may08c.indd


Andy Bridges W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

ALA President Roy applauds swift 
action to restore full access to U.S. 
funded health database POPLINE 
During the first week of April, controversy 
erupted over a decision by database ad­
ministrators to block the word abortion as 
a search term for searches conducted on 
POPLINE, the “world’s largest database on 
reproductive health.” 

In a statement, ALA President Loriene 
Roy said: 

“POPLINE is run by the Johns Hopkins 

University Bloomberg School of Public 

Health in Maryland, and funded by the 

U.S. Agency for International Develop­

ment (USAID). Earlier this week, librar­

ians and individuals who used ‘abortion’ 

as a search term received the message 

‘No records found by latest query.’ Those 

who inquired about the inability to search 

on the term ‘abortion’ were told that the 

decision to restrict the term was made 

after USAID inquired about two items in 

the database related to abortion that did 

not fit POPLINE criteria. The Dean of the 

Bloomberg School of Public Health, Dr. 

Michael J. Klag, reversed the decision to 

restrict the search term when informed 

about the administrators’ decision. 

“We applaud Dr. Klag’s swift action to 

restore full access to the POPLINE data­

base. We are dismayed, however, at the 

circumstances that caused the adminis­

trators running the POPLINE database to 

begin blocking any and all searches on the 

word ‘abortion.’ Any federal policy or rule 

that requires or encourages information 

providers to block access to scientifi c in­

formation because of partisan or religious 

bias is censorship. Such policies promote 

ideology over science and only serve to 

deny researchers, students and individuals 

Andy Bridges is communications director at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: abridges@alawash.org 

on all sides of the issue access to accurate 

scientifi c information.” 

Peggy Hoon honored with 2008 
Patterson Copyright Award 
Peggy Hoon is the 2008 recipient of the L. 
Ray Patterson Copyright Award: In Support 
of Users’ Rights, which was established to 
recognize the contributions of an individual 
who pursues and supports the Constitu­
tional purpose of U.S. copyright law, fair 
use, and the public domain. 

Hoon currently serves as special assis­
tant to the provost for copyright admin­
istration at North Carolina State Univer­
sity. In that role, Hoon helps shape the 
university’s policies and regulations with 
regard to copyright, and she has shared 
that knowledge with countless other li­
braries and universities, through a busy 
speaking schedule and strong presence 
on the Internet. 

The award will be presented at the ALA 
Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, 
Monday, June 30, 2008. 

OITP releases Copyright Slider 
Recently, ALA’s Office for Information 
Technology Policy (OITP) unveiled the 
OITP Copyright Slider. This single, sturdy 
product provides instant access to copy­
right laws and guidelines. Simply align 
the arrows by date of publication and 
determine a work’s copyright status and 
term. And the “Permission Needed?” box 
provides a quick answer to this very im­
portant question. 

This is a great tool for librarians, 
teachers, artists, students, researchers, 
attorneys, and anyone who needs clear, 
concise information on copyright terms 
and conditions. 

For more information and to order 
your own OITP Copyright Slider, simply 
visit www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch 
/?p=421. 

282C&RL News March 2008

www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch
mailto:abridges@alawash.org