NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #39; 3 October 2006)

1. NCSS CONVENES MEETING ON "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"
2. THE NEH DIGITAL HUMANITIES INITIATIVE
3. NEH and IMLS PARTNER TO SPUR DIGITAL INNOVATION
4. CORNELL CREATES ELECTRONIC RESERVES GUIDELINES
5. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT
6. BITS AND BYTES: NARA Cold War Symposium Fee Reduction Announced; Battlefield Report to be Updated; Preserve America Awards Nominations Sought; Preservation Award Nominations Sought
7. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: No posting this week

1. NCSS CONVENES MEETING ON "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND" Next year, Congress is expected to address the reauthorization of the "No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the centerpiece of President Bush's education policy that is slated to expire in September 2007. In anticipation of that, the National Council for the Social Studies and Junior Achievement Worldwide conducted on September 20-21 2006, a two-day summit of representatives from several national organizations related to the core social studies disciplines (history, civics, economics and geography). The purpose of the meeting was to exchange views and to identify areas of agreement regarding the reauthorization of the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB). The meeting resulted in the formulation of a working group with a representative from each discipline pledging to begin to try to develop a unified position on the NCLB reauthorization.

During the first day, panel presentations focused on the recent quantitative evidence that establishes that history and other social studies subjects are being marginalized in elementary and middle schools as an unintended consequence of NCLB. Other speakers focused on the importance of civics education in addressing what was characterized as the "achievement gap" in civic engagement by minorities and economically deprived student (often immigrant) populations.

The second day presentations continued to focus on both the positive and negative outcomes of NCLB. Ellin Nolan, President of Washington Partners Inc. -- a law firm that specializes in assisting clients with policy interests in education -- gave a brief "congressional lay of the landscape" presentation regarding the NCLB reauthorization from the perspective of a Washington policy insider. Nolan stated that both the House and Senate committees of jurisdiction were interested in making "technical corrections" to the NCLB, but she doubted the committees would significantly alter the Act's intent or implementation procedures. She also stated that it was possible that Congress may opt not to amend the bill in 2007 but may rather, extend it without significant amendment until 2009, so that the committees can address what are perceived as more pressing legislative issues.

The last session of the summit focused on the need to establish a coalition or working group comprised of social studies advocates to provide mutual support and develop a unified position, compile and share data, and provide mutual support and leverage influence on Capitol Hill in the coming months. A five member steering committee (one individual from each discipline) emerged from the discussions. Members agreed to start communicating via e-mail and telephone conference calls in an effort to continue the communication between disciplines. The representative of the history community is Nora Lee Frankel, assistant director of women, minorities, and teaching for the American Historical Association.

The formulation of the interdisciplinary steering committee comprised of some of the major social studies organizations is the first step in what may prove to be a collaborative effort to see that students do not get lost in the policy debate that is sure to generate considerable controversy during the next Congress.

2. THE NEH DIGITAL HUMANITIES INITIATIVE In July 2006, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), with its interest in “fostering the growth of digital humanities and lending support to a wide variety of projects,” launched a Digital Humanities Initiative. This new initiative seeks to support a wide variety of projects that use or study the impact of digital technology on the humanities.

While the initiative is new, digital humanities projects have been a focus of the NEH for some time now. These projects include support for the Walt Whitman Archive, a database that makes Whitman’s writings available for the public to search, as well as the "Valley of the Shadow," a digital archive that focuses on a Northern and Southern community before, during, and after the Civil War.

Through the initiative the NEH seeks to place a greater emphasis on digital projects. The agency will concentrate a greater percentage of its limited resources in order to become a more significant player in advancing this emerging technological trend in the humanities. The NEH offers numerous funding opportunities for individuals and organizations interested in undertaking digital humanities projects. In recent grant availability announcements, the NEH states that digital technology can offer humanist scholars new methods for “conducting research, conceptualizing relationships, and presenting scholarship.” The Digital Humanities Fellowships are offered in a new program designed to financially assist students as they use digital technology to produce “electronic publications, digital archives or databases and other digital analytical tools. The deadline for applications is 1 May 2007. Another new program, Digital Start-Up Grants, seeks to provide recipients with a way to “get their projects off the ground.” These grants are to be used in the planning or early development of a project, in areas such as research, preservation and education.

Other long established grant support areas, including Scholarly Edition Grants, Challenge Grants, and Public Programs also are exploring innovative uses of digital technology in their grant programs. Application guidelines for these programs can be found at: http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/digitalhumanitiesstartup.html .

3. NEH and IMLS PARTNER TO SPUR DIGITAL INNOVATION The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced late last week a new partnership. The two organizations will launch a joint effort and contribute $1.5 million to what is called, "Advancing Knowlege: The IMLS/NEH Digital Partnership." The partnership is the result of collaborative effort spearheaded by the Chairman of the NEH Bruce Cole, and the new Director of the IMLS, Anne-Imelda M. Radice.

The funding stream will sponsor projects that involve scholars from museums, libraries, archives,and IT professionals. Collectively, the NEH and IMLS will encourage these same cultural institutions to participate in the NEH Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants. Cole stated that the partnership would combine the talents of both organizations “to find new ways for digital technology to advance humanities scholarship and education." The ultimate goal Cole stated, "is to make more resources more broadly available to more people.” Both entities hope that the collaboration will also encourage the development of digital technology to support advances for the humanities and provide a means to catch up to the digital progress in scientific fields.

