All posts by Mary Jordan

Advocacy, Resources

National Library Groups Oppose Bill to Make Register of Copyrights a Presidential Appointee

Copyright- all rights reserved

From ACRL Insider,

On March 23, 1017, the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee introduced legislation entitled the “Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017.” The bill would make the position of the Register of Copyrights subject to Presidential appointment and Senate confirmation. Under current law (17 USC 701), the Librarian of Congress selects the Register.

The Library Copyright Alliance, a group of national library organizations collectively representing more than 120,000 libraries in the United States and serving an estimated 200 million patrons annually, released the following statement in response: Continue reading National Library Groups Oppose Bill to Make Register of Copyrights a Presidential Appointee →

Research, Tech, Writing

Code4Lib Issue 37 Call for Papers

The Code4Lib Journal

The Code4Lib Journal (C4LJ) exists to foster community and share information among those interested in the intersection of libraries, technology, and the future.

We are now accepting proposals for publication in our 37th issue.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity to share your ideas and experiences. To be included in the 37th issue, which is scheduled for publication in mid July 2017, please submit articles, abstracts, or proposals at http://journal.code4lib.org/submit-proposal or to journal@code4lib.org by Friday,  April 14, 2017. When submitting, please include the title or subject of the proposal in the subject line of the email message and the acceptance of the Journal’s US CC-By 3.0 license in the body of the message. The editorial committee will review all proposals and notify those accepted by Friday, April 21, 2017.  Please note that submissions are subject to rejection or postponement at any point in the publication process as determined by the Code4Lib Journal’s editorial committee.

C4LJ encourages creativity and flexibility, and the editors welcome submissions across a broad variety of topics that support the mission of the journal. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

* Practical applications of library technology (both actual and hypothetical)
* Technology projects (failed, successful, or proposed), including how they were done and challenges faced
* Case studies
* Best practices
* Reviews
* Comparisons of third party software or libraries
* Analyses of library metadata for use with technology
* Project management and communication within the library environment
* Assessment and user studies

C4LJ strives to promote professional communication by minimizing the barriers to publication. While articles should be of a high quality, they need not follow any formal structure. Writers should aim for the middle ground between blog posts and articles in traditional refereed journals. Where appropriate, we encourage authors to submit code samples, algorithms, and pseudo-code. For more information, visit C4LJ’s Article Guidelines or browse articles from the earlier issues published on our website: http://journal.code4lib.org.

Send in a submission. Your peers would like to hear what you are doing.

-Sara Amato, Coordinating Editor for Issue 37

-Code4Lib Journal Editorial Committee

Advocacy, Public

Mayor Craig Petersen: Library Hero!

 

The Mayor of Logan, UT is a supporter of libraries, and he’s not afraid to put his money where his mouth is – literally!

“Mayor Craig Petersen proposed Friday that he will work without pay for the remainder of the year and donate his salary to the Library Building Fund.

Last month, Petersen recommended to the City Council that a new library and community center be built at the site of the old Emporium building, 55 N. Main St.

New libraries aren’t cheap. The city is looking at a $12 million price tag, but most of that would be paid through existing resources without raising taxes. The remaining $2.8 million would be raised from private donations, including about $93,000 from the mayor’s salary and benefits.

“I want Logan to move forward with a library and a community center Logan can be proud of. And we just don’t have that right now,” Petersen said.”

In a time where too many politicians do not see enough value in libraries to fund them (#SaveIMLS!), it is great to see a Mayor who understands the value a good library will bring to his community!

At CMLE Headquarters, we nominate Mayor Petersen as our latest Library Hero, and we join his community in thanking him for his work on behalf of libraries!

Academic, Resources

Publishers Still Fighting to Bury Universities, Libraries in Fees for Making Fair Use of Academic Excerpts

Fair use logo
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

“On behalf of three national library associations, EFF today urged a federal appeals court for the second time to protect librarians’ and students’ rights to make fair use of excerpts from academic books and research.

Nearly a decade ago, three of the largest academic publishers in the world— backed by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) trade group— sued Georgia State University (GSU) for copyright infringement, insisting that GSU owed licensing fees for the use of excerpts of academic works in its electronic reserve system. Such systems are commonly used to help students save money; rather than forcing students to buy a whole book when they only need a short excerpt from it, professors will place the excerpts “on reserve” for students to access. GSU argued that posting excerpts in the e-reserve systems was a “fair use” of the material, thus not subject to licensing fees. GSU also changed its e-reserve policy to ensure its practices were consistent with a set of fair use best practices that were developed pursuant to a broad consensus among libraries and other stakeholders. The practices are widely used, and were even praised by the AAP itself. ”

(Read the rest of this article!)

Children's services, Policies, Resources, School Media Specialist

AASL stands on ESSA

School Libraries & ESSA

From the AASL site:

“The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaces the No Child Left Behind version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act with language that includes “effective school library programs.”

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL), as the national organization for the school library profession, is examining ESSA, unpacking the provisions for school libraries within the legislation, and communicating how they will impact the school library community.

AASL will continue to work with the ALA Washington Office, the ALA Office of Library Advocacy, and other educational organizations to highlight opportunities within ESSA language for school librarians and school libraries to be addressed in state and local plans.”

Continue reading AASL stands on ESSA →