Nclis.gov
Title
NCLIS
Description
The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) is a permanent, independent agency of the Federal government charged by Public Law 91-345 to advise the President and Congress on national and international library and information policies, to appraise and assess the adequacies and deficiencies of library and information resources and services, and to develop overall plans for meeting national library and information needs. Broadly speaking, NCLIS is responsible for addressing the information and learning needs of the American people.
[The Commission] must always be mindful of our mission: library and information services adequate to meet the needs of the American people. There are two aspects to that mission: library and information services and the American people. NCLIS is similar to a bridge. On one side of the bridge are libraries, information groups, associations. And on the other side of the bridge are our constituents, the American people. It is our job at NCLIS to make the American people understand the importance of value of libraries, and conversely, to keep the libraries relevant to the needs of the American people.
Even as we're sitting in this room, the world of libraries, as we once knew them, is changing. Digitization is bringing information to people's homes and laptop computers, maintaining library collections and buildings are becoming more expensive, and communities are making difficult decisions with their limited tax dollars.
