LibraryLaw Blog

An eloquent tribute to Wayne Rotstein

Here's an eloquent tribute to Wayne Rotstein, by his brother, my friend, Gary.  Take a moment and read it. Gary uses his news reporting skills to get to know his brother, after not seeing him for 10 years.  His writing brings us a vivid portrayal of Wayne's life which was evolving toward pure simplicity. Wayne is believed to have been swept away into the Pacific Ocean when a dam broke in Kauai 10 days ago.

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Lives lived: A brother lost in life and found in death

Friday, March 24, 2006

By Gary Rotstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Wayne Rotstein was a kid from Oakland who struggled at school, rebelled at home and never backed down from a fistfight on the streets.

	Wayne Rotstein visited the Kauai Hindu Monastery last August with a friend, Sandamini, left, and an unidentified staff member, center. Click photo for larger image.

Vishwamitra was a young man searching for spiritual enlightenment while wrestling with the pull of gambling, drinking and pot-smoking.

Banyan was a serene, self-taught, self-sufficient Hawaiian who shunned material goods. His plantings made the earth more nourishing and beautiful than those around him imagined possible.

My brother went by all three names, in a half-century of evolution, until his freakish death 10 days ago. A dam broke that morning at 6, and he was swept away, apparently to disappear into the Pacific Ocean forever. Six acquaintances lost their lives with him on Kauai, a tropical Hawaiian island nearly 5,000 miles from the asphalt Oakland neighborhood which he and I roamed as youths.

Back in our family's cramped apartment across from Forbes Field, Wayne, a year and a half older, was my best friend and worst bully. The distance between us grew ever since. By the time he died at age 49, I hadn't seen him in 10 years.

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Are You Safer in the Dark?

OpentheGovernment.org, a consortium of "Americans for Less Secrecy, More Democracy," whose members include the American Association of Law Libraries, Common Cause, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Federation of American Scientists, has been active in promoting access to government information that affects the daily lives of Americans. The consortium recently sponsored the second Sunshine Week, a national dialog on open government and secrecy. OpentheGovernment just released a wonderful animated film, Are We Safer in the Dark: An Animated Look Behind the Curtain of Government Secrecy.  The film uses real examples of the  government's use of secrecy as a basis for withholding information to the public, but the information is conveyed in an accessible, enjoyable format. This film needs to be seen by a wide audience. So if you enjoy the film, send it out into the larger virtual world by forwarding it along to anyone who might be interested. The word needs to get out!

Truant kids in the library

When I was in Florida, the question arose whether public libraries have a responsibility to report kids in the library in the daytime who they suspect are truant.

I went back to my great source, Sheila Bryant. In addition to being a librarian and former corrections officer, she was also a truancy officer in Florida. Congrats to Sheila, by the way, as she embarks on her job as a cataloger for Florida A and M University, Tallahassee.   

Essentially, public librarians are not in loco parentis and have no duty to report suspected truancy.

Here's what Sheila wrote back:

By Sheila Bryant

Truancy occurs when a student, between the ages of six and 17, miss a certain number of days from school within a specific time period, as defined by the statute of the state that the student resides in.  Truancy statutes usually apply to those students that are minors, because in most states the age of an adult is deemed 18; however, there can be exceptions, based on the state statute. 

Truancy is an issue that affects many people, because truancy has been associated with various criminal behaviors, such as, vandalism, burglary, and drug use.  Moreover, there are the complications of illiteracy, failure to obtain a high school diploma, and lack of job opportunities.

Also, truancy can be the symptoms for other emotional/mental, economic, and family situations.  For instance, the student may comment that due to a divorce or remarriage, that the family dynamics have changed and the student may feel that this adversely affects their relationship with their biological parent.  Or a death may have occurred and the student may actually be in a depression, but a single parent who is working may not have eyes to see or ears to hear the student’s cry for help.  And in this time negative influences from peers may develop. 

            Usually, the truancy center is working with the school board, law enforcement, and the courts to address truancy and other issues.  A typical day involves, a law enforcement officer patrolling his area by vehicle, who notes that student are walking toward the mall, a fast food restaurant, or waiting for public transportation.  And remember times vary for elementary, junior high, and high school.  Additionally, it makes a difference if the student is in the care of an adult.  This is important, because a student may have a medical appointment and parents may rely on public transportation.  The officer will question the students, advise their station of the stop, and transport the student to the local truancy agency.  The Truancy Case Manager, will contact the school and the parents.  The case manager does not usually have the student’s information on file, but will ask the student and will make contact with the school.  The case manager will then start an assessment with questions regarding the student’s home life, school life, drug use, and various other circumstances.  A determination will be made as to what category the student should be placed into.  For example, based on grades and attendance the student could be truant for the first time, just trying it out on a dare with friends.  Or the student may have missed three days in the last three months and not meet the criteria of truancy, but has signs and symptoms that may categorize the student to be at risk, needing intervention programs and referrals to counteract truancy behavior on the level of prevention.  At the most severe level, the student could meet that statutory definition of truancy, which means that the student needs monitoring by the Truancy Case Manager and based on the statute must appear in court with one or both parents. 

            Just as each truant is different each success or defeat is different.  Most parents come to the truancy office meet with the truancy case manager and are able to take their child home with no problem, but some cases result in the parents being jailed for not insuring that their child attend schools.  Please note that it is solely the parent’s responsibility to comply with the compulsory education of their children and no one else.  To ensure that you have the best knowledge regarding truancy please read your state’s statute or contact your local truancy office.

