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NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #11, March 14, 2001



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #11, March 14, 2001
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of  the National Coordinating Committee
for the Promotion of History
*****************

1.  Senate Holds Hearing on Copyright Harmonization Act
2   Library of Congress Told to Fix Fire Hazards
3.  Education Bill Stalls in Senate: Analysis of Bush Education Budget
Issued
4.  CIA Declassifies 19,000 Pages
5.  News Bits and Bytes: Smithsonian's Ripley Dies; Washington Portrait to
Stay at Museum; British Library Discovery; NPS Releases Revised Management
Policies; NARA Annual Report Released; Freedman's Bank Records Update.

1.  SENATE HOLDS HEARING ON COPYRIGHT HARMONIZATION ACT
On March 13, 2001, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the
Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act of 2001 (S. 487),
legislation introduced March 7 by Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chairman of the
Committee and co-sponsored by the Committee's Ranking Democrat, Patrick
Leahy (D-VT). The objective of the bill is to make it easier to use
copyrighted material in online instruction.  The bill incorporates the
recommendations made by the United States Copyright Office in a 1999 report
and suggestions advanced by the Congressional Web-based Education
Commission.

Under current law, copyrighted material used under "fair use" provisions in
a classroom often cannot be used in an online course; securing copyright
permission can be a lengthy and at times expensive process. The legislation
is designed to correct this. Presently, distance educators can only make
fair use of complete versions of non-dramatic literary and musical works.
This legislation seeks to enable educators to use limited portions of
dramatic literary and musical works as well as audiovisual works and sound
recordings. The legislation relies on safeguards (such as passwords) to
ensure that only students have access to the copyrighted material.

Testifying in support of the measure was Gerald A. Heeger, President of the
University of Maryland University College, an  institution that specializes
in providing distance education for students worldwide. This legislation, he
said, "will move the copyright law in accordance with the educational
reality of today."

The Association of American Publishers, however, testified in opposition to
the bill.  The Association's objections were that the language may be too
broad and that the potential for misuse by students was great. "We don't
believe the Copyright Act is holding back distance education in any serious
way," said Allan Robert Adler, a Vice-President of the Association.

Another witness, Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, spoke in favor of
amending the bill to extend the fair-use exemption to for-profit colleges
and universities so that they, along with nonprofit educational
institutions, could benefit from the exemptions.  Because of the strong
bi-partisan support for the bill, it is expected to clear the Senate
Judiciary Committee fairly quickly.

2.  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TOLD TO FIX FIRE HAZARDS
The Office of Compliance, Congresses health and safety agency, has issued
seven citations to the Library of Congress and ordered correction to fire
dangers in book stacks, stairwells, conveyor systems, electrical switch
boxes, rare-book areas, and the storage area for audio recordings. The
collection in greatest danger is the 30,000 item collection of
turn-of-the-century cylinder recordings that are coated with highly
flammable cellulose nitrate.

The order comes on the heels of a compliance office 20-page report issued a
few weeks back (see NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 7, #5, February 1, 2001)
that concluded that some of "the most valuable and irreplaceable
collections" at the Library are in the gravest danger. The Library has
already attended to about 76% of the problems and has pledged to proceed to
correct the remaining 24% "as quick as possible."

3.  EDUCATION BILL STALLS IN SENATE; ANALYSIS OF BUSH EDUCATION BUDGET
ISSUED
Due to a "busy schedule" the Senate has postponed consideration of President
Bush's education proposals until late April or early May, according to
Republican sources.  Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) who very
much wanted to debate the education bill said that the Senate will first
debate bankruptcy and campaign finance reform prior to addressing the
education bill.

On a related front, the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) - a
nonpartisan coalition of some 100 education organizations - issued a
statement late in February that the Bush education budget "does not provide
the level of resources for education that are needed today." The
organization claims that a close reading of President Bush's "A Blueprint
for a New Beginning" (the budget document is available online at
http://www.gpo.gov/usbudget>) reveals that the total increase for the
Department of Education is not $4.5 billion (or an 11.5% increase over the
previous year), but rather is $2.5 billion (or 5.9% increase). Furthermore,
"this increase would represent the smallest percentage increase for the
Department of Education in the last five years.

The CEF is calling on Congress to invest five cents of every tax dollar on
education over the next five years; this represents a three cents per dollar
increase over the present spending level of two cents per federal tax
dollar.  For more on the CEF, tap into < http://www.cef.org>.

