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May 24, 2017 The Skanner Page 9 News House Votes to Limit Powers of First Black Librarian of Congress I n a vote of 378 to 48, the House passed leg- islation to take power away from the current Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden. The legislation, H.R. 1695, was authored by House Judiciary Chair- man Bob Goodlatte (R- Va.) and ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.), would limit the powers of the librarian. It is ex- pected to pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Trump. The bill makes the head of the Copyright Office, the Register of Copy- rights, a presidential appointment that would have to be confirmed by the Senate, rather than an appointment by the Librarian of Congress, as it has been since 1870. The bill also limits the position of Register of Copyrights to a ten-year term. The bill text reads, “This bill amends federal copyright law to require the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a Register of Copyrights from a list of at least three individuals…” and, “The bill limits the term PHOTO WIKIMEDIA COMMONS By Lauren Victoria Burke (NNPA Newswire Contributor) Carla Hayden was appointed the 14th Librarian of Congress by President Barack Obama on Feb. 24, 2016. of office for the Regis- ter of Copyrights to 10 years, but the individual may be reappointed sub- ject to the same require- ments established in this bill. The President may remove the Register of Copyrights from office and must notify both chambers of Congress of any such removal.” According to the Li- brary Journal, as Presi- dent Obama considered his choice to fill the Librarian of Congress position in 2015, the Re- publican-controlled U.S. Senate passed a bill to limit the term of that po- sition to ten years. “After [the bill] was approved in the House of Representa- tives,” President Obama signed it into law on No- vember 5, 2015. The previous Librarian of Congress, James Bill- ington, served in the po- sition for 28 years. President Barack Obama appointed Hayden the 14th Librar- ian of Congress on Feb- ruary 24, 2016. She is the first African American to hold the position, as well as the first woman to be the Librarian of Con- gress, in the agency’s his- tory. On March 23, leg- islation was introduced to block Hayden from appointing the next Reg- ister of Copyrights. That legislation passed the House on April 26. Supporters of the bill argued that the legis- lation would help to modernize the Copy- right Office and make it more accountable to Congress. Attempts to contact the office of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) for details on why he au- “ wood.” The entertainment in- dustry pushed hard for the passage of H.R. 1695. It’s likely that the selec- President Donald Trump would, in essence, run the Copyright Office thored H.R. 1695, were not answered. “This bill serves no purpose other than to take power away from the Librarian of Con- gress and give it to pow- erful lobbyists, who will have a major say in who runs the Copyright Of- fice,” wrote Michael Mas- nick on TechDirt.com on April 26. “It’s a bad bill, and it’s a gift to Holly- tion of the Librarian of Congress will be the fo- cus of attention of the power of the entertain- ment lobby moving for- ward now that senators will play a role in confir- mation. The bill to limit Hayden’s power arrives six months after she re- moved Maria Pallante from the position of Reg- ister of Copyrights in Oc- tober 2016. Many in the entertainment industry were said to be unhappy with Pallante’s removal. “The Library of Con- gress, through the Reg- istrar of Copyrights, plays a referee or um- pire role in this complex new game; librarians, because they curate and compile content, have traditionally been pro- tectors of copyright and works of authors and artists and balanced pub- lic and cultural interests in the free flow and use of that content,” Chris- topher Chambers, a pro- fessor of media studies at Georgetown Univer- sity told NBC BLK. “Big See LIBRARIAN on page 11 Information is powerful. The power is in your hands. www.TheSkanner.com TheSkannerNews @TheSkannerNews
