Position Paper

THE U.S. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE (NCLIS) 

DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR THE 2005 WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON AGING

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE ALA RUSA/RSS 

LIBRARY SERVICE TO AN AGING POPULATION COMMITTEE

The first White House Conference on Aging of the 21st Century will be held in 

Washington, DC October 23-26, 2005. The purpose of the conference, according to 

Policy Committee Chair Dorcas R. Hardy, is to look at aging in terms of today and 

tomorrow, to identify emerging trends and make appropriate recommendations to help 

the nation prepare for changes anticipated in the next decade. 

The White House Conferences on Aging have convened every 10 years in order to make 

policy recommendations to the President and Congress to assist the public and private 

sectors in promoting the dignity, health, independence, and economic security of current 

and future generations of older Americans. These conferences have served as catalysts 

for aging policy for more than 40 years, and have prompted the establishment of key 

initiatives such as the Supplemental Security Income program, and influential societal 

changes in the private and public sectors on retirement, health care, transportation, 

housing, and economic security. 

The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) has 

traditionally played a significant role in the White House Conferences on Aging, and 

particularly in 1995 when NCLIS partnered with ALA and the National Library Service 

for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in planning and implementation. 

For the 2005 Conference, the ALA RUSA/RSS Library Service to an Aging Population 

Committee, chaired by Allan M. Kleiman, is working with conference organizers to 

arrange a preliminary meeting, to take place just prior to the Annual Conference of the 

American Library Association. The purpose of the meeting is to identify issues relating to 

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White House Conference on Aging Position Paper 

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NCLIS 

U.S. National Commission on 

Libraries and Information Science 

Phone: (2021 606-9200 • Fax: (202) 606-9203 

E-Mail: info([! nclis.gov . Web: WW\•rnclis.gov 

1800 M Street. NW . Suite 350 North Tower 

'Mlshington. DC 20036-584 I 
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White House Conference on Aging Position Paper 

productive aging and the role of libraries in meeting the library and information services 

needs of the aging population. Recognizing that the Commission has statutory authority 

to address library services for the aging and that the Commission has a member whose 

specific responsibility is to focus on library services and productive aging, the committee 

has invited the Commission to submit recommendations about topics to be discussed at 

its meeting and to be offered to the conference organizers as appropriate subjects for 

study prior to the White House Conference and for discussion at the conference. 

At a meeting of the ALA RUSA/RSS Committee on January 14, 2005, it was generally 

agreed that the best process for identifying issues to be recommended to the conference 

organizers, with respect to library and information services for the productive aging, 

would be to submit position papers from each of the participating LIS groups, with the 

papers to be discussed at the ALA pre-conference meeting. 

As for the content of the papers, it was generally agreed that issues relating to library 

services should be issues already identified as priority issues for the conference. These 

are spelled out in the agenda for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, which has 

been published by the conference organizers and the conference Policy Committee (a 

copy is attached at the end of this document). 

Using the published agenda topics as guidelines, the Commission has identified four 

issues that require attention, and recommends to the committee that these issues be 

considered for adoption by the committee as subjects to be recommended for discussion 

at the White House Conference on Aging: 

1. The growing competition between rural and urban populations for ever-diminishing 

resources, particularly for library services for the aging. This is a subject that requires 

study, analysis, and policy recommendation. The subject relates to several topics 

listed in the conference agenda: 

 Our community: coordinated social and health services that give the elderly the 

maximum opportunity to age in place 

 Our community: planning and developing the built environment 

 Health and long term living: access to affordable, high quality services 

 Health and long term living: delivery of quality care by caregivers 

 Social engagement: integration of the elderly with the non-elderly community 

 The workplace of the future: opportunities for older workers 

2. Productive aging and the role of libraries as community resource centers for 

delivering information about productive aging to citizens (just as the library serves as 

a community resource center for many other subjects). The subject relates to several 

topics listed in the conference agenda: 

 Planning along the lifespan: protection of financial assets 

 The workplace of the future: opportunities for older workers 
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 The workplace of the future: work incentives/disincentives 

 The workplace of the future: employer incentives: training, retraining, retaining 

 The workplace of the future: use of technology 

 Our community: planning and developing the built environment 

 Health and long term living: healthy lifestyles, prevention, and disease 

management 

 Health and long term living: use of information to improve the delivery, 

administration, and quality of health care services 

 Social engagement: integration of the elderly with the non-elderly community 

3. The role of retirees as library employees [The “graying” of the LIS workforce 

requires skilled workers, and many retirees want to work in an intellectually 

stimulation environment. Is it a match? Can retired workers be employed in library 

work? What policy recommendations are required to make the connection?] The 

subject relates to several topics listed in the conference agenda: 

 The workplace of the future: opportunities for older workers 

 The workplace of the future: ageism/age discrimination 

 Social engagement: integration of the elderly with the non-elderly community 

 Social engagement: effective individual adaptation to the conditions of aging 

 Marketplace: creative products [and activities] to support independence 

4. Communicating research about productive aging and the special needs of the elderly 

(particularly the underserved elderly, such as rural populations, low-income, etc.) to 

decision makers in the several governing authorities that have responsibility for 

funding or otherwise providing services to this population. The subject relates to 

several topics listed in the conference agenda: 

 The workplace of the future: opportunities for older workers 

 The workplace of the future: work incentives/disincentives 

 The workplace of the future: ageism/age discrimination 

 Marketplace: promoting new products, technology, and new ways of marketing 

that will be helpful/useful to the older customer 

The Commission recommends to the ALA RUSA/RSS Committee that the four topics 

described above be presented to organizers of the White House Conference on Aging as 

recommended topics for discussion at the conference. The Commission also recommends 

that the committee authorize the preparation of a discussion paper (or papers) on these 

subjects, that the document (or documents) be distributed to all conference delegates, and 

that the agenda include presentations and discussion on these topics. 

