December 1999 Newsletter Highlights
(from vol. 17, no. 4,
December 1999)
Dec.
'99 Table of
Contents
Newsletter
Issues Listing
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Pat Walker,
Government Relations Team, Wright State
University
· Database Protection: H.R. 354
vs. H.R. 1858
Two competing bills spell bad news and
good news for the library and higher
education communities, and the really bad
news is that the problematic H.R. 354 is
winning! With H.R. 354, despite recent
changes, the public stands to lose basic
long-standing access to facts. The
exemption for research and education
activities is far too narrow. By contrast,
H.R. 1848 is a balanced approach to
database protection and is widely endorsed
by library, higher education, and industry
groups. Despite the efforts of H.R. 1858
proponents, however, H.R. 354 has many
more sponsors, and the House leadership is
pushing it, precluding serious
consideration of H.R. 1858. The ALA
Washington Office is urging members to
contact their congressional offices to
urge defeat of H.R 354.
· Uniform Computer Information
Transactions Act (UCITA)
Despite strong opposition at the
national level from a broad array of
consumer and public interest groups, this
proposed addition to the Uniform
Commercial Code now goes to state
legislatures to be enacted into law. UCITA
represents a movement toward licensing of
information in its many forms and away
from the sale of copies as traditionally
understood under copyright law.
Furthermore it would allow vendors to
exert profound control over licensing
terms, hampering education and research.
It's sometimes called the shrink-wrap law
because contract terms would be imbedded
in "shrink-wrap" or "click-on" licenses
and thus be non-negotiable. UCITA
opponents, including ALA, are calling on
citizens to communicate with state
commissioners and legislators to prevent
enactment within their states. In Ohio, we
expect that UCITA will be introduced in
the State Assembly very soon with hearings
possibly beginning in early January.
· Library Patron
Confidentiality in Ohio
Unlike all other states, Ohio has no
provision in state law or Supreme Court
rulings to protect the privacy of patron
library records. A library could have its
patron confidentiality policy challenged
in the courts and lose, incurring
substantial legal expenses in the process.
A few years ago, the state library and OLC
crafted a legislative proposal, and it
went nowhere. Recently, a legislator got
interested in this issue as a result of a
constituent complaint. The original
proposal has been modified somewhat,
including the addition of an exception for
parental access to the records of
minor-aged children, but it is going
forward. We expect the bill to be
introduced when the State Assembly
reconvenes in January.
PLANS UNDERWAY
FOR 2000 CONFERENCE
Carolyn Radcliff,
Vice President/President Elect, Kent State
University
The ALAO 2000 Program Committee has
taken the important first step in
conference planning by selecting a theme
for next year's annual conference. Four
Walls and Beyond: Libraries in the New
Millennium is intended to reflect the
movement toward providing library services
outside the traditional boundaries, all
the while maintaining the "library as
place." The Committee invites
presentations and poster sessions about
trends and activities relating to the
theme and to the future of libraries and
higher education. The ALAO web site
(www.alaoweb.org) offers an online
proposal form. Please see the enclosed
flyer for more information. One question
we are working through is where to hold
the conference. What do you think about
having the conference in a city other than
Columbus? If you like the idea of going
outside of Columbus, what cities would you
recommend? Please send your thoughts to me
at radcliff@kent.edu.
Thanks very much for your input.
PEOPLE &
LIBRARY NEWS
MIAMI UNIVERSITY
Pamela M. Salela is the new Women's
Studies' selector at Miami U. and is also
working on a usability study for the
library's homepage (MiamiLINK). Pamela is
a recent graduate of the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an M.S.
in Library and Information Science and an
M.A. in Educational Policy Studies.
Cynthia Jasper-Parisey is a new
Information Services Librarian at Miami
University. She received her MLS from the
University of Kentucky and had worked in
the Thomas More College Library for nearly
nine years before coming to Miami.
Welcome to both Pamela and Cynthia, who
are also new members of ALAO!
OBERLIN COLLEGE
The Oberlin College Library held its
first ever conference for alumni
librarians on November 12-14. Over 60
conference participants came from all
types of libraries and all corners of the
country, and from as far away as the
United Kingdom. The conference coincided
with the annual Friends of the Library
meeting, and the two groups came together
at the
Friends reception and dinner, which
featured Yale University Librarian Scott
Bennett (OC '60) as the keynote speaker.
The conference program included lively
sessions on technology in a humanistic
context, the importance of libraries for
society, an opportunity to reflect on the
ways in which Oberlin shaped the
conference participants' careers, and
presentations on the OC Library past,
present and future. All agreed that it
was an extremely worthwhile conference,
unique in many respects.
The program is accessible from the
conference
Web site. Conference participants can
remain in contact with one another through
a listserv and a biographical directory
that grew out of the conference
registration process; the directory also
includes many alumni librarians who were
not able to attend the conference.
Director of Libraries Ray English and
Conference Coordinator Molly Horst Raphael
(OC '67), Director of the Public Library
of Washington, D.C., were gratified by the
apparent success of the conference and the
enthusiastic response of all involved.
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
At the Education, Human Ecology,
Psychology, and Social Work Library, Scott
Walter is the new Reference
Librarian/Collection Manager for
Education. Scott's previous position was
Humanities and Education Reference
Librarian at the University of
Missouri--Kansas City.
Dec.
'99 Table of
Contents
Newsletter
Issues Listing
Web site maintained by
ALAO Web Committee.
Please
send comments to
us.
updated 2/15/00
|
