North Carolina STATE DEPOSITORY LIBRARY SYSTEM--Stuart Basefsky was a key lobbyist for its implementation.

DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Vol. 1, No. 2 Winter, 1988  [?]

https://archive.org/stream/dukeuniversityli01ezze/dukeuniversityli01ezze_djvu.txt

Reported by Carolyn Myers and

Ashley Jackson

STATE DEPOSITORY

LIBRARY SYSTEM

What's it like to be a volunteer

lobbyist? Stuart Basefsky of the

Public Documents and Maps

Department found out when he

lobbied for passage of the

recently enacted bill to establish

and maintain a depository library

system for publications of North

Carolina state government

agencies (Chapter 125, Article 1A

of the General Statutes). "I would

never volunteer to do it again

without pay; it is extremely time-

consuming," he said. "But," he

added, "if it works it is extremely

rewarding."

Since 1983 the Documents

Section of the North Carolina Li-

brary Association has been trying

to find a cost effective means for

collecting and disseminating

important state government

publications. This act is the

culmination of its work.

In 1983/84, three out of every

four state publications were never

forwarded to the State Library.

The State Library's function of

providing a complete record of

state publications and of

facilitating access to them was

being undermined by the failure

of state agencies to comply with

the then-existing provisions for

publication distribution. The

public's right to know was

thwarted.

The State Documents

Depository System Committee, of

which Basefsky was an active

member, initially obtained the

assistance of Bill Campbell of

UNC's Institute of Government to

draft the bill. From the N.C. Cen-

ter for Public Policy Research, the

Committee gained valuable advice

on the strategy for shepherding

the bill through the

legislature. Following

this background

work, the Committee

convinced Senator

Kenneth Royall and

Representative

George Miller to

sponsor the bill. The

Committee prepared and sent to

each legislator an informational

packet explaining the need for the

bill. The Committee asked

librarians throughout the state to

write their legislators urging

support for it. They used the

media as well to promote the

cause. Basefsky monitored the

progress of the bill by phone and

testified before the committee

reviewing it. Luckily the

NEWS NOTES

Committee also had a personal

contact in the General Research

Division of the Assembly who

kept them abreast of upcoming

steps toward passage. "There is a

lot of unpredictability in the proc-

ess," Basefsky said, adding "pres-

ence is very important."

The state legislators

complimented the Committee for

having done its homework and

for having drafted the bill. "A

legislator does not have time to

do everything," Basefsky learned.

What benefits have resulted

from Basefsky's activity and the

passage of the bill? Basefsky said

the experience gave him solid

practical experience in public

policy, experience which will help

him in responding to library

patrons' questions

about the workings

of state government.

And for the Duke Li-

brary 7 "We will not

have to write sixty

letters each year to

get what we want,"

he said. The act

requires state

agencies to send

copies of each of their

publications to the clearinghouse

at the State Library within ten

days of issuance. The

clearinghouse then must

distribute these copies to

designated depository libraries (of

which Duke is one) throughout

the state. The act thus obviates

the necessity for each depository

library to write individually to

each state agency for the

publications it wants.

Furthermore, said Basefsky,

"This law really has bite in it."

The act requires that the

Department of Cultural Resources

report annually "to the Joint

Legislative Commission on Gov-

ernmental Operations and the

Fiscal Research Division of the

Legislative Office on the

operations of the State depository

library system."