WASHINGTON -- The House Select Education Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), today approved H.R. 3784, the “Museum and Libraries Services Act.”

     The Museum and Library Services Act, introduced by Select Education Subcommittee Chairman Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) and Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN), modifies and streamlines current law to strengthen museum and library services. The bill also ensures that library services are coordinated with activities under the No Child Left Behind Act that President Bush signed into law on January 8, 2002. First Lady Laura Bush, a former librarian, supports reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act.

     “H.R. 3784 continues the main objectives of the Museum and Library Services Act of 1996,” said Hoekstra. “The reauthorization bill will maintain the modest but essential federal support, in partnership with state, local, private, and public sources, for museum and library contributions to public education services and stewardship of the nation’s cultural heritage collections.

     “It will fund the one federal agency-the Institute of Museum and Library Services-devoted exclusively to museums and libraries, which are natural partners with our nation’s schools, and it will sustain provisions to encourage model cooperation between museums and libraries as no other legislation does,” Hoekstra said.

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