No. 4
November 8, 1996
A news and information digest for those working to
preserve and provide
access to cultural heritage resources through networked digital
technology.
The FCC Joint Board reported November 7 its recommended implementations of the Universal Service provisions of the Telecommunications Act. The recommendations will be available for public comment shortly and the full FCC will vote on them in May 1997.
The Joint Board recommended discounted telecommunications services of between 20 and 90% for schools and libraries based on need. 70% of public schools would be eligible for discounts of up to 50% on basic telephone services, Internet access, and wiring classrooms to computer networks. Deeper discounts would be available for libraries and schools in rural, high-cost and low-income communities. The discounts are valued at up to $2.25 billion annually.
Although the Board did not adopt the proposed E-rate , as many felt it would not, it did go beyond what many expected in its inclusion of Internet access and the wiring of schools. For background information, see NINCH Newsletter #3
Public Briefing on WIPO Proposals: November 12
Public Comments Requested Before November 22
Responding to interest and concern about the U.S. participation in the Diplomatic Conference sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, December 2-20th, the Patent and Trademark Office announced in the Federal Register that it is holding a public briefing on the matter. The briefing will take place on Tuesday, November 12, from 1pm until 5pm at the Crystal Forum, the Marriott Hotel, The Underground, 1999 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA.
At the briefing, Jukka Liedes, Chairman of the Committee of Experts, will discuss the text of the proposals to be considered in Geneva and be available to answer questions.
Many have been urging the U.S. Administration to cancel consideration of digital issues by this international body until unresolved issues in the domestic "NII Copyright Protection Act" ( H.R. 2441 and S. 1284), are further considered in Congress. Principle concerns for the cultural community are the unguaranteed future of fair use, the ability to browse on the Internet and the ability to use the Internet for distance learning. The three treaties being discussed at Geneva also include a new measure to severely curtail the public's rights to use public domain materials stored in "databases."
For background information see earlier NINCH newsletters or visit the web site of the Digital Future Coalition. For more background on the database treaty see "A Primer On The Proposed WIPO Treaty On Database Extraction Rights" on the web site of the Consumer Project on Technology.
A separate meeting for the library and educational community with Jukka Liedes will be held on Wednesday November 13, from 10:45am to 12 noon. This is an opportunity to speak with Mr. Liedes about the proposals. This smaller meeting will be held at the Commissioner's Conference Room, Patent and Trademark Office, 2121 Crystal Drive, Crystal Park II, Room 912, Arlington, VA. Those wanting to attend this second meeting must RSVP to Peter Fowler, Office of Legislative and International Affairs (PTO), Telephone 703/306-2967, Fax 703/305-8885.
Written comments on the proposals are encouraged. We should all indicate our commitment to build consensus on these issues based on thorough discussion in the community and legislation in Congress before presentation to an international body. Reaffirm your committment to the principle of fair use and to the notion of balanced copyright law in the digital age.
By Friday, November 22, write and e-mail the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Mailed comments should be addressed to Ms. Carmen Guzman Lowrey, Associate Commissioner for Governmental and International Affairs, Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Box 4, Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C. 20231. Electronic submissions should be e-mailed to Mr. Keith Kupferschmid.
AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS is a new national arts organization combining The National Assembly of Local Arts Agencies (NALAA), the country's largest alliance of community arts organizations, and the American Council for the Arts. The new organization will also incorporate the National Coalition of United Arts Funds.
By bringing together the funding potential of the private and public sectors with a strong grassroots network of more than 4,000 local arts agencies and united arts funds, the new organization intends to provide the strength in numbers and the funding that can enhance advocacy and influence cultural policy and support at all levels. A key goal is to attract more private and public resources to the arts in America.
NALAA President and CEO, Bob Lynch is the President and CEO of Americans for the Arts and Fred Lazarus, ACA Chair, is the new Chairman. Americans for the Arts office is at 927 15th Street, NW, Washington DC 20005 (tel: 202/371-2830; fax: 202/371-0424).
Another act of consolidation earlier this fall created the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) bringing together programs of support for museums, currently administered by the Institute of Museum Services (IMS), with support for public libraries currently administered by the Department of Education.
Within IMLS, the Office of Museum Services and the Office of Library Services each have their own deputy director, retain separate boards and draw their appropriations from separate accounts. The U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science will advise IMLS on general policy related to financial assistance for library services. The National Museum Services Board will continue to provide policy advice on museum programs.
Diane B. Frankel, former director of the Institute of Museum Services, will be the new director of IMLS, for a four-year term.
Earlier this fall, the University of Virginia announced a two-year study that the The Mellon Foundation is making possible, comparing usage and costs between electronic texts and original printed editions of rare early American fiction.
The Electronic Archive of Early American Fiction will consist of 582 digitized works published between 1775 and 1850, ranging from the earliest American novels, such as Susanna Rowson's Charlotte (1791), to Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. All the texts will be taken from rare first editions in the Library's Special Collections Department. As most of the books are fragile, scanning will take place in the Library's Special Collections Digital Center, using a specially adapted camera that will produce high quality reproductions on a computer monitor.
At issue is to see how rare materials can be distributed widely online and if rare research materials can be made available at a reasonable cost on the Web. Under an evaluation phase in 1998, teachers and students will be asked to compare factors like ease of use of original rare books and of their electronic surrogates.
For further information contact: David Seaman, 804/924-3230.
Further away is the 7th International Conference on Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Machine Translation, next July 24-28, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The conference marks the approximate 50th anniversary of Warren Weaver's memo that launched modern machine translation research and is organized under the themes of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. A call for papers is now out (deadline Feb. 17; details on submissions are on the web-site).
For comments or suggestions on this newsletter and
its content,
e-mail David Green or call
202/296-5346.
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