Advocacy for Access to Knowledge: Copyrights and Libraries

As an international foundation which supports library consortia in transitional and developing countries to negotiate and advocate for the wide availability of electronic information, eIFL.net is not only identifying issues in copyright relevant to libraries in developing countries but also "developing a scalable and transferable awareness raising and training programme of activities about the challenges of copyright and related issues in the digital age.” The project also includes training librarians in the political and legal frameworks.

Activities include:

• identifying the issues in copyright and related rights relevant to libraries in developing countries, especially key challenges and threats;
• identifying candidate librarians within the region who will act as a national focal point;
• organising a regional workshops librarians, including relevant skills training;
• creating strategic partnerships with national, regional and international civil society organisations to maximise project sustainability;
• developing re-usable and generic resources on those legal issues relating to accessing information, the challenges for libraries, strategies and solutions for civil society organisations, and related advocacy activities.

The hope is that, through these activities, the library community will become more informed and better equipped to express their needs to policy-makers and politicians, particularly with regard to copyright issues. It is anticipated that this will also help safeguard future library services and raise the profile of the library community in governance and law-making processes.

A handbook with information on a core set of issues is now available. These include updating of national copyright laws, technological protection measures, the public domain and the term of protection, orphaned works, the database right, public lending right, trade agreements, the relationship between copyright law and contract law, open access publishing, Creative Commons licensing, and international copyright developments. The handbook also outlines policy issues relevant to libraries and includes guidance on advocacy for non-specialist librarians. The information is sufficiently generic so that it can be re-used throughout the regions and in different jurisdictions; re-use and translations are encouraged.

The project was based on the belief that libraries have a fundamental role to play in the development of democratic societies, by enabling all members of the community to access global knowledge resources, ideas and opinions. Known as "people's universities", libraries of all types empower citizens and facilitate good governance through the provision of scientific, educational and cultural information.