libraries and mobile devices: public policy considerations

Timothy Vollmer, ALA Office for Information Technology Policy

Libraries and Mobile Devices: Public Policy

Considerations

LITA National Forum October 2009

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Friday, October 2, 2009

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ALA Washington Officehttp://www.ala.org/washoff

http://ala.org/oitp http://ala.org/ogr

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What goes on in Washington?

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•Researches and analyzes the implications of IT and IT policy for libraries and users

•Educates the ALA community on information policy issues

•Advocates for ALA’s information policy (but not lobbying)

•Strategizes by looking at implication of technological trends

What does OITP do?

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•informing government of the needs and concerns of the library community

•providing library supporters with up-to-date information on government actions or proposals

•building coalitions with Washington-based representatives of other groups with similar concerns; and

•developing grassroots networks to lobby legislators and further library interests

What does OGR do?

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OITP Updates

•Google Book Settlement

•BTOP

•“Fiber to the Library”

•Opportunity Online Broadband Project

•Network Neutrality

•Copyright Activities

•Future of Libraries

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OGR Updates

•USA PATRIOT Act

•FRPAA

•Orphan Works

•CPSIA

•Health Care

•LSTA

Friday, October 2, 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyi/3662184306/http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyi/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en

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Friday, October 2, 2009

The mobile revolution is already in progress

http://www.flickr.com/photos/offstandard/3825774286/http://www.flickr.com/photos/offstandard/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

•computing power UP; size down

•ubiquitous connectivity

•“always-on” mobile cycle

•pervasiveness of digital content

•mobile as new mindset

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Friday, October 2, 2009

•digital copyright and content licensing

•digital rights management

•privacy

•accessibility

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inknoise/2695247558/http://www.flickr.com/photos/inknoise/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en

Libraries and Mobile Devices: Public Policy Considerations

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Mobile projects already in action

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vermininc/2777441779/http://www.flickr.com/photos/vermininc/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

•eBook checkout

•Digital textbooks

•Mobile reference

•Mobile catalog

•Third party multimedia download

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Where do we begin?

•exercise our rights under the law

•look toward library values and existing frameworks

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixteenmilesofstring/2596569134/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixteenmilesofstring/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Digital Copyright and Content Licensing

•first sale doctrine

•ownership vs. access

•reliance on vendors

•artificial walls around content

•control, preservation, long term access

•chilling effects on incumbent rights

Original: http://www.flickr.com/photos/giantginkgo/6171406Remix: http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/2845536335/http://www.flickr.com/photos/will-lion/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en

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Friday, October 2, 2009

Digital Rights Management•DRM as control mechanism

•non-interoperability good for business, bad for consumers

•consumer protection

•ALA Principles for Digital Content

•FTC on DRM

•clarify business practices

•Bittorrent doesn’t have DRMhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/tom-b/44683696/http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom-b/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

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Privacy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shenghunglin/104434229/http://www.flickr.com/photos/shenghunglin/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en

•mobile environment creates novel concerns

•location awareness

•role and limit of advertising

•user notice and consent

•freedom of inquiry

•support UGC community

•empower youth, carefully15

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Accessibility

•Kindle and text-to-speech

•screen quality

•mobile app and web standards

•“Reader’s Bill of Rights”

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Where do we go from here?

•encourage innovation, experimentation

•look to our strong library values, traditions

•empower users

•libraries remain engaged with technology and policy communities

http://www.flickr.com/photos/himalayan-trails/2868073936/http://www.flickr.com/photos/himalayan-trails/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

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tvollmer@alawash.org

ala.org/washoffwo.ala.org/districtdispatch

ALA OITP

@oitp

Friday, October 2, 2009