ALA President-elect requests Library of Congress to Maintain Public Service

On October 24, ALA President-elect Jim Retig testified before the U.S. House of Representatives' House Administration Committee at an oversight hearing pertaining to the services of the Library of Congress.

Retig stated that “The diminution of the quality and quantity of Library of Congress cataloging has had an enormous financial impact on the nation's libraries,” Rettig stateds. “Cataloging that the Library previously provided must now be performed by multiple libraries, often doing duplicative work, thereby wasting tax dollars.”

The Library of Congress' communication efforts are a theme that ran through each aspect of Rettig's testimony. Rettig also expressed concerns about the need for more funding for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), which serves more than 750,000 people, and surely more in the near future, as the baby boomer generation ages.

“ALA strongly recommends that the Library of Congress return to its former practice of broad and meaningful consultation prior to making significant changes to cataloging policy.”

For more on the testimony:

Jim Rettig Library of Congress Testimony -- October 24, 2007 (PDF)




"ALA President-elect Jim Rettig calls for Library of Congress to maintain its service to the public." American Library Association. 2007.http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2007/october2007/rettigtest102407.htm (Accessed 31 Oct, 2007)