C&RL News June 2020 306

Kevin Maher is deputy director of government 
relations, email: k maher@alawash.org, and Carrie 
Russell is director of public polic y and advocac y, 
email: crussell@alawash.org, at ALA’s Washington 
O ffice 

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eKevin Maher and Carrie Russell

COVID-19 relief for academic libraries
While budget cuts for college and research 
libraries are taking place at many institu-
tions, ALA continues to advocate for librar-
ies to be included in federal relief packages. 
The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 
Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L.116-
136), passed in April, would benefit college 
and research libraries. The majority of the 
CARES Act Education Stabilization Fund is 
reserved for institutions of higher educa-
tion (IHE) centers around student aid and 
encourages maximum flexibility. For ex-
ample, the Department of Education (ED) 
is suspending payments on federal student 
loans until September 30, 2020, and no in-
terest would accrue during this period of 
suspension. However, as much as 49% of 
the Education Stabilization Fund may be 
expended (to cover any costs associated 
with significant changes to the delivery of 
instruction due to the coronavirus), with 
only a few constraints.

Separately, ED recently announced that 
it was providing additional flexibility to in-
stitutions relating to the Federal Work-Study 
(FWS) Program. This includes the ability 
for IHE to continue to pay FWS wages to 
students for the remainder of the current 
academic year in instances in which those 
students’ jobs were interrupted as a result 
of the pandemic. 

As the next economic relief packages take 
shape, ALA’s Public Policy and Advocacy 

Office is working to make sure that any 
discussion of education considers the value 
and contributions of libraries. Advocacy 
within individual institutions is necessary 
for the library to obtain a share of CARES 
Act funding. As with all advocacy, you must 
have compelling ideas and a proposal that 
articulates your needs—making the argu-
ment for why the library should receive a 
share based upon the role your library has 
played in helping to support any changes 
to the delivery of instruction within your 
institution. You’ll also need to exercise your 
relationships within the institution to obtain 
intelligence and exert influence to steer 
some of these funds to the library.

HathiTrust responds to COVID-19 
The novel coronavirus pandemic has 
brought into focus the need for digital ac-
cess to information held in libraries around 
the world. U.S. copyright law allows for 
the fair use of content under certain condi-
tions. Based on the four-factor analysis of 
fair use, coupled with an emergency that 
makes lawful access to physical copies im-
possible, libraries can operate to a signifi-
cant extent to serve academic communities. 

On March 31, HathiTrust, a digital preser-
vation repository and advanced book search 
service, opened full-text access to books in 
its collection for HathiTrust library members 
in response to COVID-19. Because libraries 
were forced to close due to the coronavi-
rus, physical access to books in university 
library collections was impossible. Member 
libraries with holdings in the repository can 
offer full-text access to those titles to their 
faculty, student, and academic communities. 
The service will be available until member 
libraries can re-open. 

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