may13_b.indd


May 2013 265 C&RL News

Jazzy Wright is the press officer of the ALA Washington 
Office, e-mail: jwright@alawash.org

W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n eJazzy Wright

Supreme Court rules in favor of 
libraries, consumer rights
On March 19, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court 
supported consumer rights and libraries in 
the high-profile Kirtsaeng v. Wiley & Sons, 
Inc. case by ruling that goods lawfully made 
overseas are protected by the first sale doc-
trine. The Kirtsaeng case focused on whether 
Americans and businesses had the right to 
sell, lend, or give away the things they own 
that were made overseas.

The case centered on a graduate student, 
Supap Kirtsaeng, who bought textbooks 
published by John Wiley & Sons in Thailand 
and sold them online in the United States. 
Kirtsaeng was sued by the book publisher, 
who claimed that the right of first sale did 
not apply because the books were manufac-
tured overseas. ALA will continue to work 
with Owners’ Rights Initiative should any 
legislative action be taken against first sale 
under the principle that when we buy it, 
we can lend it.

Library sequestration numbers 
released
On March 26, 2013, President Barack Obama 
signed the “Consolidated and Further Con-
tinuing Appropriations Act, 2013” into law, 
which will provide $219.8 million to the 
Institute of Museum and Library Services 
(IMLS). Overall, library funding has been 
cut by $12 million, which includes $9.66 
million in cuts to the Library Services and 
Technology Act (the federal sequester will 
mean a 5 percent cut in the $232 million 
allocated to IMLS).

Overall, state programs will be cut by 
$6.4 million, and each state will decide how 
the reduced budgets will affect the services 
delivered to the public, it may include the 
reduction of summer reading programs, 

database subscriptions, and workforce 
development programs—including employ-
ment skills and job searching, and services 
to people with disabilities. Future grant 
program budgets will also be slashed by $3 
million, though grants already awarded will 
not be affected by sequestration.

House passes the Workforce 
Investment Act
In March, the U.S. House of Representatives 
passed H.R. 803, the Supporting Knowledge 
and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act, 
which would reauthorize the Workforce 
Investment Act (WIA). The ALA Washington 
Office has been working with members on 
both sides of the aisle on this legislation and 
is encouraged that H.R. 803 would help to 
ensure greater participation of libraries in 
our nation’s workforce investment system. 
In particular, H.R. 803 includes provisions 
that ensure the state workforce investment 
plan includes a description of the actions 
that will be taken by the state to foster com-
munication, coordination, and partnerships 
with nonprofit organizations—including 
public libraries. 

District Dispatch
If you want to know more about what’s 
going on in Washington from the library 
perspective, visit District Dispatch, the offi-
cial blog of the ALA Washington Office. The 
office was established in 1945 to represent 
libraries on Capitol Hill, and now consists of 
the Office of Government Relations (OGR) 
and the Office for Information Technology 
Policy (OITP). OGR is charged with fol-
lowing and influencing legislation, policy, 
and regulatory issues of importance to the 
library field and its publics, while OITP 
advances ALA’s public policy activities.

The District Dispatch blog is available 
at www.districtdispatch.org/.