§286a Board of Regents

Summary

Sets up a Board of Regents for the National Library of Medicine and says who must be on it. The Board has ex officio members (the Surgeons General of the Public Health Service and of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; the Under Secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Dean of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; an assistant director from the National Science Foundation; the Director of the National Agricultural Library; and the Librarian of Congress, or their designees) and ten members appointed by the Secretary. Appointed members must be leaders in fields like the sciences, medicine, dentistry, public health, hospital administration, pharmacology, health communications technology, library science, or public affairs. At least six appointees must be leaders in medical, dental, or public health research or education. The Board chooses one appointed member each year to be chair, and the Secretary must name a Library staff member to be the Board’s executive secretary. The Board must advise and make recommendations to the Secretary on Library policy, such as what materials to acquire, how services are organized, and rules for who can use them. The Secretary must report the Board’s recommendations and what was done about them in the annual report to Congress. The Secretary may also use Board members’ help on Library work as needed. Appointed members serve four-year terms, fill any shorter remainder if replacing someone, and cannot be reappointed until one year after their term ends.