Federal ANPRM Outcome Could Impact Library Collections

The Federal Government is currently soliciting comments on potential changes to the regulations for institutional review boards (IRBs).  Dr. Zachary M. Schrag, Associate Professor at George Mason University and a noted scholar in this area, wonders what librarians' responses are to the following questions in the advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM)  :

• Question 45: Under what circumstances should future research use of data initially collected for non-research purposes require informed consent? Should consent requirements vary based on the likelihood of identifying a research subject? Are there other circumstances in which it should not be necessary to obtain additional consent for the research use of currently available data that were collected for a purpose other than the currently proposed research?
• Question 46: Under what circumstances should unanticipated future analysis of data that were collected for a different research purpose be permitted without consent? Should consent requirements vary based on the likelihood of identifying a research subject?

Answers to questions concerning potential regulation of "unanticipated future analysis of data" or "future research" could obviously have significant impact upon access to library collections and other information repositories even as the lines between data in libraries and elsewhere increasingly blur in an expanding digital environment.  If the mission creep described in this important white paper  further results in limiting access to existing collections, the impact upon future scholarship will be significant. 

Is this surprising?  Those of us who sympathize with Philip Hamburger's views have at the very least come to the logical conclusion that if protecting people from being embarrassed or offended trumps the public's need to know and the right to free expression, then existing repositories are just as subject to restriction as proposed projects.  Why should data gathered during new scholarship be subject to different rules than data already collected? 

 

I hope librarians read Zach's guide on the ANPRM for social scientists   and consider filing comments to the ANPRM opposing regulations that will chill both scholarship and free expression.