NY-NJ Chapter LogoNewsletter
Summer 2002

In This Issue

From the Editors

From the Chair

Kudos for Chapter Members

Web Watch

Brave New World

In the Literature

Technology Review

RML Update

To The Editors

2003 Philadelphia Meeting

Special Report: MLA Benchmarking Task Force
Focus Groups

Advocacy Report

News and Announcements

Online Newsletter Index

The Newsletter is published for the members of the New York-New Jersey Chapter of the Medical Library Association.

Editor of this issue:

William Self, The Medical Library Center of New York, 5 East 102nd St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10029 S-1, Phone: 212-427-1630, Fax: 212-860-3496, E-mail: wself@mlcny.org.


Site maintained by Webmaster: Robert Dempsey
Posted 7/25/2002
©2002 NY-NJ Chapter of the Medical Library Association
Advocacy Committee Report

by Elaine Wells, Chair,
Advocacy Committee
Kohn Vision Science Library
SUNY College of Optometry
ewells@sunyopt.edu

Committee Members:
Luda Dolinsky, Lutheran Medical Center
Tom Angelo, SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn

The main activity of the Advocacy Committee continues to be the monitoring of major legislative developments affecting libraries. The committee is set up to monitor national developments as well as issues specific to New York and New Jersey. This is done through electronic updates received from the New Jersey and the New York Library Associations.

While many of the issues that are reported are not specific to medical libraries, we feel it is important to communicate them, since they often reflect the general climate in which libraries are functioning and the efforts being made by legislators on our behalf or contrary to our interests.



Nationally


The Patriot Act has raised a number of concerns about privacy. The National Headquarters of the Medical Library Association has responded by joining with other library organizations, namely the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library Association, and the Association of Research Libraries, and reiterating that very high standards should continue to be required for authorizing the release of library records. They also feel strongly that current laws are sufficient for dealing with "computer crimes."

Also on the national front:

  • Copyright Term Extension Act (Eldred v. Ashcroft). Library associations and other groups filed a "friend of the court" brief with the US Supreme Court in challenge to the constitutionality of the Copyright Term Extension Act.

  • CIPA (Children's Internet Protection Act). CIPA was ruled "facially invalid" since the court concluded that CIPA would require libraries to violate the First Amendment rights of their patrons.

Locally


New York
The New York State Library's Five-Year Evaluation Report for the period October 1, 1997 - September 30, 2002 is now available on the State Library's website at
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/lsta/eval/overall.htm

This report contains an overall evaluation of the impact of federal LSTA-funded library programs and services.

New Jersey
The New Jersey Foundation for Open Government sponsored a statewide conference entitled "Fulfilling the Promise of Open Records" on Saturday, June 8, 2002. The two participating panels provided different perspectives on the hoped for benefits of the new open records legislation, and how it fits into the larger movement for open and accountable government.

Also in New Jersey, S1236, a bill to provide $50 million in construction and technology funding was released after a unanimous vote of the Senate Education Committee. That is the bill's first hurdle, it still has a long way to go and its next stop will be the Senate Appropriations Committee.