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On 27 March, 2008, SLA met with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials to review the agency’s report to the U.S. Congress on the future direction of its library network. The report lays out the general approach EPA plans to take for each library location to reopen, and establishes operational standards applicable to all libraries in the EPA network.
Read press release.
SLA provided comments for the record regarding the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations & Oversight on the EPA. The comments specifically addressed the issue of authentication of digitized documents housed in EPA libraries that may be required in legal proceedings. Read letter.
The Library Copyright Alliance, of which SLA is a member, submitted principles to guide a U.S. delegation in negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The priciples were offered in response to the request for comments published in the February 2008 Federal Register. The principles address, among other issues, that ACTA should focus on the facilitation of legal action against those entities and individuals that intentionally engage in counterfeiting and intellectual property infringement on a commercial scale for commercial purposes.
On Wednesday, 19 March from 1:00pm - 2:30 pm eastern U.S. time several organizations, including SLA, presented a dialogue on executive branch secrecy and more as part of Sunshine Week. The event was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and webcasted to sites around the USA. Sites were encouraged to promote and show the national program and plan local programs tailored to open government issues in their communities. Audience members at all sites viewing the live event had the opportunity to call in and e-mail.
The Library Copyright Alliance delivered letters to U.S.Representatives Howard L. Berman (D, California), Howard Coble (R, North Carolina), and the members of the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property expressing gratitude to the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight for holding a hearing on orphan works. The letter also expressed gratitude that the Subcommittee has begun its process for considering this issue in this Congress as well as the hope that the protections the legislation is intended to provide users of orphan works are not diluted.
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA), of which SLA is a member, and others wrote a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee in support of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act's (H.R. 4279) moving forward in the legislative process. Given the importance of the structure and operation of the current statutory damage framework and alternative approaches that would promote innovation, the LCA is requesting a hearing on this subject. Read letter.
