[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H5408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO REPLACING OUTDATED LIBRARY BOOKS

  (Mr. BLAGOJEVICH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, books have the power to bring the world 
to any child, but it is an obsolete world children see in 75 percent of 
the books in Chicago public school libraries.
  Here is a sample of what students learn from many of these books. 
Russia is still part of the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall is still 
standing. And some of these books boldly predict that one day man will 
actually walk on the Moon.
  A recent study showed that 65 percent of the 100,000 public school 
libraries do not have adequate book collections. Recently the gentleman 
from Delaware [Mr. Castle] and I circulated a letter signed by 70 
Members of Congress urging a strong new commitment to replacing 
outdated library books.

                              {time}  1015

  There is good news. Earlier this week a congressional subcommittee 
agreed to invest $350 million to help public school libraries. That is 
an investment, Mr. Speaker, that will help take our public school 
libraries out of the dark ages and bring them back to the future.

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