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Defense Infrastructure: Environmental Cleanup of Former Naval Facilities on Vieques (open access)

Defense Infrastructure: Environmental Cleanup of Former Naval Facilities on Vieques

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to Congress's request that GAO determine the status and estimated costs of environmental cleanup on the island of Vieques. For decades, the U.S. Navy conducted ship-to-shore bombing exercises and other live-fire training activities on the island, which is located off the coast of Puerto Rico. The Navy ceased its operations on Vieques in 2003. The Navy has transferred the land to the Municipality of Vieques and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust for conservation purposes and to the Department of the Interior. Although the land has been transferred, the Navy remains responsible for environmental cleanup. The cleanup is being carried out under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) that consists of (1) the Installation Restoration Program, which addresses cleanup of hazardous substances, and (2) the Military Munitions Response Program, which addresses cleanup of munitions."
Date: March 26, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Combating Terrorism: Comments on Counterterrorism Leadership and National Strategy (open access)

Combating Terrorism: Comments on Counterterrorism Leadership and National Strategy

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government will spend approximately $11 billion to combat terrorism In fiscal year 2001. In the event of a domestic terrorist incident, state and local governments have the primary responsibility for managing the consequences of a terrorist attack. However, the federal government can assist state and local authorities if they lack the capability to respond adequately. On the basis of past and ongoing GAO work, two key issues emerge that the new President and Congress will face concerning programs to combat terrorism. First, the overall leadership and management of such programs are fragmented within the federal government. No single entity acts as the federal government's top official accountable to both the President and Congress. Fragmentation exists in both coordination of domestic preparedness programs and in efforts to develop a national strategy. The Department of Justice worked with other agencies to develop the Attorney General's Five-Year Interagency Counterterrorism and Technology Crime Plan. Although this plan is the current document that most resembles a national strategy, GAO believes that it still lacks some critical elements including measurable desired outcomes, linkage to resources, and a discussion of …
Date: March 27, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Resource Management Internal Control Issues (open access)

Information Resource Management Internal Control Issues

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In a recently completed report for Congress, we evaluated how the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) makes eligibility determinations for its rural housing programs. As part of that review, we used 2000 census data to determine the populations of the rural areas that received RHS housing program loans and grants. We obtained information on the RHS loans and grants provided to communities, from October 1998 through April 2004, from databases maintained by USDA's Information Resource Management (IRM) in St. Louis, Missouri. As with any system, the accuracy of the data and the process used for entry affects reliability and usefulness for management and reporting purposes. During our review, we identified several issues that raised concerns about the accuracy of the information in the IRM databases. For example, while we originally intended to geocode (that is, match) 5 years of the national RHS housing loan and grant portfolio to specific communities, the time needed to ensure the reliability of the data required us to limit much of our analysis to five states (Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio). This report is a follow-up on our …
Date: March 10, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Clean Coal Technology: Status of Projects and Sales of Demonstrated Technology (open access)

Clean Coal Technology: Status of Projects and Sales of Demonstrated Technology

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program, focusing on the: (1) status of 13 Clean Coal Technology projects that preliminary information indicated could have over $1 million in unspent funds; and (2) extent to which DOE's participants in completed projects have sold demonstrated Clean Coal technologies to coal users."
Date: March 9, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Army Stryker Brigades: Assessment of External Logistics Support Should Be Documented for the Congressionally Mandated Review of the Army's Operational Evaluation Plan (open access)

Army Stryker Brigades: Assessment of External Logistics Support Should Be Documented for the Congressionally Mandated Review of the Army's Operational Evaluation Plan

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We are reviewing the Army's plans for deploying and sustaining Stryker brigades. We plan to complete our review and report the results in June 2003. In the meantime, the Army will be conducting an operational evaluation of the first Stryker brigade from late April through May 2003 as required by law. The purpose of this letter is to bring attention to issues concerning the adequacy of the Army's proposed operational evaluation plan. The operational evaluation is intended to facilitate an understanding of the initial brigade's overall capabilities. The evaluation was first directed by the conference report accompanying the 2001 defense authorization act. Subsequently, Congress included the requirement in Section 113 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2002, which provides that (1) the Secretary of the Army is to evaluate the brigade's execution of combat missions across the full spectrum of potential threats and operational scenarios, (2) the Department of Defense's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) must approve the Army's operational evaluation plan before the evaluation may be conducted, and (3) the Secretary of Defense is to certify to Congress that the results of …
Date: March 25, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Catalogue of Federal Insurance Activities (open access)

