[House Hearing, 109 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
=======================================================================
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
before the
JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, APRIL 21, 2005
__________
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY
BOB NEY, Chairman
Senator TED STEVENS, Alaska Senator CHRIS DODD, Connecticut
Vice Chairman Senator CHARLES SCHUMER, New York
Senator TRENT LOTT, Mississippi Rep. JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD,
Senator THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi California
Rep. VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan Rep. ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania
Rep. CANDICE MILLER, Michigan Rep. ZOE LOFGREN, California
Professional Staff
Bryan T. Dorsey, Staff Director
Jennifer Mies Lowe, Deputy Staff Director
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
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THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2005
House of Representatives,
Joint Committee on the Library,
Washington, DC.
The joint committee met, pursuant to call, at 4:16 p.m., in
room H-144, The Capitol, Hon. Robert W. Ney (chairman of the
joint committee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Ney, Ehlers, Millender-McDonald,
Lofgren, and Miller and Senators Stevens and Lott.
Staff: Fred Hay, Legal Counsel; Geraldine M. Otremba,
Director of Congressional Relations, Office of the Librarian;
Bryan T. Dorsey, Staff Director; Jennifer Mies Lowe, Deputy
Staff Director; Matt Pinkus, Professional Staff.
Representative Ney. I will bring the Committee to order
today, the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, for the
first meeting of the 109th. I welcome all of our great members
who are here today.
As our first order of business we have to elect a committee
chair and vice chair. In the 109th, the House gets to chair. Is
there a nomination for the Chair?
Senator Stevens. Mr. Chairman, I nominate the
Representative from Ohio, Bob Ney, the chairman during this
Congress.
Representative Ney. As long as the people vote back home
they can call me Ney or nigh. I have been called worse.
Do I hear a second?
Senator Lott. Second.
Representative Ney. Any other nominations? Hearing none,
all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed no. And the
ayes have it.
I thank the distinguished Senator and other Senator for the
nomination and the second.
Now it is up to the vice chair. I would like to nominate
the Senator from Alaska, Senator Ted Stevens. Is there a
second?
Senator Lott. Second.
Representative Ney. Any other nominations? Hearing none,
all those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed no. The ayes
have it.
The record will reflect that the Committee has elected
myself, the Representative from Ohio, Bob Ney, as chairman, and
the Senator from Alaska, Ted Stevens, as the vice chairman. I
thank again my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the
House and also we are joined by the ranking member,
Congresswoman Millender-McDonald and Congresswoman Lofgren from
the State of California.
Senator Stevens. Chairman, I would move for the adoption of
the rules.
Representative Ney. Yes, and I will second that.
All those in favor of the adoption of the rules--there are
a couple of technical changes I understand, strictly technical.
It has been seconded.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed no. The
ayes have it.
We will begin with the testimony of the Librarian of
Congress, Dr. Billington.
STATEMENT OF JAMES H. BILLINGTON, PH.D., LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
Mr. Billington. I am happy to be here to testify before the
Joint Committee of the Congress on the Library, the oldest
joint committee of the Congress, and I also thank the Congress
for being the greatest single patron of the Library in the
history of the world.
This library has the world's largest collection of human
knowledge and is the principal source of research support for
the Congress of the United States. We also collect and preserve
materials in 486 languages from abroad; and, largely through
copyright deposit, the Library preserves the immense ongoing
record of America's intellectual and cultural creativity.
The ways in which we perform all of our services are
changing rapidly in response to the digital revolution which
has generated new kinds of resources. In addition to books,
journals, manuscripts, maps, films, and recordings, we must now
collect digital audiovisual resources, digital documents,
electronic databases and even Web sites.
In 2004, our unique universal collection of 130 million
items added 2,600,000 new books and other artifacts; and our
educational Web site attracted more than 3.3 billion electronic
hits. We now have more than 9 million items of American history
online and information about the Congress and much else. We are
moving the materials that we provide in our National Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped into digital formats.
We are also leading a national program, thanks to Senator
Stevens' leadership, to archive materials that are unique,
important and dependable from the vast flood of material in
digital format on the Internet; and we have made awards
totaling $14 million to eight leading consortia partners
encompassing 36 institutions who have begun to join us in
archiving and preserving essential digital information so that
we can provide it to Congress and the Nation comprehensively in
the future.
