From the Washington Post:
Congress has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to ease secrecy rules at the Transportation Security Administration, helping families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks who have sued to unearth security practices before then.
A $34.8 billion homeland security spending bill signed by President Bush last week requires the department to [...]
Archive of entries posted on November 2006
TSA Secrecy Rules Eased
Section 108 Study Group – Public Roundtable Announced for January 31, 2007, in Chicago
The Section 108 Study Group will host a public roundtable on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, in Chicago, Illinois (exact time and location to be announced). Exceptions in the Copyright Act applicable to libraries and archives will be discussed at the roundtable, specifically those pertaining to the making and distribution of copies of copyrighted works pursuant [...]
EPA Region 5 Document Giveaways
And the dismantling continues. Posted to STS-L:
Visit http://epa.gov/region5/library/dispersal to view and request giveaways of U.S. EPA documents from the Region 5 EPA collection . When you get to the page use the userid and password listed below. You will be notified when more boxes of EPA items are added.
id = epalibrary
password = metcalfe
For more [...]
ALA’s Sheketoff: New Congress Should Be Good for Libraries
From Library Journal:
The new Congress elected Tuesday—with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and a possible majority in the Senate—should bode well for libraries, according to Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington Office. “I think it’s going to be a very exciting time in Washington,” she told LJ. [...]
FOIA Legislation On Senate Secret Hold
Misblog reports a secret hold on new FOIS legislation:
Recently, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) improvement legislation was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. However the needed legislation, “Open Government Act”, is stalled by what some think is a “secret hold”.
Study Identifies Factors That Could Lead to Cancelled Subscriptions
From the Publishing Research Consortium:
A major study of librarian purchasing preferences has shown that librarians will show a strong inclination towards the acquisition of Open Access (OA) materials as they discover that more and more learned material has become available in institutional repositories. The study, which took the form of conjoint and attitudinal surveys, shows [...]
U.K. Government set to dilute freedom of information
From Information World Review:
The [U.K.] government has confirmed it is “minded to” introduce reforms to freedom of information legislation, which campaigners believe would curb the release of politically sensitive and controversial documents.
Half of RCUKs opt for open access model
From Information World Review:
Research papers sponsored by four RCUKs will be made available on an open access model. These are the Economic and Social Research Council, Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council, Medical Research Council and Natural Environment Research Council.
Universities move to hide work from U.S. eyes
From the Globe & Mail:
Concerned about the U.S. government’s prying eyes, a number of Canadian universities are changing the way their professors and students conduct online research.
Many university libraries subscribe to RefWorks, a popular U.S.-based Internet tool that allows academics and students to create personal accounts and store research information, as well as generate citations [...]
Reporters Without Borders List of the 13 Internet enemies in 2006 published
From Reporters Without Borders:
Three countries – Nepal, Maldives and Libya – have been removed from the annual list of Internet enemies, which Reporters Without Borders publishes today. But many bloggers were harassed and imprisoned this year in Egypt, so it has been added to the roll of shame reserved for countries that systematically violate online [...]