****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 2, Number 35 August 26, 1993 In this issue: (322 lines) DISTRESSING DISSERTATION DEVELOPMENT ELECTRONIC WHITE HOUSE RECORDS OMB RELEASES REVISED CIRCULAR A-25 REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS RALPH OMAN TO RESIGN CLINTON PLANS TO NOMINATE DIMARIO TO BE PUBLIC PRINTER NATIONAL SERVICE TRUST ACT STUDENT LITERACY/MENTORING CORPS GRANTS AVAILABLE LITERACY GRANTS AVAILABLE U.S. INSTITUTE FOR PEACE GRANTS AVAILABLE A NOTE TO NEW ALAWON SUBSCRIBERS *************************************************************************** DISTRESSING DISSERTATION DEVELOPMENT A recent AP news release reports that the U.S. Department of Education has ruled that masters and doctoral theses are considered to be student "education records," similar to grade records, and are therefore subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Accordingly, students' theses may not be accessed by academic researchers without the permission of the student authors. An opinion issued by LeRoy S. Rooker, Director of the Family Policy Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Education, stated: As you know, FERPA generally protects a student's privacy interests with regard to "education records." "Education records" are defined as those records that are 1) directly related to a student and 2) maintained by an educational agency or institution or a party acting for the agency or institution. 34 CFR 99.3. Accordingly, any records which are directly related to a student and are maintained by the University are education records subject to the provisions of FERPA. Thus, there are no distinctions between undergraduate and graduate theses. FERPA prevents subject educational agencies and institutions from disclosing education records without prior written consent, with specified exceptions 34 CFR 99.30 and 99.31. None of the exceptions would permit making student theses available to the public, such as in the University Library, without first obtaining written consent from the student. Further, the written consent must specify the records that may be disclosed; state the purpose of the disclosure; and identify the party or class of parties to whom the disclosure may be made. 34 CFR 99.30(b). This Office recognizes that undergraduate honors theses and graduate theses differ in nature from typical student research papers and other education records in that theses often become research sources themselves and are on occasion published. As such, this Office would consider any written statement by a student permitting publication of a thesis sufficient consent under FERPA because such statement shows that the student intended the work to become publicly available. Rooker told the ALA Washington Office that his office would not take any action on this issue unless they receive a complaint. *************************************************************************** ELECTRONIC WHITE HOUSE RECORDS On August 13, a federal appeal court rejected Clinton Administration appeals and held that the government must preserve hundreds of thousands of White House computer messages and memos from the Reagan and Bush presidencies. In a victory for the plaintiffs in the four-year-old case, _Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President_, the three-judge panel rejected the government's argument that electronic materials do not have to be saved and that only paper printouts need to be kept under federal law. ALA was one of the plaintiffs--along with journalist Scott Armstrong, the National Security Archive, the American Historical Association, the Center for National Security Studies, and several individual researchers--in the case originally filed in 1989 as President Reagan was leaving office. The ruling affirms a January 1993 decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Richey, who ordered preservation of nearly 6,000 magnetic tapes and hard disks from the Reagan and Bush White Houses and held that White House plans to destroy most of them were unlawful. The Clinton Administration then became involved and appealed the Richey decision. The Administration has not yet decided whether to appeal the latest ruling. The White House has until early October to seek an appeal by the full appeals court; another option is to seek Supreme Court review. If the White House does not appeal, the National Archives and Records Administration will need to decide how to handle the task of preserving electronic mail. *************************************************************************** OMB RELEASES REVISED CIRCULAR A-25 The Office of Management and Budget has issued a revision of Circular A-25, "User Charges." OMB states that this revision, the first since September 1959, will not expand the authority to charge user fees, but only "clarify federal policy in light of thirty years of experience and to update the procedures by which agencies are to institute charges." Changes to Circular A-25 include the following: * Charges should be set based on market conditions for products and services provided by business-type activities while charges for all other government services or products should be based on full-cost recovery. * Whenever possible, charges should be set as rates rather than fixed dollar amounts in order to reflect changes in costs to the government or changes in market prices of the property, resources, or service provided. * As in the previous version, A-25 states that user charges should be assessed when a service provides special benefits to an identifiable recipient beyond those that accrue to the general public. However, this revision makes clear that when the general public also receives "incidental" benefits, the user charge should recover full cost rather than a prorated amount. Several commentors objected to this section, and their comments are discussed in the _Federal Register_ notice. * The number of specified exceptions federal agencies can grant to the general guidelines is reduced. Agencies may recommend additional exceptions subject to OMB approval. * A new section is included on developing legislation when legal impediments to user charges exist. * Agencies are directed to review charges biennially and update them as necessary. For further information, see the _Federal Register_, July 15, 1993, pp. 38142-6. *************************************************************************** REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS RALPH OMAN TO RESIGN Ralph Oman will resign as Register of Copyrights effective January 8, 1994. Until that date, Oman will continue to hold the title of Register of Copyrights, but will be responsible for international copyright matters. Mary Levering, Executive Director of the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) assumed responsibility for the operation of the Copyright Office on August 16. *************************************************************************** CLINTON PLANS TO NOMINATE DIMARIO TO BE PUBLIC PRINTER According to an August 17 White House press release, President Clinton intends to nominate Michael DiMario to be public printer. DiMario was named acting public printer earlier this year. *************************************************************************** NATIONAL SERVICE TRUST ACT On August 6, the House passed the conference report (H.Rept. 103-219) on HR 2010, the National Service Trust Act of 1993. The Senate is expected to vote on the conference report shortly after it reconvenes on September 7. The legislation would amend the National and Community Service Act and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act. It would establish a bipartisan Corporation for National Service, into which the existing Commission on National and Community Service and ACTION (which runs VISTA) would be folded. It would reauthorize a number of existing national and community service initiatives, including VISTA, the Older American Volunteer Programs, and the Civilian Community Corps. A Corporation for National and Community Service and State Commissions on National Service would be established to administer the initiative. Authorization for the program is expected to be $300 million the first year, $500 million the second year, and $700 million the third year. Major sections of the legislation include: NATIONAL SERVICE TRUST -- A program that would allow approximately 20,000 people to receive a stipend and an educational benefit of $4750 per year of service meeting needs in one of four areas: education, the environment, public safety, and human needs. The Corporation would distribute 1/3 of the funds directly on a competitive bases, 1/3 to state Commissions according to population, and 1/3 to state Commissions on a competitive basis. Participants would be required to meet unmet needs, not displace existing workers, and could not provide direct benefits to for-profit businesses, or partisan political organizations. Programs could not involve participants in religious activities. Programs would need to be innovative, sustainable, and replicable in future years. In general, programs would provide 15% of the cost of the stipend and health care costs and 25% of other program costs. SERVE AMERICA -- Currently, the Commission on National and Community Service makes grants to schools and community-based agencies to fund "service learning" activities into its curriculum. Service learning refers to a technique of integrating community service into a curriculum of K-12 students. The legislation would expand Serve America funding. Next year's funding for this part of the program would be authorized at approximately $33 million, and would be distributed on both population and competitive bases. The Corporation would also make grants to institutions of higher education to establish or expand service learning programs on campuses of postsecondary institutions. Authorization for this section is expected to be $17 million. *************************************************************************** STUDENT LITERACY/MENTORING CORPS GRANTS AVAILABLE The Department of Education is inviting applications for the Student Literacy Corps and Student Mentoring Corps program. The program provides grants to institutions of higher education to promote the development of literacy corps programs and mentoring corps programs in the institutions' communities. Institutions of higher education, including branch campuses of the institutions, are eligible. The Department estimates that 11 awards of $95,000 each will be made. Applications will be available September 21, 1993; the deadline for submitting applications is October 22, 1993. For applications or further information, contact Darlene B. Collins, Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 3022, ROB-3, Washington, DC 20202-5251; 202-708-6128 or 708-7389; TDD (Federal Information Relay Service) 1-800-877-8339. *************************************************************************** LITERACY GRANTS AVAILABLE The Department of Education is inviting applications for awards under the Technology, Educational Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities Program for FY94. The program supports projects and centers for advancing the availability, quality, use, and effectiveness of technology, educational media, and materials in the education of children and youth with disabilities and the provision of related services and early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities. Absolute priority is given to projects that address the problem of illiteracy among individuals with disabilities. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, state and local educational agencies, public agencies, and private nonprofit or for- profit organizations. Applications will be available September 13, 1993; the deadline for submitting applications is November 19, 1993. For technical information, contact Jane Hauser, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, room 3521, Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202- 2640; 202-205-8126. For applications and general information, contact Darlene Crumblin, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20202-2641; 202-205-8593; TDD (Federal Information Relay Service) 1-800-877-8339. This grant was announced in the _Federal Register_, August 13, 1993, p. 43190. *************************************************************************** U.S. INSTITUTE FOR PEACE GRANTS AVAILABLE The U.S. Institute for Peace is inviting applications for grants for programs in public libraries that bring together scholars and audiences to focus on the problems of managing international conflict through peaceful means in order to build greater citizen understanding of vital national and international issues. Topics of interest to the Institute include arms control and arms proliferation; ethnic and religious conflict; human rights and humanitarian intervention; international law; international organizations; regional conflict; rule of law, including democratization and expansion of civil society; and war and violence. The heart of the program will be scholar-led discussions using respected, currently available books, supplemented with articles, monographs, films, and other materials. Libraries will be expected to recruit subject matter experts, mostly from local institutions of higher education, to serve as discussion leaders. Eligible institutions include public libraries, state libraries, state and regional library associations, and library consortia. Single libraries or library systems can receive grants of up to $10,000; library consortia, state library systems, or regional library groups can receive grants of up to $25,000. Funds may be applied toward the cost of stipends for scholars to lead discussions, salary for library staff to organize and implement the program, multiple copies of the core text(s), lease or purchase of supplemental resources, program publicity and related promotional efforts, and other direct costs. The deadline for submitting applications is January 2, 1994. For applications or further information, contact Solicited Grant Projects, United States Institute of Peace, 1550 M Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005-1708; 202-429-3844; fax 202-429-6063; TDD 202-457-1719. *************************************************************************** A NOTE TO NEW ALAWON SUBSCRIBERS If you tried to subscribe to ALAWON by telling listserv@uicvm "subscribe alawon," you received a message similar to this one: > subscribe alawon Melvil Dewey List ALAWON is not open for automatic subscription. Your request has been forwarded to the list owner(s): ALAWASH@ALAWASH.ORG FDK@ALAWASH.ORG This is because the ALA Washington Office list is called ala-wo@uicvm, not alawon@uicvm. Since the list name has been incorrectly reported several times, a separate list called ALAWON was set up to handle misdirected subscription requests. When you sent your subscription request that list, it was forwarded to the ala-wo list owner, who added your name to the correct list. If you want to unsubscribe or change your distribution options, please refer to ala-wo, not alawon, when you send your commands to the listserv. And if you think this is confusing, just wait until we get to postal revenue forgone! :-) *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Editor and List Owner: Fred King (fdk@alawash.org). All or part of ALAWON may be redistributed, with appropriate credits. ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (internet). 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