ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 15, Number 46 April 25, 2006 In This Issue: The Smithsonian/Showtime Deal: Why Libraries Care ALA and other groups have expressed concern about the recently announced agreement between the Smithsonian Institution's Business Ventures Unit and Showtime Networks for the creation of "Smithsonian Networks." The details of the contract have not been made public but according to Jeanny Kim, Vice President for Media Services at Smithsonian Business Ventures, filmmakers and researchers who wish to have "more than incidental" access to Smithsonian archives or Smithsonian curators or scientists would have to offer their project to this new business venture. Librarians and other groups believe that this policy will discourage independent filmmakers from creating projects for other media outlets. Further, the policy will discourage an independent filmmaker from making a documentary and releasing it on the Internet or on a non-commercial basis. Many of the collections given to the Smithsonian have been placed in the Institution's hands in trust, to be maintained and made accessible to the public. This is therefore, a matter of public accountability and public confidence. ALA is also concerned that this contract with Showtime Networks, and other contracts in the works, may severely impede the ability of the Institution to digitize the collections it houses coherently and systematically, either for preservation or for public access and use. While such an undertaking could reasonably be taken with private companies, the underlying materials and the data files created must remain in the exclusive control of the Institution. The Center for American Progress has spearheaded a campaign – in which ALA is participating--to ask the Smithsonian Institution to do the following: * Disclose the terms of the contract with Showtime Networks and any other commercial agreements that limit access or use of the collections. * Annual the contract with Showtime Networks, as it was awarded without public comment and without a competitive procurement process. * Hold hearings to gather comment from a broad cross section of the public before undertaking any further actions that limit access to the collections for which the Smithsonian acts as guardian or limit access to the talented and highly capable staff of the Institution. Please stay tuned to ALAWON for further developments on this issue. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1615 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., First Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009-2520; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Don Essex, Melanie Anderson, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.