Federal Aid to Libraries in the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003

CRS Report for Congress
Federal Aid to Libraries in the Museum
and Library Services Act of 2003
Updated September 26, 2006
Gail McCallion
Specialist in Social Legislation
Domestic Social Policy Division

Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

Federal Aid to Libraries in the Museum
and Library Services Act of 2003
Summary
Legislation reauthorizing the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as
Title II — Library Services and Technology, of the Museum and Library Services Act
of 2003 (MLSA), was signed into law (P.L. 108-81) on September 25, 2003. The
LSTA’s authorization had expired at the end of FY2002; however, funding was not
interrupted.
Library Services and Technology (LST) is administered by the Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The IMLS contains an Office of Museum
Services (OMS) and an Office of Library Services (OLS). Beginning in FY2003, the
OMS and the OLS were combined in one appropriation account within the Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Education (L-HHS-ED) Appropriations bill. In the
past there had been two funding streams, one account for OMS within the
Department of the Interior Appropriations, and one for OLS within the L-HHS-ED
Appropriations.
P.L. 108-81 authorized $232 million for LST in FY2004, and such sums as may
be necessary for FY2005-FY2009. The bulk of LST funding is distributed to states
via formula grants. Funding is also provided for library services for Native
Americans, and for national activities. Participating states are required to develop
five-year plans that set goals and priorities consistent with LST purposes (i.e., to
enhance information-sharing networks and target library services to disadvantaged
populations). The plans must provide for independent evaluations of federally
assisted library services. A wide variety of types of libraries — public, public school,
college or university, research (if they provide public access to their collections), and
(at state discretion) private libraries — may receive LST aid.
P.L. 108-81 provides for an increase in minimum state allotments for library
services to $680,000, if the amount appropriated for a year, and available for state
allotments, exceeds the amount of allotments to all states in FY2003. In addition,
minimum state allotments for outlying areas are increased to $60,000, if
appropriations in a given year are sufficient to meet the higher state minimums of
$680,000.
Library Services received funding of $210.597 million in FY2006; the
Administration has requested increasing that funding to $220.855 million for
FY2007. The House Committee on Appropriations has recommended $220.855
million in funding for FY2007; the Senate Committee on Appropriations has
recommended funding of $213.337 million.
This report will be updated in response to legislative developments.

Contents
Background ..................................................1
Funding for Library Services and Technology........................3
History ......................................................5
Reauthorization Issues......................................5
List of Tables
Table 1. FY1997-FY2007 Appropriations for Library Services
and Technology Programs.......................................4

Federal Aid to Libraries in the Museum
and Library Services Act of 2003
Background
The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) was originally adopted as
part of the Museum and Library Services Act of 1996, which was enacted on
September 30, 1996, as part of P.L. 104-208, the Omnibus Consolidated
Appropriation Act of 1997. The LSTA’s authorization expired at the end of
FY2002; however, funding was not interrupted. P.L. 108-81, the Museum and
Library Services Act of 2003 (MLSA), reauthorized the LSTA as Title II, Library
Services and Technology (LST), of the MLSA. P.L. 108-81 authorized $232 million
for Library Services and Technology in FY2004, and such sums as may be necessary
for FY2005-FY2009.
The bulk of LST funding is distributed to states via formula grants. Funding is
also provided for library services for Native Americans, and for national leadership
projects. LST grants to the states are allocated to state library administrative agencies
(SLAAs), and may be used for the following basic purposes:
(a)expanding services for learning and access to information in a variety of
formats in all type of libraries, developing and improving electronic or
other linkages and networks connecting providers and consumers of library
services and resources; and/or
(b)targeting library services to under served or disadvantaged populations,
such as persons with disabilities, those with limited literacy skills, or
children from poor families.
Although the bulk of funds appropriated for LST are used for state grants, a
percentage of total funds is reserved for national activities, Native Americans, and
federal administration. Out of total LST appropriations for a given year, 3.75%
must be reserved for national activities.¹ The latter may include competitively
awarded grants or contracts for research, demonstrations, preservation, and
conversion of materials to digital form, plus education and training for librarians.
Congressionally directed grants have also been included in this category, and
President Bush’s Librarians for the 21^st Century program (described below) is
included under this heading. In addition, 1.75% of appropriations is reserved for
services to Native Americans (including Indian tribes, Alaskan Natives, and Native
Hawaiians), and up to 3.5% of appropriations may be used for federal administration
of LST programs.

¹ The actual percentage varies due to the addition of congressionally directed grants.

