DOCSLIB.ORG

Applying Library Values to Emerging Technology Decision-Making in the Age of Open Access, Maker Spaces, and the Ever-Changing Library

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

ACRL Publications in Librarianship No. 72 Applying Library Values to Emerging Technology Decision-Making in the Age of Open Access, Maker Spaces, and the Ever-Changing Library Editors Peter D. Fernandez and Kelly Tilton Association of College and Research Libraries A division of the American Library Association Chicago, Illinois 2018 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of Ameri- can National Standard for Information Sciences–Permanence of Paper for Print- ed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. ∞ Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the Library of Congress. Copyright ©2018 by the Association of College and Research Libraries. All rights reserved except those which may be granted by Sections 107 and 108 of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976. Printed in the United States of America. 22 21 20 19 18 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................ix Peter Fernandez, Head, LRE Liaison Programs, University of Tennessee Libraries Kelly Tilton, Information Literacy Instruction Librarian, University of Tennessee Libraries Part I Contemplating Library Values Chapter 1. ..........................................................................................................1 The New Technocracy: Positioning Librarianship’s Core Values in Relationship to Technology Is a Much Taller Order Than We Think John Buschman, Dean of University Libraries, Seton Hall University Chapter 2. ........................................................................................................27 Tor Browser and Intellectual Freedom in the Digital Age Alison Macrina, Core Contributor, Tor Project; Founder, Library Freedom Project Chapter 3. .........................................................................................................35 Ethical Implications of Digital Tools and Emerging Roles for Academic Librarians Lindsey Wharton, Extended Campus and Distance Services Librarian, Florida State University Chapter 4. ........................................................................................................55 The Twitter Archive at the Library of Congress, Seven Years Later: Challenges for Supporting the Core Values of Librarianship* Michael Zimmer, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Information Studies; Director, Center for Information Policy Research, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee * This is a revised and updated version of a previously published piece. iii iv CONTENTS Chapter 5. .........................................................................................................73 Digital Infrastructures that Embody Library Principles: The IMLS National Digital Platform as a Framework for Digital Library Tools and Services Trevor Owens, Ashley E. Sands, Emily Reynolds, James Neal, Stephen Mayeaux, and Maura Marx, Institute of Museum and Library Services Chapter 6. ........................................................................................................89 Bringing Open Access Into Interlibrary Loan with the Open Access Button Chealsye Bowley, Scholarly Communication Librarian, Florida Gulf Coast University Chapter 7. ........................................................................................................105 Digital Advertising in Libraries: Or... How Libraries are Assisting the Ecosystem that Pays for Fake News Eric Hellman, President, Free Ebook Foundation Chapter 8. .......................................................................................................115 Communication or Piracy? Library Values, Copyright, and Cloud Computing Justin M. White, Metadata and Emerging Technologies Librarian, Terry P. McMahan Library, Hodges University Chapter 9. ........................................................................................................139 Information as an Essential Human Right: How the World Becomes Kinder and More Democratic When We Are All Informed David I. Orenstein, MS, MLS, PhD, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Medgar Evers College/ CUNY; AHA NGO Representative to the United Nations Chapter 10. ......................................................................................................159 Open Source Software and Librarian Values* Jason Puckett, Online Learning Librarian; Assistant Professor, Georgia State University Library Chapter 11. ......................................................................................................169 The Tradeoffs We Make: Ethical Technology in the Open Movement and Beyond Jennie Rose Halperin, Communications Manager, Creative Commons * This is a revised and updated version of a previously published piece. CONTENTS v Chapter 12. ......................................................................................................179 Community Code: Supporting the Mission of Open Access and Preservation with the Use of Open Source Library Technologies Keila Zayas-Ruiz, Sunshine State Digital Network Coordinator, Strozier Library, Florida State University Mark Baggett, Department Head, Digital Initiatives, Hodges Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Part II Applying Library Values Chapter 13. .....................................................................................................207 Getting Adults Online and Engaged: Chicago Public Library’s Approach Kate Lapinski, Learning and Economic Advancement, Chicago Public Library Chapter 14. ......................................................................................................217 Protecting User Rights in the Digital Realm Jacob Hoffman-Andrews, Senior Staff Technologist, Electronic Frontier Foundation Chapter 15. .....................................................................................................225 Not All Information Wants to be Free: The Case Study of On Our Backs* Tara Robertson Chapter 16. ......................................................................................................241 Effective Technology Management: Importance of Policies and User Agreements to Advance and Sustain Emerging Technology Use in Libraries A.Miller, Assistant Professor, Digital Scholarship, Middle Tennessee State University Chapter 17. .....................................................................................................265 Librarians as Leaders of Open Educational Practice Lisa Petrides, PhD, CEO, Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education Cynthia Jimes, PhD, Director of Research and Learning, Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education Amee Godwin, Director, Innovation, Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education * This is a revised and updated version of a previously published piece. vi CONTENTS Chapter 18. .....................................................................................................285 Building Bridges with No Trolls: The Practical Ethics of Open Access Institutional Repositories and Digital Archives Lindsay Kenderes, Information Resources Librarian / College Archivist, P.H. Welshimer Memorial Library, Milligan Libraries Jude Morrissey, User Services Librarian, P.H. Welshimer Memorial Library, Milligan Libraries Chapter 19. .....................................................................................................305 Lasting Experiences: Taking Galleries from Glass Cases to Online Access Repositories Joseph Shankweiler, Assistant Professor, Special Collections Catalog Librarian, Western Kentucky University Todd Seguin, Scholarly Communications Specialist, Western Kentucky University Chapter 20. .....................................................................................................315 Makerspaces for Technology-Infused Learning: A Case Study Maria Hawkins, Coordinator, Applied Technology, University of Akron Kevin Garewal, Head, Research & Learning Services, University of Akron Chapter 21. .....................................................................................................329 The Practice of Solidarity: Forming a Collaborative Coding Interest Group at AUC Robert W. Woodruff Library Joshua Hogan, Metadata & Digital Resources Librarian, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center Library Justin de la Cruz, Subject Librarian, Music and Psychology, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center Library Chapter 22. .....................................................................................................341 How I Set Up GNU/Linux at My Library* Chuck McAndrew, IT Librarian, Lebanon Libraries, New Hampshire * This is a revised and updated version of a previously published piece. CONTENTS vii Chapter 23. ....................................................................................................357 Contextual Expectations and Emerging Informational Harms: A Primer on Academic Library Participation in Learning Analytics Initiatives Kyle M. L. Jones, Assistant Professor, School of Informatics and Computing, Department of Library and Information Science, Indiana University-Indianapolis (IUPUI) Ellen LeClere, Doctoral Student, The iSchool, University of Wisconsin- Madison Chapter 24. ....................................................................................................373 Applying Inclusive Principles in Web Design to Enhance Accessibility for Disabled Users Kyunghye Yoon, Associate Professor, St. Catherine University Rachel Dols, Technical Aide, 3M Laura Hulscher, Independent
Recommended publications
  • Duckduckgo Search Engines Android

