****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISBN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 80 September 8, 1995 In this issue: (nnn lines) SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ZEROS OUT NTIA-TIIAP GRANTS ACTION NEEDED: FIGHT CUTS AT SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE "WHITE PAPER" ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 5 WHITE PAPER TEXT AVAILABLE FROM PTO NEH LIBRARY PROGRAMS HAVE NEW DEADLINE ALA MOVES WASHINGTON OFFICE AND OITP -- TEMPORARILY OFFLINE DURING ELECTRONIC MIGRATION *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ZEROS OUT NTIA-TIIAP GRANTS ACTION NEEDED: FIGHT CUTS AT SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE NTIA and its TIIAP grant program would be zeroed out under a bill approved on September 7 by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary. The bill is H.R. 2076, the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary, and related agencies appropriations bill for FY 1996. Among the agencies most drastically affected by the subcommittee action was the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA.) The Subcommittee completely zeroed out FY96 funding for many of NTIA's programs such as the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP.) Further, the $36 million in grants about to be awarded to 1995 TIIAP applicants would also be rescinded. The subcommittee action was a straight party line vote with all Republicans voting for eliminating funds for the program, and all Democrats voting against the cuts. The TIIAP grants, also called Information Infrastructure Grants, are intended to promote widespread access to advanced information technologies. The program supports projects that provide visible examples of how an information infrastructure can impact local access to services such as education and health care. A budget request of $99.912 million for Information Infrastructure Grants was made by the administration for FY96. The House has already passed H.R. 2076 including $40 million for the grants. Libraries are eligible and have received funds from this program as well as been involved in community partnerships which have received these grants. ACTION NEEDED: The full Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the bill on Monday, September 11. Each Appropriations Committee member, including those Senators on the Subcommittee, should hear about the value of NTIA and TIIAP and the effects that killing the program will have on a national as well as local level. All current applicants for TIIAP grants are strongly urged to contact their Senators immediately. Zeroing out a modest information infrastructure program when thousands of applicants have already, in good faith, devoted time and resources to developing applications, securing community partners and matching funds, and when the peer review process has already taken place, and awards are about to be announced, is not a productive or cost effective action. MEMBERS OF THE SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE Senate switchboard number: 202-224-3121 Senate Appropriations Committee number: 202-224-3471 Republicans: Democrats: Chair: Mark Hatfield (OR)* Ranking Member: Robert C. Byrd (WV) Ted Stevens (AK)* Daniel Inouye (HI)* Thad Cochran (MS) Ernest Hollings (SC)* Arlen Specter (PA) J. Bennett Johnston (LA) Pete Domenici (NM)* Patrick Leahy (VT) Phil Gramm (TX)* Dale Bumpers (AR)* Christopher Bond (MO) Frank Lautenberg (NJ)* Slade Gorton (WA) Tom Harken (IA) Mitch McConnell (KY)* Barbara Mikulski (MD) Connie Mack (FL) Harry Reid (NV) Conrad Burns (MT) Robert Kerrey (NE)* Richard Shelby (AL) Herbert Kohl (WI) Jim Jeffords (VT) Patty Murray (WA) Judd Gregg (NH)* Robert Bennett (UT) The asterisks * indicate members of the subcommittee. *************************************************************************** "WHITE PAPER" ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND THE NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER 5 On September 5, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Bruce Lehman unveiled the much-anticipated report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property formed to assess the protection of intellectual property in a digital age and to recommend changes to the Copyright Act where necessary. Titled "Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure," the 238 page "White Paper" builds on a draft "Green Paper" circulated for comments last July. As reported in previous ALAWONs, ALA submitted formal comments on the Green Paper to the Working Group to strongly criticize several of its draft suggestions, including elimination of the "First Sale Doctrine" for electronic works, and the requirement that the purpose for transmission of a work be assessed in order to determine whether it was "distributed" or "performed" for purposes of the Copyright Act. ALA also urged the Working Group to make clear that libraries and others may freely use digital techniques for the preservation of copyrighted materials. KEY LIBRARY RECOMMENDATIONS ACCEPTED: ALA is pleased that neither of those problematic proposals appears to have been incorporated in the White Paper, and that the requested