News from the Field:
ARL
Governance and
Membership Activities
ARL Membership Discusses
Strategic Directions for Research Libraries
Implementing ARL's
Strategic Plan
ARL Board of Directors
Actions
ARL Bylaws Amended
Scholarly Communication
Faculty Senates Speak out
on Scholarly Communication
Google Print Launches Beta
Site
SPARC and University of
Michigan Launch Publisher Assistance Program
SPARC-ACRL Forum at ALA
Information Policies
ARL Defends PubChem from
American Chemical Society Challenge
Update on Canadian
Information Policy Activities
Teaching, Learning, and Research
Symposium on Future of
Government Documents in ARL Libraries Scheduled for September
Scholars and Librarians
Examine the Global Record at Yale
Digital South Asia
Library Awarded TICFIA Grant
May 2005 GRN Update
Report Issued
ARL Special Collections
Task Force Meeting Summary Now Available
ARL Directors Forum on
Portal Applications Identifies Common Challenges
CNI Update
CARL Forms E-Learning
Work Group
Other Items of Interest to ARL Directors
The Future of Human
Resources in Canadian Libraries
Status of Annual
Statistics Surveys
Fourth Annual ARL Service
Quality Evaluation Academy Hosted by University of Texas
LibQUAL Update
Making Library Assessment
Work
ARL Task Force on New
Ways of Measuring Collections: Update
Diversity Program Update
ARL at the ALA Annual
Conference in Chicago, June 24-28
ARL Transitions
Other Transitions
Honors
ARL
Federal Relations E-News
for ARL Directors
I. Copyright and
Intellectual Property
A. US Supreme
Court Rules in P2P File-Sharing Case
Additional
Background Material
B.
LCA Files Reply Comments on Orphan Works
As the joint filing stated, "Individual copyright owners and users, small
not-for-profit organizations, and large
commercial interests alike came forward with proposals that had remarkable
similarities."
Additional information on orphan works and the streaming PowerPoint from
the ARL, AALL, and MLA Online Conference on Orphan Works are available
II. Government
Information
A. ARL Files
Comments on NGA Proposed Withdrawal of Geospatial Information
III.
Anti-Terrorism Measures, Homeland Security, Civil Liberties, and Related
Policy
A. USA PATRIOT Act Update
1. House Vote Overwhelmingly Supports Freedom to Read Protection Amendment
- On June 14, in a vote of 238 to 187, the House of Representatives showed
strong support for the Freedom to Read amendment that would prohibit the
Department of Justice from using appropriated funds to search library and
bookstore records under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act. The FBI would
still be able to obtain access to these records based on a court-ordered
search warrant. The amendment to the Science, State, Justice
Appropriations Bill, H.R. 2862, was sponsored by Rep. Sanders (I-VT). It
is expected that the House leadership will not support the inclusion of
the Sanders amendment when the House and Senate meet to resolve their
different versions of the legislation.
2. USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization Bills Debated - Congress is poised to
reauthorize the USA PATRIOT Act. There are 16 provisions of the Act that
expire at the end of 2005 thus the press to reauthorize the Act. Two of
these provisions, Sections 215 and 505, are of particular concern to the
research library community as they pertain to the privacy of user records.
On July 21, the House of Representatives debated H.R. 3199 which was
approved by a vote of 257 to 171. Of the 16 expiring provisions, the House
made 14 permanent. The provision allowing the government to access library
and business records was extended for review in 10 years. Although the
House did not permit consideration of many amendments that the library and
civil liberties communities supported, the House did adopt several
amendments actively supported by the library community. These include:
* a provision that requires that the FBI director approve any FBI
request for library or bookstore records under Section 215 and
* a provision that allows a recipient of a National Security Letter the
right to challenge the order and to consult an attorney in order to
challenge the order.
In the Senate, there are two bills under consideration that take very
different approaches in reauthorizing the Act. On July 13, S. 1389, the
"USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005" was introduced
by Sen. Specter (chair, Senate Committee on the Judiciary and R-PA) and
co-sponsored by Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Kyl (R-AZ). Provisions in
the legislation provide additional congressional oversight of law
enforcement and would curb some current governmental authorities. The
Senate Committee on the Judiciary unanimously approved S. 1389 on July 21.
