloging in Publication Division mails a bibliographic record to the publisher to be printed on the copyright page of the book. The bibliographic record, and any authority records created to support it in the LC database, are also distributed to recipients of the Library's MARC (machine-readable cataloging) tapes.
Because the current manual CIP processing system depends on mailing bulky manuscripts and CIP data between publishers and the Library, it is subject to limitations in timeliness and to the occasional uncertainties that result from basing the catalog record on incomplete manuscripts. An electronic system therefore greatly expedites the receipt of complete galleys, speed transmission of completed CIP data to the publisher, increase productivity and efficiency of cataloging by utilizing data available in machine-readable form and reduce costs for both publishers and the Library. Furthermore, it enables catalogers to enrich bibliographic records by the addition of table-of-contents notes, abstracts and author notes from the galleys, with little additional expenditure of resources.
Library staff have developed a World Wide Web form that enables publishers to call up an on-line version of the CIP Data Sheet. This offers several advantages, including help screens that enable the publisher to obtain up-to-date information on the Library's policies regarding the CIP program. The University of South Carolina Press was the first publisher to use the World Wide Web form to apply for CIP data for its forthcoming title, Understanding Ingeborg Bachmann, by Karen Achberger.
Last April the CIP Division mailed an informal, one-page survey to publishers who participate in the CIP program. Of the 512 respondents, 55 percent indicated that they currently have access to the Internet and 77 percent indicated that they would have access by 1997. Thirty-eight percent of all respondents said they could submit texts electronically now, and a total of 67 percent could submit texts electronically within three to four years.
Judging by the response, the Electronic CIP Program is a success. "Great idea!" "Hurry up!" and "Go for it!" were just some of the comments.
-Susan Morris
Assistant to the Director for Cataloging
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NASA and the Library of Congress-strange bedfellows in space
A project of the Law Library will soon be available not only in cyberspace but in space itself, thanks to a collaboration with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), currently available to its members via the Internet, will be accessible using a satellite dish in nations not wired to the Internet. "Wireless GLIN" would require a satellite dish about the size of a pizza.
The agreement will present a win-win situation for the Library and NASA, says Nick Kozura, GLIN program manager, who is working under the direction of Law Librarian and GLIN Program Director Rubens Medina. "NASA has large bandwidth for delivering information around the globe," he says. "And the Library has tremendous content but requires bandwidth connections."
Phase 1 of the plan, called Upgrade, will make sure, with technical support from NASA, that GLIN has the most current hardware and software combination available. Phase 2, Enhance, will run in parallel to Phase 1, and "is a plan for how to move beyond making hardware and software state-of-the-art. We also want to introduce new software, hardware and telecommunications capabilities developed by NASA and the Library," says Mr. Kozura.
"We are getting access to some of the best minds in advanced technology, with no monetary cost to the Library," he added. "The partnership benefits both organizations by joining resources, and we won't just be producing theory but 'deliverables.'"
As part of Phase 1, NASA is helping the Law Library redesign the GLIN homepage, which should be finished sometime in March. "The new homepage will be elegant and graphics-oriented," Mr. Kozura says. "But there will also be a text-only version for those GLIN users without the recommended World Wide Web browser technology."
Speaking of technological requirements, Mr. Kozura says that a nation can meet "minimum GLIN client status requirements" for less than $5,000 per client station. The World Bank has agreed to work with the Law Library to help fund GLIN projects in other nations. Negotiations are under way with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank to achieve the same goal.
So far, 10 nations have been trained at the Law Library and about 12 more are waiting for training. Steps to GLIN membership include requesting participation - "We haven't had to market GLIN," says Mr. Kozura. Next, the Law Library sends an "assessment team" to the interested country to look at its legal materials for content, completeness and organization. "We also look at their technological infrastructure, including hardware, software, telecommunications and skill levels and make recommendations." Third, the nations send representatives from their GLIN team, including a lawyer and an information technology professional, to the Law Library for training, which typically lasts four weeks.
According to Mr. Kozura, the partnership with NASA will make it much easier for technologically underdeveloped nations to join GLIN-helping the project achieve its "global" promise.
-Guy Lamolinara
Public Affairs Office
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Ms. Thorin discussed how electronics, especially the Internet, have changed the way the nation's library does business and how its mission often overlaps with that of museums.
"Museum and library professionals and their constituents often focus on institutional differences," she said. "Traditionally, we hold museums responsible for acquiring, presenting and interpreting objects that reflect a culture, and we depend on libraries to acquire and disseminate information to individuals who must interpret the information for themselves or to others."
Organized by an international committee headed by David Bearman from the Archives and Museum Informatics and Katherine Jones Garmil from the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, the October conference drew more than 600 museum and library professionals as well as representatives of the Ministries of Culture and Education from 40 countries. Eight individuals from 28 nations gave technical presentations, and more than 50 museums and libraries worldwide demonstrated multimedia systems.
"Today, as we enter the electronic world, the similarities between our organizations may be more remarkable than the differences. Both museums and libraries collect and preserve objects for society; we educate through interpretive programs such as exhibitions; and we are both custodians of culture for posterity.
"Museums and libraries are called upon to defend their relevance to the administrations and boards that give us operating funds and to donors who can add critical financial support to our shrinking budgets," she added.
"When people can learn about our society and its history and culture through collections made available electronically, I believe we will have taken a big step in showing our relevance to society and to our democracy."
-Guy Lamolinara
Public Affairs Office
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