New at Imaging Services:
All Digital Microform Machines . . .

One of the new computers screens for the new microform readers

With support received from the State of New Jersey's Equipment Leasing Fund (ELF), Imaging Services has purchased and installed fourteen new digital Canon MS 800 Microfilm Scanners and printers which are up and ready for use in for Summer 2002.

These new scanners are light years ahead of the equipment that they have replaced. They allow patrons to print documents on 8 ½ x 11" and 11 x 17" paper. Also, patrons will be able to e-mail documents directly from the scanners to their home computers or to their professors during the Fall 2002 semester; currently users can save their scanned documents on a CD or computer diskette. Each new machine is equipped with a PC and easy-to-understand online instructions.

The Imaging Centers at Alexander Library, Dana Library, and the Library of Science and Medicine sell diskettes and CDs for the convenience of our patrons for $2 each. The access services departments at most libraries in New Brunswick, and Robeson Library will also be selling diskettes and CDs.

The new machines are now up and running in the following libraries:

• 3 at Alexander Library
• 4 at Dana Library
• 1 at Douglass Library
• 2 at Kilmer Library
• 1 at the Library of Science and Medicine
• 3 at Robeson Library

Congratulations to Imaging Services for implementing this important service enhancement.

ALA applauds court ruling on
Children's Internet Protection Act

The American Library Association (ALA) applauded the decision of the federal court in Philadelphia on May 31st, which ruled unanimously that the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is unconstitutional. The three-judge panel held that CIPA is unconstitutional because the mandated use of blocking technology on all computers will result in blocked access to substantial amounts of constitutionally protected speech. The Court found that filters both overblock (block access to protected speech) and underblock (allow access to illegal or unconstitutional speech).

The Court permanently enjoined the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Library Services Technology Act (LSTA) from withholding funds from public libraries that have chosen not to install blocking technology on all Internet-ready terminals. As a result, public libraries are not required to install filters on their computers in order to receive funds from either agency.

"Filters are not the only-or the best-way to protect children," said ALA President John W. Berry. "Filters provide a false sense of security that children are protected when they are not. The issue of protecting children online is complex, and it requires complex solutions with parents, librarians and community members working together."

The Court held that less restrictive alternatives exist to allow public libraries to protect children. The Court found that public libraries can-and indeed that many do-use the following less restrictive alternatives: (1) filters offered as a choice for families to use for their own children at the public library; (2) education and Internet training courses; (3) enforcement of Internet use policies by library staff; and (4) placement of terminals, use of privacy screens or utilization of recessed monitors.

Throughout the trial, every technical witness on both sides of the issue testified to the unreliability of Internet filtering software-and how it often denies access to relevant information for adults and children alike, while failing to block objectionable material for minors.

This conclusion was supported by a May 2002 report from the National Research Council, which reiterated many findings from an October 2000 Commission on Child Online Protection (COPA) report, also commissioned by Congress. Both studies found that the most effective and least intrusive way to protect our children from objectionable material on the Internet is through online information resources and family education programs.

"We are very pleased with the decision," said Judith F. Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. "If CIPA had remained law, libraries in economically disadvantaged urban and rural areas would have been forced to use their already scarce resources to install expensive and unreliable filtering software, or be stripped of important financial assistance that they need to provide online access to all users."

Any appeal of the decision would go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

For more information on the Children's Internet Protection Act, please visit:

http://www.ala.org/cipa.
The judges' ruling can be found at http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/02D0415P.HTM.
The National Research Council report can be found at: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309082749/html/

University Librarian's Cabinet
Meeting Minutes - May 28, 2002

Present: Agnew, Boyle, Fultz, Gaunt, Golden, Mullins, Puniello, Soong, Toyama
Absent: Sewell

