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IMLS Gets Feedback on NCLIS and NCES Survey Consolidation

The Institute of Museum and Library Services released a summary September 13 of comments on its July draft plan to consolidate the policy functions of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) and the public and state library surveys of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) into its operations. The IMLS plan was a response to President Bush’s proposal to centralize more federal library programs within the agency.

IMLS received 25 comments from national library and museum organizations (including the American Library Association), state librarians, and interested members of the library community. Overall, the agency said, the commenters felt that “combining data collection, policy, and grant making in one agency would result in stronger federal support for library data collection and information policy.”

Washington Office Associate Executive Director Emily Sheketoff submitted ALA’s August 31 response, which said that the Association supported the IMLS consolidation plan because “it puts the responsibility for the federal government’s development of domestic and international information and library policies in one agency.”

Sheketoff advised IMLS to “request five full-time people to form the nucleus of a team to work on promoting the benefits of librarianship and information and library policies and standards.” She added that the federal salary levels of the positions should be higher than that of the current NCES staff in order to “build the infrastructure necessary to track and analyze data on the country’s library trends and programs.”

Comments that IMLS received from other organizations included:

  • amending the Museum and Library Services Act to ensure that IMLS’s role includes advising the President and Congress on information-related policy issues;
  • ensuring a broader representation of constituencies, such as older adults and special libraries;
  • maintaining the highest statistical standards in data collection; and
  • streamlining procedures for releasing statistical data to enable quicker turnaround.

“We are grateful to everyone who participated in this process,” said IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice. “These comments will help inform the development of a final plan that will be part of the President’s FY 2008 budget request for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.”

Posted September 15, 2006.

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