ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


154/C& RLNews

C o p yrig h t— ERIC
d a ta b a s e
During a meeting with the 
ALA Committee on Legisla­
tion at the Midwinter Meet­
in g  in  D e n v e r, R o b e rt 
Stonehill, director of the De­
partment of Education ERIC 
program, announced, in a 
reversal of the current status, 
that the next contract for the 
ERIC database will not in­
clude perm ission to copy­
right. The issue of user fees 
to finance upgrading of the 
ERIC system will be postponed through the next 
appropriation cycle.

Am icus b rie f in T exaco  case
ALA announced on January 28 that it would 
file an amicus curiae brief before the Second 
Circuit in connection with Texaco’s appeal of 
the decision in the case of American Geophysi­
cal Union v. Texaco, Inc. A coalition of more 
than 50 publishers was formed to fund this test 
litigation about whether photocopying of copy­
righted articles from scientific and technical jour­
nals is fair use. Regardless of how  the court 
deals with the situation, ALA wants to ensure 
that the court considers and upholds , the im­
portance of fair use to libraries and their users.

Electronic g o v e rn m e n t in fo rm a tio n
On January 6 U.S. District Judge Charles Richey 
ruled that Reagan and Bush Administration 
plans to destroy computer records of electronic 
mail were unlawful. The opinion was issued in 
response to a lawsuit originally brought in 1989 
to try to save Reagan Administration records. 
The 1989 suit, Armstrong v. Executive Office 
of the President (known as the “PROFS” case 
after the Professional Office System used for 
the records), was brought by the National Se­
curity Archive, ALA, the American Historical 
Association, the Center for National Security 
Studies, and individual writers and research­
ers. The outgoing Bush Administration tried to 
have the ruling reversed, but was ordered on 
January 15 to make portable backup copies of 
records stored in personal computers before 
deleting materials from the machines. The case 
is the first to apply the 50-year-old Federal 
Records Act to electronic communications.

W ashin gton
h o tlin e

C arol C. H enderson

NREN h e a rin g
On February 2 the House 
Science Subcommittee held 
a hearing on high-perfor­
mance computing and net­
working. Led by subcom ­
m itte e  c h a ir m a n  Rick 
Boucher (D-Va.), the hear­
ing focused on implemen­
tation of the High Perfor­
m ance Com puting Act of 
D ecem b er 1991 an d  the 
need for additional legisla­
tion addressing applications 
of computing and network­

ing for broad public benefit.
Two panels of public witnesses included rep­

resentatives of EDUCOM, FARNET (the Fed­
era tio n  o f A m erican R esearch N etw orks), 
NYNEX, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the 
Computer Systems Policy Project (CEOs of eight 
major com puter companies), the Coalition of 
Academic Supercom puter Centers, Windom 
Health Enterprises, and ALA (Sara Parker, the 
Pennsylvania Commissioner of Libraries). Parker 
strongly supported passage of an NREN appli­
cations bill which would build on legislation 
introduced in the last Congress. Last year’s bill, 
for applications in K-12 education, manufac­
turing, health care, and digital libraries, has 
b een  reintroduced in the Senate by Ernest 
Hollings (D-S.C.) as part of S. 4, the National 
Competitiveness Act. Rep. Boucher is expected 
to introduce an applications bill soon.

Parker recommended 1) expansion of the 
K-Í2 education com ponent of an applications 
bill to include public libraries in their role in 
support of education and lifelong learning; 2) 
addition of a new  com ponent to provide high- 
level connections for key government informa­
tion depository libraries and support of pilot 
projects to make federal and state government 
information available over the network; and 3) 
support, within the digital library component, 
for pilot projects in the conversion of library 
resources to digital formats, development of 
an integrated approach to organizing and lo­
cating electronic information resources, and 
education and training programs. ■

Carol C. Henderson is deputy executive director o f  
ALA 's Washington Office; bitnet: NU_ALA WASH 
@CUA