C&RL News October 2010  498

With less than a month until the mid-term elec-
tions, no pollster is certain what the outcomes 
will be. However, those in the library world who 
have long championed library issues on the 
federal level know that it really doesn’t matter.

What matters is that library advocacy for 
many of the items on the ALA’s legislative 
agenda continues—regardless of who’s in 
charge and by how many seats—as many is-
sues continue to be unresolved. (Or in some 
cases, our association would say “uncor-
rected,” see the USA PATRIOT ACT.)

Increasing grassroots efforts during the 
final months of the year and the current 
Congress—a time often characterized by a 
lack of activity—may seem fruitless but is 
actually critical to maintaining our momentum 
in an era of competing interests and tight 
purse strings. 

“Advocacy is more than just a single 
action on a single day; it’s about building 
relationships, and this election is an excel-
lent opportunity to build new relationships 
as well as build upon old ones before we 
need them the most,” says Kristin Murphy, 
government relations specialist for the ALA 
Washington Office.

For academic libraries, open access and 
related legislation continue to be a top pri-
ority. In particular, lobbying efforts have 
focused on two pieces of legislation that 
may not be voted on this year but will surely 
resurface in the 112th Congress—the Federal 
Research Public Access Act of 2009 (FRPAA) 
and the legislation to open the Congressional 
Research Service (CRS). 

The House version of FRPAA, H.R. 5037, 
would require agencies and departments with 
annual extramural research budgets over $100 
million to make available via the Internet the 
final manuscript of articles resulting from re-
search funded by U.S. taxpayers. The Senate 
version is S. 1373. 

The last major action regarding FRPPA 
took place on July 29 when the U.S. House 
of Representatives Committee on Oversight 
and Government Reform’s Information Policy, 
Census and National Archives Subcommittee 
held hearing on H.R. 5037. 

Lynne Bradley, director of the ALA Office 
of Government Relations (OGR), says it is un-
certain whether this legislation will be taken 
up before the conclusion of this Congress, 
but the library community should press on 
with contacting their members of Congress 
to ask for passage of these bills to ensure the 
public has no-fee, timely access to federally 
funded research.

Likewise, S.R. 118 and H.R. 3762—resolu-
tions that would allow public access to the 
majority of CRS reports—are currently in 
committee with no clears signs of movement 
before the end of the year. 

For the past several years, librarians, academ-
ics, journalists, open government advocates, 
and concerned citizens have urged Congress to 
provide free, public access through the Internet 
to the unclassified, taxpayer-funded reports 
produced by CRS. Taxpayers spend over $100 
million a year to fund CRS, which generates 
detailed reports for lawmakers. These reports 
play a critical role in our political process, but 
have never been made available in a consistent 
manner to the public.

While it seems outlandish that an Admin-
istration and Congress that pride themselves 
on openness have failed to pass this com-
monsense resolution, Bradley says library 
advocates should not be deterred but should 
charge ahead with grassroots lobbying efforts.

“Whether these bills are addressed this fall 
or not, if librarians do not put their voices 
where their hearts are, we will fail, and 
special interests will prevail over the public 
interest in open access,” Bradley says.

For information on becoming a part 
of the ACRL Legislative Network, go to 
www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues 
/washingtonwatch/acrladvocates.cfm. 

Jenni Terry is press officer at ALA’s Washington Office, 
e-mail: jterry@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eJenni Terry