    Duckduckgo Search Engines Android

    Duckduckgo search engines android Continue 1 5.65.0 10.8MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.64.0 10.8MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.63.1 10.78MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.62.0 10.36MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.61.2 10.36MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.60.0 10.35MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.59.1 10.35MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.58.1 10.33MB DuckduckGo Privacy Browser 1 5.57.1 10.31MB DuckduckGo Privacy browser © DuckduckGo. Privacy, simplified. This article is about the search engine. For children's play, see duck, duck, goose. Internet search engine DuckDuckGoScreenshot home page DuckDuckGo on 2018Type search engine siteWeb Unavailable inMultilingualHeadquarters20 Paoli PikePaoli, Pennsylvania, USA Area servedWorldwideOwnerDuck Duck Go, Inc., createdGabriel WeinbergURLduckduckgo.comAlexa rank 158 (October 2020 update) CommercialRegregedSeptember 25, 2008; 12 years ago (2008-09-25) was an Internet search engine that emphasized the privacy of search engines and avoided the filter bubble of personalized search results. DuckDuckGo differs from other search engines by not profiling its users and showing all users the same search results for this search term. The company is based in Paoli, Pennsylvania, in Greater Philadelphia and has 111 employees since October 2020. The name of the company is a reference to the children's game duck, duck, goose. The results of the DuckDuckGo Survey are a compilation of more than 400 sources, including Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Bing, Yandex, own web scanner (DuckDuckBot) and others. It also uses data from crowdsourcing sites, including Wikipedia, to fill in the knowledge panel boxes to the right of the results.
  • Licensing Open Government Data Jyh-An Lee

