American Library Association

Today, higher education and library organizations representing thousands of colleges, universities, and libraries nationwide released a joint set of Net Neutrality Principles they recommend form the basis of an upcoming Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision to protect the openness of the Internet.

The groups -- which include the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and the American Council on Education (ACE), among others -- believe network neutrality protections are essential to protecting freedom of speech, educational achievement, and economic growth. Libraries and institutions of higher education are leaders in creating, fostering, using, extending, and maximizing the potential of the Internet for research, education, and the public good.

These groups are extremely concerned that the recent court decision vacating two of the key “open Internet” rules creates an opportunity for Internet providers to block or degrade (e.g., arbitrarily slow) certain Internet traffic, or prioritize certain services, while relegating public interest services to the “slow lane.” At its best, the Internet is a platform for learning, collaboration, and interaction among students, faculty, library patrons, local communities, and the world.

Libraries and institutions of higher education make an enormous amount of Internet content available to the general public -- from basic distance learning classes to multimedia instruction, cloud computing, digitized historical databases, research around “big data,” and many other educational and civic resources -- all of which require an open Internet.

These groups support strong, enforceable rules to ensure that higher education and libraries can continue to deliver online educational and public interest content at a level of speed and quality on par with commercial providers.

The proposed principles call upon the FCC to ban blocking, degradation, and “paid prioritization”; ensure that the same rules apply to fixed and mobile broadband providers; promote greater transparency of broadband services; and prevent providers from treating similar customers in significantly different ways. The organizations support the FCC’s adoption of “net neutrality” policies to ensure that the Internet remains open to free speech, research, education and innovation.

The American Library Association (ALA) and the Information Policy & Access Center (iPAC) at the University of Maryland College Park will gauge the quality of public access to the Internet in our nation’s public libraries in the summer of 2014.

The speed test study is a supplement to a three-year National Leadership Grant to the ALA Office for Research & Statistics from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and is supported by the Association of Rural and Small Libraries, the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, the Public Library Association, and the Urban Libraries Council.

As part of its E-rate Program modernization effort, the Federal Communications Commission is gathering a range of data to inform changes in the program and better understand library and school broadband needs. ALA and other library organizations are sharing researched gathered from libraries nationwide, but the quality of broadband access inside library and school buildings has emerged as a leading concern that demands attention.

The American Library Association (ALA) participated in an E-rate press call moderated by the Federal Communications Commission, and was joined by several education and digital learning advocates.

More than 4 million people visit America’s public libraries each day, and high-capacity broadband and Wi-Fi-enabled connections are at the center of what our communities need to connect with a world of online resources.

“The pressure for high-capacity broadband in libraries grows every year, as more essential employment and government services move online and libraries add interactive and streaming multimedia. The needs are urgent, and the time for action is now. ALA sees the FCC’s efforts as a solid first step in reforms to immediately support investments in Wi-Fi and to simplify the E-rate program,” said American Library Association Washington Office executive director Emily Sheketoff. Virtually all libraries now offer free public Wi-Fi, and this use is accelerating rapidly. One Oregon library recently topped 1 million Wi-Fi sessions in one year. Many patrons bring one, two or even three devices, and the K-12 trend toward supplying students with tablets and laptops is dramatically impacting library networks after school bells ring. This Wi-Fi access depends on affordable, scalable high-capacity connections to the building.

“With more than half of libraries with speeds of less than 10Mbps, we have a long way to go before we can claim victory toward the 1 gigabit goal, and the FCC must also address this concern. This is a first, not last step, to supporting digital learning and digital opportunity for our students and communities,” Sheketoff added.

The US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Fourth Amendment when they ruled in David Leon Riley v. State of California and United States v. Brima Wurie that officers of the law must obtain warrants before they can search the cellphones of arrestees.

In response to the victorious court decision, Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington Office, released the following statement:

“In the past few years, our cell phones have become mobile libraries capable of storing massive amounts of personal and private data about our lives. The Constitution does not give law enforcement the right to conduct unlawful searches of our cell phones -- many of which contain immensely personal information, such as our private conversations, photos, videos, banking information and website history.

"In the same manner that we would not allow police officers to search unlawfully through our home library bookshelves without a warrant, we cannot allow government officials to search freely through our cell phones.

"We applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold basic privacy principles granted by the Fourth Amendment. As we work to advocate for increased privacy protections from our government, we are encouraged that the US Supreme Court would rule in favor of protecting the nation’s constitutional checks and balances.”

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) E-rate modernization proceeding is one of the most consequential public policy discussions in a decade. The success of this proceeding is essential to enable libraries and schools to meet the needs of America’s communities in the digital age. The gigabit broadband vision outlined by the President -- and which is a fundamental aspect of the Commission’s E-rate reforms -- is critical to support the indispensable role libraries play in our communities.

