ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

WASHINGTON HOTLINE

by Carol C. Henderson

Deputy Director ALA Washington Office

Would a royalty added to the purchase price of every video and audio recorder and blank tape and cassette affect your institution? If the University of Wisconsin-Madison experience is typical, it would indeed. As Nancy Marshall, ALA's Ad Hoc Copyright Subcommittee Chair, explained in testimony to a House Judiciary Subcommittee on August 11, her campus spends over $132,000 per year to purchase almost 8,000 blank tapes. From collecting data from weather satellites to assisting student teacher training and foreign language instruction, from taping patient interviews for diagnostic purposes to placing taped faculty lectures on reserve in the library, use of the tapes benefits diverse fields of research, study, scholarship, and training.

None of these university uses has anything to do with taping copyrighted broadcast programs off the air, but compensating proprietors for off-air taping is the rationale for the royalty tax proposed for recording equipment and tapes in HR 5705, a bill that Marshall's testimony opposed. Marshall argued that the doctrine of fair use applied to home taping, that the use made of a tape determined whether it was a fair use or an infringement of copyright, and that a compulsory royalty payment on all tapes and equipment would be highly unfair. Other bills (HR 5250 and similar bills) under consideration by the subcommittee would provide an exemption from infringement for home taping.

Congressional interest in the off-air taping issue is a reaction to the October 19, 1981, decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco which overturned a lower court decision in the controversial Betamax case and ruled that taping a television show in the home violates a producer's copyright, and that manufacturers of recording equipment are liable for such infringement. The Sony Corporation, makers and distributors of recording equipment, have taken the suit, brought by Universal City Studios and Walt Disney Productions‚ to the Supreme Court which has agreed to hear it during its current term.

In August ALA filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit Court's decision. The ALA brief contends that the circuit court's finding that only "productive" uses of copyrighted materials could be fair uses has enormous consequences for librarians and library users, threatens to deprive librarians of their fair use rights‚ undermines their ability to serve their patrons adequately, and restricts the public's access to information.

Nancy Marshall's testimony recommended that Congress let the Supreme Court act first, but if Congress felt it must act, to amend whichever bill is adopted to clearly state that it would not be an infringement for schools and libraries to tape off the air for educational purposes, provided that they adhere to the "Guidelines for Off-Air Recording of Broadcast Programs for Educational Purposes," endorsed by the House Judiciary Committee. Developed by educational users (including ALA) and copyright proprietors, the guidelines have been published in ALA's Copyright Kit 1982‚ available for $15 from the Order Department, ALA, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611.

The ALA Washington Office (110 Maryland Ave. N.E., Box 54, Washington, DC 20002) would be pleased to hear from college librarians who have a particular interest in this issue, or who need further information, or who can provide additional examples of the use of recordings in their library or campus.

PIERCY AWARD

The Esther J. Piercy Awards Committee of ALA’s Resources and Technical Services Division is accepting nominations for the 1983 citation.

The candidates for the award can be nominated by anyone who is well acquainted with the candidate’s contribution to librarianship in the field of technical services. The citation will be given to a librarian with not more than 10 years of professional experience who has shown outstanding promise for continuing contributions and leadership in any of the fields comprising technical services by such means as: 1) leadership in professional associations at local, state, regional, or national levels; 2) contribution to the development, application, or utilization of new or improved methods, techniques, and routines; 3) a significant contribution to professional literature; or 4) conduct of studies or research in technical services.

The jury selection of the award winner will be based on the documentation submitted by the person nominating the candidate. Each nomination shall consist of a statement of qualifications and accomplishments of the nominee, and should be submitted as soon as possible, but not later than December 1, 1982.

Nomination forms may be obtained from: Marcia Tuttle, Chair, Esther J. Piercy Award, Serials Department, Wilson Library 024-A, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. ■■

ACADEMIC/RESEARCH LIBRARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD

The Association of College and Research Libraries invites nominations for the Academic or Research Librarian of the Year Award, presented jointly by ACRL and the Baker & Taylor Company. Anyone wishing to submit nominations should send the form at the bottom of the next page to the ACRL Office, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611.

Recipients of the award since its inception in 1978 have been: Keyes D. Metcalf and Robert B. Downs (1978); Henriette D. Avram and Frederick G. Kilgour (1979); Evan I. Farber (1980); Beverly P. Lynch (1981); and William Budington (1982).

The Awards Committee selects persons to receive the award in accordance with the following guidelines:

Purpose: To recognize an individual member of the library profession who has made an outstanding national or international contribution to academic or research librarianship and library development.

Criteria: Individuals nominated should have demonstrated achievements in such areas as:

1. Service to the organized profession through ACRL and related organizations.

2. Significant and influential research on academic or research library service.

3. Publication of a body of scholarly and/or theoretical writing contributing to academic or research library development.

