Letter

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

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

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 nearly 3000 undersigned national, state, and local organizations—representing the hundreds of millions of Americans who support and benefit from nondefense discretionary (NDD) programs—strongly urge a balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not include further cuts to NDD programs, which have already done their part to reduce the deficit.

ndd-letter-12july2012.pdf

Letter in support of the comments filed by Public.resources.org concerning "Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities."

ltsunsteinibr-30apr12.pdf

We the undersigned organizations urge you to vote "no" on H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA). We are gravely concerned that this bill will allow companies that hold very sensitive and personal information to liberally share it with the government, which could then use the information without meaningful oversight for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity.

aclu-coalition-cispa-16apr2012.pdf