clarification on digital preservation was included. However, the Report and the remarks made on its introduction underscored the need to carefully scrutinize the full document and highlight grounds for concern. Key Points: (1) Both the White Paper and the agencies responsible for it appear almost totally focussed on the information infrastructure's commercial potential. ALA has argued, and will continue to do so, that the information infrastructure can and should be used to expand markets, but that such expansion must be accompanied by the expansion of equitable public access to information for students, scholars, small business men and women, and people who can't afford their own computers. ALA rejects the notion, apparently embraced by the White Paper, that the protection of copyright owners is the basis of copyright law. Rather, libraries contend, the law is based on a presumption in favor of the wide dissemination of ideas at the core of the First Amendment and the intellectual property clause of the Constitution. (2) The White Paper, and the remarks upon its introduction, appear to be based on the premise that only the legal protection of copyrighted works -- and the consequent restriction of their use -- will spur creativity. ALA has long rejected that argument, noting the critical role that writers' and others' access to material has played in the production of new copyrighted works. Recent popular examples include new productions of _Little Women_, _The Scarlet Letter_, and _Pocohantas_. (3) Commissioner Lehman noted in his remarks that great advances have been and will continue to be made in the ability to license the use of copyrighted material on-line and he urged publishers to work with schools and libraries to establish suitable licensing arrangements. ALA will continue to work with policy makers to assure that, regardless of the "useability" and prevalence of licensing technology, established exceptions from copyright restrictions for libraries and the codified concept of fair use are not undermined by such innovation. (4) Finally, the White Paper is conspicuously silent on the need to clarify that libraries and schools may use digital technology to expand distance learning opportunities (especially for rural Americans) by expanding current inter-library loan options and creating more accessible "digital libraries" and "electronic reserve rooms" for far-flung students. THE "BOTTOM LINE" The "bottom line" for libraries is that the "bottom line" for business cannot be the main animating principle of building the information infrastructure. Equitable public access to information, now guaranteed by current copyright law, can and should expand with the size of the market for copyrighted works on the "information superhighway". Assuring meaningful public access to information is necessary, fair and what the Framers of the Constitution had in mind. It's what ALA will fight for. WHITE PAPER TEXT AVAILABLE FROM PTO A print copy of the White Paper is available from the Patent and Trademark Office. To obtain yours, please mail a request to: "Intellectual Property and the NII," c/o Terri Southwick, Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs, Patent and Trademark Office, Box 4, Washington, DC 20231. The text is also available electronically: on the net at www.uspto.gov, or by using gopher or telnet to reach iipf.doc.gov. For further information, please call the PTO's Public Affairs Office at 703-305-8341. *************************************************************************** NEH LIBRARY PROGRAMS HAVE NEW DEADLINE The National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Library Programs has announced that there will be only one deadline this year for library programs--January 12, 1996. The office lists their email address as alibrariesprogram@neh.fed.us@. For further information contact Patty Frinzi at (202) 606-8271. ************************************************************************** ALA MOVES WASHINGTON OFFICE AND OITP -- ALAWASH.ORG TEMPORARILY OFFLINE DURING ELECTRONIC MIGRATION The ALA Washington Office and the Office of Information Technology Policy have now completed their move to new offices at 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004. The new phone number is : 202-628-8410; FAX number is 202-628-8419. The WO and OITP will retain their e-mail addresses although there will be a period when the ALAWASH.ORG addresses will be offline during the electronic upgrade to a new e-mail service. We appreciate your patience during this transition. With our new capabilities ALA will be able to improve services to members and ALAWON subscribers. We look forward to posting the next issue of ALAWON on the new system on or about September 15. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISBN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, N.W., Washington, DC 20004. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628-8419. Contributing to this issue: Mary R. Costabile, Adam Eisgrau, and Claudette Tennant. Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). 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). Back issues and other documents are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***