Home | The Public Interest in Access to 
Copyright protected materials (Summary)
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FUTURE AGENDA

Library organisations should maintain a watching brief on international and national copyright legislation in order to lobby for adequate access to information for all citizens and to give guidance on best practice. 

European librarians also need to be aware of other issues and topics which are loosely linked to copyright and IPR and be prepared to respond to any consultation (Green papers) or Directives launched by the EU. For example, there is likely to be action in the area of the effectiveness of collecting societies, digital rights management systems (DRMS), and exploitation of public sector information. 

• Public librarians should be prepared to gather evidence where copyright restrictions become a barrier to their services and report their findings to their national library associations and institutions. EU directives are reviewed and (in theory) can be changed if there is good reason.

• Initiatives, where librarians and rights holders get together to resolve contentious issues, such as the ECUP and TECUP projects, should be encouraged. See links European.

• Policy makers in public libraries should support and liase with EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Association) which was established in 1992 as a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organisation representing libraries on a European level and which campaigns to ensure that copyright legislation does not adversely affect the goals of a European Information Society. EBLIDA has a well established Copyright Expert Group consisting of representatives from most of the EU Member States.

LINKS 
International
ICOLC
Statement of Current Perspective and Preferred Practices for the Selection and Purchase of Electronic Information of the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC), 1998. 
http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html

IFLA
Also useful are the IFLA Licensing principles.
http://www.ifla.org/V/ebpb/copy.htm

LIBLICENSE 
The project, funded by the U.S. Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) was established in 1996 to inform and educate members of the information supply chain about how to effectively negotiate contracts for electronic information resources. The website contains a model licence, licensing terms and descriptions, national site licence initiatives and a mailing list.
LIBLICENSE

Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) 
A U.S. organisation dedicated to supporting networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity. Includes a draft for negotiating networked information contracts and licences from the project Rights for Electronic Access to and Delivery of Information. 
http://www.cni.org/

World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). 
General information available on all aspects of intellectual property plus texts and signatories to the Berne and other intellectual copyright conventions. 
www.wipo.int

UNESCO 
Information on copyright activities including copyright conventions and access links to copyright laws of UNESCO members. 
http://www.unesco.org/culture/copyright

Europe
EU Copyright Directive 
Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. 
See also details and lobbying activity on the EBLIDA web site. 

European Copyright User Platform (ECUP) 
Copyright Focal Point - also TECUP (Testbed implementation of the ECUP framework). The intention of the TECUP project was to analyse practical mechanisms for the distribution, archiving and use of electronic products from different types of content owners and involving different types of libraries.
http://www.eblida.org/ecup/
http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/tecup
TECUP Memorandum of understanding 2001 (TECUP project report D6.4) http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/tecup/mou.pdf

The Frankfurt Group Consensus Forum for academic and research information is a follow up to the TECUP project.
http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/frankfurtgroup/

Professor Thomas Dreier. 
Towards Consensus on the Electronic Use of Publications in Libraries – strategy issues and recommendations. 2001 (TECUP project report D6.6).
http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/tecup/towacons.pdf

Council of Europe/EBLIDA 
Guidelines on library legislation and policy in Europe. 
http://culture.coe.fr/books/eng/ecubook%20r.3.htm

Emanuella Giavarra, Licensing Digital Resources: How to avoid the legal pitfalls
2nd ed. 2001
http://www.eblida.org/ecup/publica/

Home | The Public Interest in Access to 
Copyright protected materials (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4