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(FWD) NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #4, February 10, 2000



NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #4, February 10, 2000
   by Page Putnam Miller, Director of the National Coordinating
      Committee for the Promotion of History <pagem@capaccess.org>

1.  FY 2001 Budget Has Major Increase for NEH
2.  President Proposes Increases for National Archives
        But Level Funding for NHPRC Competitive Grants
3.  Update on the Library of Congress

1.  FY 2001 Budget Has Major Increase for NEH - The President has
requested in FY 2001 $150 million, a 30 percent increase over the
current level of $115.260 million, for the National Endowment for the
Humanities.  It is well to note that this increase would still put the
NEH budget well below the $172 million the agency had in FY 1995 prior
to 36 percent reduction in funding that it sustained in FY 1996.  The
request would spread most of the increase proportionately among the
existing core programs.  However, there is some money earmarked for
relatively new programs, such as $4 million for Regional Humanities
Centers.

The Administration's summary of the FY 2001 appropriations request
highlights as its centerpiece a multi-faceted, agency-wide initiative,
"Rediscovering America," that encourages Americans to discover anew the
nation's history and culture and preserve its rich heritage for the
benefit of future generations.  One of the programs in "Rediscovering
America" is "My History is America's History," designed to encourage
Americans of all ages to learn more about their family history and to
place it in the context of the broad sweep of American and world
history.  There is also in this initiative a new sound recording
preservation program and a digitization of collections program as well
as a new programs called "Extending the Reach," that provides special
grants to under served institutions, communities, and areas across the
country to enable them to participate more fully in NEH programs and
activities.

Additionally, the budget request includes increased funding for summer
seminars and institutes and for high quality television and radio
programs, museum exhibits, and library reading and discussion programs.
Of special interest to scholars is a request to establish a new program
of "Travel to Research Sites" grants.  The complete statement on the
Administration's budget justification for the FY 2001 request may be
seen on the NEH Web page at <http://www.neh.gov/pdf/other/fy_2001.pdf>

2.  President Proposes Increases for National Archives But Level Funding
for NHPRC Competitive Grants - President Clinton has proposed a FY 2001
total budget request of $308.343 million for the National Archives, a
$77.755 million increase over the FY 2000 level of $230.588 million. The
major new spending initiative in this budget is $88 million for the
renovation of Archives I, the original archives building on Pennsylvania
Avenue.  The work will include correcting mechanical, electrical,
plumbing, and fire safety deficiencies, upgrading storage conditions to
meet modern archival standards, providing increased exhibit and public
meeting spaces, and constructing new encasements for the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

Comparisons of the Archives' budgets for the past several years is
complicated by the shift in FY 2000 to a new reimbursable program under
which the National Archives is charging agencies fees for storage of
their records in the Archives' records centers and for servicing the
records still in the agencies' legal custody.  The FY 2000 budget
included $22 million as a one time appropriation to assist with the
start up of the reimbursable program.  While the FY2001 budget includes
no funding for the records centers since they are to become self
supporting storage facilities, the proposed budget does include a $29
million increase in the National Archives operating expenses.  This
increase will be used to advance initiatives in four major areas:
improving records management throughout the government; meeting the
special challenges posed by electronic records; expanding public access
to records; and meeting storage and preservation needs.

The one part of the National Archives' proposed budget that is slated
for a decrease is the grants program of the National Historical
Publications and Records Commission, which will be reduced from $6.25
million to $6 million.  While the amount available for competitive
grants in FY 2001 will remain at the same level as in FY 2000, many in
the historical and archival communities had hope that the $250,000 that
had been earmarked in last year's budget for a special Congressionally
requested project would be retained in FY 2001 as a small increase for
the competitive grants.

3.  Update on the Library of Congress - On January 27 James Billington,
the Librarian of Congress, and Donald Scott, the Deputy Librarian,
testified before the House Legislation Subcommittee of the
Appropriations Committee and requested an FY 2001 budget for the Library
of Congress of $428.1 million, an 11 percent increase over the current
funding level.  Billington began his testimony by noting that on April
24, 2000, the Library will be 200 years old and that it is the oldest
federal cultural institution in the United States and the largest and
most inclusive library in human history.

In explaining the request for increased funding, Billington stated that
a significant portion of the increase will go to fund mandatory pay
raises and unavoidable price-level increases, but there is also new
money for the Library's digital futures initiative, the National On-Line
Library, noting that the Internet is creating a profound, fundamental
shift in the way people communicate.  In 2000 the Library will be
bringing to an end the initial five-year digitization program that
received considerable support from private funding.  Now, Billington
said, as the Library moves to build and sustain a core set of on-line
services for the nation, there is a need for increased federal funding.
"For the new millennium, the Library has a unique opportunity,"
Billington said, "to become a global leader indigital information: the
hub of an international network to advance education and
understanding."  Billington also addressed issues of security of staff
and collections, the need to retain knowledgeable and talented staff,
and the preservation and storage of the Library's collections.

On February 2 when the Legislative Subcommittee held a hearing for
outside witnesses, Saul Schniderman, testified for the Library of
Congress' Professional Guild and covered a number of employee concerns.
In addition to discussing such issues as the Library's human resources
policies, he spoke on the matter of whether of not the Library's general
book collections on Capitol Hill should be shelved by height rather than
by subject.  He stressed that both the Library's guild and their "sister
union, the Congressional Research Employees Association, have formally
expressed strong opposition to management's proposal to shelve the
Capitol Hill books by height."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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