The NEH and IMLS will formulate and release grant guidelines for the Advancing Knowledge: The IMLS/NEH Digital Partnership in early 2007. In addition, in this next fiscal year, other grants from NEH (see related story above) with deadlines in 2006 and 2007 will also support the development of digital humanities in a variety of educational settings.

4. CORNELL CREATES ELECTRONIC RESERVES GUIDELINES At colleges and universities throughout the country, professors have the general sense that when dealing with classroom reserve materials in an electronic medium, securing copyright clearances need not be treated the same way as if they were in hard copy. Well, not so. In order to address the threat of legal action by publishers, Cornell University recently issued a set of guidelines for professors who are looking to place course materials on electronic reserve.

Some time back the Association of American Publishers (AAP) sent a letter to Cornell University officials regarding suspected copyright violations relating to classroom e-reserves. According to an article that appeared on 19 September 2006 in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Allan Adler, the vice president for legal and governmental affairs for the publishing association, stated that publishers were concerned as “there seemed to be a very general sense that when you were dealing with materials in an electronic medium, you didn’t really need to treat them the same way you did if there were in hard copy.” But according to Adler, as a general principle, any professor posting articles online must use the same basic guidelines that apply to printed course packets.

In an effort to address the concerns, Cornell University and officials from the AAP have developed a set of guidelines that was distributed to professors at the beginning of the September term. It should be noted that the agreement relates only to e-reserves for classroom use and not e-reserves in general. The guidelines seek to provide guidance for professors in making decisions whether to place materials online. Cornell also developed and distributed a checklist for fair use analysis in general.

While the Cornell agreement does not conflict with copyright and fair-use guidelines generated by other academic organizations, critics of the Cornell policy note that there are some ambiguities and contradictions in the university's new guidelines that could cause some confusion -- a distinction being drawn between classroom and non-classroom e-reserves being one example.

Cornell has posted a memo from the university Provost as well as guidelines on its website: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/policy/Martin_Memo.pdf and at: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/policy/Copyright_Guidelines.pdf .

5. BILLS PASSED -- AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT On 25 September 2006, the House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 5861) that makes technical amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act. Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM), Chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks introduced the bill which passed by a two-thirds majority.

Pearce stated that the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 2006 amends the original Act in a few critical ways. Among other things, H.R. 5861 extends the Historic Preservation Fund for State and tribal preservation activities from 2005 to 2015. It also reauthorizes the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and requires local government to give full due process to property owners who protest the determination of eligibility for their property.

Pearce stated that since its conception in spring 2004, H.R. 5861 “has been the subject of more discussion and rewrite then any other bill that I have been involved with.” Pearce hopes the bill will eliminate some of the conflicts between business and preservationists and the State and Tribal Preservation Officers and characterized the bill a “truly collaborative effort.” Representative Madeleine Bordallo (D-GU) also spoke in support of the bill, stating that, “while it makes technical changes to the Historic Preservation Act, it includes none of the highly controversial amendments that were first proposed by the majority.”

On 29 September the Senate also passed similar legislation (S-1378). The Senate bill, however, does not embrace all of the changes advanced in the House bill. To reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions a conference must take place; at this writing, no conference committee plans have been announced.

6. BITS AND BYTES Item #1 -- NARA Cold War Symposium Fee Reduction Announced: On 21 October 2006, the National Archives and Records Adminsitration (NARA) will conduct a day-long symposium on the Cold War that features notable historians, journalists, and other eyewitnesses to Cold War history. Among the stellar list of presenters scheduled to attend what promises to be a fascinating exchange of views are: Sergei Khrushchev (the son of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev); Ted Sorensen, speechwriter and advisor to President John F. Kennedy; and journalists Daniel Schorr and Morley Safer. The symposium is open to the public for a registration fee of $75. However, NARA is making available a special $10 fee rate available for "students, seniors, and educators." Reservations are required (by 13 October). For further information and to learn how to register, send an e-mail to: public.program@nara.gov .

Item #2 -- Battlefield Report to be Updated: Some time back Congress requested that the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) -- a national program administered by the National Park Service that is charged to aid in the preservation planning for Civil War battlefields -- update the 1993 Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on Civil War Battlefields. The update will determine new preservation opportunities and other changes at 384 Civil War battlefields throughout the United States since the initial report in 1993. The information will be released in state-by-state updates and will allow communities to revisit preservation issues and decide if additional steps must be taken to protect historic battlefields. For more information about the update of the Civil War battlefield sites, visit: http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/abpp/CWSII.htm .

Item #3 -- Preserve America Awards Nominations Sought: Nominations are being accepted for the 2007 "Preserve America" Presidential Awards. Each year, four annual awards are presented to organizations or individuals for achievements in preservation and interpretation of America’s natural and cultural resources and assets. Two awards are given for programs that encourage heritage tourism and two recognize privately funded historic preservation projects. Last year’s winners included the Maryland Areas Heritage Program under the category of Heritage Tourism and Hampton Hotel’s “Explore the Highway with Hampton, Save-A-Landmark™” Program in the Private Preservation category. The awards are given out at a White House ceremony. Nominations are due by 1 November 2006. For more information, visit: http://www.preserveamerica.gov/presidentialaward.html .

Item #4 -- Preservation Award Nominations Sought: Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works have issued a call for nominations for the 2007 Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections. This award is presented annually to an organization that has shown great care and concern to the preservation of its cultural property. Past winners include the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, the Henry Ford Museum, and the National Archives and Records Administration. Nominees should be non-profit organizations that are responsible for cultural property including structures, historic sites or collections. Nominations are due by 15 December 2006. For more information, please go to: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/awards/aic.htm

7. ARTICLES OF INTEREST No posting this week.