The American Library Association (ALA) recognizes the difficult task in front of the Commission to move the E-rate program from basic connections to high-capacity broadband and is supportive of its effort to do so. ALA and libraries also have fully engaged in this challenge with our school colleagues and hundreds of other stakeholders to answer an urgent call to meet 21st century learning demands. And there is broad consensus that we cannot meet these demands with funding that has hardly budged in 18 years. We must establish a sustainable foundation for the future.

Seventy-five years ago at the 1939 American Library Association’s Annual Conference in San Francisco, the ALA Council adopted the Library’s Bill of Rights, echoing the spirit of a document from the Des Moines Public Library in 1938.

This document, refreshed in 1944, 1948, 1961, 1967, 1980 and 1996, remains the library profession’s major policy document on intellectual freedom.

All those revisions prove that the Library Bill of Rights is truly a “living document.” In fact, LBOR now has 21 Interpretations. ALA has recognized that it is a document of ideals, but also of practice -- which is why interpretations have been crafted to deal with such specific issues as privacy, children and services to the disabled.

How does the recent net neutrality court case impact the public’s right to know? Learn how the Federal Communications Commission is addressing network neutrality issues at the 2014 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

Gigi Sohn, special counsel for the Federal Communications Commission's External Affairs will discuss net neutrality during the conference session “Information Manipulation Part I: Net Neutrality,” which takes place June 28, 2014, in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

A panel of respondents will join Sohn in exploring the America Library Association’s actions to support an open Internet. Panelists include Vivian R. Wynn, chair of the American Library Association's Committee on Legislation and president of Wynn Library Consulting; Aaron Dobbs, Shippensburg University Systems and Electronic Resources Librarian; and Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s Washington Office.

Hundreds of library supporters from across the country will meet with their members of Congress from May 5–6, 2014, to advocate for library funding during the American Library Association’s 40th annual National Library Legislative Day.

Senator Angus King (I-ME) will jumpstart the event by addressing library advocates at the opening briefing, which takes place from 9:00 a.m.–4:15 p.m. on May 5, 2014, at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, DC. Additional speakers include Maine State Librarian Linda Lord; Gabriel Rottman, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union; Shawn Daugherty, assistant director of SPARC; and Peter Jaszi, professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law.

National Library Legislative Day advocates will discuss the need to fund the Library Services and Technology Act, support legislation that gives people who use libraries access to federally-funded scholarly journal articles and continue funding that provides school libraries with needed funds for materials. Additionally, advocates will ask legislators to restore reasonable expectations of privacy by supporting the USA FREEDOM Act.

“Libraries depend on the federal funding they receive to help patrons learn new skills, complete homework assignments, find job opportunities and explore reading materials that they otherwise could not afford,” said Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association.

Miguel Figueroa, former director of the ALA Office for Diversity and Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, has been named to head the new American Library Association Center for the Future of Libraries.

As the first director of the new Center, Figueroa will be responsible for identifying and disseminating information on long term societal, technological, educational, demographic trends that may affect libraries and their future The director will also promote and support the incorporation of “futures thinking” into library policy and planning in libraries of all types.

Figueroa has served as Director of Member Programs for the American Theological Library Association in Chicago since June 2012, where he has coordinated member recruitment, outreach and development, the cultivation of relationships with external partners, communications and publications and service to volunteer committees and interest groups. His work there has included creating a joint leadership meeting for committees and member leaders, the introduction of outcome based evaluation, and serving on the ATLA executive leadership team.

The American Library Association announced the 10 public libraries chosen to undergo an intensive 18-month, team-based community engagement training program as part of the Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) Public Innovators Cohort.

The cohort, selected through a highly competitive peer-reviewed application process, is part of ALA’s LTC initiative, a national plan to help librarians strengthen their role as core community leaders and change-agents. The selected libraries represent the range of American communities in terms of size, location, ethnic and racial diversity and socioeconomic status, and they all face challenges including illiteracy; unemployment; a “digital divide” in their community’s access to information technology; an influx of new and immigrant populations; and disparate access to services.

Through in-person training, webinars and coaching -- valued at $50,000 -- teams from each library will learn new community engagement techniques and apply them within their communities. Each library also receives an $8,000 cash grant to help cover the cost of their new community-engagement work. In partnership with The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, Libraries Transforming Communities addresses a critical need within the library field by developing and distributing new tools, resources and support for librarians to engage with their communities in new ways. The following libraries make up the LTC Public Innovators Cohort are:

• Red Hook (NY) Public Library (pop: 1,900)
• Columbus (WI) Public Library (pop: 5,000)
• Knox County (IN) Library (pop: 33,900)
• Suffolk (VA) Public Library System (pop: 85,000)
• Hartford (CT) Public Library (pop: 125,000)
• Springfield (MA) City Library (pop: 153,000)
• Tuscaloosa (AL) Public Library (pop: 195,000)
• Spokane County (WA) Library District (pop: 255,000)
• San Jose (CA) Public Library (pop: 980,000)
• Los Angeles Public Library (pop: 3.8 million)