I often emphasize the importance of building a global network of information professionals to collaborate and share ideas. And every time I speak abroad, I am reminded that information professionals in every country have much in common.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address at the conference of Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Spezialbibliotheken—an association of special libraries in German-speaking countries—in Karlsruhe, a lovely city with one of Germany's top universities.
I presented the findings of the Alignment Project to the group and was amused to find out that, just like their colleagues at the recent SLA conference, they were tweeting away during my speech!
I sat in on a session on current copyright issues, and I didn't have to understand German to know they were spending a lot of time on the Google Book Settlement; the German government has filed court papers strongly opposing it. So I was happy to be able to tell them that SLA shares their concerns and is part of the Open Book Alliance, a diverse coalition of librarians, legal scholars, authors, publishers, and technology companies working together to oppose the settlement in its current form.
Following my speech, I received word from the team at SLA headquarters that our efforts, and those of the hundreds of other organizations and governments around the globe who filed objections to this settlement, have been heard!
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a statement of interest brief with the court that acknowledges that this case indeed affects the public interest and the greater good. The brief raises some very substantive and serious issues, including many of those brought up by SLA, the Open Book Alliance, and others. The DOJ brief states that going forward, the settlement must be modified before it can be approved by the court and that the process should include more input from all stakeholders
Following the DOJ filing, Google and its partners filed a motion and a memo asking the Court to postpone the 7 October fairness hearing in order to address these questions and issues.
These two moves represent positive progress for the many people and organizations that raised significant concerns that this settlement did not serve the public interest, stifled innovation, and restricted competition. We applaud the DOJ for stepping in and ensuring that the courts considered the full ramifications of the proposed settlement before it was too late.
This is an important matter for the global community of information professionals with far-reaching implications beyond the U.S. As your advocate, SLA looks forward to being an active voice among the many stakeholders in future discussions.