Catalogue of Federal Insurance Activities

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government assumes insurance risk for a wide range of activities that are funded through numerous federal budget accounts and administered by a variety of federal organizations. For some activities, such as those funded through the National Flood Insurance account, the federal government assumes the entire insurance risk. The federal government also assumes part of the risk for insurance activities that are administered by state and local governments--for example, those funded through the Unemployment Trust Fund or that are partly underwritten by private insurers, such as those funded through the Special Workers' Compensation Expenses account. These insurance risks, whether fully or partially assumed by the federal government, are in lines of insurance that private insurers also recognize: health, life, disability, and property/casualty insurance. The federal government has generally assumed insurance risks for at least two reasons. First, the government may step in when insurance is not widely available because private insurers cannot collectively absorb or affordably price the insurance risk. For example, when private insurers were unable to offer affordable terrorism insurance in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the federal government created a terrorism insurance program. …
Date: March 4, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
National Institute of Standards and Technology: Carryover Balances for the Advanced Technology Program (open access)

National Institute of Standards and Technology: Carryover Balances for the Advanced Technology Program

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the carry over balances in the Department of Commerce's Advanced Technology Program (ATP), focusing on: (1) balances in the program for fiscal years 1995 through 1999; and (2) any balances that might exist at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2000 that could be used as offsets for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) programs in the FY 2001 budget."
Date: March 2, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Payment Processing: Documentation Procedures For Electronic Billing and Payment Under the Families First Personal Property Program (open access)

Payment Processing: Documentation Procedures For Electronic Billing and Payment Under the Families First Personal Property Program

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to a Department of the Army request for our views on whether certain payment procedures included in the Defense Department's (DOD) proposed Families First Personal Property Program conform with relevant criteria in GAO's Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies. Families First is a DOD initiative to reengineer its processes for transporting household goods and personal property for its service members and civilians. Army's request is in response to a Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) recommendation that DOD seek our views specifically on whether the proposed procedures for electronic billing and payment meet the supporting documentation requirements in Title VII of GAO's Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies. While the General Services Administration (GSA) is responsible for issuing federal regulations for transportation, including moves of household goods and personal property as well as agency prepayment and postpayment audit requirements for transportation payments, we are responsible for issuing fiscal guidance based on authorities in the U.S. Code. We considered DOD's proposed process of electronic billing and payment in light of our requirements established in Title VII for disbursements and related …
Date: March 31, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Railroad Safety--Responses to Posthearing Questions (open access)

Railroad Safety--Responses to Posthearing Questions

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to a Congressional request that we provide responses to questions related to our recent testimony before Congress on reauthorizing federal rail safety programs. Our testimony discussed how the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) (1) focuses its efforts on the highest priority risks related to train accidents in planning its oversight, (2) identifies safety problems on railroad systems in carrying out its oversight, and (3) assesses the impact of its oversight efforts on safety. This testimony was based on our recent report on these topics."
Date: March 15, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Activities of the Amtrak Inspector General (open access)

Activities of the Amtrak Inspector General

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In a prior report we suggested that the consolidation of certain offices of inspectors general (IG) could strengthen the independence, efficiency, and effectiveness of the IGs in the federal government. Based on the potential for benefits and the similarities in their basic missions, we identified the Amtrak Office of Inspector General and the Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Inspector General as among those Congress might consider for consolidation. We reported that by consolidating the office of the Amtrak IG with the larger DOT IG office, the resulting office would have a larger budget and more staff with which to achieve its mission. Potential benefits include an increased ability to improve the allocation of human and financial resources and to attract and retain an adequate and skilled workforce. We concluded that consolidation of smaller IG offices, if implemented properly with specific plans to mitigate potential weaknesses, is a means of achieving economies of scale and greater independence and of providing critical mass and range of skills, particularly given the ever increasing need for technical staff with specialized skills. This report responds to a Congressional request that, building on …
Date: March 4, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Deficiencies Found in Financial Management and Internal Controls (open access)

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Deficiencies Found in Financial Management and Internal Controls

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) was first established in 1957 as the Commission on Civil Rights. The Commission's life was extended in 1983 and reestablished again in 1994 with its current name. The Commission's purpose is to collect and study information on discrimination or denials of equal protection of the laws because of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or in the administration of justice in such areas as voting rights, enforcement of federal civil rights laws, and equal opportunity in education, employment, and housing. The Commission has been subject to long-standing congressional concerns over the adequacy of its management practices and procedures, concerns that were reinforced by several GAO reports. In July 1997, we issued a report in which we found broad management problems at the Commission, including limited awareness of how its resources were used. In more recent studies, we found that the Commission lacked good project management and transparency in its contracting procedures and needed improved strategic planning. As a result of these reports and other concerns, we conducted additional work at the Commission. Specifically, Congress asked us to …
Date: March 7, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Technology: Observations on Department of Defense's Draft Enterprise Architecture (open access)

Information Technology: Observations on Department of Defense's Draft Enterprise Architecture