Of the total funding reserved for state grants, each state receives a “flat grant”
of $340,000 ($40,000 in the case of outlying areas); remaining funds are allocated on
the basis of total population in each state. The federal share of the total costs of
assisted activities is 66% in all cases.² If there is no year-to-year decline in federal
funding for LST, states must maintain levels of spending for library programs, or
their LST grants will be reduced in proportion to the reduction in state funding.
P.L. 108-81 provides for an increase in minimum state allotments for library
services and technology to $680,000, if the amount appropriated for a year, and
available for state allotments, exceeds the amount of allotments to all states in
FY2003. In addition, minimum state allotments for outlying areas are increased to
$60,000, if appropriations in a given year are sufficient to meet the higher state
minimums of $680,000. If remaining funds are insufficient to reach $60,000, they
are to be distributed equally among outlying areas receiving such funds.³ However,
the level of FY2004 and FY2005 appropriations for the IMLS were not sufficient to
trigger the higher state grant amounts authorized by P.L. 108-81.
Participating states are required to develop five-year plans that set goals and
priorities consistent with the purposes of LST grants (i.e., to enhance information-
sharing networks and target library services to disadvantaged populations). The plans
must provide for independent evaluations of federally assisted library services.
A wide variety of types of libraries — public, public school, college or
university, research (if they provide public access to their collections), and (at state
discretion) private libraries — may receive LST aid, not just the public and research
libraries eligible for aid under the predecessor legislation, the Library Services and
Construction Act (LSCA).⁴ No more than 4% of each state’s grant may be used for
administration; however, there is no limit on the share of funds that can be used at
the state level to provide services, as opposed to being allocated to local libraries.
Library Services and Technology grants are intended to provide states with
considerable latitude in the use of funds. LST funds are allocated within states on a
competitive basis by the SLAA.

² This is essentially the same as the allocation formulas for the previous LSCA Titles I-III
combined. Under the previous LSCA, the federal share varied from 33% to 66%, depending
on each state’s relative personal income per capita.
³ The share of LST funds allocated to the “Freely Associated States” (Palau, the Republic
of Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia) under this formula will be
reserved and allocated among these areas plus the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American
Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, on a competitive basis, via
the Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory in Hawaii.
⁴ The provisions of the LSTA were modified (and continued in P.L 108-81) by the Museum
and Library Services Technical and Conforming Amendments of 1997, P.L. 105-128. The
amendments: (a) made “special libraries” (i.e., libraries other than public, school, college,
or research libraries — these are frequently part of museums, corporations, or government
agencies) eligible for aid under the LSTA; (b) expanded the funds reservation for Native
Americans from 1.5% to 1.75%, adding Native Hawaiians to the eligible recipients of these
funds; (c) reduced the maximum reservation for national programs from 4% to 3.75%; (d)
clarified requirements of the LSTA regarding state maintenance of effort; and (e) authorized
cooperative agreements, along with grants or contracts, under national programs.

LST is administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
The IMLS was created through expansion of the previous Institute of Museum
Services (IMS). The IMLS contains an Office of Museum Services (OMS) and an
Office of Library Services (OLS). The IMLS is under the general aegis of the
National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities, which also includes the National
Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH). Nevertheless, the Institute acts as an independent agency.⁵ The IMLS
directorship alternates between persons with “special competence” in library and
information services or in museum services. The current IMLS director is Robert
Martin, who includes in his past professional experience service as a Director and
Librarian of the Texas Library and Archives Commission. At all times, an Office of
Library Services within the IMLS is directed by a Deputy Director with a graduate
degree in library science, and expertise in library and information services.
Funding for Library Services and Technology
Table 1, below, shows the FY1997-FY2007 appropriations for Library Services
and Technology (LST). For FY2006, LST was funded at $210.597 million. The
Administration has requested increasing that funding to $220.855 million in FY2007.
The House Committee on Appropriations has recommended $220.855 million in
funding for FY2007; the Senate Committee on Appropriations has recommended
funding of $213.337 million.
The FY2006 budget includes $23.8 million for an initiative first funded in
FY2003 to train and recruit librarians, provide scholarships, support distance learning
in under served rural areas, and enhance the diversity of librarians to better serve
communities.
Beginning in FY2003, the OMS and the OLS were combined in one
appropriation account within the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
(L-HHS-ED) Appropriations bill. In the past there had been two funding streams, one
account for OMS within the Department of the Interior Appropriations and one for
OLS within the L-HHS-ED Appropriations.

⁵ Several administrative functions, such as accounting, for the IMLS are being carried out
by the NEH, through an interagency agreement.

