In this issue...

1. Oppose FY 2007 Budget Cuts to U.S. EPA Libraries
2. Participate in National Library Legislative Day--1 & 2 May 2006
3. Broadcast and Audio Flag Testimony
4. Database Directive Policy Options Comments
5. Orphan Works Testimony
6. Library Associations Support GPO 2007 Budget
7. Copyright and Fair Use in the Comics
8. Amicus Brief filed in Hebrew Academy vs. Goldman
9. Digital Lockdowns Feared in Libraries
10. Sunshine Week: Are We Safer in the Dark?
11. GPO Advances Strategic Vision
12. Group Reaffirms NIH Public Access should be Mandatory

Oppose FY 2007 Budget Cuts to U.S. EPA Libraries
The proposed cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) FY 2007 budget put their libraries’ collections and services at risk and will seriously harm the public’s ability to access the Agency’s valuable resources. Please contact your Members of Congress today and ask them to OPPOSE the proposed FY2007 budget cuts to the EPA libraries. For talking points and to submit a letter electronically, go here.

Participate in National Library Legislative Day--1 & 2 May 2006
Come and participate in National Library Legislative Day 2006. SLA is collaborating with ALA and DCLA in bringing together hundreds of library supporters from across the country. Attendees will visit Members of Congress to share stories about libraries in their communities and to talk about the needs and accomplishments of libraries in their area. If you have not already registered, there is still time! --The deadline for mail registration has been extended to 28 April. Walk-in registration will also be available on the day of the event. Full details and registration information SLA contact: Doug Newcomb.

Broadcast and Audio Flag Testimony
On 24 January 2006, testimony was provided on behalf of the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), of which SLA is a member, on Broadcast and Audio Flag. The LCA testimony explains specific concerns with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) broadcast flag rule, and urges the Committee to address these concerns before adopting legislation authorizing the FCC to promulgate the rule. Read Testimony.

Database Directive Policy Options Comments
On 10 March 2006, several groups, including all the members of the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), filed Comments on Database Directive Policy Options. Ten organizations and twenty law professors signed onto comments addressing the policy options outlined in the 12 December 2005 DG Internal Market and Services Working Paper on the Directive on the Legal Protection of Databases. The organizations and law professors represent the interests of technology and financial services companies; libraries, scientists, scholars, and educational institutions; and consumers. For the past decade, groups have opposed the adoption of overly protective database legislation in the United States. Read Comments.

Orphan Works Testimony
Several organizations, including SLA, were represented by testimony on Orphan Works given by Maria Pallante to the U.S. Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary U.S. House of Representatives on 8 March 2006. Pallante is Associate General Counsel and Director of Licensing, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation (Guggenheim Museum). The sheer number of cultural, scholarly, and educational institutions lending support to her remarks not only strengthened the position of the organizations, but also caught the attention of the committee members. Read Pallante’s statement.

The U.S. Copyright Office completed its study of problems related to “orphan works”—copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate. As requested by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Patrick Leahy, the Office submitted its Report on Orphan Works to the Senate Judiciary Committee on 31 January 2006. Full Report.

Library Associations Support GPO 2007 Budget
SLA, AALL, ALA and MLA sent a letter to The Honorable Jerry Lewis, Chairman,
Committee on Appropriations, urging his support for the Public Printer's FY 2007 budget request of $151.5 million, which includes $100,285,000 for the Congressional Printing and Binding (CP&B) Appropriation, $43,000,000 for the Salaries and Expenses (S&E) Appropriation of the Superintendent of Documents, and $8.2 million for GPO's revolving fund. Read Letter.

Copyright and Fair Use in the Comics
Duke University's Law School has just published Bound by Law, a comic book designed to educate people about copyright and fair use. It is aimed specifically at misconceptions about clearances in documentary film making, but it employs that particular use as a way to elucidate fair use doctrine more generally. Read more.

Amicus Brief filed in Hebrew Academy vs. Goldman
SLA, along with other groups, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of California in the case of the Hebrew Academy of San Francisco, et al., vs. Richard Goldman et al. in support of Goldman. The amicus brief argues that the placement of copies of an oral history on the shelves of a few libraries meets the requirements of the "single publication rule" for statute of limitations purposes in a defamation case.
Read Full Amicus Brief.

Digital Lockdowns Feared in Libraries
The BBC news reported that libraries are beginning to fear digital lockdowns, and that libraries have warned that the rise of digital publishing may make it harder or even impossible to access items in their collections in the future, in part due to the restrictions publishers place on how some digital books and journals can be used. Read More.

Sunshine Week: Are We Safer in the Dark?
On 13 March 2006, a panel of experts from around the U.S. kicked off Sunshine Week with a broadcast from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The discussion was brought forth by several organizations, including SLA, and will focused on open government and secrecy—the problems, the impact on communities, and what the public can do. Read more.

GPO Advances Strategic Vision
The U.S. Government Printing Office is moving forward with accomplishing the goals outlined in the GPO's Strategic Vision for the 21st Century with the creation of two new business lines headed by seasoned managers that will benefit the public and library partners. Read more.

Group Reaffirms NIH Public Access should be Mandatory
A key advisory panel to the National Institutes of Heath (NIH) has reaffirmed its continued support for reforms to the NIH Public Access Policy. The Alliance for Taxpayer Access, of which SLA is a member, reported that an advisory group to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias Zerhouni met on April 10 and reaffirmed its policy from last fall that posting of taxpayer-funded research to NIH's PubMed Central web site should be mandatory within six months of publication. Read the ATA Report.

For the most up-to-date SLA activities, go to: www.sla.org/act.