News

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.

ARL Diversity Scholars 2011-2013, photo by Holly KuperARL is now accepting applications for the ARL/Music Library Association (MLA) Diversity and Inclusion Initiative (ARL/MLA DII). This scholarship program, funded by a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and by ARL member libraries, offers minority candidates an opportunity to pursue the master’s in library and information science (MLIS) degree while gaining valuable “hands-on” experience in a large academic music library environment. The initiative’s goal is to increase the number of underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities within academic music librarianship by providing support for the graduate education and the practical experience critical for successful entrance into the profession.

In this webcast to be held Tuesday, March 5, 1:00–2:00 p.m. EST, Martha Kyrillidou and Shaneka Morris of ARL’s Statistics and Assessment program will describe how to effectively use data from the ARL Annual Salary Survey to promote higher salaries for library professionals.

Boston College, Burns LibraryARL Executive Director Elliott Shore has embarked on a "listening tour" of ARL member libraries. This is the second in a series of informal reports from his visits.

I continue to visit ARL member libraries to meet and talk with staff and directors. During the first week of February, I had the pleasure of visiting the five ARL libraries that are located in the Boston area: Boston College, Boston Public, Boston University, Harvard, and MIT. I was able to spend at least half a day at each institution, meeting with all five directors as well as AULs at each library.

image © John SchniebelRegistration is now open for a workshop on library value, to be hosted by ARL on Monday, July 1, 2013, in conjunction with the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago. Megan Oakleaf, associate professor in the iSchool at Syracuse University, will lead the half-day event, “Library Value: Conceptualizing, Capturing & Communicating Impact.”

image © Tom Lohdan Today, the Obama administration issued a historic Policy Memorandum that opens up access to the results of publicly funded research. ARL applauds the Obama administration for this critically important action. The memorandum calls upon federal agencies with annual research and development budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with free and unlimited online access to the results of that research.