ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■ September 1998 / 607

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e Lynn E. Bradley

House passes WIPO im plem en ting  
leg islatio n
In early August, the House of Representa­
tives passed legislation implementing the 
World Intellectual Property Organization 
(WIPO) copyright treaty bill with a contro­
versial database protection measure at­
tached. Fair use protection was a key provi­
sion to the compromise bill.

The House approved by voice vote a sub­
stantially altered version of H.R. 2281, which 
paves the way for negotiations with the Sen­
ate during conference committee. House ac­
tion followed internal negotiations between 
the House Judiciary Committee and the 
House Commerce Committee regarding dif­
fering versions of the bill.

House Commerce Committee Chairman 
Thomas Bliley (R-Virginia) highlighted the 
importance of the committee’s insistence on 
including “a strong fair use” provision to en­
sure that consumers— as well as libraries and 
institutions of higher learning—will be able 
to continue to exercise their historical fair 
use [and other] rights.”

Regarding the database provision, Bliley 
added, “Let me say that it is my hope that 
the House and Senate Judiciary Committees 
will work to address the serious concerns 
of many in public and private sector bod­
ies. Congress needs to address those con­
cerns before enacting this portion of the bill.”

Reps. John Dingell (D-Michigan), Scott 
Klug (R-W isconsin), and Rick B oucher 
(D-Virginia) were also instrumental in craft­
ing and retaining protection for fair use in 
H.R. 2281. Stay tuned for further action; ad­
ditional grassroots activity will likely be 
needed.

Congress urged to  pass S. 2288
ACRL members are encouraged to contact 
their members of Congress and ask them to 
enact S. 2288, the Wendell H. Ford Govern­
ment Publications Reform Act of 1998. S.

Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director o f ALA's 
Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org

2288 should be a priority for Congress in 
the short time remaining in this legislative 
session, which ends in early October. It 
would revise Title 44 of the United States 
Code to improve public access to govern­
ment information, including strengthening 
the Federal Depository Library Program. It 
is especially important that depository librar­
ies, many of which are located in academic 
libraries, play a special role in demonstrat­
ing the importance of providing the public 
access to government information.

The message to Senators and Represen­
tatives:

• Urge your Senators to cosponsor and 
Representatives to support S. 2288;

• Stress the importance to the American 
public of passage of S. 2288 to assure ac­
cess to government information and publi­
cations already paid for by the public; please 
emphasize the need to complete the legis­
lation in this congressional session.

To support passage of S. 2288, ALA and 
others representing seven national library 
associations, testified before the Senate Com­
mittee on Rules and Administration on July 
29.

Those testifying for the library commu­
nity were: Barbara Ford, Virginia Common­
wealth University and past-president of ALA 
and ACRL; Daniel O’Mahony, Brown Uni­
v e rsity  Library and c h a ir o f the 
Inter-Association Working Group; and Rob­
ert Oakley, Georgetown University Law 
Center and Washington affairs representa­
tive for the American Association of Law 
Libraries.

Their testimony was presented on behalf 
of ALA, AALL, the Association of Research 
Libraries, the Chief Officers of State Library 
Agencies, the Medical Library Association, 
the Special Libraries Association, and the 
Urban Libraries Council.

Their testimony is available from the 
Inter-Association Working Group on the 
Government Information Policy Web site 
at http://w w w .lib.berkeley.edu/IA W G . 
The bill is scheduled for mark-up when 
the Senate returns in early September.

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/IAWG
mailto:leb@alawash.org


6 0 8  /  C&RL News ■  Septem ber 1998