4. Planning and implementing a library program of such exemplary quality that it has served as a model for others.

5. Nominee does not have to meet all of the above criteria.

RULES:The award shall be made each year at a time and place to be determined by the ACRL Board of Directors. Announcement of the award shall be made by the ACRL president at a time and place to be determined by the ACRL Board of Directors. If, in the opinion of the Award Committee, no worthy candidate is nominated in a given year, the award will not be presented that year.

Nominations: Nominations for the award must be returned to the chair of the Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award Committee and must be postmarked no later than December 1, 1982. Nominations must be submitted in quintuplicate. Please do not solicit supporting letters seconding your nomination. Such letters will not be considered in the Award Committee s decision.

Nature of the Award: The Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award shall consist of $2,000 and an appropriate citation.

The Awards Committee for 1982 consists of the following persons: Patricia G. Oyler (chair), Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Roston, MA 02115; Thomas G. Kirk, College Librarian, Berea College, Berea, KY 40404; Joseph F. Lindenfield, Director of Library Services, Shelby State Community College, P.O. Rox 40568, Memphis, TN 38104; John G.

Lorenz, Consultant, 5629 Newington Road, Bethesda, MD 20816; Kenneth G. Peterson, Dean of Library Affairs, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901; and Jane Robbins-Carter, Director, Library School, Helen White Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. ■■

CENKO PRIZE

The Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute is accepting submissions for the third award of the Cenko Prize in Ukrainian Ribliography. The $1,000 annual prize established by Mykola and Volodymyra Cenko of Philadelphia will be given for the best bibliographical work on a topic of Ukrainian studies.

Entries in English or Ukrainian must be submitted in four copies by March 1, 1983. Manuscripts must be in their final form with names and addresses of authors. Published works and late submissions will not be considered.

Examples of solicited entries are: descriptive bibliographical essays or annotated bibliographies of a subject or author; index of a Ukrainian periodical; or more general works which discuss the impact of the printed book on Ukrainian culture.

Two Cenko prizes were awarded in 1982: Paul R. Magocsi, Associate Professor, University of Toronto, for Galicia: A Bibliographical Guide; and Yar Slavutych, Professor, University of Alberta, for An Annotated Bibliography of Ukrainian Literature in Canada.

The 1983 winner or winners will be announced at Harvard University no later than June, 1983. ■ ■

ACRL AWARDS

The Association of College and Research Libraries announces two awards made possible by the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia. The first, the Samuel Lazerow Fellowship for Outstanding Contributions to Acquisitions or Technical Services in an Academic or Research Library, honors a man who made outstanding contributions to these fields. The fellowship of $1,000 is to foster advances in acquisitions or technical services by providing a practicing librarian with funds for research, travel, or writing.

The second award, the ACRL Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, provides an award of $1,000 to a doctoral student working on a dissertation in the area of academic librarianship.

Applications for both awards should be made to Sandy Whiteley, Program Officer, ACRL/ALA, 50 East Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611, and are due by December 1, 1982. The winners of the awards will be announced at the ALA Annual Conference in Los Angeles in June, 1983.

To be eligible for the Lazerow Award, a librarian must be working in acquisitions or technical services in an academic or research library. Application proposals should be brief (five pages or less) and include the following:

1) Description of research, travel, or writing project;

2) Schedule for the project;

3) An estimate of expenses.

An up-to-date curriculum vitae should accompany the proposal. Proposals for the Lazerow Award will be judged on the following:

1) Potential significance of the project to acquisitions or technical services work;

2) Originality and creativity;

3) Clarity and completeness of the proposal;

4) Evidence of an interest in scholarship, such as a previous publication record.

In order to be eligible for the ACRL Doctoral Dissertation Award, the applicant must meet the following qualifications:

1) Be an active doctoral student in the academic librarianship area in a degree-granting institution;

2) Have all course work completed;

3) Have had a dissertation proposal accepted by the institution.

The application proposal should be brief (less than ten pages) and include the following:

1) Description of the research, including significance and methodology;

2) A schedule for completion;

3) Budget and budget justification for items for which support is sought (these must be items for which no other support is available);

4) The name of the dissertation advisor and committee members;

5) A cover letter from the dissertation advisor endorsing the proposal.

An up-to-date curriculum vitae should accompany the proposal. Proposals will be judged on the following criteria:

1) Potential significance of the research to the field of academic librarianship;

2) Validity of the methodology and proposed method of analysis;

3) Originality and creativity;

4) Clarity and completeness of the proposal;

5) Presentation of a convincing plan for completion in a reasonable amount of time;

6) Evidence of a continuing interest in scholarship, such as a previous publication record.

For further information on either of these two awards, contact Sandy Whiteley, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 606Íl; (312) 944-6780.