Annual Report (2002)
ARLIS/NA Public Policy Committee

Submitted February 3, 2003, by:

James Mitchell, Co-Chair
jmitchell@folkartmuseum.org
(212) 265-1040 x110

Barbara Rockenbach, Co-Chair
barbara_rockenbach@yahoo.com

Members:

Jonathan Franklin; Roberta Geier; Vanessa Kam; Roger Lawson (NINCH and DFC liaison); Cara List; James Mitchell (Co-Chair); Barbara Rockenbach (Co-Chair); Maryly Snow; Margaret Webster; Tony White; Cindy Wolff.

Executive Board Liaison: Ursula Kolmstetter

Activities:

Annual business meeting was held (jointly with VRA Intellectual Property Rights Committee) at the national conference in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday, March 22, 2002.

NINCH:

The Committee co-sponsored a Copyright Town Meeting at the St. Louis conference, "The Changing Research Environment: The Information Commons Today." The summary report on the 2001–02 series of Town Meetings is available at http://www.ninch.org/copyright/.  

Liaison Roger Lawson continued to monitor NINCH list and forward relevant items to Committee members and ARLIS-L.

The annual membership contribution increased to $600.

Planning for 2003 conference in Baltimore: the Committee is sponsoring a point/counterpoint session, “The Digital Millenium Copyright and Copyright Term Extension Acts,” on Monday, March 24, 2003, 10:00–11:30 a.m.; moderator, Barbara Rockenbach; recorder, Tony White; organized by Roger Lawson.

Eldred v. Ashcroft: Committee coordinated ARLIS/NA co-signing amicus curiae brief filed by the Association of Research Libraries other library organizations regarding this challenge to the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. The Committee also contributed $200 to ARL to support the brief. Despite this effort, the US Supreme Court's decision on January 15, 2003, upheld the constitutionality of the law. More information, and a link to the full brief, is available at http://eldred.cc/news/.

      Digital Future Coalition (DFC): Liaison Roger Lawson monitored listserv and forwarded relevant items to Committee and ARLIS-L.

      UCITA: Committee maintained its membership in Affect, a consortium of organizations, coordinated by DFC, who are opposed to implementation of UCITA. Membership will be reviewed at the Committee's 2003 meeting, as the group has not been very active.

      Website: the site was moved to a server at Stanford University, hosted by Vanessa Kam:

http://www.stanford.edu/~dvkam/arlis/pubpol.htm

Various news items were added to a prominent position on the site's first page. For example, links to information on the USA Patriot Act and the FBI's rejuvenated library investigation program, following a spirited discussion on ARLIS-L.

The TEACH Act (Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization Act) was passed by the Congress, and became Public Law 107-273 on November 2. The law amends the Copyright Act (Title 17 U.S.C.) to extend to distance education programs pre-existing exemptions for classroom performance and display of copyright-protected material. The Public Policy Committee joined other library organizations advocating in support of this bill.

      Several other bills of interest, particularly related to modifying the more onerous provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998, were introduced late in the term of the 107^th Congress. It is not yet clear which bills may be re-introduced in the 108^th Congress, particularly in light of current preoccupations with security concerns and the budgetary effects of the lingering recession. The Committee will continue to monitor these for any developments relevant to the interests of ARLIS/NA.

      Committee members attended various meetings sponsored by other organizations:

      James Mitchell and Cindy Wolff both attended a symposium on November 6, sponsored by the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR), “Copyright or Copywrong? The Supreme Court, Copyright Term Extension, and The Arts.”

      Vanessa Kam attended a video teleconference on USA Patriot Act and privacy, sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), on December 11.

ARLIS/NA 2002-2005 Strategic Plan Action Items:

1. Establish guidelines for kind and quantity of involvement in political action and lobbying allowable under IRS 501 tax status. (III D)

The Committee did not address this during 2002.

2. Identify other agencies and associations with shared interests in legislative/policy matters; link with groups, as appropriate, to co-author and/or co-sign position statements; provide descriptive annotations on other groups’ committees, working groups, etc. (III D)

      Links are provided on the Committee's website; listservs are monitored, and relevant announcements are forwarded to ARLIS-L. In 2002, discussions were opened with the Progressive Librarians' Guild; Vanessa Kam began preparations to start an affiliate group informally within ARLIS/NA, to be known as the Progressive Art Librarian's Network (PrALiNe). The first meeting will be held at the national conference in Baltimore, on Monday, March 25, 3:00–4:00 p.m. Roger Lawson continued to serve as ARLIS/NA liaison to both NINCH and DFC (see above); he monitored their listservs, as well as the Digital Copyright Digest (University of Maryland), and forwarded relevant messages to the Committee and ARLIS-L.

3. Create, disseminate, and update regularly a list of legislative topics and issues of a particular concern to arts and image professionals; draft position statements consistent with ARLIS/NA interests; publicize endorsed statements or other documents describing the Society’s position on legal issues and legislation via the ARLIS/NA Web Site and Society publications. (III D)

      Announcements were posted on ARLIS-L and the Committee's website. See above for Committee's actions with Eldred v. Ashcroft brief. The possibility of publishing a "legislative update" or other articles in the ARLIS/NA newsletter was discussed.

4. Assign individual committee members to monitor specific web sites and listservs and report activities to membership via the ARLIS/NA Web Site and ARLIS-L; refer items requiring action/responses to Executive Board. (III D)

      Ongoing.

5. Create a "recommended reading" list on topics such as intellectual property, telecommunications, censorship and make available via the ARLIS/NA Web Site. (III D)

Partially completed on website.

6. Create communication links and define responsibilities shared among Public Policy Committee, Diversity Committee, Collection Development Committee, and ARLIS/NA Chapters to identify issues and topics with legislative agendas. (III D)

      At the Committee's business meeting at the annual conference in Baltimore we will begin a review of our liaison relationships and formal affiliations (such as DFC and Affect). It is hoped that we will identify concrete steps that we can take in the coming year to build on those relationships in ways that produce valuable analyses of public policy issues of interest to ARLIS/NA members.