Advocacy & Policy
Information Issues and Policy
The Medical Library Association supports access to the worlds health sciences information to facilitate informed health care decisions. The Governmental Relations Committee and the Joint MLA/AAHSL Legislative Task Force both have responsibility for addressing national information issues and policies of importance to the health sciences library community.
Legislative News
- MLA Action Alerts
- Latest Public Policy Updates
- MLA-FOCUS (brief, timely, and relevant issue-specific updates, available to members only)
- Public Policy Reports (comprehensive updates on multiple issues)
- MLA 2008 Award for Distinguished Public Service
On April 9, 2008, President Mark E. Funk presented Rep. David Obey (D-WI) with MLA's Award for Distinguished Public Service
- Congressional Briefing: "Health Information for All: From Research to Health Professional to Patient" (PowerPoint, 9MB)
On April 9, 2008, MLA President Mark E. Funk and AAHSL President Linda A. Watson gave a powerpoint demonstration of NLM's databases to explain how biomedical information moves from the laboratory bench to the patient bedside. The program explained how publicly available databases and websites developed by the National Library of Medicine support the information needs of researchers, health professionals, and the public.
The Governmental Relations Committee develops position statements to assist librarians in understanding and applying information issues and policy within the library and to educate policy makers about the role of information services in support of health care delivery, education, and research. MLA's position statements address issues such as access to government information, the copyright law and fair use, and distance education.
|
Civil Liberties
Addresses legislation that seeks to strengthen national security post 9/11, and its impact on libraries and library services.
Funding
Addresses annual appropriations legislation that funds education and recruitment initiatives, and also library programs and services to ensure that information access is available to health professionals, educators, students, and the public.
Information Access
Addresses issues and legislation related to public access to health information, including the NIH policy on enhancing public access to archived publications resulting from NIH-funded research and NLM's PubChem database.
Intellectual Property and Copyright
Addresses a wide range of national and international intellectual property and copyright issues impacting libraries and library services in the print and digital arenas.
Copyright Issues and Legislation
Copyright Web Resources
Addresses issues on publisher mergers, open access, and links to scholarly publishing initiatives
Technology
MLA position statements that identify roles for information professionals in national telemedicine and NII / HPCC initiatives, and address digital technology issues.
Telecommunications
Addresses telecommunications and technology issues such as the E-rate and universal service as well as Internet policies such as filtering and content controls.
|