Advocacy

AALL Assumes National Leadership on Digital Authentication Issues

How trustworthy are online versions of primary legal resources at the state level? In 2006, the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee (AELIC) completed a 50-state survey on the official status and authentication of six categories of legal resources, which it conducted at the request of then-President Claire Germain. The results of that survey were published by AALL in March 2007 as the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources. The 250-page report is available in print, with copies available for purchase via AALLNET. The report outlines the current situation for each state in regard to state administrative codes and registers, state statutes and session laws, and state high and intermediate appellate court opinions.

Many states are discontinuing the print versions of such sources, especially administrative materials, and substituting online versions that are neither official nor authenticated. The published survey results show that the digital sources aren't really an adequate replacement. Only a few states have deemed the online versions of their resources as "official." No state has online versions of its primary legal sources that are "authentic" (that is, complete and unaltered, possibly bearing a digital signature or certified by some other encryption-based method). Law librarians are well aware of the problems, both current and future, caused by this situation.

To follow up on the findings in the report, President Sally Holterhoff proposed that during 2006-2007 AALL organize and host a high-level, invitation-only meeting of interested stakeholders to discuss possible legal and technological solutions to issues of authentication and official status. The AALL Executive Board approved a funding request for AALL to be the sole sponsor of such an event. A planning committee was formed, and after seven months of work, AALL's National Summit on Authentic Legal Information in the Digital Age took place on April 20-21, 2007, in Chicago.

A carefully-selected group of 50 summit delegates included leaders from the judiciary and the legal community, from state governments, and from interested organizations and associations (including AALL). All the delegates took an active role in discussing various aspects of the authentication issue, exploring possible solutions, and proposing ways to carry the work forward after the summit. Many of them expressed their appreciation of the leadership role that AALL took by sponsoring such an event and our foresight in identifying the authentication issue.

Since the summit, AALL has created a webpage as a source for information about progress on authentication issues. At the 2007 AALL Annual Meeting, a program featuring one of the outside delegates to the summit, D.C. Superior Court Judge Herbert Dixon, Jr., provided attendees with an update on the summit and authentication issues. Also participating in that program ("AELIC's Survey on Authentication of Government Information: A Year Later and Still Challenging") were Tim Coggins, Mary Alice Baish, and Sally Holterhoff, all of whom were summit delegates.

Work on the authentication issue continues, both by AALL members and by some of our outside delegates. We have positioned AALL as the leader on this important legal issue.

Washington Affairs Office

• The Washington Affairs Office issued the inaugural issue of The AALL Washington E-Bulletin in August 2006. The E-Bulletin is distributed via the AALL Advocacy discussion list and posted to the Washington Office website. Each issue covers current action alerts, updates on the recent activities of the Washington Office, news from AALL chapters, and a section of interesting reading material.
• AALL took a lead role in advocating for the closed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) libraries. The Washington Affairs Office met with EPA administrators in April 2006 to learn how the closings would affect public access to important environmental collections and data sets. AALL also signed on to the American Library Association's statement at an EPA oversight hearing held by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in February 2007, and the Association continues to work closely with House and Senate staff on reopening the libraries.
• The AALL Washington Affairs Office continued to support an initiative at the World Intellectual Property Organization to give more attention to the issue of balance in the world's copyright laws, to take into account the differing needs of developing countries, and to promote access to knowledge.
• AALL worked with other library and publisher groups to develop an "understanding" that could simplify the acquisition of electronic information. AALL advocates eliminating the need to always sign a license agreement by establishing a clear "standard in the industry."
• The Association again urged Congress to adequately fund the Government Printing Office's print distribution program, as well as its many digital initiatives, including the Future Digital System, which holds the promise of ensuring permanent access to federal online government information that is both official and authentic.
• AALL was pleased to congratulate the Law Library of Congress on its 175th Anniversary in 2007. At a special ceremony held in January 2007 in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, Past President Claire Germain presented a special plaque from AALL to the Law Library of Congress. The plaque recognized the law library's 175 years of excellent service to Congress, the legal community, and the public.
• The work of the Washington Affairs Office supports and is supported by the grassroots efforts of AALL members, resulting in "AALL's Winning Advocacy Team." This ongoing partnership was the theme of the December 2006 Members' Briefing. Included in the Briefing are "Ten Tips to Help YOU Become an Effective Advocate."

Public Information on Government Web Sites

The Principles and Core Values Concerning Public Information on Government Web Sites is a new set of AALL recommended guidelines, written by the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee and adopted by the AALL Executive Board in March 2007. The principles and core values include accessibility, reliability, official status, comprehensiveness, and preservation. The guidelines were published as a brochure, copies of which were placed in the registration bags for all attendees at the 2007 AALL Annual Meeting. The brochures are also available through AALL Headquarters.

Updating the Copyright Act for the Digital Age

This year the AALL Copyright Committee drafted detailed responses to questions posed by the Section 108 Study Group. Section 108 is the section of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 108) that governs interlibrary loan, preservation, and other library functions. Chair Keith Ann Stiverson presented the committee's positions at a study group meeting in March 2007 in Chicago. The Copyright Committee's participation in this process was important because AALL members have the legal knowledge to comment on the issue, as well as the library experience to understand how interlibrary loan works in the real world.

Public Access to Government Information

The Public Access to Government Information (PAGI) Award is presented annually by AALL to recognize persons or organizations that have made significant contributions to protect and promote greater public access to government information. The award was established in 1998. This year the AALL Government Relations Committee received 11 nominations for the PAGI Award and selected two winners. Cathy Hartman, assistant dean of libraries at the University of North Texas, was recognized for the University of North Texas Government Documents website, including the CyberCemetery. John Joergensen, reference librarian at Rutgers-Camden Law School Library, was honored for the Rutgers-Camden Law School Library Digital Project.