Thursday, December 11, 2003
The AALL Fair Business Practice Guide
This is the second in a series of ten announcement explaining and discussing The AALL Guide To Fair Business Practices For Legal Publishers, provided by the AALL Fair Business Implementation Task Force.
The guide was designed with the purpose of fostering good business practices on the part of publishers by encouraging five basic principles:
- Principle 1: Truthful and Accurate Communication
Publishers should engage in truthful and accurate communication with their customers or potential customers.
- Principle 2: Disclosure
Publishers should provide full disclosure about their products, services, prices and transactions.
- Principle 3: Fair Dealing
Publishers should engage in fair dealings with their customers.
- Principle 4: Customer Satisfaction
Publishers should seek to ensure customer satisfaction by honoring representations, answering questions, and resolving complaints and disputes in a timely and responsive manner.
- Principle 5: Product Quality
Publishers should create products that are capable of withstanding reasonable use by customers.
The task force encourages you to take time to become familiar with these five basic principles. The next announcement will briefly discuss Principle 1: Truthful and Accurate Communication.
For more information, consult your paper copy of the guide or view the electronic version.
Submitted by The AALL Fair Business Implementation Task Force
Kay Todd
Michael Beaird
Kamla Hedges
Judy Lauer
Linda McLane
James Mumm
Government Relations Committee Seeks Nominees for PAGI Award
The Government Relations Committee is currently soliciting nominations for the 2004 Public Access to Government Information Award. Established in 1999, this award honors significant contributions by people or organizations involved in the protection and promotion of greater public access to government information. Recipients need not be law librarians or members of AALL.
Previous PAGI award winners are Georgia Government Publications jointly with the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall (2003), FirstGov (2002), Thomas (2000), and GPO Access (1999).
Selection criteria include:
- a contribution that significantly improves public access to government information, thereby increasing the public’s knowledge about the workings of government;
- the extent to which the individual or organization has had a positive impact on protecting and promoting public access to governmental information; and
- the extent to which the effort advances the AALL mission and Government Relations Policy.
Though nominations are solicited annually, there is no requirement that the award be given every year.
The award is jointly administered by the Government Relations and Awards Committees. The Government Relations Committee advertises the award, solicits and reviews nominations, and recommends two to four nominees for consideration by the Awards Committee. The Awards Committee makes the final decision from the nominees presented and notifies the winner. All nominations are considered on an individual basis with complete confidentiality and according to the criteria mentioned previously.
Nominations must be submitted no later than February 2, 2004 to Government Relations Committee Chair, Elizabeth LeDoux, Covington & Burling, 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 2004-2401, or by e-mail to eledoux@cov.com.
IMLS Invites Proposals For Librarians For The 21st Century Awards
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has issued new guidelines for its Librarians for the 21st Century program. The program was initiated in 2003 with an appropriation of $10 million. President Bush has requested $20 million for this program for FY 2004.
With the increase in appropriations, IMLS has added additional priorities for funding for Librarians for the 21st Century in 2004. In addition to scholarships for masters and doctoral-level students, IMLS has established a new priority to build the institutional capacity of graduate schools of library and information science through curriculum development in critical areas, including digital library science, research methods, and leadership. Award amounts range from $50,000 to $1 million. One-to-one cost sharing for requests other than for student support and research projects is required.
The deadline for applications is January 15, 2004. Awards will be announced in mid-July. For more information, contact Program Officer Stephanie Clark at sclark@imls.gov.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent Federal grant-making agency that supports the nation's 15,000 museums and 122,000 libraries.
Sincerely,
Susan E. Fox, CAE
Executive Director