Washington eBulletin 鈥� July 2019

A Look Ahead

National Archives Responds to Concerns About Obama Presidential Library

In June, the聽National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) hosted a meeting between NARA leadership and nongovernmental聽organizations interested in access to government information, including AALL. In advance of the meeting, 黑料社requested that an update about the Obama Presidential Library be included on the agenda to address about聽the Obama Foundation’s plans for an all-digital library. NARA had previously聽聽that, “The Obama Foundation, a private entity, made the decision not to construct a Presidential Library for NARA to house the textual and audiovisual records and artifacts. Instead it will provide funding for the digitization of records so they can be made available online.”

Donius provided assurances聽that the digitization of President Barack Obama’s records by a private contractor for the Obama Foundation will be required to meet all NARA standards and will be ingested with metadata into NARA’s searchable Electronic Records Archives. Donius also reiterated that NARA takes seriously the need to make presidential archivists and librarians available to assist users with the digital material.

黑料社will continue to track plans for the Obama Presidential Library and update members on further developments.

Act Now

Learn Advocacy Skills at the Annual Meeting

黑料社members will converge on Capitol Hill on July 12 for to champion legal information聽and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Association’s advocacy program. In addition to Lobby Day, there are several opportunities for 黑料社Annual Meeting attendees to learn about AALL’s legislative priorities and successes. The聽聽will provide information about the Association’s legislative priorities and activities and will offer an opportunity to hear from the winners of the and . The program聽will inform participants of the meaningful successes enjoyed by AALL’s advocacy efforts during the last three decades and inspire participants to get involved to make meaningful contributions at the federal and state levels.

Roundup and Review

  • Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ted Cruz (R-Tx.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) introduced the Senate version of the to free access to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. 黑料社strongly supports the bill.
  • The federal Judiciary is looking for people to serve on a . Applications are due July 26
  • 黑料社joined a to聽urge the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to approve the bipartisan Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act of 2019 (/). On June 19, the Committee voted to favorably report the bill
  • 黑料社 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bring the聽Save the Internet Act () to a vote in the Senate. The bill restores strong net neutrality protections.