Big Issues for Libraries

In the recent ALIA survey of members, lobbying and advocacy were given as an extremely high priority. This was unexpected (for me, anyway) but it did prompt me to urge you all (Rebecca has proven that a plural audience might be assumed) to do some reading.

Here are three big issues.

Copyright, and the debate is hotting up about the settlement in the US between Google and the publisher and author organisations. Bernie Sloan, posting to the liblicense list, refers us to a
resource compiled by Timothy Vollmer, an IT policy analyst in DC. You can find it here. Many of the items listed relate to libraries, and the example of a report by OCLC Research on the impact on libraries is given.

Online content regulation (censorship) is interesting too, and there has been a recent article by Derek E Bambauer of the Brooklyn Law School which summarises, in a brief 30 pages, the development of the Australian Government's filtering plans. If development is the right word.

Finally, all of you interested in broadband and things related will want to read the consultation paper issues by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, just out. There is a link from here, and comments are due by 11 February.

There's a lot going on which might concern us, and one element in successful lobbying and advocacy is being informed. In the meantime, if you are interested in these kinds of issues, or just in helping to put together a library viewpoint, let me know.

Copyright, CAUL, Cadets and Citations

This has been a busy week.

The ALIA Education and Workforce Summit was held on 28 March in Melbourne, and I'll provide more information next week. Some of the outcomes included the need to focus on strategies for recruiting to the library sector, the need for university educators to meet together and the need for employers and educators to meet together.

The first post-Mullarvey Universities Australia (UA) meeting for copyright officers was held last Monday, in the shadow of John Mullarvey (the former chief executive), as we discussed the new agreement signed with the Copyright Agency Ltd at the end of 2007. The substantial interest in the cost of the deal enhanced interest and engagement with the issue, to put matters politely. I am a member of the four-person expert group set up by UA to think about the next agreement, in 2010.

Research metrics and nice research databases are one thing all Australian universities are thinking about; Swinburne is convening a group looking at integration of repository data with research data. On Tuesday we had a chat to colleagues from the University of New South Wales and the University of Newcastle on how we could achieve some better consistency in the forms of names of researchers. Others are interested in these issues - usual suspects like Thomson Scientific (producers of the Web of Knowledge database) and Elsevier (Scopus), as well as the National Library's People Australia program, currently in planning.

Thomson Scientific held another of their citation awards sessions, along with a Research Day, at the National Press Club on Wednesday, followed by a widely-reported address by Alan Robson, president of the Group of Eight universities.

CAUL is always interesting and worthwhile, because university libraries are very similar to each other, and the meeting is an opportunity for the rest of us to learn from those of the 47 (New Zealand is included) who are out ahead. Just a matter of finding them. CAUL met in Sydney on Thursday and Friday, and its papers are available online in great detail. There was heaps of interest - for example, a great presentation from Felicity McGregor on the Wollongong library cadet program for new graduates.

No blogs this week either - I'm heading off to the woods and water to walk around a bit. I'll give alliteration a rest, among other things.

Unlocking IP

One of the roles which I have taken on recently is chair of the board of the Australian Digital Alliance. The ADA is the Australian organisation which exists to lobby for a balanced copyright regime - balanced between the rights of copyright owners and copyright users.

This wonderful image was developed for and used on a badge, I think distributed at a forum on technological protection measures which we held a couple of years ago. Jamie Wodetzki, the then chair of the ADA, was the inventor. What I love most about it is the use of boltcutters to provide a visual take on the concept "unlocking." The image is, of course, about copyright, and the point that Jamie was making was that without usable exceptions to copyright, much information is locked away, and innovation stifled.

Creative Commons Takes Off?

Creative Commons: Through the Looking Glass is a blog run by Elliott Bledsoe, who works for Creative Commons Australia. CCA has had a new lease of life (new as far as leases of life go in the copyright sphere, anyway) since Elliott moved in, and there have been a few postings to the dormant Australian Creative Commons list, too.

There is also a CCA Facebook group, and you can join the mailing list for Creative Commons Australia by going to their website. Not to mention an events calendar and a Flickr photo pool.

Creative Commons in Australia is part of the funded research under the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCi). It is hosted by Queensland University of Technology at the QUT Faculty of Law.

My problem with CCA is that I want some practical advice on how to implement Creative Commons at my institution, and no-one seems to tell me what to do. Not that I would necessarily do it, I just want some ideas for action.