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AALL's National and International Advocacy EffortsClaire Germain As the current president of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), I would like to share the following developments with my CUL colleagues. Authentication of E-LawAALL is working at the federal and state levels to ensure that digital governmental information is certified to be the official and authentic version of a legal document, so that citizens using legal information found on a government Web site can, in fact, rely on the fact that the document is authentic. AALL is currently conducting a fifty-state authentication survey to determine which states, if any, offer “official” and “authentic” versions of primary legal resources on their Web sites. Preliminary results indicate that most government Web sites publishing primary legal resources—statutes, session laws, and court opinions—have a disclaimer directing users to official print resources to avoid possible errors in the online text. Foreign countries such as Australia, Canada, France, and Belgium have already moved to a certified digital signature for some of their official documents. At the federal level, the Government Printing Office (GPO) is planning to publish and disseminate most federal documents to its 1,400 federal depository libraries uniquely in electronic form. The GPO has developed a “GPO seal of authenticity,” which notifies users that a document has not been altered since it was authenticated and disseminated by the GPO. Law librarians indicate that the authentication of the documents needs to occur at the office of the agency, congressional officer or body, or other entity that is releasing the document. For example, a Senate bill should have the authenticating signature of the Clerk of the Senate. The GPO authentication seal reflects only that the document is what the Senate sent to the GPO; it does not, however, attest to the “official character” of the Senate bill.
Permanent Public Access to Legal InformationAALL is currently discussing with other organizations how it can best support efforts to ensure long-term access to born-digital legal information and the preservation of print legal materials. Born-digital official legal information raises particular concerns because it has no print equivalent and is therefore more vulnerable to alterations and disappearance. Under good conditions, official court reports, session laws, and codes printed on acid-free paper will last for centuries. The same information published in digital form may become obsolete within five years. Beyond the technical problems related to the fragility of the digital medium, a number of financial, legal, and policy issues are at stake in a democracy, where no one can ignore the law and citizens feel entitled to free access to government information. What is at stake is the transmission of official documents, “the word of the law,” to future generations. Law librarians have a role to play in fostering equitable and permanent access to legal information. Library Copyright AllianceAALL’s Copyright Committee continues to monitor legislation, litigation, and international developments with respect to copyright. It is a member of the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) together with four other major library associations: the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Medical Library Association (MLA), and the Special Libraries Association (SLA). LCA works toward a unified voice and common strategy for the library community in responding to, and developing, proposals to amend national and international copyright law and policy for the digital environment. LCA has been granted observer status before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA)AALL has been working with several other professional associations on issues of copyright and intellectual property, and particularly with IFLA, which is recognized by international organizations such as UNESCO and WIPO as the preferred speaker on matters of international policy that impact librarians and users. In the past few years, AALL has taken a more-active role in advocacy concerning the issues affecting law librarians in every country.
More information can be found at Washington Affairs Online. Claire Germain with IFLA president Alex Byrne, University Librarian, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, in Oslo, August 2005 |
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Principles for the International Development Agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The first principle is to promote a robust and growing open access domain.