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March 2001 Newsletter Highlights(from vol. 19, no. 1, March 2001) Contents
President's Report Carolyn Radcliff, President Kent
State Univ. Ohio Immersion Update Planning and support for "Ohio Immersion: Institute for Information Literacy" came from many quarters. The efforts of Kristan Collins Runyon (OhioLINK), Barbara Schloman (Kent State), Mary Lovin (Kent State), and the entire planning committee, as well as contributions of materials and labor from OhioLINK and Kent State, greatly reduced costs for the Institute held last June. As a result, ACRL will share revenue from Ohio Immersion with Ohio libraries. Using ALAO as a channel for planning and funding, ACRL will support additional information literacy activities in Ohio during the next several months. The Instruction Interest Group, under the direction of co-chairs Colleen Boff and Betsy Blankenship and including several members from the original Immersion planning group, will oversee these efforts. ALAO Elections 2001 Jerome
Conley, Past President Miami University Ballots for the 2001-2002 ALAO elections were mailed first
class to all 2000 and 2001 members during the second week
of March. Last year members who have not yet paid their 2001
dues received a letter with their ballots reminding them to
send their dues with their ballots or their ballots cannot
be counted. Please be assured that dues and membership information
remain with the Ohio College Association, and that ballots
are completely separated from membership information before
they are forwarded to me for counting. ACRL Chapters Council Report ALA
Midwinter Conference Washington, D.C., January, 2001 Pat Walker,
ACRL Liaison Wright State University. Mary Reichel, ACRL vice-president/president-elect, announced that the focus during her presidential year (2001-2) will be learning in all of its aspects, including learning about the needs of ACRL members. Priorities will also include strengthening recruitment into the profession and envisioning the future of academic libraries. ACRL Staff: Melissa Cast, ACRL Director of Member Services, reminded attendees about the ACRL Speakers Bureau and its deadline for making requests (6/1/30). ACRL Executive Director, Althea Jenkins, reported on work to strengthen the leadership grant portion of LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) and indicated the need for academic librarians to speak out when re-authorization of this federal program comes before Congress later this year. Legislative Update Lynne Bradley, Director of Government Relations in the ALA Washington Office, and Pat Walker, Coordinator of the ACRL Legislative Network, led a discussion of the legislative agenda for the coming year. LSTA reauthorization, implementation of recent copyright legislation (DMCA), the re-introduction of onerous database protection proposals, and the controversial UCITA proposal that will be active in many state legislatures were all reviewed. They urged chapters to support members in attending National ALA Legislative Day in Washington (April 30- May 1, 2001) so that congressional members can hear from the academic community. Chapters Council Business Council chair-elect, Linda Kopecky, reviewed a draft brochure that describes the role of the Council and announced that candidates were needed for the chair and secretary election to be held at the annual conference in June. Chapter Topics Editor, Heather Ward, reported that this web-only publication will soon be linked to the ALA site and noted that a new editor would be needed during the coming year. Those interested should contact Heather (hward@oregon.uoregon.edu) for more information. Legislative Advocate Travel Award Susan Collins, Government Relations Team Ohio University - Lancaster The ALAO Government Relations Team announces that Susan Scott, Reference Librarian and Library Instruction Coordinator at Denison University, is this year's recipient of the ALAO Legislative Advocate Travel Award. This $600 travel award is to be used to attend ALA's Legislative Day in Washington, D.C. on April 30 and May 1, 2001. The purpose of attending this event is to raise the profile of academic libraries in the national political arena and to educate legislators of the issues facing academic libraries and academic librarians. As a member of the official Ohio delegation, the winner of this award, along with a member of the Government Relations Team, attends a meeting of the delegation from Ohio and also an issues briefing from the ALA Washington Office staff. The day culminates in a meeting with the ALAO member's legislator and staff. Susan has been a member of the Advocates Network for several years and attended State House Connect Day last year. As an elected member of a local school board, she served as a legislative liaison with the Ohio School Boards Association for many years. In this capacity she attended similar events in Washington to advocate for education issues, meeting with fellow legislative liaisons and representatives on Capitol Hill. The ALAO Legislative Advocate Network is a grassroots effort in which members contact legislators as private citizens, primarily in response to legislative alerts from ALA and ACRL. If you would like to join the network, contact Susan Collins at phillis1@ohio.edu Get Connected! ALAO Statehouse Connect Day The ALAO Government Relations Team is sponsoring the second "ALAO Statehouse Connect Day" on May 16, 2001. The purpose of this event is to foster relationships with General Assembly representatives and to inform them about UCITA. This event is open to any ALAO member but especially ALAO Legislative Advocate Network members and ALAO Executive Board members. To reserve your place, contact Pat Walker at pat.walker@wright.edu or 937/775-2685. Is UCITA Coming to Ohio? Pat Walker, Government Relations Team Wright State University UCITA, the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act, is a proposed state law that seeks to create a unified approach to the licensing of software and electronic information with dire consequences for consumers, including library and business consumers alike. Two states, Virginia and Maryland, have already adopted it, and it is currently under consideration in several other states where software giants have pulled out all stops to push UCITA through state legislatures. Recently, Microsoft and Intel have deployed lobbyists to begin working for passage in Ohio. We may be next! What's at stake? Well, it's a long and complex set of draconian provisions, but here is a small sampling: UCITA would legitimize non-negotiable (e.g. "shrinkwrap") contracts; UCITA would prohibit reverse engineering and public criticism of the product; UCITA allows the licensor to electronically disable, remove, or prevent the use of information residing in a customer's system without warning; UCITA allows licensors to waive liability for known product defects that they have failed to disclose to the customer. Needless to say, this law would affect an enormous number of consumers, including businesses. Nationwide Insurance recently estimated that UCITA would cost their company $20 million a year in added costs. It is imperative that the word gets out about this potential disaster for consumers. The library community has been very active in opposing UCITA. ALA is a leading member of AFFECT, a coalition comprised of such diverse organizations as Reynolds Metals Corporation, John Hancock Insurance, and the National Consumer Law Center. The ALA Washington Office has hired a UCITA Grassroots Coordinator to support opposition efforts in states where UCITA is active. In Ohio, the State Librarian, Michael Lucas, has called together representatives from various library constituencies to begin coordinating efforts to prevent UCITA from happening here. Carolyn Radcliff and Pat Walker are representing ALAO in this group where efforts are currently concentrated on gathering information and seeking allies in the consumer and small business communities. You can help by learning as much as you can about UCITA (check out: http://www.4cite.org/oppose.html) and by helping to educate others in your library, on your campus and in your community. UCITA must be stopped!
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