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The fiscal year 2003 Defense Authorization Act requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop by May 1, 2003, a financial management enterprise architecture, including a transition plan, that meets certain requirements. The act also requires that GAO submit to congressional defense committees an assessment of the architecture and transition plan within 60 days of their approval. As part of our ongoing work to satisfy this legislative requirement and at the request of Senate Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Committee on Armed Services, staff, we briefed the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Senate Committee on Armed forces on March 4, 2003, on our preliminary assessment of the DOD draft architecture products dated February 7, 2003. As further requested by the staff, this letter transmits the observations we made during the briefing."
Date: March 28, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Global War on Terrorism: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense (open access)

Global War on Terrorism: Reported Obligations for the Department of Defense

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with about $808 billion in supplemental and annual appropriations, as of March 2009, primarily for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). DOD's reported annual obligations for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $162.4 billion in fiscal year 2008. For fiscal year 2009, Congress provided DOD with about $65.9 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT as of March 2009 and the President plans on requesting an additional $75.5 billion in supplemental appropriations for GWOT for the remainder of the fiscal year. A total of $31.0 billion has been obligated in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 through December 2008. The United States' commitments to GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DOD's future costs will likely be affected by …
Date: March 30, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Financial Statement Audit Report for the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2003 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Financial Statement Audit Report for the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2003

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America for fiscal years 2004 and 2003. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports include the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."
Date: March 9, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs (Supersedes GAO-07-1134SP) (open access)

GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs (Supersedes GAO-07-1134SP)

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes GAO-07-1134SP, Cost Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Estimating and Managing Program Costs--Exposure Draft, July 2007. The U.S. Government Accountability Office is responsible for, among other things, assisting the Congress in its oversight of the federal government, including agencies' stewardship of public funds. To use public funds effectively, the government must meet the demands of today's changing world by employing effective management practices and processes, including the measurement of government program performance. In addition, legislators, government officials, and the public want to know whether government programs are achieving their goals and what their costs are. To make those evaluations, reliable cost information is required and federal standards have been issued for the cost accounting that is needed to prepare that information. We developed the Cost Guide in order to establish a consistent methodology that is based on best practices and that can be used across the federal government for developing, managing, and evaluating capital program cost estimates."
Date: March 2, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Managing for Results: Answers to Hearing Questions on Program Data Quality (open access)

Managing for Results: Answers to Hearing Questions on Program Data Quality

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the quality of the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies' fiscal year (FY) 2000 performance plans and financial data."
Date: March 31, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Contract Management: Answers to Hearing Questions Regarding the Service Acquisition Reform Act (open access)

Contract Management: Answers to Hearing Questions Regarding the Service Acquisition Reform Act

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the proposed Service Acquisition Reform Act and found that additional training for the acquisition workforce is needed governmentwide. Agencies could improve the capacity of the acquisition workforce by focusing on such key areas as requirements, inventory, workforce strategies and plans, and progress evaluations. GAO did not examine how pay-for-performance and pay banding would apply to acquisition personnel. However, these practices are consistent with suggestions made in earlier GAO testimony."
Date: March 1, 2002
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air Force Assessment of the Joint Strike Fighter's Aerial Refueling Method (open access)

Air Force Assessment of the Joint Strike Fighter's Aerial Refueling Method

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) acquisition program is estimated to cost $245 billion to develop and produce three variants of stealthy fighter aircraft--a conventional takeoff and landing variant for the Air Force, an aircraft carrier variant for the Navy, and a short take-off and vertical landing variant for the Marine Corps and Air Force. A major goal of the JSF program is to reduce costs by maximizing commonality among variants. However, the Air Force conventional variant is being designed with a different aerial refueling method than those used by the two other JSF variants. U.S. fighters use two different methods for aerial refueling. Air Force fixed-wing aircraft are all currently fueled by a boom that extends from a tanker aircraft and is guided into a receptacle. The Navy and Marine Corps fighters use a probe that extends from the fighter to receive fuel when inserted into a drogue, which is a basket-like device on the end of a hose that extends from the tanker. The Senate Armed Services Committee directed that we (1) examine the rationale behind the Air Force refueling decision for its JSF version, (2) determine …
Date: March 14, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
NASA: Issues Surrounding the Transition from the Space Shuttle to the Next Generation of Human Space Flight Systems (open access)

NASA: Issues Surrounding the Transition from the Space Shuttle to the Next Generation of Human Space Flight Systems