    Licensing Open Government Data Jyh-An Lee

    Hastings Business Law Journal Volume 13 Article 2 Number 2 Winter 2017 Winter 2017 Licensing Open Government Data Jyh-An Lee Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_business_law_journal Part of the Business Organizations Law Commons Recommended Citation Jyh-An Lee, Licensing Open Government Data, 13 Hastings Bus. L.J. 207 (2017). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_business_law_journal/vol13/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Business Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 2 - LEE MACROED.DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 5/5/2017 11:09 AM Licensing Open Government Data Jyh-An Lee* Governments around the world create and collect an enormous amount of data that covers important environmental, educational, geographical, meteorological, scientific, demographic, transport, tourism, health insurance, crime, occupational safety, product safety, and many other types of information.1 This data is generated as part of a government’s daily functions.2 Given government data’s exceptional social and economic value, former U.S. President Barack Obama described it as a “national asset.”3 For various policy reasons, open government data (“OGD”) has become a popular governmental practice and international * Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law in the Chinese University
  • Historians of Technology in the Real World: Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History

    Historians of Technology in the Real World: Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History

    Historians of Technology in the Real World: Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History Richard F. Hirsh Technology and Culture, Volume 52, Number 1, January 2011, pp. 6-20 (Article) Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/tech.2011.0039 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tech/summary/v052/52.1.hirsh.html Access provided by Virginia Polytechnic Inst. __ACCESS_STATEMENT__ St.University __ACCESS_STATEMENT__ (Viva) (6 Feb 2014 13:11 GMT) 02_52.1hirsh 6–20:03_49.3dobraszczyk 568– 1/22/11 7:49 AM Page 6 Historians of Technology in the Real World Reflections on the Pursuit of Policy-Oriented History RICHARDF.HIRSH Nearly all historians writing about their craft begin by explaining the value of studying the past. According to the authors of a popular primer, history represents a collective memory that provides an awareness of past events, helping us shape our present and future.1 History has great practical signif- icance, notes another academic, because “intelligent action” draws on past experience.2 As a consequence of the way pedagogues extol the relevance of their work, many high-school students can paraphrase Santayana’s dictum that “[t]hose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”3 Despite widespread acceptance of the notion that history provides tan- gible benefits, historians usually remain reluctant to apply “lessons” to real- world situations, especially in the realms of public and business policy. Eager to be viewed as unbiased, dispassionate observers of events, most aca- demic historians seem happy to write primarily for their peers.
  • EFF, Duckduckgo, and Internet Archive Amicus Brief

    EFF, Duckduckgo, and Internet Archive Amicus Brief

    Case: 17-16783, 11/27/2017, ID: 10667942, DktEntry: 42, Page 1 of 39 NO. 17-16783 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT HIQ LABS, INC., PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, V. LINKEDIN CORPORATION, DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. 3:17-cv-03301-EMC The Honorable Edward M. Chen, District Court Judge BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION, DUCKDUCKGO, AND INTERNET ARCHIVE IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE Jamie Williams Corynne McSherry Cindy Cohn Nathan Cardozo ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 815 Eddy Street San Francisco, CA 94109 Email: [email protected] Telephone: (415) 436-9333 Counsel for Amici Curiae Case: 17-16783, 11/27/2017, ID: 10667942, DktEntry: 42, Page 2 of 39 DISCLOSURE OF CORPORATE AFFILIATIONS AND OTHER ENTITIES WITH A DIRECT FINANCIAL INTEREST IN LITIGATION Pursuant to Rule 26.1 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Amici Curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation, DuckDuckGo, and Internet Archive each individually state that they do not have a parent corporation and that no publicly held corporation owns 10 percent or more of their stock. i Case: 17-16783, 11/27/2017, ID: 10667942, DktEntry: 42, Page 3 of 39 TABLE OF CONTENTS CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS ..................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... ii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ...............................................................................
  • SECURING INDIVIDUALS in THEIR RIGHTS Unit 2, Lesson 1 UNIT 2, LESSON 1 SECURING INDIVIDUALS in THEIR RIGHTS

    SECURING INDIVIDUALS in THEIR RIGHTS Unit 2, Lesson 1 UNIT 2, LESSON 1 SECURING INDIVIDUALS in THEIR RIGHTS

    The Freedom Collection Presents: SECURING INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR RIGHTS Unit 2, Lesson 1 UNIT 2, LESSON 1 SECURING INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR RIGHTS INTRODUCTION In this lesson, students will review their understanding of the sources and characteristics of freedom and how governments secure individual rights. They will watch video testimonies from the Freedom Collection to explore how contemporary political dissidents from different countries and cultures explain their understanding of rights and express their expectations of government in respecting them. Students will examine how the United States Constitution and its Amendments secure individual rights and use an established methodology to rate the actual experience of freedom in the United States today. In doing so, students will understand that a “liberal democracy” describes a country in which the most substantial range of political, economic, and personal rights are secured in practice under a limited, representative system of government. GUIDING QUESTIONS ⋅ How do the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments secure individual political, economic, and personal rights for Americans? ⋅ What makes the United States a liberal democracy today, with respect to the individual’s experience of rights and freedoms under a limited, representative system of government? ⋅ How do contemporary political dissidents living under authoritarian systems of government understand their rights? What are their expectations of government in securing rights? OBJECTIVES STUDENTS WILL: ⋅ Understand how the U.S. Constitution and its Amendments secure individual rights for Americans. ⋅ Analyze what makes the United States a liberal democracy today, with respect to the individual’s experience of rights and freedoms under a limited, representative system of government.
  • MAKING a CLASS MAP with GOOGLE FUSION TABLES Jen Mapes: Jmapes@Kent.Edu

    MAKING a CLASS MAP with GOOGLE FUSION TABLES Jen Mapes: [email protected]

    MAKING A CLASS MAP WITH GOOGLE FUSION TABLES Jen Mapes: [email protected] 1: Create Google Form in Google Drive 1 2. Give form link (and further instructions) to students 2 3. When submission deadline has passed, Create a Fusion Table out of your “Responses” Spreadsheet (created automatically by Google Forms). If Fusion Tables does not show up as an option, you will need to “Connect more apps,” and select it. With a Kent account, you may need to go through an extra step. Ask me or a Help Desk person for assistance if you run into this problem. 3 This arrow will let you choose “change column” 4. Change type for your Lat/Long column to “Location.” Incorrect formats will be highlighted in yellow. 4 This arrow will let you choose “change column” 5. Change column for Image URL to Format: Eight Line Image 5 6 6. Choose the map tab, and your lat/longs will be geocoded on a map for you. If you use addresses instead, this may take an extra few minutes. 7. The option to configure your map should show up when your map is created. If it disappears, go to Tools/Change Map. You will then see two options: Change feature styles (the dots on the map), and change info window (what pops up when you click on the dots). 7 8. If you’d like to change the dots, or have them represented by different colors/styles depending on their values, then you’ll change the feature styles. Column allows you to use your spreadsheet (or form) to select what icon will appear with each submission.
  • The Autonomous Surfer

