july14_b.indd


July/August 2014 401 C&RL News

Jazzy Wright is press officer of the ALA Washington 
Office, e-mail: jwright@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eJazzy Wright

ALA prepares to help protect the open 
Internet
In May, the Federal Communications Com-
mission (FCC) voted to open a new Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking on ensuring the open 
Internet. ALA, the Association of Research 
Libraries, and EDUCAUSE followed up with 
key FCC staff and shared the perspective of 
education, research, and learning organiza-
tions and examples of what’s at stake for our 
community and our users. 

Beyond the most basic challenges to eq-
uitable access to information and intellectual 
freedom, higher education and libraries are 
generators and subscribers of critical educa-
tional and cultural content that could suffer 
under a two-tier or “fast-lane” approach to 
network neutrality. ALA asks that libraries 
e-mail the ALA Washington Office (lclark@
alawash.org) examples of Internet Service 
Provider (ISP) slowdowns, lost quality of 
service relative to subscribed ISP speeds, 
and any other harm related to serving com-
munity needs.

Presidential contender Senator Jim 
Webb addresses 2014 ALA Annual 
Conference
The midterm elections are steadily approach-
ing, and libraries need to be prepared. This 
year, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb de-
tailed the upcoming national election season 
and the ways that libraries and library funding 
will be affected during “Washington Up-
date,” a session held at the 2014 ALA Annual 
Conference. Called a potential presidential 
candidate by The Washington Post, Webb has 
been a combat Marine, counsel in Congress, 
assistant secretary of defense and Secretary 
of the Navy, Emmy-award winning journal-
ist, accomplished filmmaker, and author of 
ten books.

House passes flawed USA FREEDOM 
Act
In May, the House of Representatives passed 
a version of the USA FREEDOM Act (by a vote 
of 303–121) intended to end the “dragnet”-
style collection of Americans’ phone records 
by the government, but which even many of 
its principal authors and sponsors acknowl-
edged did not go far enough to protect citi-
zens’ privacy. As a result, ALA and many of 
its coalition partners issued strong statements 
acknowledging that much more needs to be 
done. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman 
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has vowed to bring a 
stronger version of the USA FREEDOM Act 
before the committee this summer.

Workforce Investment Act moves 
forward
In May, the U.S. House and U.S. Senate draft-
ed “Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 
Act,” a bill on workforce investment, which 
acknowledges the work libraries do to help 
the public gain important employment skills 
and find jobs—and the legislation allows 
libraries to be paid for these efforts. Thanks 
to their continuous work, libraries are part 
of this bill.

E-rate engagement continues
In May, library and school broadband took 
center stage at a daylong FCC workshop on e-
rate modernization. The workshop convened 
library professionals, education administra-
tors, nonprofit leaders, and local government 
officials to discuss a host of connectivity 
topics, including the importance of internal 
connections in libraries and schools; the need 
to provide “last mile” connections to library 
patrons and students living in underserved 
areas; the challenges and benefits of collec-
tive Internet access and network services 
purchasing; and the challenge of improving 
technical assistance services in libraries and 
schools.