Dewey's Read-A-Thon

A snowstorm gives one a lot of time to stay indoors and curl up with a good book..or several good books. Tomorrow morning (6am MST) the 24 hour read-a-thon starts and everything that I had previously planned to do has been canceled. Guess I have no excuse to ignore that stack of books just waiting to be read. It's not too late to sign up and there are prizes to be won.

CPSIA, Libraries, Testing...I'm so sick of this

A wonderful blog post from a part-time librarian about the costs of testing, even in light of the post-1985 ruling

Total library inventory: 34,668
Total est. juvenile inventory: 10, 601
Percentage of juvenile inventory: 31%

Estimate of inventory pre-1985: 75% or 7951 units

Now if we have to test pre-1985 inventory at $500/book: $3,975,375

please read her entire eloquent post - I just even more depressed now

Gee...another Friday another CPSIA PR piece

ok I admit it, I was busy having fun this weekend and didn't look around hard enough for the late breaking CPSIA news on Friday. Seems those fun guys over at CPSC have issued rules that

will not impose penalties on manufacturers, distributors or importers of children’s products made with natural products, some children’s books, and dyed or undyed textiles used for children’s apparel under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

The CPSIA limits for lead and certain phthalate compounds in children’s products take effect Tuesday. Retailers must not sell items intended for children under 12 that contain more than 600 parts per million lead, or more than 0.1 percent phthalates.

Joseph Martyak, CPSC chief of staff, said Feb. 6 that the commission decided not to enforce on such products as wood and cotton that rarely contain lead. The commission is still drafting rules covering these items, but decided an enforcement stay was a common-sense approach.

However, the stay does not include articles made of leather, vinyl or polyvinylchloride (PVC), including zippers or metallic thread. The stay is limited to books published after 1985, since printing inks bearing lead were banned that year.

So do libraries have to remove all children's books published prior to 1985 or not? And since enforcement is really in the hands of the State AG's, there is nothing to stop them from going forth with prosecutions. AARRGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

This week at ALA

So ALA is meeting in Denver and I only had time to visit the exhibits and not stage some goofy action - turns out I didn't need to - according to Library Journal at the meeting on Sunday the ALA call last week to get Librarians active is doing the trick

So many calls were made, ALA executive director Keith Fiels said yesterday at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver, that “this commissioner has subsequently begged us to stop calling.” Now ALA is targeting the other commissioner, Thomas Moore. “I’m sure he can’t wait to hear from you,” ALA President Jim Rettig said, with a touch of irony.

Fiels said, “The commission does, we’ve been told by Congress, has the ability to grant an exemption, either to libraries or specifically for books. If that does not occur, I believe Congress will take action. This is all in negotiation. We’re working against a February 10 deadline.

keeps those phone wires burning folks

Latest on CPSIA and ALA and book

courtesy of my State Librarian - sounds like ALA wants librarians to bombard CPSC

===========================
A public meeting was held January 22 with Kristina Hatlelid, Directorate for Health Sciences, and other Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff to allow Allan Robert Adler, of the Association of American Publishers, and major publishing companies to discuss the lead content of books. The meeting was a time for the publishing companies to explain their research to the CPSC staff that proves that normal books (non-play, paper books) do not contain lead in the amount specified under the CPSIA. The publishing companies have compiled a group of 300 test results that can be viewed here .

After the meeting, Cheryl Falvey, General Counsel for the CPSC, stated that a decision should be made by the first week of February. She advised libraries not to take any action at this time, and we are hopeful that the Commission's decision will exempt libraries.

Even with her assurances, we must let the CPSC know how important an issue this is to libraries. You can visit their Web site, found here , to submit your comments to the Commission. Explain to the Commission that it is simply impossible for libraries to remove all children's books from the shelves and/or ban children under 12 from the library and still provide the level of service that is needed.

Please feel free to use the sample language below, but personalize it to make your comments known. Studies have shown that individual letters are significantly more effective than form letters, so let's make sure they understand how important their action will be.

As always, thank you for all that you do. The only way we will be successful in ensuring that children will have access to safe books is with a strong grassroots effort. Your comments to the CPSC need to be submitted as soon as possible, so please tell all your friends and family - we need as many people as possible to communicate that this oversight could have lasting ramifications on our children and our
communities.

SAMPLE TEXT:

Dear General Counsel Falvey:

It has come to my attention that the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 has been interpreted to include books as a product that must be tested for lead. While I can understand the need to protect children from toxic materials, publishers have already tested the book components and found that the lead levels are lower than the regulations require three years from now. Additionally, all book recalls in the last two decades have been because of toys attached to the books that posed a choking hazard, not the books themselves.

Making these testing regulations retroactive would require both school and public libraries to take drastic steps to come into compliance.
They would either they would have to ban children from their libraries or pull every book intended for children under the age of 12 from their bookshelves at the time children are fostering a lifelong love of
learning and reading.