CRS-4
Table 1. FY1997-FY2007 Appropriations for Library Services and Technology Programs
(in 000s)
^FY²⁰⁰⁷^*
^Program^FY¹⁹⁹⁷^FY¹⁹⁹⁸^FY¹⁹⁹⁹^FY²⁰⁰⁰^FY²⁰⁰¹^FY²⁰⁰²^FY²⁰⁰³^*^FY²⁰⁰⁴^*^FY²⁰⁰⁵^*^FY²⁰⁰⁶^*^B^udg^et
^Request
^t^at^{e G}^r^an^t^s^$112,500^$133,901^$135,367^$138,118^$148,939^$149,014^$150,435^$157,628^$160,704^$163,746^$171,500
^b^r^a^r^y
^ices^f^o^r
^dian^s^an^d^2,577^2,561^2,908^2,616^2,940^2,⁹⁴¹^3,055^3,206^3,472^3,638^3,675
ⁱ^{ki/CRS-RL31320}^e^a^iian^s
^g/w
^s^.orⁿ^a^l^7,500^5,488^9,565^10,455^11,081^11,⁰⁸¹^11,009^11,263^12,301^12,375^12,930
^le^ak^eaders^h^ip
^r^oj^ects
^://wikiⁿ^aⁿ^a^15,435^11,571^39,469^29,524^35,156^32,595^39,889⁰⁰
^h^ttp^ts^*
^st^Ce^nt^ur^yⁿ^aⁿ^aⁿ^aⁿ^aⁿ^aⁿ^a^9,935^19,882^22,816^23,760^25,000
^b^r^a^rⁱ^a^ns
^e^r^a^l
^d^mⁱⁿⁱ^str^a^tioⁿⁿ^a^4,390^2,900^3,491^5,040^5,042^5,663^6,263^6,658^7,078^7,750
^Lⁱ^brary^*
^og^r^a^m^s
^o^tal^,^L^S^T^136,369^146,340^166,175^166,251^207,469^197,602^215,253^230,837^245,840^210,597^220,855
^C^L^I^S⁸⁹⁷^1,000^1,000^1,295^1,495^1,000^1,003⁹⁹⁴⁹⁹³⁹⁹³⁹⁸³
⁽^*⁾^{— U.S. Dep}^a^r^t^m^eⁿ^t^o^f^Ed^u^catioⁿ^,^J^u^stif^icatioⁿ^s^o^f^A^p^p^r^o^p^r^iatioⁿ^s^Estim^{ates to}^th^{e Co}ⁿ^g^r^ess.

History
The federal government has provided direct aid for public libraries since initial
adoption of the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) in 1956. The 104^th
Congress considered legislation to extend and amend LSCA programs, as well as to
consolidate these programs with separate authorizations of federal aid to elementary
and secondary school and college libraries.
The Library Services and Technology Act consolidated and replaced a number
of programs under Title VII, Subtitle B of the L-HHS-ED Appropriations Act of
1997 within P.L. 104-208. These programs included the LSCA, plus library
assistance programs authorized by Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA), and
Title III, Part F, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).⁶ P.L. 108-
81, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 (MLSA), reauthorized the LSTA
as Title II, Library Services and Technology (LST), of the MLSA.
While states have had a large degree of discretion in selecting grantees and
deciding how funds are to be used under both the former LSCA and the current LST,
overall state discretion would appear to be increased under the current program. At
the same time, some funds — particularly aid for construction under the former
LSCA Title II — were intended for specific purposes that are not authorized for LST
grants. In fact, P.L. 108-81 includes a provision explicitly prohibiting the use of
funds for construction. The library services and technology provisions of P.L. 108-81
also focus more thoroughly on relatively new forms of information sharing and
networking, such as the Internet, than the LSCA.
Reauthorization Issues. Issues that were discussed during the
reauthorization of the LSTA included the adequacy of minimum state grants and
overall authorization levels; the need for additional funding to provide for
evaluations of the LSTA; and new provisions disallowing grants for projects deemed
obscene.
108^th Congress. On September 25, 2003, the Museum and Library Services
Act of 2003 was signed into law (P.L. 108-81). The LSTA was reauthorized as Title
II, Library Services and Technology of the MLSA. The major changes regarding
Library Services adopted in the reauthorized Museum and Library Services Act of

2003 include the following:

⁶ The LSTA repealed not only the LSCA but also aid to college/university libraries under
HEA Title II, and an unfunded authorization of aid to elementary and secondary school
libraries under ESEA Title III, Part F. This program was added to the ESEA by the
Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-382), but was repealed without ever
being funded. The ESEA contained earlier authorities for aid specifically to school libraries
under Titles II (1965-1974) and IV (1974-1981). Separately, local educational agencies
may, and often do, use portions of their funds under the broad authority of ESEA Title VI,
Innovative Education Program Strategies, to support school library services. In addition,
P.L. 107-110 amends the ESEA to authorize a new program of aid to school libraries, under
ESEA Title I, Part B, Subpart 4. An initial appropriation of $12.5 million has been provided
for FY2002.

