Federal News:
ALA submitted comments to the Department of Homeland Security regarding the Department’s plans to monitor and collect information from U.S. immigrants’ social media accounts. In the letter, ALA representatives write that the proposal is “quite excessive and thus an invasion of privacy.” For more details, visit the District Dispatch.
In national, but not strictly legislative, news … Read comments submitted by the MLA to the NLM regarding the Request for Information (RFI) on Next Generation Data Science Challenges in Health and Biomedicine. MLA recommends working with the NLM to develop a Data Sciences Specialization as part of a training program for health science librarians. Additional strategic partnerships are also recommended. Read a summary of the comments via the MLA News blog.
Want to actively participate in democracy? Try the 5 Calls app. Choose from a list of active legislative issues and be prompted with background information and a phone number to reach your local representative. One current topic is “Demand the FCC maintain net neutrality,” but see also the issues listed under Healthcare.
Illinois News:
SB 851 (amendment to the Illinois Local Library Act / property tax freeze proposal) passed the House. However it was not voted on in the Senate and the veto session has now closed. The Illinois Library Association is opposed to this amendment. Thanks to those who contacted their senators and representatives!
The Illinois Library Association’s Illinois Advocacy Committee has just re-booted the Illinois Libraries Matter blog. Check out their latest post!