LISNews: Librarian News

Via The Record Searchlight:

"The North State Tea Party Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California Friday filed separate lawsuits against the city of Redding and the City Council, each claiming the Municipal Library's new leafleting policy is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

"We are working together, even though there are separate lawsuits, for the same end result," said Tim Pappas, the Shasta County assistant public defender who on his own time represents the North State Tea Party Alliance."

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On editing & updating standards
"What is important about these excerpts (and in my opinion, I don’t believe these systems or approaches to be unique to West) is that they get to an underlying issue not being asked of lawyers and legal researchers generally, that is, what do you, the consumer, consider to be a quality update to a legal treatise? It’s rare to find lawyers talking about such things, and law librarians had a perfect opportunity to do so at the recent AALL Vendor Colloquium, but instead limited their focus to pricing and subscription models, vendor communications, digital v. print, etc. Honestly, what difference does all of that make if you don't know what standards vendors use to measure the underlying quality of the product?"

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has submitted an amendment to S. 493, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Reauthorization Act of 2011, which would rescind all unobligated funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and send them back to the U.S Treasury. This would include funds to the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and would cost libraries over $100 million in federal funding for FY2011. Needless to say this would be devastating to libraries throughout the country.

Please take time to contact Senator DeMint. You can use the direct link to Tell Senator DeMint to Protect Library Funding from our CapWiz page. From there you can type in your zip code and it will give you instructions on how to call DeMint's office along with the relevant talking points.

Article in The University of Baltimore Intellectual Property Law Journal
Article title: UNLOCKING THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES: DIGITAL LICENSING THAT PRESERVES ACCESS
Cite: 16 U. Balt. Intell. Prop. L.J. 29
Author: Kristen M. Cichocki

Abstract: The traditional role of the public library as a content intermediary is being altered by recent changes in contract practice between publishers and libraries, alterations to copyright law, and new applications of technology to digital content.

This article will examine how licensing contracts for digital content, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the application of digital rights management are all calling into question the role of the public library in the digital future. The article will then discuss possible approaches to reframing publisher-public library licensing agreements in order to mitigate the negative impact of certain contractual terms and promote uses of content expected by libraries, keeping in mind the difference in scale and distribution between real and digital space.