The ALA and libraries had several major wins in Washington recently, but we still need your help!
Successes:
- Congress passes the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act. On Wednesday, Congress signed off and sent this legislation to the President for signature. This Act will exponentially increase the availability of accessible reading materials to Americans and people around the world with print disabilities: https://
americanlibrariesmagazine.org/ blogs/the-scoop/marrakesh- treaty-passes-house/ - On Friday, the President signed off on FY19 funding for the Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education, and for allied programs. So that means funding is in place for IMLS, NLM, and programs at the U.S. Department of Education without a continuing resolution. Please thank your member of Congress for funding libraries! https://
americanlibrariesmagazine.org/ blogs/the-scoop/federal- budget-includes-big-gains- libraries/ - Congress passes the Music Modernization Act—now awaiting the President’s signature. Ended up a good bill after a deal was made with the content industry stakeholders: https://www.districtdispatch.
org/?s=music+modernization
Action needed now:
- A bill to reauthorize the Museum and Library Services Act (in the House: H.R. 6988; in the Senate: S. 3530) has been introduced. These identical bills reauthorize the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), showing congressional support for the federal agency. IMLS administers library funding through the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA), the only federal program that exclusively covers services and funding for libraries. The LSTA provides more than $186.3 million for libraries through the Grants to States program, the National Leadership Grants for Libraries, the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, and Native American Library Services. Please call your Senator and Representative to ask for their support to libraries by cosponsoring MLSA.
Things to watch:
- Another ALA-supported piece of legislation is moving: Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2018 (GREAT Act) passed the House of Representatives last week and is moving in the Senate: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/
sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/ content/govinfo/HR4887_ GREATAct.pdf - This legislation, S. 1010 “Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017, is moving and ALA opposes it. It would undermine Dr. Carla Hayden. The hearings started last week. You will be hearing more about this.
- This legislation, The CASE Act, is also moving and ALA opposes it, especially with the Re:Create Copyright Coalition. It would create small claims court for copyright: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/
2017/11/creating-copyright- court-copyright-office-wrong- move