The Library is now in the advanced stages of converting
almost all of our processes from manual to electronic formats.
At no other time in history has technology so directly affected
how we perform our work. Superimposing a digital on an analog
library has vastly increased the need for the Library's staff
expertise to identify, authenticate, catalog, interpret and
provide access to information largely on line as well as in
print format.
Our librarians, nearly 30 percent of whom are eligible to
retire, have to become knowledgeable navigators guiding
readers, scholars and your constituents, as well as the
Congress through raw, unprocessed data toward reliable
information and insightful analysis. Replacing staff positions
often requires us to increase the expertise and grade levels of
the staff who replace them. I know that Mr. Mulhollan will
touch upon this in his statement about the Congressional
Research Service, but it is actually an issue for all of the
Library.
In this time of momentous change, valuable information, not
easily attainable otherwise, flows to the Library, to the
Congressional Research Service, and to Members of Congress from
our six overseas offices in other parts of the world, and I
provided the committee in your packet with a brief itemization
of some of the important services provided to the Nation
through our Islamabad and through our other offices.
In order to sustain Congress' investment, which has been
205 years, we are requesting this year $628 million for fiscal
year 2006. We testified before the Senate Legislative Branch
Subcommittee earlier this week and have provided you with a
copy of my hearing statement dealing with all of that. I
particularly stress the importance of facilities for
preservation and storage, both of audiovisual materials at the
Culpeper, Virginia, facility that is being built by the Packard
Humanities Institute, who are making an unprecedented gift of
more than $120 million to do so, and also of important
facilities to be constructed by the Architect of the Capitol in
his budget at Fort Meade, Maryland, to house 26 million items
of our often unique special collections.
We urgently need to increase our acquisitions budget, which
has also suffered from the declining buying power of the dollar
abroad and from the soaring price of periodicals. We also need
added funds to sustain the essential staff capacity in CRS and
to sustain our massive conversion of all processes from manual
to electronic formats, including the essential completion of a
7-year reengineering program in the Copyright Office.
The gloriously restored Jefferson building is increasingly
a major tourist destination, which is now attracting more than
1 million visitors annually. The advent of the Capitol Visitors
Center with the tunnel connecting directly to the Jefferson
Building will bring a vastly increased number of new visitors
to the Library and we hope to have them discover one of the
least-known historic accomplishments of the Congress of the
United States: The preservation in its library of the mint
record of American creativity contained in our vast copyright
deposit and multimedia collection of the Library. It is
absolutely unique and extraordinary.
We plan to transform a part of the Thomas Jefferson
Building into a state-of-the-art Creative America Center--it is
roughly described in our statement and included in the
package--with state-of-the-art interactive experiences that
will draw visitors into the creative process. Visitors will
have a chance to ask questions in an interactive mode. You can
see the beginnings of it in the electronic technology in the
Library's latest exhibit. We have a magnificent collection of
the early Americas.
The Library must provide ``the magic at the end of the
tunnel'', John Kluge said when he was talking to our private
sector Madison Council. He chairs it and said this as he
pledged $5 million yesterday to the effort to begin the
Creative America project. This program will greatly increase
public awareness and appreciation of what in fact the world's
most creative modern Nation has brought into being and how the
Congress of the United States has preserved it all for the
education, the inspiration, and enjoyment of the American
people.
We will, of course, keep the Joint Committee informed of
these developments in Creative America and of two additional
efforts in which the private sector's involvement may greatly
increase the usage and impact of the Library.
We are in discussion with a major high technology company
to advance significantly the Library's growing effort to put
foreign materials from our library on line together with
matching materials from other national libraries--building on
projects such as the Meeting of Frontiers project with Russia,
with already a million items of Russian materials on line, the
National Library of Spain, Egypt, and several others.
Representative Millender-McDonald. Dr. Billington, so that
we can hear from the others in the time that we have, I
certainly want to get your views that you present, which are so
critical. In the 200-plus years, the Library has been one of
the icons of our Nation and I want to get your views in
reference to some of those questions that we might obviously
have raised earlier, but not this floor action that is going
back and forth.
I just want to tell you that I am going to a meeting with
you next week so that we can discuss those issues that you have
in your statement as well as some of those other issues that
you might like to speak to me about.
Mr. Billington. Let me mention one other thing and then I
am finished. And that is the former St. Cecilia's facility
which is a property that we acquired some years ago. It is on
East Capitol Street. This building was acquired by the
Architect of the Capitol for the Library's use as a child care
facility and also housing for scholars in 1991. Except for the
daycare at what we call the Little Scholars Center, the
building has remained unrenovated and we are in discussion with
a major foundation to see if we can't also refit it. This would
provide resident scholars from the Kluge Center, with an
inexpensive place to stay nearby. We are in discussions about
this with the Architect of the Capitol, who has been very
helpful.
Representative Ney. Thank you. And I know that we are
almost out of time. I would like to hear from the Architect of
the Capitol, Mr. Alan Hantman, about the National Garden and
the final statue.
STATEMENT OF ALAN M. HANTMAN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL
Mr. Hantman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the
committee. Thank you for the opportunity to give you a report
on the progress of the National Garden and other AOC projects.
I am pleased to report that the National Garden project is
48 percent complete, although most of the work is not readily
visible because a good deal of it has been infrastructure work
underground and installation of elements that will support the
garden above.
Since we awarded the construction contract in March 2004
for the base bid and Option One, the National Fund for the U.S.
Botanic Garden has raised the funds to proceed with Option Two,
the Regional Garden. Therefore, in addition to the Rose Garden,
the Butterfly Garden, the Lawn Terrace, the Hornbeam Court and
the landscaped garden path, we also will be constructing the
Regional Garden.
This garden will feature the flora and fauna native to the
Mid-Atlantic area and a three-level earthen amphitheater that
will function as an outdoor classroom.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, the National Garden project has
been a joint venture among the Joint Committee on the Library,
the AOC, and the National Fund. So I would like to thank the
joint committee for its support which has made this wonderful
oasis a reality.
I also want to thank the Fund for its commitment to
completing our vision for a respectful, dignified National
Garden. They are continuing to raise funds and have secured
commitments towards the construction of Option Three, which is
the First Ladies Water Garden. It is my hope that within a few
months I will be able to report that their efforts have been
successful and that they will be starting work on that First
Ladies Water Garden.
Completion of the base bid with the first two options is
planned for this November and the Garden is scheduled to be
open to the public in the summer of 2006. If we receive the
funding for Option Three by July 1st, we will begin
construction on the Water Garden as well. That will add 4
months to the construction schedule. We expect that this work
can be done in conjunction with other construction work and we
anticipate the opening of the National Garden within a few
weeks of the projected summer 2006 opening.
Another topic of note, Mr. Chairman, is that this year the
100th statue will be added to the National Statuary Hall
Collection. In September, the State of New Mexico is expected
to donate its second statue, thus completing the Collection
establish by Congress in July 1864. New Mexico has chosen to
honor Pope, a Pueblo medicine man. The 7,800-pound, marble
statue measures 7 feet tall and will sit on a 3-foot high
pedestal. We look forward to working with the joint committee,
as well as the New Mexico congressional delegation, on the
unveiling ceremony to accept the 100th statue to the
collection.
Over the past several months, we have been conserving the
frames surrounding the paintings in the Rotunda, and this work
includes reconstruction of the missing pieces, cleaning,
extensive regilding and careful toning to match the new gilding
of the surfaces. These carved pine frames were originally
installed in 1824 and gilded between 1826 and 1828.
In addition, we completed the restoration of this wonderful
room, which was painted by Brumidi, it was one of his first
challenges here at the United States Capitol. We take great
pride in being steward of these national treasures that we all
share.
I thank you and look forward to any questions that you may
have.
Representative Millender-McDonald. Mr. Chairman.
Representative Ehlers [presiding]. I am in charge? I like
that. Are there any questions or comments?
Representative Millender-McDonald. May I just comment, Mr.
Chairman. I appreciate your report. I look forward to visiting
with you next week. You and I talked about the parameters and
some of the other things that we want to look at, and as well
as the statue issue and the letter that I got. So we have to
talk about that, because I can agree with a lot of what you are
saying in the letter.
So I appreciate your coming to us with this information,
and further, I look forward to your meeting with me next week
so that we can talk about some of the other issues.
Mr. Hantman. Absolutely. Hopefully, Congresswoman, we will
have a chance to take a tour of the Visitor Center as well, and
that is certainly an invitation to everyone who has not yet had
that opportunity. We are putting the decorative fit-out stone
up now and you can get a sense of the spaces and how the
visitor will perceive the Visitor Center as well.
