On December 11, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) voted to raise fees on phone users, by about $2.00 per year, in order to increase funding for the E-Rate program. The program provides Internet access to schools in impoverished areas. Currently, annual funding for E-rate is about $2.4 billion; the fee increase will raise funding levels…
Category: Legislation
For news about legislative activity relevant to librarianship. Not for news about or from the HSLI Legislative Committee.
Proposed Changes to Library Systems Rules
Members of a library system may comment on proposed rule changes for library systems. This is in the Dec 5 Illinois Register, page 22526. Your library system has been forwarded this information. My main concern is membership to a library system when the library is totally virtual. If you have any comments, you may attend a…
2015 Legislative Meet-Ups Announced
The Illinois Library Association has announced its first round of legislative meet-ups for the upcoming Illinois General Assembly session. The meet-ups will be held in mid-February, with three of them in the Chicago area and one in the St. Louis area. South Suburban Breakfast-will be held in Tinley Park on Friday, February 13 West Suburban…
December 3 Update on Illinois HB3796
I am glad to report that the Illinois Senate voted earlier today to override Governor Quinn’s veto of Illinois House Bill 3796. (The vote was by a margin of 39 to 13; a three-fifths majority, or 36 out of a possible 59 votes, was needed.) House Bill 3796 amends the Freedom of Information Act, to…
Update on Illinois HB3796
I am happy to report that Governor’s Quinn veto of House Bill 3796, which amends the Freedom of Information Act, has been overridden. This past Wednesday, November 19, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 76-36 in favor of overriding the veto. The legislation now goes to the Illinois Senate, in which a three-fifths majority is…
Overview of 2014 Illinois Legislation
During this year’s ILA conference, representatives of several statewide advocacy organizations, including the ILA’s Public Policy Committee, gave updates on pieces of legislation from the current Illinois General Assembly session that are especially relevant to libraries. The following bills, in particular, were of special concern to legislative advocates this year. House Bill 3793-This is a…
Overview of 2014 Advocacy Events
Here is an overview of recent and upcoming advocacy events at the state and federal levels. Illinois Legislative Meet-Ups-During February, meetings with legislators were held in four locations, including Lockport, Oak Brook, and Edwardsville. These meetings grew out of the annual Presidents’ Day breakfast, which is held in the northwestern suburbs. The meet-ups were intended…
Legislative Action Agenda
The Illinois Library Association has released its 2015 Action Agenda. The main items are library funding, intellectual freedom and privacy, access to library services, and increasing the effectiveness of Illinois libraries. Below are the specific goals for each item. (I’ve put in bold the items that will probably have the biggest impact on hospital and…
Story on Open Access in IACRL Newsletter
Below is an article I wrote that appeared in the Spring edition of the IACRL Newsletter. The article covers open access, which continues to affect many aspects of librarianship, mainly because of librarians’ role in providing users with the tools for accessing scholarly articles, and also because of the increasing number of scholarly articles that…
LSTA Story in IACRL Newsletter
Below is an article I wrote for the Fall issue of the IACRL Newsletter, which was just released. The article covers LSTA, the Library Services and Technology Act. LSTA is the only federal legislation that focuses exclusively on libraries, making it a crucial source of funding, in addition to a barometer of the level of…