    The Autonomous Surfer

    Renée Ridgway The Autonomous Surfer CAIS Report Fellowship Mai bis Oktober 2018 GEFÖRDERT DURCH RIDGWAY The Autonomous Surfer Research Questions The Autonomous Surfer endeavoured to discover the unknown unknowns of alternative search through the following research questions: What are the alternatives to Google search? What are their hidden revenue models, even if they do not collect user data? How do they deliver divergent (and qualitative) results or knowledge? What are the criteria that determine ranking and relevance? How do p2p search engines such as YaCy work? Does it deliver alternative results compared to other search engines? Is there still a movement for a larger, public index? Can there be serendipitous search, which is the ability to come across books, articles, images, information, objects, and so forth, by chance? Aims and Projected Results My PhD research investigates Google search – its early development, its technological innovation, its business model of the past 20 years and how it works now. Furthermore, I have experimented with Tor (The Onion Router) in order to find out if I could be anonymous online, and if so, would I receive diver- gent results from Google with the same keywords. For my fellowship at CAIS I decided to first research search engines that were incorporated into the Tor browser as default (Startpage, Disconnect) or are the default browser now (DuckDuckGo). I then researched search engines in my original CAIS proposal that I had come across in my PhD but hadn’t had the time to research; some are from the Society of the Query Reader (2014) and others I found en route or on colleagues’ suggestions.
  • Core Literature of WTMC

    Core Literature of WTMC

    Core Literature of WTMC Core Literature of WTMC 2018 edition INTRODUCTION Core Literature of WTMC The Dutch national research school WTMC seeks to The second list, of introductions, is in particular useful for analyse, understand and explain the manifold and intricate new entrants in the field. The classics, of course, are also relationships between science, technology and modern informative, but may require more background knowledge. culture. This, of course, is an interdisciplinary effort that The introductions provide an overview of the main draws from and contributes to various research traditions, perspectives, methods and findings of the research field of each with their own literatures. In this overview we list the WTMC. core literature of the research school WTMC. The third category, the research clusters, proposes more The aim of this list is threefold: specific literature for the many lines of research in WTMC. • it provides an introduction to the intellectual and academic Within each of the clusters some key references are aspirations of WTMC; suggested to orient the researcher interested in these more • it helps PhD students to locate their studies within a broader specific areas of study. These references may also be used set of literatures; in the programs of the PhD workshops, depending on the • it supports the ongoing reflection of research agendas topic. Together, the research clusters are a demonstration of within WTMC. the richness and excitement of the research school WTMC. The list of core literature is organised into four categories: The overview ends with a list of journals that are important classics, introductions, research clusters, and journals.
  • The Impact of Academic Patenting on the Rate, Quality, and Direction of (Public) Research Output

    The Impact of Academic Patenting on the Rate, Quality, and Direction of (Public) Research Output

    Methodology Data & Measurement Results Summary The Impact of Academic Patenting on the Rate, Quality, and Direction of (Public) Research Output Pierre Azoulay1 Waverly Ding2 Toby Stuart3 1Sloan School of Management MIT & NBER [email protected] 2Haas School of Business University of California — Berkeley 3Graduate School of Business Harvard University January 23, 2007 — Northwestern University Azoulay, Ding, Stuart The Impact of Academic Patenting Methodology Data & Measurement Results Summary Outline 1 Motivation(s) 2 Methodology Problems with existing approaches Selection on observables with staggered treatment decisions Implementing IPTCW estimation 3 Data & Measurement Data sources Measuring “patentability” Descriptive statistics 4 Results The determinants of selection into patenting The impact of academic patenting on the rate of publications The impact of academic patenting on the quality of publications The impact of academic patenting on the content of publications 5 Caveats, Summary & Future Directions Azoulay, Ding, Stuart The Impact of Academic Patenting Methodology Data & Measurement Results Summary Outline 1 Motivation(s) 2 Methodology Problems with existing approaches Selection on observables with staggered treatment decisions Implementing IPTCW estimation 3 Data & Measurement Data sources Measuring “patentability” Descriptive statistics 4 Results The determinants of selection into patenting The impact of academic patenting on the rate of publications The impact of academic patenting on the quality of publications The impact
  • Archives First: Digital Preservation Further Investigations Into Digital

