ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


March 1996/161

Washington
Hotline

Lynne E. Bradley

Telecommunications 
Act of 1996
President Clinton signed the 
latest telecom m unications 
legislation on February 8 at 
the Library o f  Congress. 
Speaking in the Jefferson 
B u ild in g ’s m ain R eadin g 
Room, Vice-President G ore’s 
opening remarks ended with 
a dialogue, via the Internet, 
with Lily Tom lin’s character, 
Ernestine. President Clinton 
and V ice-P resid en t G ore 
commented on their goal to 
connect all o f America’s schools, libraries, and 
hospitals to the information superhighway, and 
h ow  this bill will help realize that goal. House 
Speaker New t Gingrich and other Congressional 
leaders on the pertinent Congressional com ­
merce committees, also made comments. The 
final version o f the bill signed by Clinton has 
fe w  changes from  the conference committee 
report published in the Congressional Record 
on January 31. T w o  provisions that most affect 
libraries in the legislation w ill n ow  m ove for­
ward to other venues for debate.

Internet content restrictions. ALA is ana­
lyzing the serious impact on libraries o f the 
Internet content restrictions in the new  law. 
There is grave concern that these restrictions 
will threaten libraries’ use o f the Internet and 
other public access to advanced telecommuni­
cations services. It is believed that this “chill­
ing” provision compromises freedom o f speech 
on the Internet. ALA is analyzing these restric­
tions and considering its litigation options. Aca­
demic librarians are encouraged to share their 
experiences and perspectives on the impact o f 
these Internet restrictions with Judith Krug at 
the ALA O ffice o f Intellectual Freedom.

Discounted rates. O f concern to LSCA- 
eligible libraries and K– 12 schools is the provi­
sion for discounted rates, the Snowe-Rock­
efeller-Kerrey-Exon provision in the universal 
service section o f the act. The Federal Commu­
nications Commission (FCC) w ill conduct a 
rulemaking process which library advocates and 
others from the K– 12 community are already 
preparing to participate in. Details o f this pro­
cess are yet to be w orked out, although it is 
expected that the three FCC commissioners and 
four state public utilities commissioners w ill be

appointed to a joint FCC- 
state board to begin the pro­
ceedings on universal ser­
vice on March 8.

Intellectual property
The House o f Representa­
t i v e ’s S u b c o m m itte e  on  
Courts and Intellectual Prop­
erty held tw o half days o f 
hearings during the w eek o f 
February 1 on the N Il Copy­
right Protection Act o f 1995: 
le g is la t io n  in te n d e d  to  
implement the recomm en­

dations o f the Commerce Department’s “White 
Paper” on copyright and the information infra­
structure. W hile Jeanne Simon, chair o f  the 
National Commission on Libraries and Infor­
mation Science (NCLIS) was invited to testify 
before the panel, no professional library orga­
nization or group o f organizations was given 
the opportunity to do so. ALA, along with more 
than 40 other groups, was invited to submit 
written testimony prior to February 15 for the 
Subcommittee’s consideration. ALA jointly au­
thored that statement with the American Asso­
ciation o f Law Libraries, the Association o f Re­
search Libraries, the Medical Library Association, 
and the Special Libraries Association.

The House plans no further hearings at this 
time on H.R. 2441, although the Senate Judi­
ciary Committee is expected to hold a one-day 
session to take testimony on S. 1284 (an iden­
tical bill) some time in March. ALA, together 
with other members o f the Digital Future Coa­
lition, w ill push for the opportunity to appear 
before the committee for the purpose o f stress­
ing that any enhancement o f copyright protec­
tion afforded by this Congress must also pre­
serve and enhance the p u b lic’s access to 
information under the Fair Use Doctrine (codi­
fied at Section 107 o f the current Copyright Act).

Detailed information about this legislation 
may be found online through the Digital Fu­
ture C oalitio n  h o m e p a g e  at http://guess. 
worldweb.net/dfc. ■

Lynne E. Bradley is deputy executive director o f 
ALA ’s Washington Office; e-mail: leb@alawash.org. 
Members may now use an 800 number to reach the 
Washington Office and the Office fo r  Information 
Technology Policy (OITP): (800) 941-8478.

http://guess
mailto:leb@alawash.org