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Law Librarians of New England

a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries

Committees
Government Relations Committee

Members
Introduction
Purpose
Membership
Charge
State Legislative Websites
AALL and Government Relations

Introduction

Legislative and government policies at the state and federal levels directly affect all law librarians working in the state and the way all law librarians work together.  Keeping ourselves informed about legislative and other government information policies will enable us to better understand common trends and issues and their affect on our ability to meet users’ information needs and to assist our professional organization to actively participate in setting the information agenda for the entire United States.

Purpose

The Committee on Government Relations is established to monitor legislative and other governmental  developments affecting libraries and information and to regularly report on these developments to the members of the Law Librarians of New England and the Government Relations Committee of the American Association of Law Libraries.

Membership

The Committee on Government Relations is composed of one representative from each state in the region covered by the Law Librarians of New England and any member of the AALL Government Relations Committee coming from this region.  The AALL Government Relations Committee representative may also represent one of the states in the region.  Members should be able to access current legislative and government information for their respective states.

Charge

The Committee on Government Relations will accomplish the following:

• Monitor state legislative and governmental developments in relating to libraries and information.  These developments may include, but are not limited to:

Government Information Policy:  Dissemination of Government Information, Freedom of Information, Privacy

State Depository Library Programs

Intellectual Property: Copyright,  Public Domain Status of Government Publications

Intellectual Freedom: Censorship, Privacy of Library Users

• Report to the Law Librarians of New England membership and to the AALL Government Relations Committee on such legislative and governmental developments.  Some examples of reports include:

 
Reports at chapter meetings
Reports published in LLNE News
Reports on LLNE Listserv as appropriate
Reports presented at the AALL Annual Meeting Legislative Update


• Identify and contact when appropriate other groups monitoring state information policies, including especially other library organizations.

• Present testimony or position papers only after obtaining the approval of the AALL Government Relations Committee and the LLNE Executive Board.

AALL and Government Relations

The Washington Affairs Office of AALL as made it’s State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources available in pdf.  This report examines the results of a state-by-state survey that investigated whether government resources on the Internet are official and capable of being considered authentic.

Also available from the AALL Government Relations Committee and the Washington Affairs Office is the 2003 State-by-State Report on Permanent Public Access to Electronic Government Information.

Members of the Committee on Government Relations