ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 100 / C&RL News ■ February 1998 NASULGC’s 110th annual meeting examines library concerns Copyright, scholarly publishing, and technology discussed By Jill B. Fatzer The National Association of State Univer­s itie s and L an d -G ran t C o lle g e s (NASULGC) held its 110th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on November 16-18, in the wake of a Congress that had just ad­ journed leaving a num ber o f im portant higher-education measures unsettled. Not surprisingly, legislative issues dominated many of the 52 programs and numerous busi­ ness meetings attended by some 1,200 par­ ticipants. NASULGC’s infrastructure more or less parallels the structure of academic institu­ tions with Councils for Academic Affairs, for Student Affairs, for Continuing Education, and the like; and Commissions on Interna­ tional Affairs, on Human Resources, etc. Li­ brarians find their interests reflected in the Commission on Information Technologies (CIT), w hich is further subdivided into Boards on Distance Education, on Technol­ ogy Infrastructure, and on Library Resources and Services. The CIT offered programs titled, “Intellectual Property Issues: Copy­ right Protection, Fair Use Guidelines, and Database Protection” and “New Alliances in Higher Education and Information Technol­ ogy,” plus a dinner featuring “Congress and T ele co m m u n ica tio n s: A S e n a to r’s [Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Montana] P ersp ectiv e,” which was quite illuminating. Legislation updates The program on intellectual property issues provided updates on the various conflicting pieces of legislation vying to redefine rights and responsibilities regarding digital infor­ mation. The breaking news was a bill by Reps. Boucher and Campbell that goes far­ ther than the Ashcroft amendments in guar­ anteeing fair uses of information in electronic form. In contrast, grave concern was expressed about HR 2652, which provides new copy­ right protections to “compiled information,” with absolutely no fair use provisions. One speaker feared that as defined in this bill, “compiled information” could include not just data sets, but any text from “a dictionary to the Bible.” This session also included a pre­ sentation of Mary Case of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) of SPARC: The Schol­ arly Publishing & Academic Resources Coa­ lition, the proposed mission of which reads “SPARC is conceived as a partnership of the Association of Research Libraries and other educational and research organizations … to create a more competitive marketplace for research information by providing opportu­ nities for new publishing ventures; … to promote academic values of access to infor­ mation for research and teaching; … to en­ courage innovative uses of technology to Jill B. Fatzer is dean o f Library Services at the University o f N ehAtbout arohtuew Orleans and a member o f the NASULGC Commission on Information Technologies; e-mail:jb fls@uno.edu mailto:jbfls@uno.edu C&RL News ■ February 1998 / 101 improve scholarly communication by collabo­ rating in the design and testing o f new prod­ ucts; … and developing systems and stan­ dards for the archiving and management of research findings.” Basically, SPARC seeks to initiate and foster alternatives to the current pattern o f scholarly journal publication by innovative utilization of new technologies by those who originate the material: authors in colleges and universities. Technology issues The program on New Alliances was about the background, progress, and prospects of the initiative to create “Internet 2 .” While it was anticipated that some 40 or so institu­ tions would participate in this venture (and thereby provide its startup capital), some 116 members have signed up, including some consortiums representing several universities. The University Corporation for Advanced Internet D evelopm ent (UCAID) has b een incorporated and Douglas van Houweling (formerly CIO at the University o f Michigan) hired as its chief executive officer. While the level o f interest and corporate progress has been heady, the audience was cautioned that a lot o f hard, technological work lay ahead before successful implementation could be guaranteed. Many other NASULGC entities are involv­ ing themselves in technology issues, with the Council on Academic Affairs doing a program entitled “Using Technologies to Create New Communities o f Learning,” while the Commis­ sion on Human Resources and Social Change presented sessions titled “The Changing Role of Faculty in the Age o f Technology” and “The New Knowledge Professor.” Speaking w ith one voice The business meetings of the CIT and its three boards featured the release and distribution o f the pamphlet H ig h er E d u ca tion P olicies f o r the D igital Age. This publication is the first fruit o f Com m ission on Inform ation Technology’s chair (and President o f Penn State) Graham B. Spanier’s efforts to posi­ tion NASULGC as a leading organization on information technologies to assure that higher education speaks with one voice on issues o f importance to us all. The pamphlet was generated by brainstorming among represen­ tatives of some 15 relevant associations (in­ cluding ACRL), followed by consensus build­ ing on five key areas: intellectual property, free speech and inquiry, advanced comm u­ nications, telecom m unications policy and regulation, and distributed education. Final drafting was done by a small group that in­ cluded librarians, and library issues are promi­ nent throughout the document. Though pub­ lished by NASULGC, it is issued by The Higher Education Alliance for Information Technology, made up o f all the presiden- tially driven associations o f higher education and endorsed by nine participating associa­ tions, including ACRL. The legislative liaisons o f all participating organizations and institu­ tions will be provided with copies, so that “speaking with one v o ic e ” may be more readily facilitated. A continuing conversation Perhaps the most interesting facet o f the meeting was the connections made betw een the Board on Library Resources and Services Not surprisingly, leg islative issues dom inated m any of the 52 pro­ gram s and num erous business m eetings attended by som e 1,200 p articipants. and the Council on Academic Affairs (CAA). CAA is made up o f the ch ief academ ic offic­ ers o f the m em ber institutions, and includes com m ittees relating to the spheres o f inter­ est o f the various comm issions. While the CAA Committee on Libraries and Informa­ tion Technology had over the years lost co n ­ tact with the Board, its current chair, Marlene Strathe (provost at the University o f North D akota) responded to the invitation issued by Board Chair Elaine Albright (Library Di­ rector at the University o f Maine) to meet with the librarians. During the course o f the discussion, she invited the librarians in at­ tendance to m eet with her com m ittee later in the conference. In a room reminiscent of the ALA C o n fe re n c e ’s dreaded “m eeting table” room, som e half-dozen librarians met with a like number o f provosts, plus repre­ sentatives o f the ARL and the Association o f (NASULGC co n tin u ed on p a g e 113) 102 / C&RL News ■ February 1998 C&RL News ■ February 1998 / 113 Section 2. Board of Directors. Mail or elec­ tronic votes of the Board of Directors may be taken provided they are authorized by the officers of the Association and all voting Board members are canvassed sim ulta­ neously. An affirmative vote of a simple ma­ jority of the voting Board members shall be required to pass a motion. On each mail or electronic vote, each voting Board member shall have the option of voting for or against the motion, to abstain, or to hold for discus­ sion at the next regularly scheduled meet­ ing. Time limits shall be the same as stated above in Section 1 of this article. Actions shall be confirmed at the next regular meeting of the Board. Section 3. Committees. Mail or electronic votes of duly constituted committees may be taken by the chair of such committees. An af­ firmative vote of a simple majority of the com­ mittee members shall be required to pass the motion. Voting option and time limits shall be the same as stated above in Section 2 of this article. Section XXI: Parliam entary a u th o rity The parliamentary authority used by this As­ sociation shall be the same as that used by the American Library Association. Article XXII: Am endm ent of bylaws Section 1. Proposals. Amendments to the bylaws may be proposed by the Board of Directors; by any standing committee of the Association in writing to the Board of Direc­ tors; or by a petition signed by 25 or more members of the Association. Section 2. Board action. A proposed amendment to the bylaws shall be voted upon by Association members after it has been approved by a majority of the Board members present and voting at two consecu­ tive meetings held not less than two months apart. Section 3 . Notice. Written notice of the text of the amendment shall be provided to mem­ bers at least one month before consideration. Section 4. Voting. Amendments may be voted upon by members either by mail bal­ lot or at a public membership meeting. a) If by mail ballot, the bylaws amend­ ment is accepted if a majority of those mem­ bers participating vote in favor of the amend­ ment. b) If at a public membership meeting, the bylaws amendment is accepted if a ma­ jority vote of the members, present and vot­ ing, vote in favor of the amendment. Section 5. Adoption. If not otherwise specified, a proposed amendment becomes effective as soon as it has been approved as described above. (NASULGC cont. from page 101) American Universities. The upshot of the stimu­ lating, wide-ranging conversation was twofold. First, it became clear that at least some pro­ vosts now realize that many “library” issues, such as the spiraling cost of serials or the li­ censing difficulties of digital information, are really systemic issues for the whole academy to grapple with. The second result was an invitation for librarian participation in a half­ day program at the Council on Academic Af­ fairs’ summer meeting, and consequent op­ portunity to bring these matters to the attention of many more of the member chief academic officers. There will also be a separate summer meeting of the Commission on Information Technology in conjunction with the Com­ missions on Outreach and Technology Trans­ fer and on Extension, Continuing Education, and P u blic Service on the theme: “Cyberpartners: Will It Change the Way We Collaborate?” It will be held June 3-5 at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. While only 15 or so librarians participated in the NASULGC Annual Meeting, it is hoped that more will attend and form a visible presence at this summer program. NASULGC is comprised of some 180 land- grant and public colleges and universities, all of whose librarians fall under that member­ ship eligibility. It is an influential organization whose attention is increasingly riveted on all the issues of importance, both to individual libraries and to ACRL. More participation by librarians can only benefit us all. (Making collections work cont. from page 99) hand. Catalog records that routinely include subject access will enable our users to ex­ ploit the full promise of automated systems and the MARC format, at the very moment when on-site browsing takes a back seat to remote access and the associated reliance on online records. Measures to track more pre­ cisely interlibrary loan traffic will open the way both to new strategies for cooperative collection development and to the creation of a shared, cost-effective “digital library.” N ote 1. My colleague Barbara Halporn intro­ duced me to this happy phrase.