Newsgroups: bit.listserv.govdoc-l
Date:         Thu, 9 Apr 1992 17:21:57 EDT
From:         "McKinzie, Steven" <MCKINZIE@DICKINSN.BITNET>
Subject:      Gov-Line Report:

--------------------------- Begin Forwarded Message --------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 92 15:54:15 cdt
X-Warning: Message delivered by node other than sender's node,
X-Warning: Expected PSUVM.PSU.EDU rather than PSUVM.BITNET
From: "Susan LewisSomers" <lewsom@CASBAH.ACNS.NWU.EDU>
Subject: Gov-Line Report
To:   govdoc-l@PSUVM.PSU.EDU,
      law-lib@UCDAVIS.EDU
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL8]




                          AALL GOV-LINE
                             REPORT
No. 7                                            April 6, 1992

       Produced by the AALL Government Relations Committee
            Written and Edited by Susan Lewis-Somers

     The Government Relations Committee of the American
Association of Law Libraries produces Gov-Line, a recorded
telephone hotline that reports the latest news from Washington
and the states on issues of interest to law librarians, and the
AALL Gov-Line Report, its print companion.  Issues and
institutions covered include federal information policy, Library
of Congress, the U.S. Judicial Conference, state affairs and many
other issues.  A new issue of Gov-Line and the AALL Gov-Line
Report is published every few weeks when Congress is in session.
The Government Relations Committee publishes the AALL Gov-Line
Report on several online discussion groups of interest to
librarians, including this one.  In addition, anyone may call
Gov-Line at (312) 939-7774.  For further information about any of
the issues discussed in Gov-Line or the AALL Gov-Line Report, you
may contact Bob Oakley, AALL's Washington Representative, at
(202) 662-9160 or through Bitnet at ROAKLEY@GUVAX.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

     BILL TO DENY COPYRIGHT PROTECTION FOR LEGAL CITATIONS
INTRODUCED IN HOUSE:  On March 11, Representative Barney Frank,
Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced a bill in the House of
Representatives that would amend federal copyright law to place
legal citation information in the public domain.  The proposal
would preclude copyright protection for volume, page, title and
section numbers and other information commonly used to identify
federal and state cases, statutes and regulations.  Under H.R.
4426 such common citation information would become part of the
public domain, regardless of who had initially assigned the
numbers to federal and state cases, statutes and regulations.
Thus, it would allow competing publishers and others to reproduce
the volume, page, title and section numbers.  H.R. 4426 was sent
to the House Judiciary Committee.

     PRESIDENT'S RESPONSE TO WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE
RECOMMENDATIONS CONTAINS NO NEW INITIATIVES:  On March 6,
President Bush issued his response to the recommendations
contained in last summer's White House Conference on Library and
Information Services (WHCLIS) summary report, "Information 2000:
Library and Information Services for the 21st Century."  The
WHCLIS recommendations call for federal action to support
libraries, youth literacy programs and other policy initiatives
supported by the library community.  While his statement
expressed support for many of the goals outlined in the WHCLIS
report, he did not commit his administration to any new
legislative or executive initiatives to further the
recommendations.  Instead, he referred to his administration's
existing education proposals and exhorted the Congress to
"consider [the WHCLIS recommendations] in any future
deliberations regarding literacy and library and information
services."  Those wishing a copy of the President's response may
contact the WHCLIS staff at (202) 254-3100.  The WHCLIS summary
report has been sent to all federal depository libraries (SuDoc
no. Y3.W 58/20:2 In 3/sum) and is available from the Government
Printing Office for $6.00 (stock no. 040-000-00564-1).

     GPO STRATEGIC PLAN ("GPO/2000") AVAILABLE FROM GPO:  The
strategic plan released by the Government Printing Office in
January, "GPO/2000: Vision for a New Millenium," is available for
sale from the GPO for $2.75 (stock no. 021-000-00151-1).
"GPO/2000" proposes to revolutionize GPO operations in the coming
century through the dissemination of electronic government
documents to depository libraries through a satellite network,
among other things.  The report can also be found at most federal
depository libraries (SuDoc no. GP1.2:V82).

     BILL TO INCLUDE ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT RECORDS IN FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT INTRODUCED:  Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat to
Vermont, introduced a bill on November 7, 1991 that would amend
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to include public access to
electronic government records for the first time.  The Electronic
Freedom of Information Improvement Act of 1991, S. 1940, would
define the term "record" to include "data, computer programs,
machine readable materials, and computerized, digitized, and
electronic information, regardless of the medium by which it is
stored," in addition to the paper records that the FOIA has more
traditionally covered.  It would also require a federal agency to
provide the requested government records "in any form in which
such records are maintained by that agency as requested by any
person," including in an electronic format.  S. 1940 would even
require an agency to "make reasonable efforts to provide records
in an electronic form...even where such records are not usually
maintained in such form."  In addition, a federal agency "search"
for records requested by a member of the public would include,
for the first time, "a manual or automated examination to locate
records."  Where information had been deleted from an electronic
record being released, S. 1940 would require that such a deletion
be indicated on the released record at the place where the
deleted material had been.  Finally, the bill would require each
federal agency to publish an index of all information it stores
electronically, as well as descriptions of any new agency
databases.  S. 1940 and a related bill that would amend the FOIA
to narrow the reasons that an agency could claim that a record
was exempt from public disclosure, S. 1939, were sent to the
Senate Judiciary Committee.

     NEW FAIR USE AMENDMENT TO COPYRIGHT ACT INTRODUCED:  On
March 12, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts,
Intellectual Property and the Administration of Justice approved
a bill introduced the previous week by Democratic Representative
William Hughes of New Jersey that would amend federal copyright
law relating to the fair use of unpublished copyrighted works,
such as manuscripts.  H.R. 4412 would direct courts to consider
the fact that a work is unpublished as only one of several
factors to weigh in making fair use determinations.  This would
reverse a trend in some courts to deny any right of fair use of
copyrighted material where that material is unpublished.  Hughes
had introduced a broader copyright bill with a similar fair use
provision during the 1991 session.  However, the fair use
provision of that bill, H.R. 2372, the Copyright Amendments Act
of 1991, did not emerge in the final bill passed by the House on
November 25.  Thus, the newer bill revives the lost fair use
amendment.  This expansion of the fair use doctrine could benefit
writers, particularly biographers, who wish to quote passages
from their subjects' manuscripts.  The Senate passed a companion
fair use bill, S. 1035, on September 27, 1991.

---------------------------- End Forwarded Message ---------------------------
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU