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 | Win/Win: Wayne State University Plans To Take Over Struggling Public Library
Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) last week embraced a proposal to take over the embattled Macomb County Library (MCL), a suburban library with mainly a reference collection. Although financial details—and even the library’s name—may not be decided for months, the broad strokes would see Wayne State operate the library, which has been struggling in the face of county budget pressures, and maintain services, while giving Wayne State the expanded presence it desires.
The plan was born after community and political leaders approached Wayne State, Ahmad Ezzeddine, the university’s associate VP for educational outreach, told the LJ Academic Newswire. “We saw some synergies there,” Ezzedine said of the proposal. The 29,000 square foot library would not only serve as a resource for Wayne State students, it could also house various university programs. Also, Wayne State, which has been offering its LIS program at Macomb Community College, could move it to the library, which would also serve as a site for student practicum.
The deal also would also benefit library users in the struggling county. County Commissioner Paul Gieleghem told the Detroit News that without the deal, “there would have been severe cuts in the library budget and a dramatic loss in services, if not a full closure.” The library’s budget, once $3.5 million, has been cut by $800,000.
Macomb Library director Darlene LaBelle told LJAN that she was not consulted about the plan. “I think it does protect the future of the library,” she said. “We’ve been spinning our wheels, because we’re constantly on the chopping block.” Under the plan LaBelle would lose her job, although the rest of the library staff, currently 13 full-time and 19 part-time staffers, would stay. Future hires would be paid by the university.
The 61-year-old MCL not only provides reference services but also serves as a library for the blind and the physically handicapped, offers a literacy program, and serves about 26,000 people in the county (pop. 834,000) who don’t have local service. Ezzeddine acknowledged that service to that latter population would not be the mission of the revamped library, so local officials are looking at other ways to serve them. Ezzeddine said he did not yet know about the fate of programming for children and adults. “Our library dean and her staff are working on figuring out what can be maintained.”
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ARL: GSU E-Reserve Suit Is Opportunity To Engage Faculty on Author Rights
In an advisory memo to library directors, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) last week said that the recent lawsuit filed by publishers against Georgia State University (GSU) over its e-reserves should be seized as an opportunity for librarians to engage faculty on scholarly communication issues. The memo also questioned university presses’ support of the suit.
“Of particular concern to our community is that the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) supports the lawsuit,” read the memo, sent by ARL associate executive director Prue Adler. In it, Adler referred to a recent Ithaka report that noted a “drift” between university presses and the missions of their home institutions, and asked what presses stood to gain from their support of the suit.
“To some, AAUP’s support for suing another member of the academic enterprise only serves to widen the gulf between university presses and their home institutions, especially during an economic downturn,” she noted. In a release supporting the lawsuit AAUP executive director Peter Givler suggested that the explosive growth of electronic course content means that university presses could be threatened if universities condoned overly liberal policies regarding use of e-reserves. “Of course,” Adler wrote, “research libraries disagree with this assessment.”
The memo, she noted, was sent to “keep the ARL membership informed regarding developments concerning digital course content and to have needed information as campus discussions on this topic occur.”
One such topic is author rights, Adler suggested, noting that one of the faculty member cited in the complaint against GSU had published recent articles in a journal sponsored by one of the plaintiffs. “The notion that a publisher is suing one of its university authors provides a unique opportunity,” Adler said, for librarians to “speak with faculty about author rights and the need to retain rights in support of research, teaching, and learning,” as well as the need to continue “to educate members of the academic community about the importance of fair use and your institution’s best practices and policies.”
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| Congress Introduces “Libel Tourism” Law
The House of Repesentatives and the Senate have both introduced legislation designed to protect U.S. authors from being silenced by foreign libel and defamation lawsuits in what’s come to known be as “libel tourism” lawsuits. The House bill (H.R. 6146) would prohibit U.S. courts from enforcing foreign defamation judgments inconsistent with the First Amendment. The Senate bill, meanwhile, (S.2977) would create “a federal cause of action” to determine if a foreign defamation suit brought as a result of publication or speech in the U.S. would be allowable under U.S. law. The bill would also enable a U.S. author or publisher sued for libel in a foreign court to collect treble damages if a U.S. court determines a foreign plaintiff “intentionally engaged in a scheme” to suppress an author’s First Amendment rights.
The bills come after New York State recently passed a law to protect authors from libel suits in countries whose “laws are inconsistent with the freedom of speech granted by the United States Constitution.” The New York law was passed after New York author Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued in a British court by Saudi Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz over her book, Funding Evil.
The libel tourism cause also came to international prominence in Summer, 2007, after Cambridge University Press (CUP) rescinded publication of J. Millard Burr and Robert O. Collins’s Alms for Jihad, in the face of another controversial libel suit lodged by Khalid bin Mahfouz in a British Court. In a move that garnered significant media coverage worldwide, CUP was forced to pulp copies of the book, put the book out of print, ask libraries to pull the book from its shelves, pay damages, and issue a stunning public apology on its web site.
Unfortunately, the laws come too late for Alms for Jihad co-author Robert O. Collins, who passed away “suddenly” after a bout with cancer, on April 11 at the age of 75. In January, Collins told the LJ Academic Newswire that he expected the book to be republished, but was awaiting further details.
Meanwhile, “libel tourism” will be the focus of a session at the American Library Association (ALA) 2008 Annual Conference entitled “The Biggest Threat to Free Speech You May Never Have Heard Of,” set for Monday, June 30 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Room 204A at the Anaheim (CA) Convention Center. The session is sponsored by the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and the Freedom to Read Committee of the Association of American Publishers (AAP). It will feature authors Ehrenfeld and Burr.
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| Wiki-tannica? Encyclopaedia Britannica To Explore User-Generated Content
With the popularity of Wikipedia portending change for the encyclopedia for the digital age, the venerable Encyclopaedia Britannica has announced a plan to cautiously embrace user-generated content. But on its blog, Britannica editors said they have no plans to hand their authoritative role over to anonymous users. “There are significant differences between our approach and what is popularly termed Web 2.0,” the post noted. “First, and most important, we believe that the creation and documentation of knowledge is a collaborative process, but not a democratic one.”
In a not-so-thinly veiled shot at its online rival, Wikipedia, Britannica officials said that “intense” collaboration has always been part of its creative process, but that the issue comes down to “owning the responsibility” that comes with creating a purportedly authoritative work. “At the new Britannica site, we will welcome and facilitate the increased participation of our contributors, scholars, and regular users,” the post noted. “We are not abdicating our responsibility as publishers or burying it under the now-fashionable ‘wisdom of the crowds.’”
Although the details of the new plan remain undefined, and Britannica officials warned users to expect changes as the beta progresses, the plan involves offering Britannica’s scholarly contributors “a reward system” and “a rich online home” for their work, including the work done outside the scope of the encyclopedia, in an effort to “encourage users to interact with the Britannica editors and content.”
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Library Journal Academic Newswire
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