February 27, 2005 NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni to Speak at FLICC Forum March 24

Elias A. Zerhouni, the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will join an outstanding list of speakers at the 22nd Annual FLICC Forum on Federal Information Policies, sponsored by the Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) of the Library of Congress on Thursday, March 24, in the Library's Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.. As the Forum's keynote speaker, Zerhouni will address the new NIH policy to make the final versions of peer-reviewed manuscripts that report results of research supported in whole or in part by NIH funding available through its digital repository, PubMed Central.

The morning panel discussion will review the arguments for and against broad and open access to health and medical research funded by taxpayers. Jane Bortnick Griffith, assistant director, National Library of Medicine, will moderate the panel. Brian Nairn, CEO, Elsevier Health Sciences Division, and David Stern, director, Yale Science Libraries & Information Services, are the panelists who will explore whether the public should pay a private sector publisher for research supported by tax dollars.

The afternoon sessions will begin with an executive keynote address by J. William Leonard, director of the Information Security Oversight Office of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). He will discuss the struggle to balance a citizen's right to access with the government's responsibility to protect certain categories of information.

The afternoon panel of Sharon Fawcett, the deputy assistant archivist at NARA, and Elizabeth Withnell, the chief counsel of the Privacy Office at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will discuss initiatives to protect information. The panel is moderated by Kathy Eighmey, coordinator of Library Services, Department of Homeland Security. Following the panel discussion, Leslie Barrett, vice president and lead analyst at Outsell Inc., will offer an information industry perspective on balancing access and protection.

Wrapping up the day will be Kathryn Mendenhall, interim FLICC executive director, who will ask participants to explore the implications for federal librarians in an evolving information environment that offers unprecedented access to information generated by government funding but denies access to information historically available to all.

Immediately following the FLICC Forum will be a 40th anniversary reception honoring FLICC's history of serving the federal library and information center community.

To attend the FLICC Forum, call the FLICC office at (202) 707-4800. The FLICC Forum will also be cybercast live on March 24. For more information on the cybercast, call Robin Hatziyannis at (202) 707-4820 or visit the FLICC Web site at www.loc.gov/flicc/vidlib.html.

The Federal Library and Information Center Committee (FLICC) fosters excellence in federal library and information services through interagency cooperation and provides guidance and direction for the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK). Created in 1965 and headquartered at the Library of Congress, FLICC also makes recommendations on federal library and information policies, programs and procedures to federal agencies and to others concerned with libraries and information centers.