ARL News

LibQUAL+ will award up to three institutions in-kind grants to participate in the 2014 LibQUAL+ survey, with a goal of offering one grant for every 50 libraries registered. This will be the ninth year LibQUAL+ has sponsored an in-kind grant program. There are two application deadlines for the 2014 grant program: June 14, 2013, and December 13, 2013. (The early deadline allows the LibQUAL+ team to plan for translations in new languages with an adequate planning cycle.)

University of Chicago, Mansueto LibraryARL executive director Elliott Shore has embarked on a "listening tour" of ARL member libraries. This is the third in a series of informal reports from his visits.

The latest stop on my listening tour of ARL members was Chicago, where I visited four institutions during the week of March 11. This trip was organized by 2011–12 ARL Research Library Leadership Fellow (RLLF) Marianne Ryan of Northwestern University Library. At each institution, I met with the professional staff and director—Bernie Reilly at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), Mary Case at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Judi Nadler at University of Chicago (UChicago), and Sarah Pritchard at Northwestern University. While I was in Chicago, I also met with the executive directors of ALA and ACRL, Keith Fiels and Mary Ellen Davis.

image © Chrystal Parsons

In "The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Decision in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley on Libraries" (PDF), Jonathan Band explains the recent copyright decision on the scope of the "first sale" doctrine, its context, and its likely consequences for libraries in the US. In short, the Supreme Court's opinion is a landmark victory that strengthens the legal foundation of library lending, and the Court's extensive reliance on the Library Copyright Alliance's amicus brief shows the importance of library engagement in policy debates. Continued vigilance will be necessary, Band explains, as rights holders disappointed with the Court's majority opinion could go to Congress for a change to the law.

ARL has released ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2010–2011, which presents data describing collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 63 health sciences libraries at ARL member institutions in the US and Canada.

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

image © Chrystal ParsonsToday the US Supreme Court announced its much-anticipated decision in Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, a lawsuit regarding the bedrock principle of the “first sale doctrine.” The 6-3 opinion is a total victory for libraries and our users. It vindicates the foundational principle of the first sale doctrine—if you bought it, you own it. All who believe in that principle, and the certainty it provides to libraries and many other parts of our culture and economy, should join us in applauding the Court for correcting the legal ambiguity that led to this case in the first place. It is especially gratifying that Justice Breyer’s majority opinion focused on the considerable harm that the Second Circuit’s opinion would have caused libraries.

ARL has issued a call for participation in the third Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Initiative cohort. The year-long initiative will engage a small number of research libraries in a systematic way to consider the benefits of applying a locally developed library scorecard. Libraries with a keen interest in continuous improvement and strategic assessment are invited to apply.

Dale Askey's
Bibliobrary blogARL 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.

image © David Paul OhmerARL and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) are pleased to announce the participants in the 2013 Service Quality Evaluation Academy, to be held March 11–15 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The academy is an intensive five-day program cosponsored by ARL and CARL that focuses on introductory qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting and analyzing library service quality data. It is designed for librarians across library types and organizational structures who have a strong commitment to service quality assessment efforts. A talented group of colleagues are in the 2013 class:

The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) today filed reply comments (PDF) with the US Copyright Office in response to the office’s October 22, 2012, Notice of Inquiry (NOI) about the current state of play with orphan works and mass digitization.