University Librarian’s Report – Gaunt

• Spoke at the Ninth Annual Collection Development Symposium, Digital Rights: Authorship, Ownership and Partnership, sponsored by the University of Minnesota Libraries and MINITEX Library Information Network on May 20, 2002. Other speakers were Kenneth D. Crews and Warren Adler. Topic covered was developing partnerships for digital projects.
• Attended the 140th Association of Research Libraries Membership Meeting in Santa Monica, California May 22-24, 2002 on Building Capacities: New Strategies for Fund Raising & Recruitment. Distributed handout from Dr. Judith Nichols, a demographer and consultant in philanthropy for non-profits, who addressed the differences in the generations, their behaviors and preferences, and the meaning of these differences for recruiting and retention, and for fund raising.
• The ARL Copyright Working Group to become a committee within ARL. ARL’s copyright and scholarly communication strategies will be linked to theme of open access.
• Several ARL member libraries (a subset of the working group) launched a Scholars Portal Project in collaboration with ARL and Fretwell-Downing, Inc. The Scholars Portal Project’s final report summarizes the work of the Scholars Portal Working Group from its inception, including the group’s sense of key portal features and functionality. The report concludes with a recommendation to the ARL Board to discharge the Scholars Portal Working Group and replace it with a new ARL Working Group on Portal Applications.

Budget Update – Gaunt/Soong

• Discussed possible tuition increase, which will not be announced by the University until late June.
• Cabinet members should submit unit impact statements to Gaunt/Soong; meetings will be held to discuss priorities and possible exemptions from Dr. Seneca for certain positions.

The Digital Infrastructure Working Group - Agnew

• Agnew discussed the RUL Digital Infrastructure Working Group. Objectives for the group would be to promote a stable, secure distributed server/data infrastructure by developing required minimum standards for data storage, backup and data integrity verification and management; promote robust, durable, interoperable digital and analog collections; promote interoperability across collections and presentation platforms (IRIS and Luna) to create a seamless hybrid library infrastructure; promote sustainability through an infrastructure that supports the lifecycle of digital collections and projects – from development to ongoing management; promote scalability, sustainability an interoperability by developing data mining and ingest capabilities to support automated import of metadata from academic departments, partners outside Rutgers University and from each separate database within RU; develop export in Dublin Core (XML for OAI) and MARC to support sharing metadata with other initiatives and to support automatic ingest of metadata into Luna and IRIS, as well as automatic export of data to other archives via OAI; develop a METS structure map to link descriptive preservation and rights metadata, as well as structuring complex objects for standardized search and access. Ron Jantz and Ann Montanaro will co-chair. Agnew is seeking input from Cabinet members for representation from all campuses. Objectives will be revised to include public services.

Report from the ITCC Committee Meeting - Agnew

• Agnew reported on the first meeting of the Information Technology Coordinating Committee (ITCC). The primary responsibility of the ITCC will be to provide advice and counsel to the President’s Cabinet on matters related to the efficient exploitation of IT and Rutgers’ network infrastructure to enhance academic and administrative productivity and quality of life, and to control costs. The University is committed to RUNet 2000 with a two-year timeframe for completion; discussed the mission of RUCS; there will be changes in how email is handled; by September POP3 will be dropped and only IMAP will be supported.

Public Services Policy Updates – Boyle

• “PSPM 1: Access to Library Resources and Services” was updated to include “Use of Library Facilities for Television Viewing” and was approved by Cabinet.
• “PSPM 9: Communications” was updated to include “Electronic Mailing Lists” and was approved by Cabinet.

Announcements

Mullins:

• Working with Agnew on an NEH grant to preserve through digitization Institute of Jazz Studies oral history tapes.

Boyle:

• Web document delivery has been postponed until later this summer.
• Real Time Reference pilot project report indicated that users were very satisfied.

Agnew:

• Attended a meeting with the PC Working Group. The group will assume responsibility for more efficiently replacing computers system wide. At a future Cabinet meeting, Agnew will provide a list of inventoried computers.