    Archives First: Digital Preservation Further Investigations Into Digital

    Archives First: digital preservation Further investigations into digital preservation for local authorities Viv Cothey * 2020 * Gloucestershire County Council ii Not caring about Archives because you have nothing to archive is no different from saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say. Or that you don’t care about freedom of the press because you don’t like to read. (after Snowden, 2019, p 208) Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily represent those of the institutions to which the author is affiliated. iii iv Executive summary This report is about an investigation into digital preservation by (English) local authorities which was commissioned by the Archives First consortium of eleven local authority record offices or similar memory organisations (Archives). The investigation is partly funded by The National Archives. Archival institutions are uniquely able to serve the public by providing current and future generations with access to authentic unique original records. In the case of local authority Archives these records will include documents related to significant decision making processes and events that bear on individuals and their communities. Archival practice, especially relating to provenance and purposeful preservation, is instrumental in supporting continuing public trust and essential to all of us being able to hold authority to account. The report explains how Archival practice differs from library practice where provenance and purposeful preservation are absent. The current investigation follows an earlier Archives First project in 2016-2017 that investigated local authority digital preservation preparedness. The 2016-2017 investigation revealed that local authority line of business systems in respect of children services, did not support the statutory requirement to retain digital records over the long- term (at least 100 years).
  • The Principles of Open Standards

    The Principles of Open Standards

    11/13/13 World Standards Day 1998 A newer version of this paper was published in The International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research, Vol. 4 No. 1, January - June 2006. This paper is the property of Standards Engineering Society. It was submitted to the World Standards Day paper competition for 1998, and won second place. It was published in Standards Engineering, Vol. 50, No. 6, November/December 1998, p. 1- 6. It is reprinted here with permission. The Principles of Open Standards by Ken Krechmer Communications Standards Review 757 Greer Road Palo Alto, CA USA 94303-3024 +1 650 856-8836 http://www.csrstds.com [email protected] "Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?" 1 The values underlying Open Standards are impressive. In the USA the Open Standards concept has been applied to technical standards 2 since 1918 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) 3 as the administrator and coordinator of the United States private sector voluntary standardization system. A major goal of ANSI is to ensure that its guiding principles of openness, consensus and due process - the cornerstones of Open Standards - are followed. The personal computer revolution and the following Internet explosion have resulted in a large influx of new technical standards stakeholders.4 These new stakeholders are making new demands on the Open Standards processes. Today, considering the rapid changes in technology and the expanding importance of technical standards, ANSI and its Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) need to reexamine what constitutes the "free and open encounter" that Open Standards strive to achieve.
  • Request for Comments on Proposed Amendments to Patent

    Request for Comments on Proposed Amendments to Patent

    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY - ISRAEL AUTHOR Request for comments on proposed David Gilat amendments to Patent Law 26 April 2021 | Contributed by Reinhold Cohn Group Easing of regulatory burden Examination of biological molecules Patentable subject matter Biological material samples Destruction of infringing products Reliance on foreign patent office decisions Other issues Outstanding issues The Ministry of Justice and the Patent Office recently published a request for comments on purported expansive amendments to the Patent Law. Some of the proposed amendments are minor, while others represent radical changes to the existing legislation. Many of the proposed amendments, if carried through, may benefit foreign applicants, which are the source of most patent applications in Israel. The deadline for filing comments was 7 April 2021. It remains to be seen how the process will develop. This article discusses the proposed amendments and the effect that they may have on the Israeli patent system. Easing of regulatory burden The proposed amendments follow a 2014 government resolution which provides that all government offices should reduce their regulatory burden. Accordingly, many of the proposed amendments clearly relate to reducing the regulatory burden which results from filing patent applications. For example, the request for comments asked applicants about the removal of the Patent Office requirement that parties must disclose any publications cited by any patent offices in other countries. The request for comments also asked applicants about the introduction of a grace period, which would give parties one year following the first publication of their invention to file a patent application. Without a grace period, an inventor's patent rights can be undermined where, for example, they discuss their new research at a conference.