ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 86 November 1, 2004 In This Issue: Action Alert: Comments due Nov. 16 to NIH on proposal on public access to research On September 3, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a proposed plan to make research articles based on NIH funding available to the public free of charge. These articles would be publicly available in NIH's PubMed Central (PMC) within six months after their publication in a peer-reviewed journal. NIH has requested public comment on the plan prior to November 16, 2004. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-04-064.html Many organizations have expressed strong support for the NIH proposal, including various members of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, to which ALA belongs http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/NIH.html; the Association of American Universities; the Association of Independent Research Institutes; and the National Academy of Sciences http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/s09162004?OpenDocument. However, there is considerable opposition from some parts of the publishing community, hence ALA urges libraries and individuals in the library community to provide their views to NIH. As set out in the September 3rd notice, your comments can be submitted through a simple web form, http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/public_access/add.htm Frequently Asked Questions about the NIH proposal are available from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access and from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). http://www.arl.org/info/publicaccess/ARLFAQ.html ****** Remember: You Can Call Any MEMBER OF CONGRESS Toll-Free: 1-800-839-5276 ****** UPDATE: We have heard, unofficially, that it looks like the plan may be to strip everything from the Conference bill on Intelligence Reform/Reorganization that is not related to intelligence reform (i.e., lots of the House provisions), and vote on that. Everything else would be left for the next Congress. However, we have also heard that the driver's license standards -- which have the potential to lead to a national ID with little protection for privacy -- is still on the table. House Democrats are offering to keep it on the table (we hear), but only the Senate version. The Senate version is preferable to the House version, in that it does not REQUIRE linking of databases, but it also does not prohibit such linking. TALKING POINTS: Briefly, in regard to the conference on the Intelligence Reform/Reorganization bills, the library community is especially concerned with the provisions on driver's license standards. We are concerned that these provisions would create the potential for a national ID card. For many libraries, the driver's license is a primary form of identification for the issuance of a library card. While there is no immediate threat to library patrons' privacy, we know that these provisions are causing consternation and concern that the driver's license will become a de facto national ID to which other identification cards would be expected to conform. In particular, the House provision, which would create a federal database of information from driver's licenses, is deeply troubling in its potential for invasion of privacy and as a tool for surveillance. We think that these provisions -- as with many others in the House bill -- represent complex and difficult issues that need careful consideration, including open hearings. We do not think that this is possible with the short timeframe available and would hope these provisions could be removed from the conference bill. Conferees: Senate Conferees: Susan Collins, R-ME, 202-224-2523 George Voinovich, R-OH, 202-224-3353 Mike DeWine, R-OH, 202-224-2315 Norm Coleman, R-MN, 202-224-5641 John Sununu, R-NH, 202-224-2841 Pat Roberts, R-KS, 202-224-4774 Trent Lott, R-MS, 202-224-6253 Joe Lieberman, D-CT, 202-224-4041 Carl Levin, D-MI, 202-224-6221 Richard Durbin, D-IL, 202-224-2152 John Rockefeller, D-WV, 202-224-6472 Bob Graham, D-FL, 202-224-3041 Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, 202-224-3224 House Conferees: Peter Hoekstra, R-MI, 2nd, 202-225-4401 Henry Hyde, R-IL, 6th, 202-225-4561 David Dreier, R-CA, 26th, 202-225-2305 Roy Blunt, R-MO, 7th, 202-225-6536 OR James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, 5th, 202-225-5101 Duncan Hunter, R-CA, 52nd, 202-225-5672 Jane Harman, D-CA, 36th, 202-225-8220 Ike Skelton, D-MO, 4th, 202-225-2876 Robert Menendez, D-NJ, 13th, 202-225-7919 ****** Remember: You Can Call Any MEMBER OF CONGRESS Toll-Free: 1-800-839-5276 ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. 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