The Government Relations Committee keeps apprised of library-related government activity and provides information to the CALL community. In particular, stays informed of the work of the AALL Government Relations Committee and the Washington Affairs Office.
Promoting UELMA in Illinois was the main project for the year. Education on UELMA for committee members was accomplished through a handout shared at the September 19 meeting and through the e-bulletins and webcasts of Emily and Elizabeth of the AALL Government Relations Office. Education on UELMA for the community at large was accomplished through the GRC blog.
MEETINGS
The GRC met twice this year in person:
September 19, 2013 at the Chicago-Kent Law School
March 12, 2014 at the Lake & LaSalle Starbucks
The committee also held various phone meetings with student member Michael Verderame, who was being mentored this year by GRC committee members. Each member was assigned a month to mentor Michael and the arrangements of phone meetings and emails were at the discretion of the mentor and mentee.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
UELMA (SB1941) passed the Illinois General Assembly and is awaiting Quinn’s signature.
Training was held for WordPress
Two government relations articles to the CALL
Several committee members contributed blog
Mentored student committee member Michael
Made the decision to commit to semi-regular update schedule of Finding Illinois Law Guide.
The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) devoted a recent two-day program to the vulnerability of digital government information, and one of the highlights was an important discussion of the special risks for “born-digital” information published online by the federal government, led by Jim Jacobs, Data Services Librarian Emeritus of the University of California at San Diego.
In Illinois, a version of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (“UELMA”) is currently working its way through the 98th General Assembly (as Senate Bill 1941), but UELMA isn’t the only pending Illinois legislation that could affect the production and dissemination of government-produced legal information in electronic formats.
Those of us who attended the November CALL business meeting were given a treat when our featured speaker, Kip Kolkmeier, provided a rundown on the situation in Springfield. Kip summarized the many issues facing the legislature – not only the usual budget woes and redistricting fights, but the enormous unfunded pension obligation that looms over the state right now. Kip managed to tell us the sad tale while making it extremely interesting and entertaining. Continue reading Kip Kolkmeier: Advocate for Illinois Libraries→
The post below, reprinted from Kevin McClure’s blog, GovDocsGuy, is a challenge to library directors, so I want to highlight the post again in case you didn’t see it and take a moment to add a prequel that provides one director’s perspective. Now that I have given some thought to the matter, it occurs to me that I have never worked in a library that wasn’t a federal depository. Why does a depository matter now, in a world that shuns print?
