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On June 25, 2013, ARL joined 37 other privacy and civil liberties organizations and companies in a letter urging the US Senate to adhere to a basic set of principles to protect Americans’ privacy when drafting its cybersecurity legislation.

 ltr-cybersecurity-privacy-25jun13.pdf

On June 18, 2013, ARL joined with 33 other organizations in a letter to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board asking them to urge President Obama to order the public disclosure of information about National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance. The letter asks the board to urge disclosure of sufficient information to enable the public to understand the existing legal authorities for national security surveillance of Americans and the Obama administration’s interpretation of their scope, and to permit an informed public debate on government surveillance.

 ltr-to-privacy-civil-liberties-oversight-board-re-surveillance-18june2013.pdf

On June 11, 2013, five major library associations—ARL, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Medical Library Association (MLA), Special Libraries Association (SLA)—sent this letter to the US Senate Committee on Rules & Administration, supporting President Obama's nomination of Davita Vance-Cooks for Public Printer of the United States. The Public Printer oversees the US Government Printing Office (GPO).

 ltr-lib-assns-support-d-vance-cooks-nom-public-printer-11june2013.pdf

The Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and ARL have drafted a proposal in response to the OSTP memo: The SHared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE).

 share-proposal-07june13.pdf

The proposal begins:

Research universities are long-lived and are mission-driven to generate, make accessible, and preserve over time new knowledge and understanding. Research universities collectively have the assets needed for a national solution for enhanced public access to federally funded research output. As the principal producers of the resources that are to be made publicly available under the new White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)[1] memorandum, and that are critical to the continuing success of higher education in the United States, universities have invested in the infrastructure, tools, and services necessary to provide effective and efficient access to their research and scholarship. The new White House directive provides a compelling reason to integrate higher education’s investments to date into a system of cross-institutional digital repositories that will be known as SHared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE)...

Comments and questions about the draft SHARE proposal (PDF) are welcome—please send e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

On May 30, 2013, five major library associations—ARL, American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), American Library Association (ALA), Medical Library Association (MLA), Special Libraries Association (SLA)—sent this letter to the Committee on House Administration, thanking them for rejecting the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) report recommendation that the US Government Printing Office (GPO) charge public user fees for access to government documents via the Federal Digital System (FDsys).

 ltr-library-associations-re-napa-fdsys-proposal-30may2013.pdf

Research Library Issues (RLI) no. 282 includes:

ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011–13
Charles B. Lowry

The State of Large-Publisher Bundles in 2012
Karla L. Strieb and Julia C. Blixrud

Evolving Models of Reference Staffing at the University of Kansas Libraries
Frances Devlin and John Stratton

The ARL Joint Task Force on Services to Patrons with Print Disabilities released this report to bring much-needed attention to the challenges of print-disabled individuals who are seeking access to both print and digital library products and services. The report contains recommendations for research libraries to make information accessible to their full range of diverse users equitably. ARL believes that research libraries are poised to provide critical direction—along with academic leadership, IT, and disability services—on the service and technology planning, procurement, and licensing necessary to create a fully accessible information environment.

RLI issue 281 includes:

• Editor's Note
• Executive Summary
• Print Disabilities, Libraries, and Higher Education
• US and Canadian Disability Policies, Recent Challenges, and US and Canadian Copyright Law
• Research Libraries and Individuals with Print Disabilities
• Universal Design, Inclusive Design, Accessibility, and Usability
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: Model Licensing Language

RLI issue 280 includes:

Open Educational Resources as Learning Materials: Prospects and Strategies for University Libraries
Marilyn S. Billings, Sarah C. Hutton, Jay Schafer, Charles M. Schweik, and Matt Sheridan

E-Book Licensing and Research Libraries--Negotiating Principles and Price in an Emerging Market
Charles B. Lowry and Julia C. Blixrud

Research Library Trends: A Historical Picture of Services, Resources, and Spending
Martha Kyrillidou

The Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the Association of Research Libraries presented a joint statement on expanded public access to data to the National Research Council at the National Academy of Science Forum on May 16, 2013.

 univ-lib-statement-public-access-data-16may13.pdf

The Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the Association of Research Libraries presented a joint statement on expanded public access to publications to the National Research Council at the National Academy of Science Forum on May 14, 2013.

 univ-lib-statement-public-access-publications-14may13.pdf

List of ARL member representatives, speakers, guests, and ARL and CNI staff who attended the 162nd ARL Membership Meeting, in Chapel Hill, NC, May 2013

 mm13sp-attend.pdf

This introduction explains the Institute on Scholarly Communication Opportunity Assessment Instrument.

All participants accepted for the institute’s three-day program development event are encouraged to work with a selected department to complete an opportunity assessment prior to attending the institute.

 isc-workshop-apr2013-assessment-intro.pdf

Second worksheet used in the ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communications workshop, Increasing the Effectiveness of Your Scholarly Communications Program, held in Indianapolis, IN, on April 9-10, 2013. 

isc-workshop-apr2013-handout2.pdf

Worksheet used in the ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communications workshop, Increasing the Effectiveness of Your Scholarly Communications Program, held in Indianapolis, IN, on April 9-10, 2013. 

isc-workshop-apr2013-handout1.pdf

ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2010–2011 presents data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 63 medical libraries at ARL member institutions in the US and Canada.

