ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


C&RL News ■  July/August 2001 / 687

ACRL at ALA National Library Legislative Day

On April 30, 2001, more than 60 academic 
librarians met in Washington, D.C., to share 
lunch, acquire information about legislative 
issues, and pick up advocacy strategies. The 
ACRL Legislative Luncheon was held during 
the ALA National Library Legislative Day, an 
event that raises awareness about the impor­
tance of federal funding for libraries. This is 
the third year that ACRL has sponsored a 
luncheon at National Library Legislative Day.

The luncheon program consisted of 
knowledgeable speakers who addressed spe­
cific legislative issues of importance to aca­
demic libraries. Charles Beard, director o f li­
braries at die State University of West Geor­
gia, moderated the discussion and updated 
the attendees on the Children’s Internet Pro­
tection Act (CIPA). Although CIPA primarily 
affects school and public libraries, Beard 
explained that it also has the potential to af­
fect academic libraries.

Another important legislative issue dis­
cussed at the luncheon was the Uniform Com­
puter Transactions Act (UCITA). Rodney 
Petersen, director of policy and planning at 
the Office of Information Technology at the 
University o f Maryland, spoke to the attend­
ees about his experiences fighting UCITA in 
Maryland. Although National Library Legis­
lative focuses on federal issues and UCITA is 
an act being introduced at the state level,

Petersen told the audience that this lun­
cheon was a good opportunity for academic 
librarians to learn about this act and share 
their e x p erien ces with UCITA. Carol 
Ashworth, the UCITA grassroots coordina­
tor with the ALA Washington Office, was 
also on hand to answer librarians’ ques­
tions.

The final luncheon speaker, ACRL Ex­
ecutive Director Althea H. Jenkins, encour­
aged attendees to talk to their representa­
tives about supporting the reauthorization 
o f the Library Services and Technology Act 
(LSTA), the only federal program exclu­
sively for libraries. She reminded the au­
dience that the LSTA leadership grants fund 
innovative programs in academic librar­
ies throughout the country.

Several of the attendees commented on 
the importance of having this type of event 
to encourage academic librarians to take a 
bigger role in advocating on behalf of their 
libraries.

ACRL will build on the success o f this 
and previous Legislative Luncheons by en­
couraging even more academic librarians 
to attend this event and all of the activities 
at next year’s ALA National Library Legisla­
tive Day.— S han n on  Cary, ACRL director 
o f  R e s e a r c h  a n d  S p e c i a l  In itia t iv e s , 
scary@ ala.org

to allow users to instantly access a program 
directly from the libraries’ online catalog.

He added: “Digital video-on-demand sys­
tems have been a reality for a number of 
years, but copyright and intellectual prop­
erty constraints have made most academic 
institutions reluctant to purchase expensive 
video server technologies. Universities were 
faced with a classic dilemma: if we purchase 
a server, will we be able to find video pro­
gramming we can legally put on the system? 
This agreement answers that question with 
a resounding ‘yes’!”

The UMD Libraries expect to launch a pi­
lot project in the fall, enabling users to access 
a limited number of titles in the collection, 
according to Jeff Bridgers, head of Digital Li­
braries.

mailto:scary@ata.org