Dear ACRL Government Relations Committee members,
Together with staff colleagues at ALA Public Policy and Advocacy, we at ACRL are seeking exemplars from library practitioners about academic libraries as research facilities. With thanks to ACRL members leaders of the Research and Scholarly Environment Committee (chair Thomas Padilla, vice-chair Sandra Enimil, and past-chair Yasmeen Shorish), we met with PPA staff this morning, and will be working on this. I wanted to involve you, too.
In looking at the House Science Committee part of the budget reconciliation bill, ALA PPA staff noted an opening to make the case for academic libraries under $3.4 billion for research-enabling equipment, facilities, and infrastructure to be administered through NSF ($1 billion of that is for academic research facilities modernization, with $300 million allocated to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities, and other minority serving institutions. See pp. 29-30 of the committee print.)
After talking, we are eager to aid ALA PPA as they make the case to the agency (after the bill is passed, during implementation) that "academic research facilities modernization" includes academic libraries. They will be seeking out the best examples that show clearly and directly how library equipment, facilities, and infrastructure contribute to science and tech R&D. As possible, it's particularly important to show concrete and specific examples that have led to positive outcomes (e.g. a specific research project that relied on library infrastructure/resources, a quote from a prominent professor - "having library resources was integral to our discovery of X".)
If your library has a prime example, or if you are already written into an NSF grant, please send me a short description. (In what capacity? What were the outcomes?) Please send your examples to me at kmalenfant@ala.org by October 29.
I ask that you please do not share this request on any public lists, but it is fine to forward to a colleague or two at another institution who may have an example to share. In the end, we'll just want brief bullets, 2-3 sentences, to send along to ALA staff who will advocate for libraries as eligible "research-enabling equipment, facilities, and infrastructure."
On a separate note, ALA PPA staff are also closely tracking the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill, which includes the Digital Equity Act with funding of $2.75 billion to promote digital inclusion in two streams: a state digital equity capacity grants program and a competitive grant program administered directly by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (Department of Commerce). Libraries and higher education institutions are designated as community anchor institutions in the Digital Equity Act, and you can expect to hear more from ALA about available opportunities as the infrastructure bill becomes law (policy wonks among you can read more in H.R. 3684 starting at p. 2073)
If you have any thoughts/reactions for me to pass along to PPA colleagues about the Digital Equity Act that would help them remind NTIA, when they implement the law, that academic libraries are important community anchors for digital equity, too, I'm all ears. I've shared plenty of background links to PPA about things like community college library wifi hotspot lending, how libraries teach information literacy, etc.
Thanks!
Kara
Kara J. Malenfant, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) | ACRL Senior Strategist for Special Initiatives
Association of College & Research Libraries | 225 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1300 | Chicago, IL 60601-7616 | 312.280.2510 | 1.800.545.2433, ext. 2510 | kmalenfant@ala.org
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