For more information on truancy please consult the links below. 

Truancy Encyclopedia of Everyday Law

Parents Jailed for Truancy

Sanctions on Driving Privileges

Other Truancy Programs

New Approaches to Truancy Prevention in Urban Schools

Copyright Office hearings in Palo Alto (CA) this Thursday and Friday

The Palo Alto hearings will be held in the Moot Court Room (Room 80) of the Stanford Law School, Crown Quadrangle, Palo Alto, CA Thursday, March 23, 2006, and Friday, March 24, 2006  - 9:30 a.m.

Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies ... more at

http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2006/71fr9302.html

What was the Gentleman's Agreement and how did librarians shape it? A deep history of libraries, publishers and fair use

If you're interested in libraries and copyright, you'll want to read Peter's forthcoming article: Peter Hirtle, Research, Libraries and Fair Use: The Gentleman's Agreement of 1935.  The Gentleman's Agreement was a landmark fair use agreement -- consensual voluntary guidelines that allowed libraries, archives and museums to make copies back in the days when microfilm threatened the status quo of hand copying.

What surprised me the most is the pivotal role of librarians in shaping the agreement. The article paints a colorful picture of the negotiators, especially of 33 year old Robert C. Binkley, WWI vet, reference librarian, and micofilm enthusiast.  We also meet Harry M. Lydenberg, from the New York Public Library... their presence gives library interests greater weight than general educational interests. 

Peter delved into archives at the Library of Congress, Princeton University, the Univ. of IL and the Univ. of VA to get deep background.  I plan to assign this article to my library students this summer at San Jose State in my course on copyright.

The Tale of One Bunny, Copyright Statements, & Public Domain: A Cautionary Tail

From Raizel:

Understanding the line between public domain and copyright is difficult to discern, as described in a post about the This Land is Your Land JibJab controversy. For example, people can't even agree on whether all, part, or none of "Happy Birthday" is protected by copyright or in the public domain. In an upcoming New York University Law Review article, Brooklyn Law School Professor Jason Mazzone calls the claiming of copyright in public domain materials "copyfraud."

This intellectual property cautionary tale starts because I was puzzled by the copyright notice in a historical mystery novel. Published in the United States in 2004, “Tale of Hill Top Farm” by Susan Wittig Albert is based on the life of Beatrix Potter and includes references to many of her famous characters, including Peter Rabbit, his friends, and relations. Part of the copyright notice reads:

“Frederick Warne & Co Ltd is the sole and exclusive owner of the entire rights titles and interest in and to the copyrights and trademarks of the works of Beatrix Potter, including all names and characters featured therein. No reproduction of these copyrights and trademarks may be made without the prior written consent of Frederick Warne & Co Ltd”

Several websites (and at least one book) repeat this or similar language in regards to Beatrix Potter or Peter Rabbit (though some of these sites are not in the United States).

On quick reading, a person could easily assume that this company owned the copyright in all of the Peter Rabbit books, and that therefore none of the books could be copied without permission.  But is this accurate?

The simple answer is -- NO!

Wasn't Peter Rabbit first published in the United States so long ago that it is in the public domain?

More after the jump

Surveillance tapes catching someone in the act in a library ?

A TV show contacted me to ask for stories and especially surveillance tapes of library patrons caught in the act.  If anyone has some, please let me know.

Patriot Act Reauthorization Fails to Include Sufficent Protection for Libraries and Bookstores

Susan Nevelow Mart writes: The library and bookstore community didn't get the protections it wanted in the Patriot Act reauthorization.  It didn't get language to require that  the person whose records were being requested was strongly suspected of terrorism.  However, the fight goes on. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) introduced a bill in Congress on Monday to amend the Patriot Act to protect civil liberties. The bill has eleven co-sponsors, and the text of the bill, S. 2369, is available online.

The bill would require a sunset for the Patriot Act's expanded authority for issuing National Security Letters. The bill would also amend Section 501(b)(2)(A) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1861(b)(2)(A)), to include a relevancy standard for a FISA order.  The application for an order would have to include a statement of facts showing that the records or things sought in the order are:

"relevant to an authorized investigation (other than a threat assessment) conducted in accordance with subsection (a)(2) to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities; and either pertain to a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; are relevant to the activities of a suspected agent of a foreign power who is the subject of such authorized investigation; or pertain to an individual in contact with, or known to, a suspected agent of a foreign power.

Currently, the standard is only that the documents and things requested have some “relevance” to a terrorist investigation, which is very broad. The new language would require that the records relate to a person with some demonstrable connection to a terrorist or terrorist group.

The co-sponsors are Larry Craig (ID), Richard Durbin (IL), Russell Feingold (WI), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Chuck Hagel (NE), John Kerry (MA), Patrick Leahy (VT), Lisa Murowski (AK), Barack Obama (IL), Ken Salazar (CO), and John Sununu (NH).

I'm sending my senator a letter of support.

Orphan Works Hearing tomorrow

Those of you who are not going to be at the Copyright Office's Roundtable on Section 108 tomorrow, March 8th, may want to watch instead the House Judiciary Committee's hearing at 2 PM on the recent report on orphan works from the Copyright Office.  It will be streamed live from the Committee's web site.

Jule Sigall from the Copyright Office, Allan Adler from the  Association of American Publishers (AAP), David Trust from Professional Photographers of America, and Maria A. Pallante-Hyun from the Guggenheim Museum are scheduled to testify.  It will be very interesting to see what changes they will offer to the statutory proposal included in the Copyright Office's report.