ACTION ALERT Depository Program in Jeopardy House FY2001 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill Cuts Program by 61% IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED On May 9, the House Appropriations Committee approved a drastic cut of 61% in the FY2001 budget for the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). This was included in a 25.3% cut in the FY 2001 Government Printing Office (GPO) budget, which is part of the FY 2001 Legislative Branch appropriations bill. Only the GPO Access web site would be funded, and all paper and other tangible publications and 85 positions would be eliminated. The severe cuts would decimate the Federal Depository Library Program. The House will vote on the Legislative Branch appropriations bill on Thursday, May 18. The FDLP distributes government publications to over 1300 libraries for use by the public. The program already is a great bargain to government because the libraries supply the space to house the publications, the staff to help the public, and the computers, photocopiers, and other equipment needed to use the information There are about 3 depository libraries per congressional district. Over 50% of the depositories are in colleges and universities and 20% are in public libraries, making the depository program a key component of the national education system. FDLP serves an estimated 9.5 million people in the aggregate each year, which is more than 7,000 per year per library and more than 21,000 constituents per district per year. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW. Please call or fax a short letter to your representative to urge him or her to OPPOSE the cuts and to vote for COMPLETE FUNDING of the GPO budget at $115.3 million, including the FDLP at $34.5 million. If you can, please provide your representative information (local statistics or spefici examples) that relates how your depository library serves the constituents of your state and Congressional district. In addition to providing the local examples, there is a sample letter below, and the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT) action alert page <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/GODORT/2001appro.html> includes * talking points <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/GODORT/2001approtalking.html> * fact sheets, and * more sample letters <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/GODORT/2001approletters.html> Larry Romans GODORT Chair Sample Letter The Honorable xxxxx U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative xxxxx, Tuesday the House Appropriations Committee passed the appropriations bill for legislative branch agencies that included a 61 percent cut for the Salaries and Expenses budget of the Government Printing Office (GPO). I urge you to vote for complete funding of the S &E budget at $34.5 million when it comes to the floor of the House on May 18. The proposed cut will have a drastic effect on the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which provides government information for public use at more than 1300 depository libraries across the country. It would limit the access by the American public to information that they have already paid for with their tax dollars. This is information people use to find jobs, to do home work, to start small businesses, to learn what their government is doing, and to expand their horizons. The depository program is one of the great bargains of government. GPO supplies the publications, but the college and public libraries supply the space to house them, the staff to help the public, and the computers, photocopiers, and other equipment needed to use the information. FDLP serves an estimated 9.5 million people each year, which is more than 21,000 constituents per district per year. This push to eliminate all print and other tangible publications from the depository program and to institute an all-electronic depository would be disastrous for public access. * Many publications, such as maps and Congressional hearings, are not available in electronic form. Hearings are among the most used government publications at our depository. * Relying solely on electronic information will increase the gap between the information haves and the information have nots. Many citizens do not have their own high-speed computer, are not connected to the Internet, and can not figure out how to find the information among the hundreds of thousands of government web pages and hundreds of CD-ROMs. * Books and other print publications are easy to use; almost anyone can use a table of contents or an index to find information in a book. Navigating through a maze of different CD-ROMs and web sites with different software and search engines is a much more complicated matter. *Books and other print publications are relatively permanent; much electronic information is not. Information available on the web often stays there only a short time. Computer virus scares highlight the vulnerability of electronic databases. GPO already is moving much of its information to the Internet at a rapid pace and in a responsible manner. GPO Access, the most user-friendly one-stop site for federal government information provides access to 170,000 government publications. In a recent month more than 21 million publications were downloaded from the site. We urge you to oppose decreased funding for GPO. Congress should fund the Government Printing Office and its print and electronic programs at a high level that reflects your belief that your constituents' access to government information is a cornerstone of democracy. Sincerely, Larry Romans, Head, Government Information Services, Central Library, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN 37240-0007 phone (615) 322-2838; FAX (615) 343-7451 E-mail: romans@LIBRARY.vanderbilt.edu