Representatives of the Commission for this activity are Commissioner Sandra F. 

Ashworth (whose appointment specifically requires her to focus on library services for 

the aging), Commissioner Carol L. Diehl, Commission Chairman Beth Fitzsimmons, 

Ph.D., and Commission Executive Director Trudi Bellardo Hahn, Ph.D. 
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October 2004 

2005 White House Conference on Aging 

Annotated Agenda* 

Planning along the Lifespan

Economic Incentives to Increase Retirement Savings 

 Individual savings; employer based pension program

Social Security Programs Now and for the Future 

 Solvency, optimal policy mix 

Protection of Financial Assets 

Long term care expenses, insurance and options 

 Financial fraud, abuse, exploitation 

 Financial Literacy throughout the Life Cycle 

The Workplace of the Future

Opportunities for Older Workers 

Work Incentives/Disincentives 

Employer incentives: training, retraining, retaining 

Use of Technology 

Ageism/Age Discrimination 

Our Community

Coordinated social and health services that give the elderly the 

maximum opportunity to age in place 

 “One-stop shops” including care navigators, e.g., case manager, to help 

inform people about the various support systems elements available to 

them. Also to include health, legal, financial and protective services. One 

example: Aging and Disability Resource Centers 

 Configuration of Senior Centers to appeal to the next generation of senior 

citizens 

 Home and community-based care following hospital stays 

 Sharing client information across multiple management systems
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 Alcoholism, substance abuse, depression and medication management 

 Shortage of paid workers for elderly services 

 Coordination between health and aging networks 

 Learning about and making use of best practices (U.S., international) 

 Alternative modes of transportation 

 Accommodation of the differences between the Baby Boomer aging 

population and previous generations of the elderly 

Planning and developing the built environment (e.g., homes, 

neighborhoods, roadways) to optimally accommodating for the elderly 

 Housing affordability and availability 

 Residential design, including home modification relating to safety and 

convenience 

Promote support for both family and non-family caregivers that enables 

adequate quality and supply of services 

 Caregiver support: training, respite, information, referral, needs 

assessment and financial support for family caregivers. Training and 

financial support for paid caregivers 

Health and Long Term Living

Access to Affordable, High Quality Services

 National long-term care policy 

 Connection of evidence-based research and comparative-effectiveness 

studies with the delivery of health care services 

 Strategies to align payment policies with the continuum of care necessary 

for the aging, with appropriate emphasis on chronic care and access to 

geriatric care 

Healthy Lifestyles, Prevention, and Disease Management 

 Strategies for individual healthy behaviors 

 “Prevention:” a primary focus 

 Disease management programs 

 Public education about risk factors for chronic conditions 

Delivery of Quality Care by Caregivers 

 Education of providers about prevention, mental health issues 

 impacting older adults, effective disease management strategies, and 

coordination of care strategies

 Support of caregivers
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 Incentives to encourage family members to care for their aging relatives

 Appropriate end-of-life care in all settings

 Incentives to ensure a reliable workforce exists to care for an aging 

society 

 Options to provide maximum independence and non-institutional care for 

individuals with complex, chronic, disabling disease 

Use of Information to Improve the Delivery, Administration, and Quality of 

Health Care Services 

 Available resources for aging consumers and their families to make 

informed health care decisions 

 Medical research that focuses on healthy aging, medical intervention, 

healthy lifestyles and public health 

 Use of health information technology to improve delivery and 

administration of care 

Affordable, defined health benefits through Medicare, Medicaid, and other 

Federal and State health care programs

 Adequate access to state and federal health care programs 

Social Engagement

Integration of the elderly with the non-elderly community 

 Strategies for changing attitudes toward aging 

 Increasing opportunities for volunteerism and other forms of civic 

engagement 

 Promoting expanded opportunities for companionship to reduce isolation 

and loneliness 

 Exploring the roles of religious institutions 

 Intergenerational: (a) educating younger people regarding social security 

policy and, (b) seniors who tutor young people regarding the workplace 

Effective individual adaptation to the conditions of aging 

 Increasing physical activity among the elderly 

 Continuing higher education for the older learner 

 Computer training for entertainment, sociability 

 Keeping older drivers on the road safely 

 Planning for long-term living, e.g., retirement, housing, long-term care 

insurance and end-of-life 
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Marketplace

Promoting new products, technology and new ways of marketing that 

will be helpful /useful to the older consumer. Examples: 

pharmaceuticals, medical devices and rehabilitation; financial, 

insurance and legal; safety; consumer electronics and 

telecommunications: creative products to support independence 

Determine how best to develop and disseminate assistive devices 

Determining how to address the shortage of paid workers for elderly 

services (service industry) 

* Issue development should include consideration of differences among the 

following variables: socio-economic, rural/urban, minority, cultural, 

linguistic competencies/literacy, and age cohort (e.g., 55-65, 65-75, 

75-85, 85+). It should also include consideration of strategies for 

changing attitudes toward aging. Research intending to increase the 

ability to cope with the conditions of aging should be identified.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Administration on Aging 

http://www.whcoa.gov/about/policy/meetings/annotated_agenda.pdf