4.  CIA DECLASSIFIES 19,000 PAGES
The CIA has declassified some 19,000 pages of CIA reports.  Researchers
familiar with the materials state that the documents contain extensive
redactions to protect what the CIA characterizes as "sensitive sources and
methods of intelligence gathering."

The collection was released in conjunction with a Princeton University
conference on the CIA analysis of the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1991.  The
release sheds light on various Cold War incidents including U-2 spy flights,
the Soviet's nuclear capabilities, the development of Stealth bomber
technology, the debate over whether President Reagan's large military
buildup in the early 1980s and Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) had any
real effect in pushing the Soviet Union over the brink and thus hastened its
demise.

According to the electronic publication "Secrecy News" published by the
Federation of American Scientists, Project on Government Secrecy, "depending
on points of view, the release either demonstrated the Agency's commitment
to declassification and scholarly research, or it was a rather cynical
exercise in orchestrating public access to documents that were unilaterally
selected, declassified and packaged by the Agency. Or some combination of
the two."   The released documents are posted at:
<http://www.foia.ucia.gov/net_princeton.htm>.  "A Full Text Search" of the
documents may be found at http://www.foia.ucia.gov/search2.htm>.

5.  NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
Item #1- SMITHSONIAN'S  RIPLEY DIES: S. Dillon Ripley II, the eighth
Secretary of the Smithsonian, who led that Institution through an era of
sweeping change from 1964 to 1984, died of pneumonia in Washington D. C on
March 12, 2001.  He was 87.  Ripley believed the museum should "reach out to
people" and is credited with transforming the Smithsonian from a bastion of
science and culture for the serious-minded into what the Washington Post
characterized in its March 13 obituary as "a bright, lively and freewheeling
center of education, amusement and entertainment."   Under Ripley's
leadership, the Smithsonian nearly tripled its number of annual visitors
from 10.8 million to nearly 30 million.

Item #2 - WASHINGTON PORTRAIT TO STAY AT SMITHSONIAN: A $30 million gift
from the Las Vegas based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to the Smithsonian
Institution enabled agency officials to purchase the famous Gilbert Stuart
1796 life-size portrait of George Washington that was slotted for the
auction block. The owner of the painting, a 33-year-old British Lord, Harry
Dalmeny, recently announced he was going to sell the painting that
previously had been on loan to the National Portrait Gallery. "George
Washington still has a home at the Smithsonian Institution...the father of
our country will stay in this country forever" said Lawrence W. Small,
Secretary of the Smithsonian, in front of a crowded news conference on March
13.

Item #3- BRITISH LIBRARY DISCOVERY: An unknown choral work by the
German-English composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) that some
scholars consider as significant as the "Messiah" has been discovered by
researchers in the library of the Royal Academy of Music.  "Gloria in
Excelsis Deo" is a seven-movement composition believed to have been written
in 1707 when the composer was only 21. .  It has not been performed since
then. Scholars described the work as "fresh, exuberant and a little wild in
places, but unmistakably Handel."

Item #4 - NPS MANAGEMENT POLICIES: The National Park Service (NPS) has
issued a new edition (December 22, 2000) of "NPS Management Policies" that
replaces the 1988 edition. NPS Management Policies is the basic Service-wide
policy document of the NPS and is designed to provide policy guidance when
managers confront a wide variety of park management issues.  Adherence to
the policies spelled out in this document "is mandatory unless specifically
waived or modified by the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary, or the
Director." The draft of the new policies was subjected to a 60-day public
review and comment in which the NPS received many thoughtful responses. Some
of those comments were incorporated into the final version. The document and
any future revisions will be posted at:
<http://www.nps.gov/refdesk/policies.html>.
Copies may be ordered from Eastern National Park and Monuments Association;
call (215) 283-6900 for information.

Item #5 - NARA ANNUAL REPORT: The National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) has issued its "Annual Report 2000." The report
highlights a number of special achievements and includes summaries of
various financial operations. NARA's strategic plan is discussed in
considerable detail.  The report also includes a useful listing of top
management staff, an updated organizational chart, and includes the
addresses of NARA facilities (including the Presidential Libraries)
nationwide. For a copy of the 44-page report, call NARA at (301) 713-7360
ext. #239.

Item #6 - FREEDMAN'S BANK RECORDS CD: In the February 28, 2001, issue of NCC
WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 7 #9), we announced that the Mormon Church had
published records from the post Civil War Freedman's Savings and Trust
Company. We now learn that the records are available to the public on CD and
can be ordered for $6.50.  To order, phone: (800) 346-6044 and ask for
transfer number 25274.

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