In order to allow children and families to continue accessing critical library materials, please either exempt books from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, accept the component tests that have already been done, or exempt all books currently in school and public libraries. This will ensure that our children continue to have access to safe and educational library materials.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME



###
Posted by:
Kristin Murphy
Government Relations Specialist
American Library Association - Washington Office
1615 New Hampshire Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20009-2520
Phone Number: 202.628.8410
Fax: 202.628.8419
kmurphy@alawash.org

ALA, CPSIA and books

As of Friday, the American Library Association

has been in discussion with attorneys, other associations and the sponsors of the original bill. Our analysis is that neither the law nor the legislative history indicates any Congressional intention to include books and even textbooks in the law. Please stand by – there is no need to take action at this time. The situation is extremely fluid and every day this week ALA has received new and sometimes contradictory information. The ALA Washington Office is taking measures to ensure this ruling (CPSIA) will not affect libraries and has sent a letter to all Congressional offices alerting them to the fact that we believe CPSC General Counsel has erroneously interpreted the CPSIA to include books. ALA is also monitoring the potential impact on other types of library materials as well.

It really shouldn't be a surprise that ALA receives new and often conflicting information every day. That is exactly how it has been for those in the trenches. It is pretty simple: Congress did not intend to include books in this law and the two person (YES - TWO FRIGGIN" PERSON) CPSC decided arbitrarily that books ARE included. No offense ALA, but I suspect you are more concerned about the big mid-Winter meeting coming up next week than this issue which is vital to everyone who cares about children. My request to consider CPSIA is still up on the Town Hall wiki.

Unfortunately for booksellers there isn't a lot of time left. February 10th is the day by which Certificates of Compliance must be prepared if they wish to continue selling in the larger marketplaces.

More CPSIA News of interest to booksellers

ABA has posted a really comprehensive post on the whole CPSIA mess

For its part, the Association of American Publishing wants CPSC to strictly limit what kinds of books are covered under CPSIA. In early December, Allan Adler, vice president for legal and government affairs for AAP, wrote CPSC seeking an advisory opinion limiting the coverage of books and other non-book, paper-based printed materials under CPSIA, as well as clarification regarding stock presently on retailers' shelves.

The problem for booksellers is that CPSC is even trying to regulation the manufacture and sale of books at all - never been done before

Publisher's Weekly is now weighing in as well

Not since the Thor ruling of 1979—which changed the way companies depreciate their unsold inventory, resulting in less-profitable backlist sales and faster out-of-print status for midlist titles—has a government regulation not aimed at publishing had such a far-reaching impact on the industry.

Also check out this video for good insight into the whole problem

ALA and CPSIA

taken from the oldbookstore list [oldbookstore@yahoogroups.com] this afternoon

Below is from an email from our Library director from the American Library association. They are drafting a letter to the WO (Washington Office).

The Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in August and Bush signed it. It was proposed by Rep Bobby Rush and supported by Sen Diane Feinstein, who spoke in favor on the floor, displaying a photo of the son of her communications director playing in the bath with a rubber book toy. Her remarks kept mentioning the boy's favorite toy, this book. He was 8 months old.

Books are an unregulated product, so no one paid any attention to this legislation which was in response to China's flooding the US market with lead-tainted toys. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled books only when it involved trinkets and items glued to a book....and then as a choking hazard.

AAP first learned of CPSC's intent to include books in CPSIA when the big box stores threatened publishers that they would remove their product from shelves (and ship back to publishers at their expense) unless they got certification of compliance with CPSIA. AAP met with General Counsel of CPSC and then sent a letter asking the General Counsel to "immediately issue an advisory opinion letter to confirm the limited coverage of books and other non-book, paper-based printed materials under the lead, phthalate and applicable ASTM standards requirements..."

They provided strong evidentiary support that books shouldn't be subject to the requirements referenced in CPSIA because they do not present any of the health or safety risks to children that the requirements are intended to address. This evidence can be located at a web site they created, www.rrd.com/cpsia

The problem for schools and libraries would be that all books for children under 12 (they agree that ordinary books for everyone are exempt) must be tested, new and the books currently on the shelf, including textbooks.

The General Counsel rejected AAP's request, requiring testing on the finished product, not the components,

The WO will draft a letter and fax it to every Congressional Office. Our grass roots will approach the offices of those members who were the leaders for this bill and get their constituents to write in.

Our point is that this wasn't Congress' intent and they should tell General Counsel that this would weaken the desired benefits and just clog the queues of accredited labs for testing actual kid's toys.

The CPSC is currently accepting public comments on this. So we need EVERYONE, librarians, parents, teachers, local legislators to submit comments on this....demanding an opinion form General Counsel exempting books.

Can I say, if this exemption is not forthcoming, children under 12 will be banned from school and public libraries until all the books can be removed and destroyed?