A second bill, S. 1266, introduced by Sen. Roberts (Chair, Select
Committee on Intelligence and R-KS) would make those provisions that are
set to expire permanent and would provide additional authority to the FBI
to issue subpoenas and engage in surveillance activities. ARL will
continue to engage on issues surrounding reauthorization of the USA
PATRIOT Act.
IV.
Telecommunications Policy
A. Community Broadband Bill Introduced - Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced S. 1294, the "Community Broadband Act
of 2005." The legislation seeks to promote the deployment of broadband
throughout the United States and to ensure that municipalities can offer a
wide variety of broadband services. ARL joined with a diverse coalition of
public and private sector interests, including EDUCAUSE and Internet2, in
support of S. 1294.
V. Other Issues
A. Update on NIH Initiatives
1. House and Senate Appropriators Provide Guidance on PubChem - The House
and Senate reports accompanying the FY 2006 Committee on Appropriations,
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
appropriations bills provide guidance to NIH vis-a-vis PubChem and its
relationship with the private sector. PubChem is a publicly available
database that includes information about the biological activities of
chemical compounds. PubChem is an integral part of the NIH Molecular
Libraries initiative. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has challenged
the direction and scope of PubChem, claiming that it unfairly competes
with an ACS service, CAS.
The report language as approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee
modified the House report language, indeed improved upon it. While the
House Appropriations Committee report language notes that the Committee is
concerned that "NIH is replicating scientific information services that
already exist in the private sector and urges NIH to work with the private
sector providers to avoid unnecessary duplication and competition with
private sector chemical databases," the Senate report calls upon NIH to
"work with the private sector chemical information providers, with the
primary goal of maximizing progress in science while avoiding unnecessary
duplication and competition with private sector databases." The difference
between the two, namely the focus on advancing science not competition, is
notable.
A conference to resolve differences between the two bills is expected in
the fall. ARL will continue to work in support of a fully functional
PubChem.
2. Update on the NIH Public Access Initiative - House and Senate reports
accompanying the FY 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and
Related Agencies appropriations bills include a focus on implementation
issues associated with NIH's Public Access policy. The policy requests
that NIH-funded investigators submit an electronic version of the author's
final manuscript upon acceptance for publication, resulting from research
supported in whole or in part, with direct costs from NIH. NIH encourages
authors to post for public accessibility as soon as possible (within
twelve months of the publisher's official data of final publication.)
The House Committee on Appropriations, noting its support for NIH's
policy, directed the Office of the Director to submit by March 1, 2006,
* the total number of applicable peer-reviewed articles deposited in
PubMed Central;
* the embargo period requested by the author for each deposited work;
and
* NIH's best estimate of the total number of applicable articles
available for deposit.
In addition, the Committee also directed NIH to engage in an aggressive
education and outreach campaign on the public access initiative.
The Senate, building on the House Committee report language, requested
that NIH provide a report by February 2006 with the following additional
information:
* an assessment of the extent to which the implemented policy has led
to improved public access and
* an assessment of the impact of the policy on the peer review system.
On July 11, NIH convened the NIH Public Access Working Group of the NLM
Board of Regents. The Working Group, comprised of key stakeholder
interests, discussed the final NIH public access policy and implementation
issues. In a presentation to the Working Group, Dr. D. Lipman noted that
approximately 3% of the total number of articles that could have been
submitted to PubMed Central have been placed on deposit. Approximately 65,000 journal
articles are published each year based on NIH funding. Since May 2, when
the public access policy was initiated, 340 articles accepted for
publication have been deposited out of a possible 11,000 peer reviewed
articles that could have been submitted. Ann Wolpert, ARL President and
Director of Libraries, MIT, is a member of the NIH Public Access Working
Group. ARL will continue to be actively engaged in implementation issues
associated with NIH's public access policy.
B. Appropriations Update
1. Senate
Acts on FY 2006 Funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services
2. Senate Acts
on FY 2006 Funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities
ARL
Bimonthly Report on Research Library Issues and Action from ARL, CNI, and
SPARC
Current Issues
The Global Record:
Understanding Its Use and Ensuring Its Future for Scholarship - by Ann
Okerson, Associate University Librarian, Collections & International
Programs, Yale University
Strategic Directions for Research Libraries
ARL Membership
Convenes in Philadelphia
Statistics & Measurement
ARL Salary Survey
Highlights - by Mark Young, ARL Research Assistant for Statistics &
Measurement /
The Future of
Human Resources in Canadian Libraries
Making
Library Assessment Work
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