Senator Gore has proposed what has been variously called Son of
NREN or Gore II, which should help address many of these
infrastructure problems.
Unfortunately, the Bill was not passed and the closing of the last
Congress. There is hope, however, that it will be reintroduced this
Spring.
Specifically, Gore's bill would have ensured that the technology
developed by the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 is
applied widely in K-12 education, libraries, health care and
industry, particularly manufacturing. It would have authorized a
total of $1.15 billion over the next five years.
According to a press release from Senator Gore's office,
"The Information Infrastructure and Technology Act charges the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) with
coordinating efforts to develop applications for high-performance
computing networking and assigns specific responsibilities to the
National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space
Agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and
the National Institutes of Health. It would expand the role of
OSTP in overseeing federal efforts to disseminate scientific and
technical information."
"The bill provides funding to both NSF and NASA to develop
technology for 'digital libraries'-- huge data bases that store text,
imagery, video, and sound and are accessible over computer
networks like NSFNET. The bill also funds development of
prototype 'digital libraries' around the country."
The public needs NREN because 300 baud used to be fast and low-
resolution graphics used to be pretty. Now we get impatient
waiting for fax machines to print out a document from half a
continent away, when a few years ago we would have been
content to wait days or weeks for the same article to arrive by mail.
We are satisfied with technology until it starts to impede our lives
in some way. We wait impatiently, sure that we spend half our
lives waiting for printers, and the other half waiting for disk drives.
Time is a commodity.
I can envision that little girl walking into the public library with the
following request:
"I'm doing a school report on the Challenger disaster. I need a video
clip of the explosion, a sound bite of Richard Feynman explaining
the O-ring problem, some neat graphics from NASA, oh, and
maybe some virtual reality mock-ups of the shuttle interior. Can
you put it all on this floppy disk for me, I know it's only 15 minutes
before you close but, gee, I had band practice." This is why
public libraries need NREN.
We would do well to remember the words of Ranganathan, whose
basic tenets of good librarianship need just a little updating from
1931:
"[Information] is for use."
"Every [bit of information], its user."
"Every user, [his/her bit of information]."
"Save the time of the [user]."
"A [network] is a growing organism."
And so is the public library. A promising future awaits the public
library that can be proactive rather than reactive to technology.
Information technology is driving the future, librarians should be at
the wheel. It is hoped that the new Administration in Washington
will provide the fuel to get us going.
_______________________________
SIDEBAR
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Excerpts from S.2937 as introduced July 1, 1992
102nd Congress
2nd Session
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mr. GORE (for himself, Rockefeller (D-WV), Kerry (D-MA),
Prestler (R-SD), Riegle (D-MI), Robb (D-VA), Lieberman (D-CT),
Kerrey (D-NE) and Burns (R-MT)) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation.
A BILL
To expand Federal efforts to develop technologies for applications
of high-performance computing and high-speed networking, to
provide for a coordinated Federal program to accelerate development
and deployment of an advanced information infrastructure,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Information Infrastructure and
Technology Act of 1992".
SEC. 7. APPLICATIONS FOR LIBRARIES.
(a) DIGITAL LIBRARIES.--In accordance with the Plan
developed under section 701 of the National Science and
Technology Policy, Organization and Priorities Act of 1976 (42
U.S.C. 6601 et seq.), as added by section 3 of this Act, the National
Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
and other appropriate agencies shall develop technologies for
"digital libraries" of electronic information. Development of digital
libraries shall include the following:
(1) Development of advanced data storage systems
capable of storing hundreds of trillions of bits of data
and giving thousands of users nearly instantaneous
access to that information.
(2) Development of high-speed, highly accurate
systems for converting printed text, page images,
graphics, and photographic images into electronic form.
(3) Development of database software capable of
quickly searching, filtering, and summarizing large
volumes of text, imagery, data, and sound.
(4) Encouragement of development and adoption of
standards for electronic data.
(5) Development of computer technology to
categorize and organize electronic information in a
variety of formats.
(6) Training of database users and librarians in
the use of and development of electronic databases.
(7) Development of technology for simplifying the
utilization of networked databases distributed around
the Nation and around the world.
(8) Development of visualization technology for
quickly browsing large volumes of imagery.
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOTYPES.--The National
Science
Foundation, working with the supercomputer centers it
supports, shall develop prototype digital libraries of
scientific data available over the Internet and the National
Research and Education Network.
(c) DEVELOPMENT OF DATABASES OF REMOTE-
SENSING
IMAGES.--The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
shall develop databases of software and remote-sensing images
to be made available over computer networks like the
Internet.
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.--
(1) There are authorized to be appropriated to the National
Science
Foundation for the purposes of this section, $10,000,000 for fiscal
year 1993, $20,000,000 for fiscal year 1994, $30,000,000 for fiscal year
1995, $40,000,000 for fiscal year 1996, and $50,000,000 for fiscal year
1997.
(2) There are authorized to be appropriated to the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration for the purposes of this
section, $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, $20,000,000 for fiscal year
1994, $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, $40,000,000 for fiscal year
1996, and $50,000,000 for fiscal year 1997.
________________________
SIDEBAR
Resources
___________________________
McClure, Charles R., Joe Ryan, Diana Lauterbach and William E. Moen
Public Libraries and the INTERNET/NREN: New Challenges, New Opportunities.
1992. Copies of this 38-page study may be ordered at $15 each from
the Publication Office, School of Information Studies, Syracuse
University, Syracuse, NY 13244-4100 315/443-2911.
The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information
Science (NCLIS) has issued a Report to the Office of Science and
Technology Policy on Library and Information Services' Roles in
the National Research and Education Network. The 25-page
document, released in late November, 1992, summarizes the results
of an open forum held in Washington during the previous summer.
Topics addressed include funding NREN, charging for use,
commercial access, protection of intellectual property, and security
and privacy. The report "focuses on fulfilling the potential for
extending the services and effectiveness of libraries and
information services for all Americans through high-speed
networks and electronic databases." A limited number of copies are
available from NCLIS at 111 18th St., NW, Suite 310, Washington,
D.C. 20036 202/254-3100.
Grand Challenges 1993: High Performance Computing and
Communications. The "Teal Book" (because of its color) "provides a
far-sighted vision for investment in technology but also recognizes
the importance of human resources and applications that serve
major national needs. This É investment will bring both economic
and social dividends, including advances in education,
productivity, basic science, and technological innovation."
Requests for copies of this 68-page document should go to: Federal
Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering and Technology,
Committee on Physical, Mathematical, and Engineering Sciences
c/o National Science Foundation, Computer and Information Science
and Engineering Directorate, 1800 G St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20550
Carl Kadie operates an excellent electronic resource of documents
pertaining to academic freedom, the Library Bill of Rights, and
similar policy statements. Those with Internet access may use File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) to ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) Login as
anonymous, use your network address as the password. The documents
are in the /pub/academic directory.