This publication is available for purchase in both online and print versions. Download the arl-statistics-purchase-options-2013.pdf  for complete pricing and purchase options information.

Link to the online ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2010–2011 on the ARL Digital Publications website.

ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2010–2011 presents data that describe collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 74 law libraries at ARL member institutions in the US and Canada.

This publication is available for purchase in both online and print versions. Download the arl-statistics-purchase-options-2013.pdf  for complete pricing and purchase options information.

Link to the online ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2010–2011 on the ARL Digital Publications website.

On April 17, 2013, the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and Association of Research Libraries (ARL) released this two-page statement by David E. Shulenburger calling on the research university community to provide input to the US Government for increasing access to the results of federally funded research.

 expanded-public-access-a-new-era-with-new-challenges-15apr13.pdf

In this issue, Alexandra Rivera, Jade Alburo, Makiba Foster, Lisa Chow, and Latanya Jenkins reflect on their experiences at the 2012 Joint Conference of Librarians of Color in Kansas City, Missouri.

 synergy-issue-10.pdf

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) commend Edwin Mellen Press’s decision to discontinue its lawsuit against McMaster University and academic librarian Dale Askey. Nevertheless, both associations urge Mr. Richardson, founder and editor of Edwin Mellen Press, to discontinue as well his personal lawsuit against Mr. Askey...

 arl-carl-urge-dropping-of-remaining-lawsuit-against-askey.pdf

While many research libraries have begun to digitize their collections and share best practices around the steps required to create digital content, much less is known about what happens post-launch. Building on previous research by Ithaka S+R that defined key aspects of sustainable digital content, Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries offers a first look at the practices, attitudes, costs, and revenues associated with caring for digitized special collections. The report shares results from a survey conducted on the sustainability of digitized special collections at ARL member institutions.

 digitizing-special-collections-report-21feb13.pdf

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) share a commitment to freedom of opinion and expression of ideas and are strongly opposed to any effort to intimidate individuals in order to suppress information or censor ideas. We further share the belief that a librarian must be able to offer his or her assessment of a publisher’s products or practices free from such intimidation...

 arl-carl-statement-supporting-askey-mcmaster-feb2013-final.pdf

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) decided not to participate in the appeal of the case Cambridge University Press v. Mark Becker as amicus curiae. The case concerns the use at Georgia State University (GSU) of electronic course reserves (e-reserves) and electronic course sites to make excerpts from academic books available online to students enrolled in particular courses. It was widely reported that the US Copyright Office requested that the DOJ file an amicus brief either on the side of the publishers or as a neutral party. On February 22, 2013, the DOJ sent this letter to the court stating that the US Attorney General had decided not to file an amicus brief in the case.

 ltr-doj-re-gsu-ereserves-22feb13.pdf

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is evaluating whether to participate in the appeal of the case Cambridge University Press v. Mark Becker as amicus curiae. The case concerns the use at Georgia State University (GSU) of electronic course reserves (e-reserves) and electronic course sites to make excerpts from academic books available online to students enrolled in particular courses. It was widely reported that the US Copyright Office requested that the DOJ file an amicus brief either on the side of the publishers or as a neutral party. On January 25, 2013, the DOJ requested an extension of the time they have to file an amicus brief.

gsu-extension-motion-usgov-jan2013.pdf

RLI issue 282: Pre-pub of "The State of Large-Publisher Bundles in 2012"

Does the approach of creating a code of best practices, anchored in professional practice, actually work to expand the utility of fair use? What has happened to others who used codes of best practices to gain access to their rights?

This topic is discussed at length in Aufderheide and Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Use (University of Chicago Press, 2011), but some specific examples include:

Does your university offer intellectual property education to incoming students, or have an academic integrity policy that addresses copyright issues? These are important areas where librarians can be of service in offering balanced information about copyright and fair use.

The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries suggests at various points that librarians consider the use of appropriate “technical protection measures” when making digitized materials available on-line, as a way of bolstering their fair use claims. Many libraries already employ such measures as a risk-management strategy.

When teachers bring Stacey, a librarian at a Midwestern private university, their course materials to upload on the university’s e-reserves system, she always checks to make sure that the course material has not been uploaded before—or at least, not in the last three years. If it’s fresh material, and it’s only a small fraction of the original work, she’s pretty sure that uploading it for the students to study could be considered a “fair use.” If it has been uploaded before, she tries to license the material, or have the professor find a substitute that the professor hasn’t used before. She knows that at some universities, e-reserves policies are more liberal, but her institution can’t afford a legal challenge, so she likes to err on the conservative side. After all, you can’t be too careful.

The Fifth Principle in the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries is entitled "Reproducing material for use by disabled students, faculty, staff, and other appropriate users." It describes in some detail the circumstances in which making and providing copies of collection materials in formats that are accessible to persons with disabilities constitutes fair use, as well as certain limitations to which that general principle is subject.