Every day there is a story in the news that impacts the library, archival, and information professions--even though the connection might not be obvious at first. Three ongoing stories relate to the Patriot Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and digital copyright laws.

A controversial clause in the Patriot Act, known as the library clause, allows the U.S. Government to demand information about patrons' borrowing habits. But this provision also allows a special court to search personal records of terrorist "suspects" from bookstores, businesses, and hospitals, as well. An unnamed library and the American Civil Liberties Union have recently filed suit against U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Muller in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. At Simmons, we offer a course in Intellectual Freedom in which we examine such issues as the Patriot Act closely.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Public Law 107-204) was enacted by Congress in 2002 in reaction to accounting scandals at Enron and Arthur Andersen. The law was intended to protect investors "by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures." Record keeping is central to the work of archivists, but unlike many businesses, professional societies such as the Society of American Archivists have codes of ethics governing the creation, use, and disposal of records. Cases such as Enron remind the world of the important of ethics, something we stress at GSLIS throughout the curriculum.

Digital copyright laws affect us all. In our profession we lobby rigorously for the doctrine of fair use--a doctrine that is not equally valued by the business community. Librarians, along with many other citizens, are exploring new approaches to copyright such as the Creative Commons. other approaches are also considered in our courses.

These are some of the many issues that we grapple with every day at GSLIS.

GSLIS itself is often in the news. In the past year alone stories about our programs have appeared in the Boston Globe, on NPR and in many other news outlets.

We invite you to join our community and to take part in the many changes that are taking place in our profession locally and globally.

Dean Michèle Valerie Cloonan

B.A., Bennington College
M.S. and Ph.D., University of Illinois
M.A., University of Chicago

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