US-Bibliothekare für Bürgerrechte und Informationsfreiheit

[delin _at__ zlb.de (Delin, Peter)]

Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,

anbei Zitate aus einem interessanten Artikel der Los Angeles Times. Auch
in Deutschland stehen Internetfiltern, Kommerzialisierung der
Information, digital rights management und Verbot der Privatkopie auf
der Agenda!  

Original in Los Angeles Times vom 25.11.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-library25nov25.story
(Registrierung kostenlos)

Librarians Emerging From Book Stacks, Increasing Activism
They've mobilized in Washington and are engaged in far more
controversial subjects than their usual issues.

By Edmund Sanders, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Former congresswoman and one-time presidential candidate
Pat 
Schroeder is hardly a Washington novice, but she took a political
drubbing recently from the unlikeliest of foes: a bunch of librarians.

Schroeder, who now heads the Assn. of American
publishers, had the temerity to publicly criticize libraries for their
stance on copyright laws and for distributing free copies of electronic
books and articles 
that publishers are trying to sell. Schroeder's spokeswoman  made
matters worse by complaining about the libraries' "radical factions."

Librarians pounced.

They roasted Schroeder for "library-bashing." They confronted Schroeder
at public appearances, demanding an apology. They wrote to lawmakers en
masse to complain.
Eventually, Schroeder raised a white flag and backed away from her
comments.

The lesson? Don't mess with librarians these days. They were supposed to
quietly 
fade away with the advent of the Internet, but libraries -- and
librarians --
are enjoying a higher profile than ever before. They've mobilized in
Washington, beefing up their lobbying presence and inserting themselves
into far more controversial subjects than their usual bread-and-butter
issues, such as literacy.

The 65,000-member American Library Assn., the chief trade group for
librarians, 
has:

* Led opposition to tougher copyright laws, putting it at
odds                                 with major entertainment and
publishing conglomerates.

* Lobbied against the Bush administration's anti-terrorism
Patriot                             Act because it gave law enforcement
easier access to library
records.

* Successfully sued the government to block an
anti-pornography                                   law that required
libraries to install Internet filters on
library computers or risk losing federal funds.

"We aren't your grandmother's library," said Emily Sheketoff,
head                                    of the American Library Assn.'s
Washington office. "We're
getting into some odd hings."

But that higher profile may carry political costs. Librarians
have                    long enjoyed an all-American reputation, and
that innocent image is
now taking a hit as opponents label them everything from pornographers
to pirates.

Some thought it was no coincidence that a bill double federal funding
for
libraries stalled in Congress this year.
"If we are going to provide these funds, how will they be used?" asked
Rep.
Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. (R-Miss.), one of the chief sponsors of
the
Internet filtering bill that libraries blocked. "Will they be used to
promote a
radical, extremist social agenda? Libraries are like Mom and apple pie.
Why
would they want to squander their goodwill and good reputations to get
involved
in issues like child pornography?"

Sheketoff and other librarians bristle at the notion that
they                  support pornography or don't care about children,
but they say criticism
isn't surprising given the association's heightened activism.
"We successfully sued the government," said Sheketoff, former  deputy
assistant
secretary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during
the
Clinton administration. "That doesn't make us very popular."

Sheketoff, who cut her political teeth working for Senate Republicans
during the
Watergate scandal, was hired by the American Library Assn. in 1999. Some
within the organization objected to the appointment of Sheketoff, the
first
non-librarian to head its lobbying office.

But leaders decided they needed a political professional to get them to
the
negotiating table on more issues and help overcome the
traditional                    stereotypes about librarians, which often
resulted in condescending, 
pat-on-the-head treatment on Capitol Hill.

"I still get people asking me where's my bun," Sheketoff
said.                    "We're training ourselves to be much more
aggressive.... And sometimes that also                means being
obnoxious and strident." The group has built up its Washington office 
to 20 members, nearly twice its size in 1995, including one unit devoted
to 
lobbying and another to policy research.

Lobbying expenditures by the American Library Assn. and other library
groups
now rank among the highest for nonprofits, doubling to
about                   $750,000 in 2000 from $360,000 in 1997,
according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's more than public
broadcasters, Boy Scouts of America and                Red Cross
combined, though less than the $1 million that the movie
industry             pays annually to its top lobbyist, Jack Valenti. A
former television producer, Sheketoff hasn't been shy about using the
media to "stay in the news cycle" on 
key issues. She hired a press officer for the Washington office and has
started 
sparring more frequently with conservatives and law enforcement
officials 
on CNN, Fox News and talk radio.