Representative Millender-McDonald. There will be a garden?
Mr. Hantman. The First Ladies Water Garden is planned for
the National Garden. Hopefully we are going to get the rest of
the funds and can announce to this committee that it will soon
be under construction.
Representative Millender-McDonald. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Representative Ehlers. Representative Lofgren.
Representative Lofgren. Apologies for missing the end of
Mr. Mulhollan's verbal report. But reading through it, it
appears that there is some stress in the CRS and it is
something that we rely on. Looking at your CRS budget request,
does this really in your mind resolve the challenges that you
are facing?
Mr. Mulhollan. If we get the funds requested. Actually I
haven't had a chance to speak yet on that, but we are asking
for a one-time base adjustment to make us whole in CRS and it
has two components. Half of our request is for mandatories: the
annual cost of living increases related to staff salaries and
the inflationary adjustments for the purchase of goods and
services. 88 percent of our budget is salaries. We are faced
with a historic funding gap due to three factors for CRS.
Congress has been helpful to us in our succession planning. In
the last two fiscal years we have hired over 130 staff--and
lost a comparable number to retirements and other separations.
Most of the people retiring are under the old retirement
system, the Civil Service Retirement System, with employer-paid
benefits costing us per employee about 13.5 percent. Those new
staff coming on are in the new retirement system, FERS, where
the employer-paid benefits are 27 percent--double the rate for
CSRS. So that is one reason for it.
Another is that the year after I started as Director, 1995,
the average new hire was a GS-7, Step 9. Today the average hire
is GS-13, Step 9. Why is that? The problems Congress faces are
more complex. We are dealing increasingly with environmental,
economic and international aspects. We are bringing in new
competencies, biochemists, gerontologists, geneticists,
actuaries, and they are part of the reasons why we have more
expert staff to help you with legislation but the cost is more
per employee.
And the last reason is the fact that in the past 10 years,
with one exception, there has been a gap between the rate we
anticipate and the rate change approved for Federal employees'
annual cost of living adjustment. In fiscal year 2004, we
requested 3.7 percent. But what the President signed into law
was 4.42 percent. This resulted in a $400,000 shortfall--or 4
FTEs--for that year and that has been cumulative for several
years. We have asked for this $3.61 million for a one-time
rampup to keep us at 729 FTEs.
The last component of our request is what Dr. Billington
alluded to in his statement. The Library is facing the same
challenge. This is a one-time reassertion of our buying power
for research materials. There are new challenges, new
literature, on issues such as global terrorism and homeland
security. We did a thorough study of our actual costs. In the
past 10 years, our average increase has been 9 percent, but we
have been asking for a traditional inflation rate of 1.52 to 2
percent. Our budget projection methodology now includes the
actual inflation rate, but we need this one-time funding
adjustment to recover from years of budget base erosion. And so
there are things like the proprietary drug pricing databases
that we need, and others such as PIERS, which is a port
security database. Those are the kinds of materials that we
need and the Library is facing its greatest challenge there.
Representative Ehlers. Any further questions?
Representative Lofgren. No, he answered it.
Representative Ehlers. Thank you. You have not had an
opportunity to give your report. The chairman is back. I will
have to leave in about 8 minutes.
Mr. Mulhollan. Well, I will be under 5 minutes actually.
STATEMENT OF DANIEL P. MULHOLLAN, DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL
RESEARCH SERVICE
Mr. Mulhollan. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I
appreciate the opportunity to appear at the committee's
business meeting today and want to express my gratitude for
your continuing support for the Congressional Research Service.
Five years ago Congress directed me to bring to your
attention issues relating to CRS' ability to meet its mission.
It is in the context of that obligation I must inform you that
CRS is at a pivotal point. Today, I am asking for your support
on the fiscal year 2006 budget request. This funding is
essential to our ability to continue to meet our statutory
mission and uphold our tradition of serving every Member and
committee on the issues of concern to them.
I am mindful of the budgetary pressures facing the
Congress. Our 2006 budget request carefully considers those
pressures and does not reflect a growing workload but rather
the need to catch up from gaps in funding. I have already
mentioned and I will not repeat in detail our reasons for our
request, but I think we have a good case to be made.
