MLA, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the Special Libraries Association sent joint comments to the U.S. Copyright Office on February 1st addressing the orphan works problem.
The comments address the current environment for orphan works; protecting libraries, educational and other non-profit institutions wishing to undertake mass digitization projects of books and other orphan works for the purpose of stimulating new scholarship and learning; establishing flexible guidelines and solutions for finding original rights holders and successors; and supporting equitable access and providing the highest level of service to all library users, including persons with disabilities.
The statement affirms two court rulings that it is the place of Congress to resolve and adapt copyright law to new technology, and that non-commercial, transformative mass digitization efforts are protected by fair use. The full comments can be seen in this PDF:
http://www.nynjmla.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2013_library_comments_orphanworks.pdf