ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 72 September 12, 2000 In this issue: UCITA Training Opportunities -- Come to One, or Come to All Three! The ALA Washington Office will be offering conference workshops, a teleconference and an online tutorial for library advocates to learn about UCITA and what must be done as UCITA legislation moves through state legislatures. UCITA is the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act which is a proposed state law aimed at making shrink- wrap and click-on license agreements legally binding. [1] Don't Get Shrink-wrapped! How to Combat UCITA at the State Level -- A Half Day UCITA Workshop The ALA Washington Office is hosting half-day workshops on UCITA at the New England Library Association Conference (October 4th in Worcester, Massachusetts), the Southeastern Library Association Conference (October 11th in Jeykll Island, Georgia) and the Hawaii Library Association Conference (November 6th in Honolulu). These workshops will focus on how librarians can be effective advocates in opposing UCITA at the state level. Emphasis will also be placed on building state UCITA teams and building coalitions. A similar workshop is also being planned for Sunday, January 14th at ALA Midwinter Meeting in Washington, DC. Interested library supporters who are not from states involved in the two regional library association conferences can also attend these UCITA workshops and/or come to the one at Midwinter. For more information about these workshops, contact the Washington Office at copyright@alawash.org. [2] UCITA Primer Tutorial The ALA Office for Information Technology Policy is sponsoring a mini- tutorial, modeled on the popular copyright e-mail tutorial presented this spring. The UCITA Primer is FREE to ALA and non-ALA members. E- mail sessions begin on November 6th and will run through November 20th. Librarian experts who have fought UCITA legislation at their states will be our tutorial hosts. To subscribe to the UCITA Primer, send a message with the subject line blank to: Listproc@ala1.ala.org In the body of the email, type: subscribe ucitatut Your First Name Your Last Name [3] UCITA Satellite Teleconference: ALA, along with Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, Medical Libraries Association and Special Libraries Association is sponsoring a teleconference on UCITA on December 13, 2000 from 1-4 pm (EST). A panel of experts will discuss strategies for opposing UCITA at the state level and will address questions posed by viewers from across the country. See http://www.arl.org/ucita.html for details on how to register for the conference. Registration is $350 (before November 1st) for 1-3 satellite downlinks. Prices vary depending on the number of sites linking to the telecast, but an unlimited number of individuals can view the teleconference. How does UCITA Affect Libraries? Libraries are concerned because UCITA poses a threat to free speech, fair use, preservation, and the license negotiation process. Several consumer and business groups, along with the Federal Trade Commission, also have serious concerns with the UCITA legislation. Because UCITA is extremely complex and is rapidly moving to state legislative agendas, ALA members have asked the Washington Office to make UCITA education a priority for the next several months. All of these UCITA training opportunities build on the experiences of library advocates who have been battling this legislation in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and elsewhere. For further information about UCITA, check the ALA web site at: www.ala.org/washoff/ucita.html. ****** 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, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.