What I do want to point out, however, is that in 2002, the
joint committee asked that we accelerate our adoption of
technologies to assist members, wherever they may be, whenever
they need assistance. CRS has achieved major advances in this
area. We are using our Web site to provide you with
comprehensive research and analysis, structured around over 180
significant policy issue areas facing the Congress this
session, and CRS experts are committed to reviewing and
modifying their analysis wherever and whenever significant
congressional or world events occur.
We are using encrypted e-mail to communicate with you. This
fiscal year so far there have been over 77,000 e-mail messages
between CRS and the Congress, a 13 percent increase from the
same period last year. While e-mail speeds direct
communications between and among individuals, it also raises
expectations and increases demands for immediate responses. We
are also testing the use of wireless technology, a capacity
that may be useful for communications during emergency
situations.
We are constantly assessing our functions to ensure that
they are efficient and effective. We are: reorganizing to
maximize direct service to the Congress, colocating staff to
facilitate collaboration, consolidating CRS facilities,
utilizing flexible hiring programs with a focus on enhancing
our diversity, and outsourcing selective operations.
In addition, we regularly and carefully review our
relatively fixed, nonpersonal costs to see if any component of
those expenditures can be reduced or eliminated, and we have
initiated audits of every ongoing business activity within CRS.
We also look forward to working with the Library, and the
committee on human resources flexibility legislation, which
will improve our ability to recruit and retain staff.
In closing, CRS is a shared pool of experts and as such we
have the ability both to address high priority issues from
multi-disciplinary perspectives and to provide a wide range of
high level, confidential, specialized expertise. Individual
committees and Members could not retain such a valuable
resource for their own offices, but CRS, as a centralized
shared pool extends your own office's capacity and has proven
to be cost-effective in meeting total congressional demands.
Every member of CRS joins me in my efforts to fulfill our
mission to uphold our tradition of service, and to remain a
highly productive, streamlined, and flexible organization that
works closely with the Congress, to anticipate and address
congressional needs.
Thank you.
Representative Ney. Questions?
Representative Lofgren. We asked them while you were gone.
Representative Ney. Did you?
Representative Miller. I am a new member, and I am happy
that the chairman asked me to be a member of this committee. I
am sorry that I missed Dr. Billington's presentation, but I did
have the opportunity to meet you earlier and, as I mentioned,
in my former life as the Michigan Secretary of State, an odd
appendage of my duties was to serve as official Historian of
our State. In our complex the State museum was with our State
library, so we did a lot of different partnerships with them
and I miss that part of the job. So I am excited to be on the
Committee to work with the Library. It is an unbelievable
national treasure.
I received a short briefing about how to use some of those
resources in my district, and I am very excited about that. And
Dan, to you, I will just say that, as you know, I had an
opportunity as a new Member last term to go through the new
Member orientation. I will never forget how nervous I was and
wondering how I was ever going to get briefed up on all these
issues. I went back to my staff after the orientation and said,
are you aware of CRS and what they can do to help us?
What a fantastic and professional organization you have.
And I will also say that I do not think there is a partisan
gene in any of your staff, and I say that with a high degree of
respect. They treat both sides very well, no matter what
question any of us may have.
Mr. Mulhollan. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Representative Miller. I am excited to be on the Committee,
and I will enjoy working with all of you.
Representative Ehlers. I just wanted to relay a comment
Congressman Bereuter made to me a month or so ago. He was back
in town. He was one of the most respected, most thoughtful
Members of the Congress before he left to head up the Asia
Foundation, and I asked him how things were going and he said
fine. And I said what do you miss about the Congress? And he
said the thing I miss most is CRS. He said I have to give a lot
of speeches and now I have to do my own research.
So I thought I would pass that on to you. Your service is
appreciated also by those who have left.
Another comment to the Architect about touring the Visitor
Center, just one comment, I am very interested in doing that,
finding time that Members can, and I would suggest that the
most likely time to catch us is on the first day when we return
and are having votes in the evening, about 4:30 to 5:00 or
6:00, or 4:00 to 6:00. Other days, we all have committee
meetings. Normally, we do not have meetings that day.
Mr. Hantman. We will certainly contact your offices and
hopefully we can arrange that.
Representative Lofgren. Just a question. The CRS, I mean--
and that goes to the Appropriations Committee--do we generally
make a recommendation to the Appropriations Committee? And if
so, should we recommend what we have proposed in the CRS
budget?
