The Ginger (Law) Librarian

Librarians were surprised to hear at the ALA Annual conference that the U.S. Copyright Office planned to hold closed meetings to discuss revision of Section 108 , the “library exception.” The process was announced in the Federal Register on June 2. Interested parties were asked to schedule a meeting with the Copyright Office, located in Washington, DC. (Soon after the announcement the Copyright Office said that phone conversations could also be scheduled). There will be no public record of who attends the meetings or what is discussed. Although, the Copyright Office has been upfront about the changes. They believe that Section 108 needs to be updated to better reflect the digital environment. Indeed, they have said that Section 108 needs to be re-written altogether. They have already drafted Section 108 legislation that librarians haven’t seen. According to The Internet Archive Blog , the Library Copyright Alliance (which represents the American Library Association and the Associ...

From NPR : With the overwhelming support of the Senate, Dr. Carla Hayden has been approved as the next librarian of Congress. Hayden, the head of Baltimore's public library system and the former president of the American Library Association, is the first woman and the first African-American to hold the post . It's actually rather newsworthy that the next librarian of Congress is, well, a librarian . Many previous librarians of Congress have been scholars or writers. Both Billington and his predecessor, Daniel J. Boorstin, were historians. Before Hayden's nomination, the American Library Association (which Hayden used to lead) had called for Obama to nominate a professional librarian for the post. And, as many have noted, all the previous Librarians of Congress were white men. In nominating Hayden, Obama said it was "long overdue" for that to change. Congratulations, Dr. Hayden!!

The Law Librarians of Congress blog  In Custodia Legis  recently announced  that Thomas.gov will officially retire as of July 5, 2016. Thomas.gov was launched on January 5, 1995, after Congressional leadership directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. On September 19, 2012  Congress.gov  was introduced to eventually replace Thomas.gov with a more robust, updated system. Congress.gov's beta label was removed in September 2014, and it is set to officially replace Thomas.gov as the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. Congress.gov provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Offic...

The Smithsonian Mag is reporting that the Library of Congress is ceasing to use the subject heading "illegal aliens" because of feedback from student activists. In 2014, the Dartmouth Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and DREAMers (CoFIRED), a group dedicated to advancing the rights of undocumented students, first petitioned the Library of Congress to get rid of the term “illegal alien” in its cataloging system in favor of the term “undocumented immigrant.” What's the big deal with subject headings? When it comes to Library of Congress subject headings, there’s plenty. The subject lines are an integral part of the world’s most widely used library indexing tool , the basis for thousands of daily searches around the globe. And now, reports the Dartmouth, the Library of Congress will revise its subject heading of “illegal aliens” due to feedback from student activists. The student group commented on the change by saying, With this change we hope meaningful ...