================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 45 ISSN 1069-7799 June 6, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (108 lines) CONFERENCE ON FAIR USE JOINT STATEMENT RELEASED _________________________________________________________________ CONFERENCE ON FAIR USE JOINT STATEMENT RELEASED As part of ALA's multi-faceted and ongoing efforts to preserve and promote balanced intellectual property policy, particularly the vitality of the Fair Use Doctrine in copyright law, the Association has actively participated in the "Conference on Fair Use," or "CONFU." After more than two years of productive discussions, these unofficial discussions and guideline negotiations ended recently without producing consensus as to the appropriate scope of fair use for librarians and educators in the digital environment. As technology and society's use of it continues to evolve, the need in the library, scholarly and educational communities for an appreciation of both information proprietors' rights and user privileges like fair use is expected to intensify. Recognizing its responsibility to meet this need, and to help assure that fair use and other privileges remain vital in the information age, ALA has joined 13 other major national library, scholarly and educational associations in supporting a joint statement regarding the CONFU process. Significantly, the statement not only looks back at CONFU, but ahead in outlining a set of precepts and goals that will guide ALA's future efforts in this important and controversial policy arena. Specifically, signatories committed themselves as follows: *We will share experiences concerning: the application of new technology in library and educational environments, "fair uses" made of copyrighted works, proprietors' responses to requests for permission to use copyrighted materials, and sources of helpful information regarding fair use and other privileges under copyright law; *We will participate in organized efforts to capture and disseminate such information; *We will assist in the development of "User Community Principles" and educator- and librarian-generated "Best Practices" concerning fair use, distance learning, and other activities supported by current copyright law; *We will work to extend the application of fair use into digital networked environments in libraries and educational institutions by relying on it responsibly to lawfully make creative use of information; *We will resist relying on any proposed code of conduct which may substantially or artificially constrain the full and appropriate application of fair use; and * We will encourage our members to reject any licensing agreement clause that implicitly or explicitly limits or abrogates fair use or any other legally conveyed user privilege. Visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/confu.html for the full text of the joint statement and information about fair use and other intellectual property issues central to libraries and librarianship. Endorsing organizations American Association of Law Libraries American Association of State Colleges and Universities American Council on Education American Council of Learned Societies American Library Association Association of American Universities Association of Research Libraries Medical Library Association National Association of State Universities & Land-Grant Colleges National Education Association National Humanities Alliance National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage National School Boards Association Special Libraries Association _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Adam Eisgrau All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================