ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


February 1 9 9 3 /9 1

Copyright-ERIC
d a ta b a s e
In a N ovem ber 3, 1992, let­
ter, th e  D epartm ent o f E du­
cation (ED) so licited  co m ­
m ents from  users concerning 
p ro p o se d  ch an g es to  ERIC.
Robert Stonehill, director of 
the E d u c a tio n a l R eso u rces 
In form ation C en ter (ERIC), 
an n o u n ced  that in N ovem ber
1991 ED m odified th e co n ­
tract for th e  ERIC P rocessing 
and Reference Facility, w hich 
p roduces th e  ERIC database 
tapes, perm itting the co ntractor “to  copyright 
the ERIC database a n d  to  collect m odest fees—  
subject to  ED approval— for com m ercial an d  
academ ic u sag e.”

T he H o u se o f R epresentatives in S eptem ber
1992 p a sse d  H.R. 4014, an educational research 
bill w hich in clu d ed  a p rohibition against copy­
right o f th e  ERIC d atab a se a n d  the charging o f 
royalties a n d  u ser fees, b u t th e  Senate did not 
take u p  th e bill. In N ovem ber H o u se E duca­
tion an d  Labor C om m ittee C hairm an William 
Ford (D-Mich.) w ro te to  Secretary o f E duca­
tion Lamar A lexander: “I believe th e public in­
terest is b est served if d atab a ses such as the 
ERIC d atab ase are in the p u b lic dom ain, and 
that federal agencies sh o u ld  avoid perm itting 
contractors to  establish exclusive, restricted, or 
o ther distribution arran g em en ts.”

ERIC officials w ere e x p e c te d  to  b e  p resen t­
ing th eir view s to  various gro u p s at th e  ALA 
M idwinter M eeting in D enver. In July 1992 the 
ALA Council p assed  a resolution o p p o sin g  co n ­
tractor copyright an d  use royalties for the ERIC 
datab a se. C o n g ressio n al o p p o n e n ts  o f ERIC 
database copyright are e x p e c te d  to take u p  the 
issue again this year.

NREN-OSTP re p o rt to  Congress
P resident B ush’s science advisor issued a re ­
p o rt D ecem b er 8 o n  six NREN policy issues o n  
w hich C ongress h a d  req u e s te d  advice. R ather 
than m aking any m ajor policy reco m m en d a­
tions, the d o c u m e n t is m ore o f a status report. 
The m ajor w eak n ess o f the report is that it view s 
the very b ro a d  cu rren t a n d  near-term  future 
use o f th e Internet an d  evolving National Re­
search an d  Education N etw ork as pressure from 
nonfederal constituency g ro u p s w h o se partici­

W ashin gton
H otline

Carol C. Henderson

p atio n  m ay n o t b e  a p p ro ­
priate for the NREN.

T his n arro w  v iew  sees 
little ro le for governm ent in 
stim ulating an d  taking ad­
v a n ta g e  o f th e  e n o rm o u s 
potential the high-capacity 
NREN h o ld s for transform ­
ing ed u catio n  a n d  research. 
Such a n a rro w  v iew  is at 
o d d s w ith th e provisions of 
the High Perform ance Com­
puting Act itself, w hich calls 
for federal agencies to w ork 
w ith libraries, am o n g  o th ­

ers, to  en su re th at researchers, educators, an d  
stu d en ts have access to  libraries, electronic in­
form ation resources, a n d  g o v ernm ent inform a­
tion.

“T h e N ational Research an d  Education N et­
w o rk  Program ; A R eport to  C ongress” from  D. 
Allan Bromley, director o f the Office o f Sci­
e n c e  a n d  T echnology Policy (OSTP), is avail­
able from  the National C oordination Office for 
H igh P erform ance C om puting an d  C om m uni­
cations, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bldg. 38-A, Room 
B1N30, B ethesda, MD 20894; (301) 402-4100.

ALA a n d  ACRL participated in tw o  c o o p e ra ­
tive efforts to  provide in p u t o n  the OSTP re­
port; b o th  are m inim ally q u o te d  an d  cited by 
OSTP. P ro ceed in g s o f th e  NREN W o rk sh o p  
sum m arize a S eptem ber 1992 policy w o rk sh o p  
sp o n s o re d  b y  th e Institute for Electrical Engi­
n e e rin g  a n d  Electronics, EDUCOM, a n d  th e 
C om puting Research Association (see this col­
u m n  in last m o n th ’s issue). “R eport to  the Of­
fice o f Science an d  T echnology Policy o n  Li­
brary a n d  Inform ation Services’ Roles in the 
N atio n al R esearch a n d  E d u catio n  N e tw o rk ” 
sum m arizes th e July 1992 forum  h eld  b y  the 
U.S. N ational C om m ission o n  Libraries an d  In­
form ation Science. B oth th ese activities w ere 
im portant in providing m echanism s fo r NREN 
constituencies to  d e v elo p  their opinions. The 
NCLIS rep o rt is available from  th e U.S. N ational 
C om m ission o n  Libraries a n d  Inform ation Sci­
ence, 1111 18th St. NW, Suite 310, W ashing­
ton, DC 20036; (202) 254-3100. ■

Carol C. Henderson is deputy executive director o f  
ALA ’S Washington Office; bitnet: NU_ALAWASH 
@CUA