From The Oregonian:
Jackson County voters rejected a new property tax that would have reopened their libraries, as voters in four other timber counties soundly turned back similar tax increases Tuesday.
The 15 library branches in Jackson County were closed last month to address a budget shortfall. The levy, defeated 59 percent to 41 percent, would have [...]
Archive of entries posted on May 2007
Voters reject tax levies in 5 timber counties
Diplomats agree to transfer Nazi archive
From Yahoo! News:
Diplomats from 11 countries agreed Tuesday to bypass legal obstacles and begin distributing electronic copies of documents from a secretive Nazi archive, making them available to Holocaust researchers for the first time in more than a half century.
The decision was meant to avoid further delays in allowing Holocaust survivors to find their own [...]
Increasing Access to Presidential Records
Organization of American Historians May 2007 Newsletter column by Allen Weinstein:
In this issue I would like to report on some recent developments in policy and mood that offer encouragement to those concerned with maximizing timely access to public records. Along with the House of Representatives’ action earlier this year on a range of recently debated [...]
U.S. ISPs slam into wiretap deadline
From the Washington Post:
U.S. broadband and VOIP providers on Monday hit a deadline to prove they could accommodate law-enforcement wiretaps.
The Federal Communications Commission in 2005 required broadband Internet service providers (ISPs) and VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) carriers that connect to the public telephone network to comply with a wiretap access law. Under the Communications [...]
In UK – Select Committee calls for copyright extension
From Computeract!ve:
Consumers should be allowed to copy music or movies they have bought for personal use within their own homes without being penalised, a report from the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has said.
In the report published today it said this right should include the freedom to copy to portable gadgets [...]
The Plot Against the First Amendment
From Harper’s Magazine:
In June, a case is slated to go to trial in Northern Virginia that will mark a first step in a plan to silence press coverage of essential national security issues. The plan was hatched by Alberto Gonzales and his deputy, Paul J. McNulty—the two figures at the center of a growing scandal [...]
ALA Federal Libraries Wiki
From the ALA Washington Office:
This Federal Libraries wiki has been established out of a growing need to track and share information across a broad coalition of organizations and individuals on threatened federal libraries.
This wiki is currently without content, but ALA Washington Office staff will be working with members to make it into a valued resource [...]
Central German information platform on open access launched
From the BioMed Central blog:
Researchers in Germany can now go to a central DFG-supported website to find information on open access-related issues, ranging from publication strategies and legal aspects to the relevant policies of research institutions such as Max Planck Society and Helmholtz Association. The platform, jointly operated by four leading German universities, offers advice [...]
Meeting Weighs Opening Nazi Archive
From Yahoo! News:
As the Third Reich headed to defeat in World War II, the Germans burned millions of records to cover up history’s worst genocide. But the fraction that survived was enough to make up the largest Nazi archive in existence.
This week, efforts to lift the 52-year-old blanket of secrecy from this historical treasure are [...]
NH High Court Upholds Strict Timelines In Public Records Case
From WMUR New Hampshire:
In a mixed ruling Friday, the state Supreme Court upheld a strict timeline for government agencies to respond to requests for public records but denied attorney’s fees to the group that sued for the documents.
The ruling came in a lawsuit by a nonprofit watchdog group over the state Department of Resources and [...]