IMLS received 25 comments from national library and museum organizations (including the American Library Association), state librarians, and interested members of the library community. Overall, the agency said, the commenters felt that “combining data collection, policy, and grant making in one agency would result in stronger federal support for library data collection and information policy.”
Washington Office Associate Executive Director Emily Sheketoff submitted ALA’s August 31 response, which said that the Association supported the IMLS consolidation plan because “it puts the responsibility for the federal government’s development of domestic and international information and library policies in one agency.”
Sheketoff advised IMLS to “request five full-time people to form the nucleus of a team to work on promoting the benefits of librarianship and information and library policies and standards.” She added that the federal salary levels of the positions should be higher than that of the current NCES staff in order to “build the infrastructure necessary to track and analyze data on the country’s library trends and programs.”
Comments that IMLS received from other organizations included:
“We are grateful to everyone who participated in this process,” said IMLS Director Anne-Imelda Radice. “These comments will help inform the development of a final plan that will be part of the President’s FY 2008 budget request for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.”
Posted September 15, 2006.