================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 27 ISSN 1069-7799 March 19, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (170 lines) ACTION ALERT: "DEDICATED DOZEN" COSPONSORS WRITE HOUSE COLLEAGUES; CALLS AND LETTERS FOR COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION CRITICAL _________________________________________________________________ ACTION ALERT: "DEDICATED DOZEN" COSPONSORS WRITE HOUSE COLLEAGUES; CALLS AND LETTERS FOR COPYRIGHT LEGISLATION CRITICAL Although Congress has been back in session barely seven weeks, grassroots contacts with Congress by hundreds of librarians and members of the Digital Future Coalition have convinced twenty-five members of the House to cosponsor H.R. 3048, the Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act, by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Tom Campbell (R-CA). This landmark legislation would update the current Copyright Act for the benefit of both information owners and address issues critical to libraries -- fair use, digital preservation and distance education. On March 11 a dozen of H.R. 3048's current House cosponsors wrote House colleagues seeking further cosponsorship of this vital legislation, citing the bill's advancement of digital preservation, distance learning and technological innovation of all kinds. These "dedicated dozen" champions of H.R. 3048 need your help. H.R. 3048 has yet to receive a hearing, while heavily flawed legislation which fails to address fair use, digital preservation and distance education has already been approved by the Courts and Intellectual Property Subcommittee. That flawed bill, H.R. 2281, the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act, is slated to be considered by the full House Judiciary Committee later this month. ACTION NEEDED: If your Representative is among the twenty-five cosponsors of H.R. 3048 listed below, please consider writing or calling to again express your appreciation for their support for libraries and balanced intellectual property policy. If you don't see your Representative's name, now is the time to contact your member of the House of Representatives. NOTE: This is especially important if your Representative sits on the House Judiciary Committee, whose members are also listed below. To help protect the future of library and public access to information in the digital age, WRITE, FAX and CALL your Representative NOW! Please ask them to: Cosponsor H.R. 3048, the Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Tom Campbell (R-CA). This potentially landmark bill would update the nation's copyright laws in a way that fully protects fair use, digital preservation, library lending, distance education, and access to the technology needed to engage in such activities; Oppose H.R. 2281, WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act, and S. 1121, the WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaty Implementation Act. These two flawed and incomplete proposals to protect the rights of some information owners, but which would jeopardize the future of fair use and the public's access to electronic information CURRENT COSPONSORS OF H.R. 3048 (as of 3/17/98) ("Dedicated Dozen" includes Rep. Boucher and Reps. With "*") STATE PARTY REPRESENTATIVE CA D-6th Lynn Woolsey CA R-15th Tom Campbell (*) CT R-4th Christopher Shays CT D-5th James Maloney (*) FL D-3rd Corrine Brown GA R-10th Charles Norwood (*) IL D-5th Rod Blagojevich IL D-17th Lane Evans (*) MA D-2nd Richard Neal MN R-3rd Jim Ramstad MN D-7th Collin Peterson MS R-1st Roger Wicker NJ D-6th Frank Pallone NY D-10th Edolphus Towns (*) NY D-11th Major Owens NY R-25th James Walsh OH D-13th Sherrod Brown (*) OH R-19th Steven LaTourette (*) OR D-4th Peter DeFazio PA D-14th William Coyne (*) SC D-6th James Clyburn TX D-1st Max Sandlin VA D-2nd Owen Pickett (*) WI R-2nd Scott Klug (*) WV D-3rd Nick Rahall (*) HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS (Constituents of these members are especially urged to contact them now!) ST-DST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX (Use 202 area code) AR-3 R Asa Hutchinson 225-4301 225-5713 CA-16 D Zoe Lofgren 225-3072 225-3336 CA-23 R Elton Gallegly 225-5811 225-1100 CA-26 D Howard L. Berman 225-4695 225-5279 CA-27 R James E. Rogan 225-4176 225-5828 CA-35 D Maxine Waters 225-2201 225-7854 FL-8 R Bill McCollum 225-2176 225-0999 FL-12 R Charles T. Canady 225-1252 225-2279 FL-19 D Robert Wexler 225-3001 225-5974 GA-7 R Bob Barr 225-2931 225-2944 IL-6 R Henry J. Hyde, Chair 225-4561 225-1166 IN-5 R Stephen E. Buyer 225-5037 225-2267 IN-7 R Edward A. Pease 225-5805 225-1649 MA-4 D Barney Frank 225-5931 225-0182 MA-5 D Martin T. Meehan 225-3411 226-0771 MA-10 D William D. Delahunt 225-3111 225-5658 MI-14 D John Conyers, Jr., Rnk. Dem. 225-5126 225-0072 NJ-9 D Steve R. Rothman 225-5061 225-5851 NM-1 R Steven H. Schiff 225-6316 225-4975 NY-8 D Jerrold Nadler 225-5635 225-6923 NY-9 D Charles E. Schumer 225-6616 225-4183 NC-6 R Howard Coble 225-3065 225-8611 NC-12 D Melvin L. Watt 225-1510 225-1512 OH-1 R Steve Chabot 225-2216 225-3012 PA-17 R George W. Gekas 225-4315 225-8440 SC-4 R Robert D. Inglis 225-6030 226-1177 TN-1 R William L. Jenkins 225-6356 225-5714 TN-7 R Edward G. Bryant 225-2811 225-2989 TX-18 D Sheila Jackson Lee 225-3816 225-3317 TX-21 R Lamar S. Smith 225-4236 225-8628 UT-3 R Christopher B. Cannon 225-7751 225-5629 VA-3 D Robert C. Scott 225-8351 225-8354 VA-6 R Bob Goodlatte 225-5431 225-9681 *VA-9 D Rick Boucher 225-3861 225-0442 WI-9 R James Sensenbrenner, Jr. 225-5101 225-3190 *Rep. Boucher (D-VA) is the author of H.R. 3048 _________________________________________________________________ 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. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo 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. =================================================================