ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 7 16/C&RL News W ashington H otline Lynne E. B ra d le y C o n g r e s s is in p a u s e m od e and has again decided to punt on the F Y 98 bud get b y p a s s in g a th r e e - w e e k “c o n t i n u i n g r e s o l u t i o n ” sch ed u led to end ab ou t O c ­ to b e r 22. Th irteen o f the 16 m a jo r a p p ro p ria tio n s bills w ere n o t passed by the O c ­ to b e r 1 d ea d lin e to b e g in th is fisc a l y e a r. T h is a lso m ean s that n o w ork is b e ­ ing con d u cted o n o th er leg­ islation, inclu ding reau th o­ rization o f the Higher Education Act. It has b e e n a tim e for the library com m unity to w o rk on intellectu al p roperty and ac ce s s to governm ent inform ation proposals. G o v e rn m e n t inform ation po licy T o coo rd in ate the library com m u nity’s activi­ ties during the 105th C on gress th e Inter-A sso- ciation W ork in g G roup (IA W G ) o n G o v ern ­ m en t Inform ation Policy has con tin u ed to m eet o n a m on thly basis sin ce it w as establish ed in Ja n u a r y 1 9 9 7 b y th en -A L A p re s id e n t M ary Som erville. (T h e six o th er library asso ciatio n m em b ers are th e A m erican A ssociation o f Law Libraries, A sso cia tio n o f R e s ea rch Libraries, C h ief O fficers o f State Library A gencies, M edi­ cal Library A ssociation, Special Libraries A sso­ ciation, and th e U rban Libraries C ou ncil.) Lee Marie W isel from C olum bia U nion Col­ leg e in Takom a Park, Maryland, has represented ACRL in th e se m eetings. Francis B u ck ley , di­ rector o f S h aker Heights (O h io ) P u blic Library, chairs IAWG. After identifying areas w h ere the curren t law n eed s to b e revised, d evelop in g m od els for a c ce s s and dissem in ation o f gov ­ ern m en t inform ation, and analyzing the p ro ’s and c o n ’s o f e a ch m od el, IAWG has n o w d e­ velop ed a draft legislative prop osal, “T h e F ed ­ eral Inform ation A ccess Act o f 1 9 9 7 .” It ad ­ d r e s s e s h o w to b r o a d e n t h e s c o p e o f inform ation available to the p u blic and how to revise th e d efinitions in the law to include e le c ­ tronic govern m en t inform ation. IAWG has also b e e n c o n ce rn e d ab ou t h o w to m aintain a c e n ­ trally coord in ated program for library and pu b­ lic ac ce s s to g ov ern m en t in­ form ation un der the Super­ intend ent o f D ocum en ts. IA W G r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s testified b e fo re tw o con g res­ sional com m ittees regarding Title 4 4 reform and m et w ith nu m erou s govern m en t rep ­ resentatives th rou gh ou t this p rocess, including staff from t h e J o i n t C o m m i t t e e o n Printing, the Senate Com mit­ tee o n Rules and Adm inis­ tration, the H ouse Com m it­ te e o n H o u s e O v e rsig h t, th e G o v e rn m e n t Printing O ffice, th e O ffice o f M anagem ent and B ud get, and the adm inistrative O ffice o f the Courts. In addition, IAWG has shared its legis­ lative p rop osal and discu ssed th ese issues with o th er interested groups. Additional inform ation ab o u t IAWG, includ­ ing a ro ster o f m em b ers, sum m aries o f m e e t­ ings, and the IAW G draft legislative p rop osal, is a v a ila b le a t th e IAW G W e b site: http:// lib r a r y .b e r k e le y .e d u / G O D O R T / ia w g p a g e . html. F o r fu rth e r in fo rm a tio n , c o n ta c t F ra n c is B u c k l e y , IA W G c h a ir , at ( 2 1 6 ) 9 9 1 - 2 0 3 0 ; fra n cis.b u ck ley @ sh p l.lib .o h .u s. Lee Marie W isel c an b e reach ed at (3 0 1 ) 8 9 1 -4 2 2 2 , o r via e-mail: lw isel@ cu c.ed u . (And thanks to D an O ’M ahony for con tributing to this rep ort.) Intellectual p ro p erty Adam Eisgrau, ALA W ash in g to n O ffic e le g ­ islative co u n sel, rep o rts that p rog ress c o n tin ­ u es o n efforts o n a b ill s p o n so red b y Sen ato r J o h n A sh croft (R -M issouri), S. 1146, the D igi­ tal C opyright C larification and T e c h n o lo g y Act o f 1 997, w h ich attem pts to m aintain the b a l­ a n c e o f fair u se in th e digital en v iro n m en t. A cad em ic library ad vo cates are asked to c o n ­ tact th eir sen ato rs a b o u t su p p ortin g S. 1146, and should also en c o u ra g e their resp ectiv e c o l­ le g e s and universities to su p p ort this leg isla­ tion , w h ich is strongly su p p o rted b y ALA and its allies in th e D igital Futures C oalition (D FC ). For further inform ation, c o n ta ct Adam Eisgrau at 1 - 8 0 0 - 9 4 1 - 8 4 7 8 o r via e -m a il at a m e @ a law ash .o rg . T h e DFC W e b site has cu rren t inform ation o n S. 1146 and o th er p ending copy­ right legislation at: http://www.ari.net/dfc. ■ Lynne E. B rad ley is depu ty ex ecu tiv e d irec to r o f ALA's W ashington O ffice; e-m ail: leb@ alaw ash.org mailto:francis.buckley@shpl.lib.oh.us mailto:lwisel@cuc.edu http://www.ari.net/dfc mailto:leb@alawash.org