Soong:

• An online form for reporting library statistics in the new fiscal year to help eliminate paperwork is in the final stages of development. A number of people are involved in testing.
• The RIAS Procure-To-Pay system is scheduled for July 8, 2002 implementation.

Evolving Federal Laws
We Should Watch

The following information was excerpted from the May 20th issue of the Association of College and Research Libraries' online newsletter, Legistlative Update.

Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act

• The Senate passed the TEACH Act (S. 487) in June 2001.
• Under the current provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, instructors may perform or display copyrighted materials in a classroom without securing permission from the copyright owner. The law does not accommodate online distance education.
• S. 487 includes changes in the copyright law that were recommended by the U.S. Copyright Office. S. 487 expands the categories and conditions for use of copyrighted material in distance education in ways that also protect the interests of copyright owners.
• The TEACH Act has strong bipartisan support in both houses and the support of educational groups, libraries, and many content providers, but the bill has stalled in the House Judiciary Committee. Action Needed: Contact members of the House Judiciary Committee (http://www.house.gov/judiciary/members.htm) and urge immediate vote and referral to the full House for a vote.

* * For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/disted.html.

E-Government Act

• The E-Government Act, S. 803, was introduced on May 1, 2001, by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and a hearing was held on July 11, 2001. The House version of this bill is H.R. 2458.
• The purpose of the bill is to enhance the management and promotion of electronic government services and processes by establishing a federal chief information officer within the Office of Management and Budget, and by establishing a broad framework of measures that require using Internet-based information technology to enhance citizen access to government information and services, and for other purposes.
• The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee marked up a revised version (which includes some input from ALA) of S. 803 on March 21. The mark up went smoothly and the committee reported the bill favorably.
• ALA is pleased to see comprehensive legislation that specifically recognizes the public's information needs. Action Needed: Encourage your senators to contact Lieberman and to consider cosponsoring the bill. Encourage your senators to support the bill as it moves to the floor of the Senate. To cosponsor the bill, Senatorial staff may contact Kevin Landy in Lieberman's office at (202) 224-7194.

* * For more information on the E-Government Act, visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/governmentinfo.html.

Database Protection Legislation

• Efforts to pass legislation on database protection that is detrimental to libraries will continue in the 107th Congress. Many databases are protected by copyright law because of the creative way that the information in them is selected, coordinated, and arranged. But some commercial database producers want additional assurances of protection for their works.
• ALA believes that current laws are more than adequate to protect the interests of database producers. ALA is opposed to any bill that does not allow fair use of databases, that allows a producer unprecedented control over use of information, that protects facts, that allows for monopolistic pricing, or that hinders researchers and educators by not allowing access to information and facts.
• The chairs of the House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce Committees have agreed on the framework of a bill to provide broad protection for commercial databases. The committee chairs acknowledge they have not figured out how to deal with universities, libraries, and Internet service providers who have all requested certain exemptions in the law.
• The ALA Washington Office has participated in these negotiations throughout the past year. They expect that introduction of this bill is possible at any time.

* * For more information, visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/database.html.

Staff Member Receives
NJ Service Medal

We are pleased to salute Chemistry Library branch manager Peter Anderson, who received a Vietnam Service Medal from the State of New Jersey's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs in May.

Peter received the award from Brigadier Glenn K. Rieth, the Adjutant General of New Jersey, at a public ceremony at the New Jersey Vietnam Memorial in Holmdel. Peter served in Vietnam for 15 months, from 1967 - 1968, during and after the Tet Offensive.

Congratulations to Peter on receiving this important recognition. Especially at this time, we humbly thank you for your service to our country.

	2nd Online Issue! May 19, 2002 The Agenda Archive

Contributors for this issue were Lara Clark (ALA), Donna Cryan, Janie Fultz, and Paige Wasson (ALA). Contributions for future issues of The Agenda should be sent to Harry Glazer, editor of The Agenda, at hglazer@rci.rutgers.edu.