Representative Ney. I think after we look at it, it is
helpful. I believe that CRS will have full support, if members
look at it. I think it is helpful.
Representative Lofgren. Should we move to do that or do we
have a quorum to do that?
Representative Ney. We need Senator Stevens to do that, or
Senator Lott. But in general, I think it is helpful that people
feel confident, which I do. But we could send a letter, as I
understand it. So what we will do is talk about it further when
the Senators are here.
Representative Lofgren. Okay.
Representative Ney. I just wanted to say that I appreciate,
the confidentiality of CRS in that you do not have to worry
that your work is going anywhere. It is critical that we have
CRS. As I understand from Senator Stevens years ago, there were
offices trying to do it on their own and there was a thought
years ago about creating your own positions to do it; it just
wouldn't work.
Mr. Mulhollan. We did a study actually in 1994 when the
change of party control occurred. We looked at what it would
take to acquire the same competency if every office hired
experts and also what it would take if you contracted out the
services to private entities. In both instances, in both
methodologies, the public support of a centralized service came
out way ahead as cost-effective, and I think that that would
even hold more so today.
Representative Ney. Dr. Billington, I also wanted to
congratulate you on a huge step when you went to Iran. That was
a major step and learning experience.
Mr. Billington. It also expands our capacity to have
exchanges of important materials.
Representative Ney. The governments may not speak, but at
least education can continue.
Mr. Billington. I learned much from our curators,
specialized curators, there and all the circumstances.
Representative Ney. One other thing, George Shevlin was
there, and I am trying to think of other people in our office
who were there. We visited with your people in Istanbul, and we
went to Cairo. They really have done a good job. There are so
many things in this world that would be absolutely lost without
CRS. When the Loya Jirga met in Afghanistan, the Taliban had
enjoyed the original code of law of Afghanistan, and the only
copy of that code was here in the Library of Congress. That is
how Afghanistan was reconstituted as a democracy and had this
ability because I understand it was lost.
Mr. Billington. We also acquired from our overseas office
the autobiography of Osama bin Ladin which nobody knew existed,
among the largest Arabic collection in the world. We have
expanded--I don't want to go into our budget particularly, but
I would just stress that acquisitions of this kind and the
enormous web of exchanges that we have is an enormous backup
for the Congress and the Nation. For instance, in Operation
Desert Storm in 1991 it turned out to be very important to have
the Library's records of German archaeological data from the
19th century from Mesopotamia. It confirmed that the sands of
southern Iraq would support heavy armor. This illustrates the
variety of important uses of our overseas collections. Who
would have thought that material about Kosovo and Afghanistan,
Burundi, and Chechnya, would be useful. It was because Congress
has consistently supported our global effort to obtain these
collections in all languages and virtually all subjects, except
medicine and agriculture, which have their own national
libraries. This material is useful not just for Congress but
for the government in general and the American people and it
helps public libraries, of course. We provide massive Web
services, cataloging and so forth.
So there are a great number of things in our budget that
are equally important. In the long run of course the CRS is
very important and ongoing. Our expanded Iranian collection is
very important in a closed society. One of the most interesting
things is the impressive presence of Farsi materials on the
Internet. It is the third largest language on the blog sites.
Representative Ney. Also, it is widely used in California.
Mr. Billington. In Los Angeles, there is a major center of
Iranian culture and a lot of the questions I was asked was
about Iranian Americans. This is extremely interesting. It is a
very talkative world and we have to harvest those kinds of
materials, too, to have the information that we need.
Representative Ney. On another issue, it is great that we
are finishing the statues. I also know that you get beat up
over that Visitors Center. It is a tough job and you have done
a good job. And if you haven't been in that center, you really
should take the tour. As for the signage on the House side,
people raved about it. It looks good and it is good for
visitors.
Any other questions or comments?
I want to thank Senator Stevens and his staff and all of
our members who have been so good with your time.
I ask unanimous consent that members have 7 legislative
days to submit material in the record and that those statements
and materials be entered in the appropriate place in the
record.
Without objection.
And I ask unanimous consent that the staff be authorized to
make technical and conforming changes on all matters considered
in today's meeting.
Without objection, so ordered.
And that completes the meeting. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:54 p.m., the joint committee was
adjourned.]