[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67918-67919]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33894]


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NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES


National Endowment for the Arts; Notice of Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

SUMMARY: The National Endowment for the Arts (``Endowment'') has 
requested

[[Page 67919]]

that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve a series of new 
collections of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The 
purpose of the information collections, which will be conducted through 
surveys and focus groups over a three year-period, is to help the 
Endowment assess the efficiency and effectiveness with which it serves 
its customers, and to design actions to address areas identified for 
improvement.

DATES: All comments must be submitted to OMB by January 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: All written comments should be addressed to: Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the National Endowment for the Arts, 725 17th Street, NW, Room 10235, 
Washington, DC 20503. The request for approval will be available for 
public inspection at the National Endowment for the Arts, room 628, 
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506, between the hours 
of 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha Jones, Management Analyst, 
Office of the Director of Administration, National Endowment for the 
Arts, room 628, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506, 
202/682-5408 (202/682-5496 for TTY and TDD). (These are not toll-free 
numbers.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
establishes policies and procedures for controlling the paperwork 
burdens imposed by Federal agencies on the public. The Act vests OMB 
with regulatory responsibility over these burdens, and OMB has 
promulgated rules on the clearance of collections of information by the 
Federal agencies.
    Executive Order 12862, ``Setting Customer Service Standards,'' 
states that the Federal Government must be customer-driven to carry out 
the principles of the National Performance Review. It directs all 
executive departments and agencies providing significant services 
directly to the public to provide those services in a manner that seeks 
to meet the customer service standards established in the executive 
order.
    The Endowment intends to establish a mechanism through which it can 
explore issues of mutual concern, i.e., the kind and quality of desired 
services, with its major outside customers, including nonprofit arts 
organizations; artists; State, local, and special jurisdictional arts 
agencies; and arts service organizations.
    Areas of concern to the Endowment and its customers will change 
over time, and it is important the Endowment be able to evaluate 
customer concerns quickly. Accordingly, the Endowment requests OMB to 
grant ``generic'' approval, for a three-year period, of focus groups 
and surveys of the Endowment's outside customer groups. Participation 
in the focus groups and surveys will be voluntary.
    The Endowment published a notice of intention to request OMB 
approval of these collections in the Federal Register September 17, 
1997. No comments were received in response to the notice.
    This voluntary collection of information will put a slight burden 
on an extremely small percentage of the public. The Endowment expects 
to distribute survey questionnaires to approximately 600 persons during 
the first year of the three-year period, representing a total burden of 
about 150 hours. The Endowment also expects to conduct focus groups 
involving a total of 10 persons in a given year, with a total annual 
burden of about 90 hours, including travel time. (A small portion of 
this time may be allocated to participants' completion of short written 
questionnaires at focus group meetings.)

    Issued in Washington, DC, December 23, 1997.
Laurence M. Baden,
Director of Administration, National Endowment for the Arts.
[FR Doc. 97-33894 Filed 12-29-97; 8:45 am]
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