X-Original-To: padg@xxxxxxx
Delivered-To: padg@xxxxxxxxxxxx
From: "Bogus, Ian" <ian.bogus@xxxxxxxx>
To: "padg@xxxxxxx" <padg@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:14:59 -0500
Thread-Topic: [tfoe] Fw: [alacro-l] ALA
Urges Congress To Correct Law That
Inadvertently Targets Libraries,
Publishers
Thread-Index:
Aclyoole1HgIcj1sTjGhb+QjDPKK2gCHOYpg
Has anyone heard about or responded to
this?
Ian
From: Jonathan Betz-Zall [mailto:jbetzzall@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009
4:37 PM
To: tfoe@xxxxxxx
Subject: [tfoe] Fw: [alacro-l] ALA Urges Congress To
Correct Law That Inadvertently Targets Libraries, Publishers
Does anyone have any hard information on
the presence of lead in books or other library materials? We might be able to
help ALA
respond appropriately if we can uncover some reliable information on this
topic.
Cheerio! Jonathan
Jonathan Betz-Zall
http://ecolibrarian.org
Seattle, Washington,
USA
jbetzzall@xxxxxxxxx
"Try kindness first."
--- On Fri, 1/9/09, Don Wood <dwood@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Don Wood <dwood@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [alacro-l] ALA Urges Congress To Correct Law That Inadvertently
Targets Libraries, Publishers
To: alacro-l@xxxxxxx
Date: Friday, January 9, 2009, 8:09 AM
CPSC ruling requires children's books to be removed for
safety testing
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - The American Library
Association (ALA) released a letter to Congress yesterday, urging members to
take action against a recent opinion ruling released from the General Counsel
of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that would require public,
school, academic and museum libraries to either remove all their books or ban
all children under 12 from visiting the facilities, beginning on February 10.
The opinion was issued to the Association
of American Publishers (AAP), following the group's request to exclude
children's books from regulation under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement
Act (CPSIA), which passed the 110th Congress in August and is enforced by the
CPSC.
Under the CPSC's interpretation of the
law, which seeks to protect children from exposure to lead and phthalate, books
for children under the age of 12 are required to undergo the same testing
procedures as children's toys. Since the General Counsel's opinion is
retroactive, all books currently on library or store shelves must be removed
for testing, including textbooks and children's literature books in academic
library research collections.
The publishing community has supplied the
Commission with evidentiary support (available at www.rrd.com/cpsia ) that
books and other non-book, paper-based printed materials should not be subject
to the lead, phthalate, and applicable ASTM standards that are referenced in
CPSIA because they do not present any of the health or safety risks to children
that the law intended to address.
ALA President Jim Rettig said he agrees
that books do not pose a threat to children and should not be subject to
regulation.
"The CPSC should enforce this
important legislation where the dangers are - not with books, which are not
playthings and should remain unregulated," Rettig said.
"I sincerely doubt that Congress
intended to require libraries to be subject to this law, but if Congress does
not act soon, libraries across the country will be forced to remove books from
the shelves, rather than keep them available to serve the educational needs of
our nation's children."
The ALA's letter to Congress can be viewed here.
You may view the latest post at
http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322
You received this e-mail because you asked to be notified when new updates are
posted.
Best regards,
Jenni Terry
jterry@xxxxxxxxxxx
--
Karen L. Pavelka
The School of Information
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station D7000
Austin TX
78712-0390
phone: 512-471-8286
fax: 512-471-8285
email: pavelka@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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