ACRL College & Research Libraries News

Association of College & Research Libraries

Higher Education Act revision due in 1985

By Nancy Kranich New York University Chair, ACRL Legislation Committee

The Higher Education Act will expire on September 30,1985. Although the Act is subject to automatic extension, it is highly likely to be considered for revision by the next Congress. Several attempts at revision were initiated last year. Caught in a debate over student aid, the bill never moved out of committee. Among the other controversial parts of the bill was the College Library Resources Program (HEAII-A)—a program that was not funded at all in the FY 1984 budget.

The original purpose of Title II-A was to provide grants to academic libraries to assist in the maintenance and improvement of their library collections, and to enable them to share resources and participate in library networks. While the program allotted only $890 per institution in FY 1983, it has been authorized to expend up to $10,000 per applicant. Since its inception in 1966, over 45,000 awards have been granted, with an annual participation of 2,500 academic libraries, resulting in a cumulative contribution exceeding $196 million for acquisitions.

Congressional reluctance to continue to fund HEA II-A has stemmed from a belief that the program must be need-based and not just provide equal and minimal sums of money to any academic library that applies for support. Indeed, many libraries have benefited greatly from this program in the past; those not currently meeting even the minimal standards for adequacy of library resources (estimated at half of all four-year college libraries in a recent analysis) could make significant progress toward upgrading their resources if funds were available once again. A renewed program could also provide the necessary impetus for institutions to raise their support for campus libraries, particularly those 10% that failed to meet the maintenance-of-effort requirement when applying for HEAII-A monies during the last funding cycle.

Recently, attempts by House Postsecondary Education Subcommittee Paul Simon and Subcommittee Member William Ford to develop need criteria for awarding grants did not evoke a consensus among academic librarians. Nevertheless, Simon remains committed to enactment in the 99th Congress of “improved assistance programs for college libraries to enhance quality and to strengthen service delivery capacity.” Without a mandate from the profession, however, it is unlikely that the full Congress will be convinced to reauthorize and fund this program when so many others need support. Therefore, it is crucial for college librarians to join together to communicate the value and need for this program to their legislators over the next few months.

After abandoning its proposals for revising HEA II-A, the Subcommittee passed the responsibility for proposing need criteria back to the library community. ALA has worked on recommendations for incorporating need criteria into Title II-A since 1978. But devising such criteria has been a difficult task and, as yet, there is still no consensus on what criteria would be simple, workable, and fair.

The ACRL Legislation Committee is now working closely with the ALA Washington Office at formulating a good working definition of a needy library while analyzing library statistical data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. The Committee has sought wide input from the field which it will use as a cross-check with the analyses of the NCES computer tapes. If quantitative descriptors can be developed, they will be recommended for inclusion in any need formula to be incorporated into the legislation.

Over the next few months, the committee will complete its review of the criteria and report its findings to the ACRL Board and the ALA Legislation Committee at the Midwinter Meeting in Washington. Those wishing to contribute to the discussion on HEA II-A need critria should contact the ACRL Legislation Committee Chair, Nancy Kranich, New York University Libraries, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012; (213) 598-2484.

Conference proceedings available

The proceedings of the Third National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, held in Seattle on April 4-7, have been published.

Edited by Suzanne C. Dodson, University of British Columbia, and Gary L. Menges, University of Washington, this 414-page volume includes the full text of the nine theme papers, a transcript of the Wrap-Up Session, and the full text of the 14 alternative format papers and the 47 contributed papers.

The contributed papers are arranged by general subject areas: academic librarianship, automation/bibliographic control, bibliographic instruction, collection management, general administration, and public services. A three-page subject index allows for more specific location of topics.

Complimentary copies of the proceedings have been sent to all full registrants who attended the Seattle Conference, the theme of which was “Academic Libraries: Myths and Realities.” A free copy has also been sent to each organization with an exhibit at the conference.

Others may purchase copies from ACRL at $20 for ACRL members and $28 for non-members. The ISBN is 0-8389-6787-6. Send orders to ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611- 2795.