Borrowing a tactic from the for-profit world, Sheketoff initiated a
program to 
lean on libraries' vendors and suppliers for assistance in Washington.
For
example, 3M Worldwide, which sells many of its computer systems
to             libraries, was enlisted to help arrange meetings with
some lawmakers this          fall about the library funding bill.

When it needed co-sponsors for the bill, the Washington office sent out
10,000
e-mails to libraries nationwide, urging librarians to call their
legislators. 
In less than a week, 94 lawmakers signed on.

And though librarians are fighting to quash those old stereotypes,
they're not
above exploiting their image to help butter up lawmakers.

During a key copyright battle, librarians appealed to Rep. W.J. "Billy"
Tauzin (R-La.) in part by evoking his childhood memories of spending
time at library
bookmobiles, according to an entertainment lobbyist. "They're not
pushovers," the lobbyist said. "They're pretty formidable."

Still, libraries lack the clout of more seasoned and better-funded,
interest
groups. "Librarians are not exactly up there with pharmaceutical
companies," 
quipped one Capitol Hill staffer.

The American Library Assn.'s decision to sue to overturn the Children's
Internet
Protection Act, however, has tested the limits of that
perception.                Conservatives ranging from radio personality
Dr. Laura Schlessinger
to the Family Research Council attacked the association for the suit.
Sheketoff said she received hate mail and death threats.

Though some libraries support the use of filters to bar visitors from
browsing
pornography Web sites and other potentially offensive material on the
Internet,
the association maintains that such decisions are better handled at the
local 
level, rather than by a federal mandate.

American Library Assn. President Maurice Freedman asserts that Internet
filters,
which are based on a list of adult-themed words, infringe on patrons'
civil rights
because they frequently block sites that have nothing to do
with              pornography. Among them are those dealing with breast
cancer and birth control.          The association's lobbyists have
noted that even the congressional Web site of 
House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) became snagged in the
filter           because of his first name.

A federal appeals court sided with the librarians, and this month the
Supreme
Court agreed to review the case.

Now librarians worry that their lawsuit may have derailed their funding
bill,
which passed unanimously in committee but was never put to the
House               floor for a  vote. The measure would increase
federal library funding from            about $160 million a year to
about $350 million.

Richard Diamond, a spokesman for Armey, insisted that lawmakers simply
ran
out of time in the last session. Although he conceded that there were
concerns 
about how much money was being allocated and where funds would go, he
said the
filtering lawsuit was not a factor.

"It doesn't bother us one bit if they speak out on that," Diamond said.
"That's
their right."

Copyrights are another issue that librarians are speaking out
on,                creating new divisions with old allies, such as
publishers and media companies.

Libraries spend about $2 billion a year on books and $1 billion
on           electronic databases, the American Library Assn. estimates.
But they fear               that the growing use of anti-piracy
technology and copyright controls
will prevent them from performing their traditional services of loaning
books, making backup copies and helping patrons with free research.

For example, many libraries have switched to electronic databases rather
than
subscribing to hard-copy magazines and scholarly journals.

But they insist that they need to have the right to copy materials as a
backup 
and to share materials with other libraries. Otherwise, if a library can
no longer afford to pay for electronic access, it loses not only future
issues, but              also access to the archives.

Publishers and media companies, on the other hand, worry that in
a                 digital world, libraries will become an electronic
back door through
which books, movies and music can pass freely. In the past, when a
library
loaned a book to a patron, there was little concern that it would
interfere with
sales. But if libraries can loan digital copies of materials, publishers
fear that
widespread pirating may result and sales could slump.

"Look at what happened with music," said Schroeder, the former
congresswoman. 
"If it gets out for free, how are we going to pay the authors?"
Schroeder said 
she is hoping to soon find a compromise that will allow libraries  to
continue serving patrons without threatening the livelihood of
publishers.

Since her jab last year, Schroeder has been careful not to criticize
librarians,
and she says she has spent many hours explaining her remarks to them.

"They have a very strong image, and this is a political environment,"
Schroeder
said. "Librarians were very upset. But for the life of me, I still have
not 
figured out what to apologize for."

Sheketoff harbors no hard feelings. "In fact, I thanked her," she said.
"It really
increased our visibility."


Viele Grüße aus Berlin
Peter Delin/Videolektorat
Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin
http://www.zlb.de/index.html