^!prohibiting the funding of projects deemed obscene;
^!defining “obscene” and the term “determined to be obscene”;
^!requiring the Director of the IMLS to establish procedural standards
for reviewing and evaluating grants;
^!increasing minimum state allotments for library services to $680,000
if the amount appropriated for a year, and available for state
allotments, exceeds the amount of allotments to all states in FY2003
(the level of FY2004 appropriations for the IMLS is not sufficient to
trigger the higher state grant amounts authorized by P.L. 108-81);
^!increasing minimum state allotments for outlying areas to $60,000,
if appropriations in a given year are sufficient to meet the higher
state minimums of $680,000. If remaining funds are insufficient to
reach $60,000, they are to be distributed equally among outlying
areas receiving such funds;
^!authorizing $232 million for Library Services and $38.6 million for
Museum Services for FY2004, and such sums as may be necessary
for FY2005-FY2009;
^!locating advisory functions (which for libraries were previously
delegated to the National Commission on Libraries and Information
Sciences) within a new National Museum and Library Services
Board (previously solely a Museum Services Board) in the IMLS;
^!making the Chairman of the National Commission on Library and
Information Science a member (nonvoting) of the national Museum
and Library Services Board;
^!requiring the Director to carry out and publish analyses of the impact
of museum and library services, and increasing from 3% to 3.5% the
amount available for federal administrative costs, to provide funding
for this new function;
^!prohibiting the use of IMLS funds for construction; and
^!permitting the Director of the IMLS to make national awards for
library service, in addition to the already authorized national awards
for museum service.
H.R. 13 (Hoekstra), a bill to reauthorize Library Services and Technology within
the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003, was introduced on January 7, 2003,
and was reported favorably by the House Committee on Education and the
Workforce on February 13, 2003. H.R. 13 was passed by the full House on March
6, 2003. H.R. 13, as passed by the House, would have changed the authorization for
Library Services and Museum Services to $210 million and $35 million, respectively,
for FY2004 and such sums as may be necessary for 2005 through 2009. H.R. 13
contained new provisions that would have required the IMLS Director to establish
procedural standards for reviewing and evaluating grants, including a provision
prohibiting the funding of projects determined to be obscene. New provisions in
H.R. 13 also provided a definition of “obscene” and of the term “determined to be
obscene.” It would have required the Director to carry out and publish analyses of
the impact of museum and library Services, and would have increased from 3% to
3.5% the amount available for federal administrative costs, to provide funding for
this new function. H.R. 13 would have located advisory functions (which for
libraries were previously delegated to the National Commission on Libraries and
Information Sciences) within a new National Museum and Library Services Board

(previously solely a Museum Services Board) in the IMLS. It would have permitted
the Director of the IMLS to make national awards for library service, in addition to
the already authorized national awards for museum service. It would have increased
minimum state allotments for Library Services to $680,000, if the amount
appropriated for a year, and available for state allotments, exceeded the amount of
allotments to all states in FY2003. Finally, the bill would have increased minimum
state allotments for outlying areas to $60,000 if appropriations in a given year were
sufficient to meet the higher state minimums of $680,000.
S. 888 (Gregg), was introduced on April 11, 2003, and reported favorably by the
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on May 14, 2003. On
August 1, 2003, the Senate incorporated S. 888 into H.R. 13 and passed H.R. 13 in
lieu of S. 888 with an amendment by unanimous consent. Authorization levels for
FY2004 contained in the Senate passed bill were reduced from the authorization
levels contained in S. 888 as reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions (from $250 million to $232 million for Library Services and
Technology; and from $41.5 to $38.6 million for Museum Services). The Senate-
passed bill included the following provisions that were contained in S. 888 as
reported by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, but
were not contained in H.R. 13 as passed by the House: provisions that would have
made the Chairman of the National Commission on Library and Information Science
a member (nonvoting) of the National Museum and Library Services Board; a
prohibition against using IMLS funds for construction; and provisions that would
have raised liability amounts in the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act.⁷
S. 238 (Reed) was introduced on January 29, 2003, and was referred to the
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The Library Services
and Technology provisions of this bill were essentially the same as those in S. 2611
(Reed), introduced in the 107^th Congress. Authorization levels in S. 238 were $350
million for Library Services and Technology and $65 million for Museum Services.
S. 238, however, unlike S. 2611, also included amendments raising liability amounts
in the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act.

⁷ For more on Museum Services in IMLS, see CRS Report RS20287, Arts and Humanities:
Background on Funding, by Susan Boren.