ALAWON v4n52 (June 7, 1995) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v4n52 ****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 52 June 7, 1995 In this issue: (209 lines) SENATE SCHEDULED TO DEBATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL THIS WEEK ACTION NEEDED: CONTINUE CALLS TO SUPPORT SNOWE-ROCKEFELLER AMENDMENT IN S. 652 AND REMOVE EXON-GORTON AMENDMENT ALA COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION SCHEDULES TWO PROGRAMS AT CHICAGO ANNUAL CONFERENCE: * COPYRIGHT SUBCOMMITTEE AND ACRL COPYRIGHT COMMITTEE COSPONSOR PROGRAM ON FAIR USE IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT * TELECOMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE SPONSORS PROGRAM: TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY: A STATE PERSPECTIVE *************************************************************************** SENATE SCHEDULED TO DEBATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL THIS WEEK ACTION NEEDED: CONTINUE CALLS TO SUPPORT SNOWE-ROCKEFELLER AMENDMENT IN S. 652 AND REMOVE EXON-GORTON AMENDMENT S. 652, the Telecommunications Rewrite Act of 1995, could come to the Senate floor for debate on June 7. It's exact timing, earlier or later, depends upon how the Senate proceeds on the terrorism bill. This continues to be a critical time for library supporters to keep up the momentum to keep the Snowe-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon (SRKE) amendment in S. 652. Efforts should also continue to remove the Exon-Gorton "Decency Act" amendment. The SRKE amendment provides for affordable or incremental cost-based rates for libraries, K-12 schools, and rural healthcare providers. The amendment remains at risk of being weakened or even eliminated unless its importance to the education and library community is strongly communicated to the Senators. The regional Bell-companies continue to seek alternative language for this amendment and some Senators have indicated they would like to see the whole amendment removed. Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) is rumored to be considering an alternative proposal, though no specific language has been seen by ALA. It has been difficult to count votes on the SRKE amendment because of the complexity of the whole bill and because Senate attention has not yet closely focused on S. 652. That will inevitably change this week. Because the SRKE amendment is a small portion of the overall bill, the Snowe-Rockefeller amendment is especially vulnerable in the crush to get agreement on other provisions from the many parts of the telecommunications industry as well as key Senators. Since there is NO mention of libraries in the comparable House bill, H.R. 1555, and the school provision in it is extremely weak, it is even more important that the Senate retain this amendment as the two houses of Congress proceed to a conference committee on their respective bills. Meanwhile, there is still concern about the Exon Decency Act amendment. S. 652 is not the appropriate venue for discussion of such a critical free speech issue nor is the highly regulatory approach to "electronic pornography" and related issues consistent with the other deregulatory purposes of this bill. (See earlier issues of ALAWON for reports on both of these amendments.) ACTION NEEDED: CONTINUE CALLS TO SUPPORT SNOWE-ROCKEFELLER-KERREY-EXON AMENDMENT IN S. 652 AND REMOVE EXON-GORTON AMENDMENT - Library supporters should increase their efforts to contact all Senators to support the SRKE amendment in S. 652 which provides for affordable or incremental-cost based rates for libraries, K-12 schools, and rural healthcare providers. Since this is the most major revision of the Communications Act of 1934 in over 60 years, it is imperative that education and libraries be reflected fairly in this rewrite to ensure fair and equitable access to the information superhighway for all Americans. Supporters should also press for Senators to remove the Exon-Gorton Decency Act amendment. As previously reported in ALAWON, there is another bill, S. 714, introduced by Senator Leahy, which is a reasonable alternative to addressing the issues of parental control and "user empowerment" on the information superhighway. ************************************************************************* ALA COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION SCHEDULES TWO SUBCOMMITTEE PROGRAMS AT CHICAGO ALA ANNUAL CONFERENCE The following programs, sponsored by two subcommittees of the Committee on Legislation, are scheduled for the 1995 ALA Annual Conference scheduled June 23-29 in Chicago, Illinois. The ALA Washington Office Legislative Update is scheduled for Saturday, June 24 from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm. The program for the Update will be published in an issue of ALAWON later this week. *************************************************************************** The American Library Association's Legislation Committee Ad Hoc Copyright Subcommittee and Association of College and Research Libraries' Copyright Committee present a program on FAIR USE IN THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT Saturday, June 24, 1995 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. McCormick Place Convention Center Chicago, Illinois Room N 228 Fair use and equitable access of information on the Internet and the future National Information Infrastructure are of vital interest to the library community. The American Library Association has taken an active role in ensuring that information will be available to the public in a rich variety of formats and options in the future, especially for those who can least afford it. Come hear experts in the field assess the mercurial state of current affairs on this topic. MODERATORS Sarah Cox, Chair, ACRL Copyright Committee Edward J. Valauskas, Chair, ALA Legislation Committee's Ad Hoc Copyright Subcommittee PANEL Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office Kenneth Crews, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, and author of _Copyright, Fair Use, and the Challenge for Universities_, published by the University of Chicago Press Willajeanne McLean, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Connecticut Joseph H. Esposito, President of Encyclopaedia Britannica North America *************************************************************************** The American Library Association's Legislation Committee - Telecommunications Subcommittee presents a program on TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY: A STATE PERSPECTIVE Monday, June 26, 1995 from 9:00 to ll:00 am McCormick Place Convention Center Chicago, Illinois Room E 256 This program addresses the expanding role of the states in the development of our telecommunications infrastructure with experiences and perspectives from the field. Participants will include Laura Breeden, Director of the Information Infrastructure Assistance Program in the U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, as well as other representatives of the telecommunications industry, state regulators, local access providers, funders, and librarians who have taken the lead in shaping the legislative and regulatory agenda at the state level. MODERATOR Elaine Albright Director, University of Maine - Raymond H. Fogler Library and Chair of the ALA Legislation Committee's Telecommunications Subcommittee STRATEGIC QUESTIONS: What specific steps can the American Library Association, the Committee on Legislation, and the Telecommunications Subcommittee of COL take to effectively help at the state and local levels? What can state associations do to help at the national level? The success of this program depends on participants' sharing their experiences, their triumphs and failures, their ideas, resources and knowledge of the possibilities and the pitfalls. Please bring handouts, position papers, samples of regulatory or legislative proposals, contact persons, media coverage, etc., to share with other participants. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Contributing to this issue: Anne A. Heanue and Mary Treacy; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). Back issues and other documents are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***