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On January 14, 2004, the President announced a new Vision for space exploration that directs the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to focus its efforts on returning humans to the moon by 2020 in preparation for future, more ambitions missions. Implementing the Vision will require hundreds of billions of dollars and a sustained commitment from multiple administrations and Congresses. Some of the funding for implementing exploration activities is expected to come from funding freed up after the retirement of the Space Shuttle, scheduled for 2010, and projected termination of U.S. participation in the International Space Station by 2016. Congress, while supportive of the effort has voiced concern over the potential gap in human space flight. In the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, Congress stated that it is the policy of the United States to have the capability for human access to space on a continuous basis. NASA has made it a priority to minimize the gap to the extent possible. GAO provides no recommendations in this statement. However, GAO continues to emphasize that given the Nation's fiscal challenges and NASA's past difficulty developing systems within cost, schedule, …
Date: March 28, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Disaster Recovery: Past Experiences Offer Recovery Lessons for Hurricanes Ike and Gustav and Future Disasters (open access)

Disaster Recovery: Past Experiences Offer Recovery Lessons for Hurricanes Ike and Gustav and Future Disasters

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recovery from major disasters is a complex undertaking that involves the combined efforts of federal, state, and local government in order to succeed. While the federal government provides a significant amount of financial and technical assistance for recovery, state and local jurisdictions work closely with federal agencies to secure and make use of those resources. This testimony describes lessons and insights that GAO has identified from review of past disasters, which may be useful to inform recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, as well as disasters yet to come. These lessons come from two reports GAO recently released last fall on disaster recovery. The first draws on the experiences of communities that have recovered from previous major disasters in order to help inform recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav as well as the 2008 Midwest floods. The second examines the implementation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Public Assistance grant program and identifies several actions that the Department of Homeland Security can take to improve operations of that program. These include improving information sharing and enhancing continuity and communication. …
Date: March 3, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Security Reform: Early Action Would be Prudent (open access)

Social Security Reform: Early Action Would be Prudent

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Social Security is the foundation of the nation's retirement income system, helping to protect the vast majority of American workers and their families from poverty in old age. However, it is much more than a retirement program, also providing millions of Americans with disability insurance and survivors' benefits. Over the long term, as the baby boom generation retires and as Americans continue to live longer and have fewer children, Social Security's financing shortfall presents a major program solvency and sustainability challenge that is widening as time passes. The House Committee on Ways and Means asked GAO to discuss the need for Social Security reform. This testimony addresses the nature of Social Security's long-term financing problem and why it would be prudent for Congress to take action sooner rather than later. This testimony also notes the broader context in which reform proposals should be considered and the criteria that GAO has recommended as a basis for analyzing any Social Security reform proposals."
Date: March 9, 2005
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Pigford Settlement: The Role of the Court-Appointed Monitor (open access)

Pigford Settlement: The Role of the Court-Appointed Monitor

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1997, three African-American farmers filed a class action civil rights lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These farmers alleged that USDA had willfully discriminated against them and other African-American farmers by denying their applications for farm loans and benefit programs, or by delaying the processing of their applications, and had failed to properly investigate and resolve their complaints of discrimination. This lawsuit, Pigford v. Glickman, was certified by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia as a class action suit on October 9, 1998. On April 14, 1999, District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman approved and entered a consent decree settling this lawsuit. In doing so, the court noted USDA's long-standing discriminatory practices. The court stated that for decades USDA discriminated against African-American farmers by denying, delaying, or otherwise frustrating African-American farmers' applications for farm loans and other credit and benefit programs. The court also noted that USDA disbanded its Office of Civil Rights in 1983, and stopped responding to claims of discrimination. Finally, the court observed that the consent decree would not undo all that had been done to African-American …
Date: March 17, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cargo Container Inspections: Preliminary Observations on the Status of Efforts to Improve the Automated Targeting System (open access)

Cargo Container Inspections: Preliminary Observations on the Status of Efforts to Improve the Automated Targeting System

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Automated Targeting System (ATS)--a computerized model that CBP officers use as a decision support tool to help them target oceangoing cargo containers for inspection--is part of CBP's layered approach to securing oceangoing cargo. GAO reported in February 2004 on challenges CBP faced in targeting oceangoing cargo containers for inspection and testified before Congress in March 2004 about the findings in that report. The report and testimony outlined recommendations aimed at (1) better incorporating recognized modeling practices into CBP's targeting strategy, (2) periodically adjusting the targeting strategy to respond to findings that occur during the course of its operation, and (3) improving implementation of the targeting strategy. This statement for the record discusses preliminary observations from GAO's ongoing work related to ATS and GAO's 2004 recommendations addressing the following questions: (1) What controls does CBP have in place to provide reasonable assurance that ATS is effective at targeting oceangoing cargo containers with the highest risk of smuggled weapons of mass destruction? (2) How does CBP systematically analyze security inspection results and incorporate them into ATS? and (3) What steps has …
Date: March 30, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Financial Statement Audit Report for the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for Fiscal Year 2005 (open access)

Federally Chartered Corporation: Financial Statement Audit Report for the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for Fiscal Year 2005

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Reserve Officers Association of the United States for fiscal year 2005. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards."
Date: March 9, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library