|
| ||
What Every Librarian Needs to Know About the USA PATRIOT Act & Related Anti-Terrorism Measures Duke University to Challenge Copyright Laws The U.S. Department of Energy Proposes to Discontinue PubSCIENCEHigher-Education Organizations Urge a Crackdown on Illegal File Sharing
AFFECT Annual MeetingFriends of Cuban LibrariesWhat Every Librarian Needs to Know About the USA PATRIOT Act & Related Anti-Terrorism Measures The Special Libraries Association has joined with AALL, ALA, MLA, & ARL in sponsoring a satellite teleconference that provides libraries and their governing institutions with an analysis of the implications of the recent anti-terrorism measures, including the USA PATRIOT Act, the Attorney General's Guidelines expanding the investigative powers of the FBI, and the Homeland Security Act. The teleconference is scheduled for December 11, 2002 from 12:00 - 3:00 p.m. ET. Go to http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/communication/safeguard.cfm for complete details and registration information.
Library Community Hails Reaffirmation of Fair Use in DMCRA On October 3, a joint press release was issued from SLA, ARL, AALL, ALA, & MLA endorsing the "Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act of 2002 (DMCRA). " In recent years, the library community has witnessed an erosion of the historic and crucial balance in copyright law among users, creators, and owners. This timely legislation will protect the interests of the public by restoring that balance. For full release, go to: http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/communication/dmcra.cfm
Duke University to Challenge Copyright Laws
Comments on the Nomination of Bruce James to be Public Printer, GPO On October 3, comments were submitted on behalf of SLA and ALA to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee on the role of the Public Printer, Government Printing Office, in access to and dissemination of federal government information. Bruce James will face many challenges of critical importance that will affect how the public will be able to find and use government information. For full comments, go to: http://www.sla.org/content/memberservice/communication/pubprint.cfm The U.S. Department of Energy Proposes to Discontinue PubSCIENCE SLA, ALA, ARL, MLA, AALL have provided comments regarding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposal to discontinue its PubSCIENCE data base resource. These comments focus on the usefulness of PubSCIENCE to the library community as a whole. PubSCIENCE is a service developed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) to facilitate searching and accessing peer reviewed journal literature in the physical sciences and other energy-related disciplines. PubSCIENCE allows the user to search across abstracts and citations of multiple publishers at no cost. Once the user has found an interesting abstract, a hyperlink provides access to the publisher's server to obtain the full text article. For more information, go to: http://pubsci.osti.gov/
The leaders of six major higher-education organizations are asking the presidents of all American colleges to take steps to stop illegal distribution of copyrighted materials, such as songs and motion pictures, through college computer networks. For more information, go to: http://chronicle.com/free/2002/10/2002101002t.htm
Trade groups for the movie and recording industries are putting new pressure on universities to crack down on file-swapping by students using high-speed campus networks. In a letter sent to more than 2,000 university presidents, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other copyright owner trade groups told university officials that large numbers of students were using college resources to violate federal law. For more information, go to: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-961637.html
AFFECT (Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transaction) held its third annual meeting on September 18 in Washington, D.C. AFFECT, of which SLA is an active member, is chief among the many critics of UCITA (Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act).
Some of AFFECT’s 2002 activities included: participation at the NCCUSL (National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws) annual conference; letters written regarding developments with both UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) Articles 1 and 2; letters regarding events unfolding in the ABA (American Bar Association); AFFECT's booth at the National Conference of State Legislatures annual meeting; and AFFECT’s response to a report predicting a positive economic impact from UCITA. Significant events in 2002 included an ABA report critical of UCITA; NCCUSL approval of 38 amendments; and an effort, initiated by a group of NCCUSL commissioners, to downgrade UCITA from a uniform act to a model law at the NCCUSL Annual Meeting in Tucson this summer.
For more information on AFFECT and UCITA, go to: http://www.affect.ucita.com SLA Statement Regarding UCITA:
Earlier this month, SLA President Bill Fisher, the SLA’s International Relations Committee, and other SLA members received an email from Robert Kent, Co-chair of Friends of Cuban Libraries. Mr. Kent, humanities reference librarian at New York Public, asked for SLA support in pressuring the Cuban government regarding the arrest of Mr. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva--a librarian and lawyer in Cuba, arrested and imprisoned for protesting the arrest of a journalist. Mr. Leiva is active in the independent library movement in Cuba. These libraries are collections that exist in private homes in Cuba. The Friends of Cuban Libraries report that they contain a variety of books and materials that are not permitted in Cuba’s national libraries.
Amnesty International does have information about Mr. Leiva on its website.
Bill Fisher responded to Mr. Kent stating that SLA is indeed concerned about intellectual freedom and the freedom to read. And that SLA, as a policy, limits its political advocacy to national and state legislative and congressional issues having to do with librarianship and information issues. But, that he believes the information Mr. Kent forwarded is important and would be shared with the leadership, who may want to become more actively involved as individuals, with Mr. Leiva’s situation.
Mr. Kent provided the address of the Friends website. It can be viewed for additional information. It is: www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org
If you have any questions or comments about Public Policy Update, we would like your feedback. Please share your comments at Doug@sla.org. |
Useful Links | |
RSS
Feedback form
