Search for New Librarian of Congress Highlights Questions About Copyright Office Future, IT Policies

Librarian of Congress James Billington’s planned Jan. 1 departure as head of the LOC re-highlights the need for the LOC to fix ongoing IT issues amid the current debate about the U.S. Copyright Office’s future, copyright stakeholders told us in interviews. Billington announced his planned departure last week (see 1506100029). The GAO criticized the LOC’s IT policies in a March report, saying the library lacks “clear direction” for its IT program and needs to “expeditiously” hire a chief information officer (see 1503310046). Copyright stakeholders have noted those IT issues as one of the main reasons for the CO to become an independent federal agency (see 1502260057 and 1502200040). The search for Billington’s successor should include some focus on finding a tech-savvy candidate, but that shouldn’t be the primary prerequisite, stakeholders told us.

The “need to separate the [LOC’s] systems from the [CO’s] systems still persists” even under Billington’s eventual successor, said Copyright Alliance CEO Sandra Aistars. “It really has nothing to do with who’s in charge; it has to do with the fact that the [CO] has a very market-driven mission, while the [LOC] has an archival and preservation-oriented mission. The sorts of IT systems you’d set up to serve those two distinct needs are quite different.” A separation of the CO from LOC would actually make the search for Billington’s successor “a lot cleaner because it would allow the White House to seek a librarian of Congress who solely focuses on the LOC’s needs rather than also looking for “somebody who can run the copyright system as a part-time job,” said Sentinel Worldwide CEO Steve Tepp, former U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief IP counsel. “If [CO] is taken out from under the library, it can create an IT policy that best suits the copyright system. Right now it’s a jumble of priorities, which is why we’re in the situation we’re now in.”

The search for Billington’s successor at LOC remains very relevant for copyright stakeholders because it’s “premature to assume” that Congress will vote to make the CO an independent agency given that the House Judiciary Committee is still early in the legislation phase of its Copyright Act review work, said Public Knowledge Vice President-Legal Affairs Sherwin Siy. The Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act, which would make the CO an independent agency and would limit the register of copyrights to a single 10-year term, remains in draft form after debuting earlier this month (see 1506050057). “Regardless of what happens, [stakeholders] should care about the systems that govern the [CO] now,” Siy said. “I don’t think you can switch the nameplates and assume that everything’s going to change.”

The search for a new librarian of Congress is generally an “opportunity for taxpayers, for the LOC and for the CO to really see a new direction into the digital age,” said Taxpayers Protection Alliance Communications and Policy Manager Michi Iljazi. The LOC’s issues with “keeping track of and keeping hold of the important data and submissions are happening because they’re operating from the standpoint, with all due respect, that we are still operating during the years of [former President] Ronald Reagan.” Reagan appointed Billington as librarian of Congress in 1987.

“Certainly one of the criticisms that people have leveled against Billington was that he’d been alerted to the IT problems and hadn’t addressed them, so whoever the new librarian is should definitely be cognizant of that and be somebody who can fix some of those problems,” Siy said. “There’s a good opportunity for the new librarian to fix some of those problems, and not just within the CO. The LOC has made progress during Billington’s term, but there’s still a long way to go.” Billington acknowledged the GAO’s conclusions about the LOC’s IT policies in a letter attached to the GAO’s final report, saying the LOC was working on updating its policies and had hired an interim CIO pending an expected September conclusion of its search for a permanent hire. The LOC didn’t comment on current progress on those improvements.

Tech-savviness is generally an important quality in any librarian since the position requires dealing with multiple forms of media, Siy said. Many elements of the librarian of Congress’s job also “require someone who is tech-savvy, but I wouldn’t rate that as the primary qualification” for the position, Aistars said. “Strong strategic management skills and an ability to organize are really key here.” The librarian of Congress also needs to understand the “nature of the works and culture” that the LOC handles, she said.