Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis
Date:         Wed, 22 Jul 1992 09:33:45 EDT
              <GIS-L@UBVM.BITNET>
From:         James P Love <LOVE%PUCC.BITNET@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU>
Subject:      Alaska support for Gateway/WINDO
X-To:         gis-l@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu

Received from Dean Gottehrer in Alaska.

Testimony of Ann Symons of Juneau, Alaska, before a joint hearing of the
Committee on House Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and
Administration considering H.R. 2772, the Government Printing Office Wide
Information Network for Data Online Act of 1991 (WINDO) and  S. 2813, the
Government Printing Office Gateway to Government Act of 1992

July 23, 1992


Mr. Chairman and Committee Members, I am Ann Symons, a 20-year resident of
Juneau, Alaska, and a librarian at the Juneau-Douglas High School.  I am sorry
I could not be present in person, but I appreciate the opportunity to offer
testimony for the record in support of H.R. 2772, the GPO Wide Information
Network for Data Online Act of 1991 (WINDO) and S. 2813, the GPO Gateway to
Government Act of 1992.  Before you are two bills that have the opportunity to
make a real difference in the lives of the people with whom I work and live.

Alaska, with its many natural resources and riches, is often at the forefront
of media attention.  Oil spills, the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, logging,
mining, galloping glaciers, and whales trapped in ice flows have been some of
the recent topics focusing attention on Alaska.  Those who live in our great
state, with its sweeping grandeur and its widely scattered rural population
base, are particularly sensitive to the need to access government
information.

The tragedy of the Exxon Valdez oil spill alone has produced thousands of
pages of government documents, most of the information inaccessible to the
very citizens whose lives have been affected by the oil spill.  Technology has
changed the way we find answers to our questions, the way we interact with
information, the way government information is stored and disseminated.  As an
Alaska librarian, I have a responsibility to bring information and the people
I serve together--it is a responsibility you share.

Our jobs are not unalike--we both have the obligation to ensure that all
people, no matter where they live, no matter what their circumstance have the
information they need to work, to learn, to be responsible decision makers.
We have the opportunity with these bills to make a tremendous difference in
the daily lives of people and their ability to be full and informed
participants in our democracy.

While government documents do exist in depository libraries--nine across the
state of Alaska--all of these depositories receive a very limited amount of
government information.  These depository libraries are located in four
cities.  Fully half of them receive less than 6 percent of government
documents printed.  Three receive less than 32 percent of government documents
printed and one receives 65 percent.  None of them is a full depository
library.

The geographic isolation Alaskans face is felt no more greatly than in the
amount of time it takes for mail--even first class mail--to reach our remote
communities.  In many ways, Alaskans live at the northern-most end of the
postal road.  Printing and mailing government information to Alaska puts our
people at a disadvantage when that information has a time value or when some
of that information is only available electronically.

Electronic access to government information is the answer to solving many of
our states communication and research needs.  The WINDO/Gateway concept puts
all states, large and small, rural and urban, on the same footing.  Access to
government information electronically through a central point at the GPO will
give Alaskans the ability to participate fully in a democracy by having the
same opportunity of access as others.

Since there are only nine depository libraries in Alaska, one might argue that
having these depository libraries in our major cities will be of no help to
those who live in rural communities and students in schools.  I couldnt
disagree more.

For as long as I have lived in Alaska, I have been actively involved with the
library community and its fundamental commitment to access to information for
all.  We have used technology in many ways to serve all of Alaskas citizens.
Rural residents can ask questions and get answers from the major library
centers, the University of Alaska Computer Network, the State of Alaska
Legislative Information Offices and their computer network.  Information can
be easily transferred quickly by facsimile.

When U.S. Supreme Court decisions are announced, librarians receive questions.
Because we do not have easy, centralized electronic access to government
information, answers are difficult to find or slow in coming.  The same
applies to information in the Federal Register and bills that my be introduced
in Congress.  The effects of a continuing lack of access to government
information is simply not in the best interests of Alaskans.  That lack could
be remedied by the WINDO/Gateway system.

We have a broad, diverse, and small population in Alaska.  Librarians in
Kotzebue, in northwestern Alaska, work closely with those at the University of
Alaska Fairbanks, in interior Alaska.  Librarians in Bethel, in southwestern
Alaska, work closely with those at the Anchorage Municipal Library in
southcentral Alaska.  Reaching our rural and school populations is not
difficult.  The difficulty is in being able to access the government documents
Alaskans need to be productive citizens.  While Bethel and Kotzebue do not
have depository libraries and can work with librarians in Anchorage or
Fairbanks, the GPO WINDO/Gateway would enable any library to receive the same
electronic access as a depository library through the sales program.

Staff and students at Juneau-Douglas High School regularly use the University
of Alaska Computer Network.  Many have Internet access.  The potential for
students doing research, for government classes to receive information, for
cooperative learning projects through a GPO WINDO/Gateway is truly awesome.

On behalf of all Alaskans, I urge your support.