Homedefault.xml Annual Report Washington Office

Washington Office

Burger testifies before Senate panel on EPA library closings

ALA President Leslie Burger (center) testifies in the Senate.

2006-2007 ALA President Leslie Burger testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Feb. 6 that the closure of several libraries by the Environmental and Protection Agency (EPA) created a serious obstacle to the public’s ability to gather information about key environmental issues. “As one recently retired EPA librarian described it,” Burger said, “the EPA libraries have been functioning like a virtual National Library on the Environment. Now that some of these regional libraries and the pesticide library are closed, key links have been removed from the chain, thus weakening the whole system.”

Burger also addressed the EPA’s lack of openness with regard to digitizing its materials. “Without more detailed information about the EPA’s digitization project, we cannot assess whether they are digitizing the most appropriate materials, whether there are appropriate metadata or cataloging to make sure that people can access the digitized materials and [whether] the technology that will be used to host the digital content and the finding software meets today’s standards.” Other witnesses also cited the library’s problems and the issues around limiting public access to important environmental information.

Later in the year, Congress ordered the EPA to re-open the libraries by making that part of the fiscal year 2008 omnibus appropriations bill, which was signed by President Bush.

National Library Legislative Day 2007 draws 425 to D.C.

Sen. Susan Collins at NLLD 2007.

About 425 librarians, Friends of libraries, trustees and patrons from 47 states came to Washington May 1-2 for National Library Legislative Day 2007. Participants spoke with their representatives in Congress about the needs of libraries in the areas of funding, telecommunications, copyright, privacy, and government information. In addition, several individuals and state organizations participated in Virtual Library Legislative Day by phoning, faxing letters and emailing members of Congress. Friends of Libraries U.S.A. presented an award to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for her work in support of libraries. The theme for the day—“Check Out the Future”—was chosen through a nationwide student contest co-sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association and won by Danny Chapman of Illinois.

USA PATRIOT Act case provides “a cautionary story”

George Christian, executive director of the Library Connection and former plaintiff in John Doe v. Gonzales, testified before a Senate subcommittee April 11 on the harmful effects of receiving a National Security Letter (NSL), a component of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, from the FBI. In 2005, the Library Connection, a non-profit cooperative of 27 libraries in Connecticut, received an NSL from the FBI, along with its accompanying perpetual gag order, demanding library records. The Library Connection challenged the constitutionality of the NSL and the gag order, and the FBI eventually withdrew its appeal to keep their identities hidden after a federal district judge declared the gag order unconstitutional.

“Ours is a cautionary story that we hope will provoke serious thought,” Christian said. “Though our gag order was lifted, several hundred thousand other recipients of National Security Letters must carry the secret of their experience with NSLs to their graves.”

Some weeks later, during the Washington Office Update Session at the ALA’s 2007 Annual Conference, Royce Lamberth, former chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, spoke on the inner workings of the secretive court and how it has changed since passage of the PATRIOT Act.

Library Day on the Hill

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva addresses library boosters.

ALA President Burger and scores of librarians from around the country joined Sen. Jack Reed (D–R.I.) and Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) on June 26 when they unveiled the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act. The bill reauthorizes an essential school library program and will ensure that more schools have highly qualified librarians and the resources they need to help students harness new technologies to find information. The event took place in front of a state-of-the-art bookmobile, “The People’s University,” which provides library materials and services to underserved areas in Cleveland.

At the same time, buses filled with about 2,000 librarians and library supporters from across the country descended on Capitol Hill to call attention to the value of today’s libraries and the issues public, school, academic, and special libraries are facing, such as threats to funding, closures and reduced hours. Members of Congress were also treated to a wide-ranging display, held in the Rayburn Office Building, of the different types of libraries—and had a chance to make their own version of ALA’s famous READ promotional posters.

Digital Television Awareness Week

In late December, the ALA teamed up with the Federal Communications Commission for Digital Television (DTV) Awareness Week in America’s public libraries. Through this partnership, the FCC conducted informational sessions at public libraries across the country about the nation’s transition from analog to digital broadcast television, also referred to as the DTV transition. Congress has mandated that Feb. 17, 2009, will be the last day for full-power television stations to broadcast in analog. Broadcast stations in all U.S. markets are currently broadcasting in both analog and digital.

Notes from the Office for Information Technology Policy

The ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) marked the 10th anniversary of the E-rate program, which provides schools and libraries with discounts for telecommunications and information services, by providing three rounds of training for state library E-rate coordinators, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The success of the E-Rate program has undoubtedly touched the lives of many Americans and helped bridge the technological gap in classrooms and libraries throughout the country,” said Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). “In libraries throughout my home state, the E-rate program has opened many doors for residents who enjoy exploring the vast possibilities of the Internet in a community setting.”

The OITP also completed a study that identifies a number of difficult challenges in ensuring adequate access to broadband in public libraries, including the varying needs across states, the need for training and support and the lack of understanding of why public libraries need broadband. The report outlines recommendations for overcoming these challenges. This study was also supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In January 2007, the OITP released a new technology brief, Participatory Networks: The Library as Conversation, in cooperation with the Information Institute at Syracuse University, to provide an understanding of intersection of libraries and Web 2.0. Traditionally, the OITP releases its briefs on printed paper, but this brief is stored in a wiki, which allows people to leave comments and allows the brief itself to be updated easily. The paper is available at http://ptbed.org.