ARL Public Policy Briefing
February 2024
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Katherine Klosek, Director, Information Policy and Federal Relations
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It’s Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week! Check out FairUseWeek.org and follow @FairUseWeek and @ARLNews for the latest events and blog posts.
This month, ARL and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) released the final report of their joint Marrakesh Treaty task force. The Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution testified before the US Senate Rules Committee on their institutions’ use of artificial intelligence. ARL led a letter signed by the American Library Association (ALA), civil society organizations, right-to-repair advocates, and others opposed to extending copyright protection to elements of the law.
In Canada, CARL recommended funding for library priorities to the Canadian federal government in its pre-budget submission brief. And, a member of Parliament introduced a bill to remove Crown copyright, which requires permission from government departments to use government works.
The monthly Public Policy Briefing highlights developments in ARL’s public policy priorities, issues that are relevant to the research library community in the United States and Canada, and details on advocacy conducted by ARL and the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Please encourage your colleagues to sign up for the Public Policy Briefing.
If you have questions or suggestions, please email me at kklosek@arl.org.
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Copyright and Fair Use/Fair Dealing
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ARL/CARL Task Force Releases Final Report on Marrakesh Treaty Implementation
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Globally, only seven percent of all printed works are available in accessible formats. Since 2020, a task force of ARL and CARL members have been working to create library implementation guidance for the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, which is meant to remedy this dearth of accessible-format works. Under the treaty, participating countries must amend their copyright laws to allow for the exchange of accessible books and other works across borders for use by treaty beneficiaries.
The task force examined what is required to enable scholars’ unfettered access to library materials in accessible formats in their fields of scholarship and preferred languages. The ARL/CARL pilot investigated several aspects of Marrakesh Treaty implementation, including identifying beneficiary needs within a university setting, identifying metadata requirements for searching capabilities, implementing discovery systems within the pilot libraries, and developing strategies and opportunities for the pilot project members to socialize the work being done.
The final report summarizes recommendations for libraries in each of the areas explored by the task force. The report also includes recommendations for ARL and CARL—look for opportunities to carry forth these recommendations through each Association’s respective committees.
The report is available in English and in French at doi.org/10.29242/report.marrakesh2023.
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CARL Recommends Funding for Library Priorities to Federal Government
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CARL submitted its brief to the Department of Finance Canada’s 2024 pre-budget consultations. The brief advocates for:
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Increased funding for the Digital Research Alliance of Canada to enhance the ecosystem for a Canadian digital research infrastructure
- Increased base budget for Library and Archives Canada to accelerate transition of documentary heritage and federal government recordkeeping to the digital environment
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Continued funding for the Accessible Digital Books—Support for Organizations program within the Canada Book Fund to assist the Canadian publishing industry to create born-accessible materials for people with print disabilities
- New funding and expanded eligibility through targeted federal agencies to foster increased production and use of open educational resources in postsecondary education
- Sufficient resources for an AI and data commissioner to monitor developments, respond to issues in an expedient and effective manner, and support AI literacy and training in Canada
- Expanding the granting councils’ total base budgets to address the effects of inflation and the need for a globally competitive research enterprise in Canada
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Leaders from Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution Testify on Their Use of AI
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During a recent US Senate Rules Committee hearing on “The Use of Artificial Intelligence at the Library of Congress, Government Publishing Office, and Smithsonian Institution,” witnesses described how their institutions are using AI to benefit the public while ensuring the trustworthiness of AI applications.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden shared how the library is experimenting with machine learning models to synthesize book descriptions for blind, visually impaired, and reading disabled communities. Meroë Park, deputy secretary and chief operating officer at the Smithsonian Institution, talked about Smithsonian Data Science Lab’s work to develop a new AI model that can discover and correct instances in their collections in which women’s contributions were mistakenly attributed to men. Hugh Halpern, director of the US Government Publishing Office (GPO), told the committee how GPO has used AI to make congressionally mandated reports available and accessible on GovInfo.gov.
In response to questions from members of the Senate Rules Committee about policies and practices that guide their use of AI, witnesses said they are following the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework, the administration’s executive orders on AI, and their own internal policies.
After the hearing, ARL met with staffers for Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) to share the Association’s position on potential right-of-publicity legislation, as a follow-up to his line of questioning on this topic. ARL will continue to monitor congressional hearings and legislative proposals, and inform members about their potential implications.
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Copyright and Fair Use/Fair Dealing
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Celebrate Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week with ARL and CARL!
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It’s Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week! Check out FairUseWeek.org and follow @FairUseWeek and @ARLNews for the latest events and blog posts. To learn more about fair dealing in Canada, visit Fair Dealing Works. Don’t miss these highlights:
Fair use (in the US) and fair dealing (in Canada) are essential to copyright law, allowing the use of copyrighted materials without permission from the copyright holder under certain circumstances. Fair use and fair dealing allow users to apply copyright law to new technologies and applications. For instance, in the US, courts have found that mass digitization of copyrighted works for non-consumptive purposes is a fair use. Fair use and fair dealing facilitate balance in copyright law, promoting further progress and accommodating academic freedom and freedom of expression. While fair use and fair dealing are employed on a daily basis by researchers, students, faculty, librarians, journalists, and all users of copyrighted material, Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week is a time to promote these concepts, and celebrate fair use and fair dealing.
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Canadian Member of Parliament Introduces Bill to Remove Crown Copyright
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Member of Parliament Brian Masse launched his third attempt to remove Crown copyright with Bill C-374, pushing for the government to make works paid for with public funding openly available.
In Canada, Crown copyright allows the government exclusive copyright to any work that has been created or published under the direction of the government (both federal and provincial). It provides government departments the ability to limit the publication or distribution of public works. Once administered by a single department, in 2013 the Publishing and Depository Services relinquished this service, deferring the work to each department to administer permission requests. At the same time, the once existent non-commercial license disappeared from the Publishing and Depository Services website. This has resulted in complicated and often futile attempts to obtain permission to use works. Several bills have been raised in the House over time seeking to remove Crown copyright, each time without success. CARL is hopeful this latest bill will move forward and will continue to advocate for revisions to the Copyright Act to remove Crown copyright.
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ARL, Civil Society Advocate Against Extending Copyright Protection to Elements of the Law
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ARL joined a sign-on letter opposing the Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes Act (Pro Codes Act). The bill would allow standards development organizations (SDOs) to retain copyright protection in codes and standards that are incorporated by reference into law, as long as the codes are made “publicly accessible” online. The letter argues that no one owns the law: once a code is incorporated into law by reference, it belongs to everyone. Further, the requirement that codes be made publicly available online would entrench current practices, in which SDOs provide read-only access to the codes and limit their use through restrictive licenses. When standards are made available in this way, they are often inaccessible to people with print disabilities, and the public is restricted in how they can use and share the standards.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) represents Public.Resource.Org (PRO), a website that hosts government information, including standards that have been incorporated by reference into legal codes. In amicus briefs in support of PRO, the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) has argued that fair use and the government edicts doctrine allow libraries to connect citizens with the law. In 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Public.Resource.Org, reaffirming that “if every citizen is presumed to know the law, it needs no argument to show…that all should have free access to its contents.” In September 2023, PRO won again in the courts; the DC Circuit ruled that making standards incorporated by reference publicly available is a lawful fair use that serves a nonprofit, educational purpose of providing the public with a free and comprehensive repository of the law. While the Pro Codes Act would not overturn these decisions, it might cause courts to rule against fair use findings in future cases that concern making codes and standards available.
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