[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 30, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67918-67919]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-33894]
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NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES
National Endowment for the Arts; Notice of Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request
SUMMARY: The National Endowment for the Arts (``Endowment'') has
requested
[[Page 67919]]
that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve a series of new
collections of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The
purpose of the information collections, which will be conducted through
surveys and focus groups over a three year-period, is to help the
Endowment assess the efficiency and effectiveness with which it serves
its customers, and to design actions to address areas identified for
improvement.
DATES: All comments must be submitted to OMB by January 28, 1998.
ADDRESSES: All written comments should be addressed to: Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for
the National Endowment for the Arts, 725 17th Street, NW, Room 10235,
Washington, DC 20503. The request for approval will be available for
public inspection at the National Endowment for the Arts, room 628,
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506, between the hours
of 9:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martha Jones, Management Analyst,
Office of the Director of Administration, National Endowment for the
Arts, room 628, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506,
202/682-5408 (202/682-5496 for TTY and TDD). (These are not toll-free
numbers.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
establishes policies and procedures for controlling the paperwork
burdens imposed by Federal agencies on the public. The Act vests OMB
with regulatory responsibility over these burdens, and OMB has
promulgated rules on the clearance of collections of information by the
Federal agencies.
Executive Order 12862, ``Setting Customer Service Standards,''
states that the Federal Government must be customer-driven to carry out
the principles of the National Performance Review. It directs all
executive departments and agencies providing significant services
directly to the public to provide those services in a manner that seeks
to meet the customer service standards established in the executive
order.
The Endowment intends to establish a mechanism through which it can
explore issues of mutual concern, i.e., the kind and quality of desired
services, with its major outside customers, including nonprofit arts
organizations; artists; State, local, and special jurisdictional arts
agencies; and arts service organizations.
Areas of concern to the Endowment and its customers will change
over time, and it is important the Endowment be able to evaluate
customer concerns quickly. Accordingly, the Endowment requests OMB to
grant ``generic'' approval, for a three-year period, of focus groups
and surveys of the Endowment's outside customer groups. Participation
in the focus groups and surveys will be voluntary.
The Endowment published a notice of intention to request OMB
approval of these collections in the Federal Register September 17,
1997. No comments were received in response to the notice.
This voluntary collection of information will put a slight burden
on an extremely small percentage of the public. The Endowment expects
to distribute survey questionnaires to approximately 600 persons during
the first year of the three-year period, representing a total burden of
about 150 hours. The Endowment also expects to conduct focus groups
involving a total of 10 persons in a given year, with a total annual
burden of about 90 hours, including travel time. (A small portion of
this time may be allocated to participants' completion of short written
questionnaires at focus group meetings.)
Issued in Washington, DC, December 23, 1997.
Laurence M. Baden,
Director of Administration, National Endowment for the Arts.
[FR Doc. 97-33894 Filed 12-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7536-01-M
