Revised: EBLIDA Newsletter Issue No. 4. April 2015 - with correct link to the London Manifesto

The EBLIDA Newsletter is published monthly on European library & information society issues, programmes, news and events of interest to the library, archive and cultural heritage community.

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Issue No. 4. April 2015.

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The President’s Editorial

Klaus-Peter Böttger
EBLIDA President

Dear EBLIDA members, dear colleagues,

For those of you who haven’t already done so, please register now for the upcoming EBLIDA Conference, Building a Europe of Readers.

All our speakers have now confirmed their participation, and we are very pleased to move forward with two workshops organised in the afternoon where participants will have the opportunity to contribute actively.

In the current environment, it is obvious that literacy is and will be a key competency to enable citizens to actively contribute to the 21^st Century society. Libraries have a special role to play here, being one of the most favoured institutions of the people, as well as being present online and physically in all kinds of public spaces. Libraries are a strong asset to literacy and should remain a key player in literacy development for the years to come.

Your active contribution during the conference would be greatly appreciated, so I would encourage you to have a look at the programme further on in the Newsletter.

Libraries are essential to the 21^st century as long as that they can fulfil their enduring mission of providing citizens with access to the riches of human knowledge and imagination whether in the library, offsite or online. In that context, the question of e-lending remains at the crux of the discussion. In 2013, the Netherlands Public Library Association (VOB) brought a test case to the District Court of The Hague on the question of whether e-books should fall under public lending right. In September 2014, the District Court of The Hague decided to request a preliminary hearing at the European Court of Justice. We are pleased to inform you that on April 1^st, the District Court of The Hague published the request for a preliminary hearing in the judgement.

It is therefore now up to the European Court of Justice to study the case on whether public libraries can lend e-books online against payment of the statutory public lending right fee and whether publishers therefore have no exclusive rights with regard to the lending of e-books online. Those proceedings will lead to a judgement on the merits that also concerns public libraries in other European countries.
Read the VOB Press Release.

For this case to be successful, libraries and library associations in each and every European country have to support this action and explain to their government what it relates to.
Again, let me highlight that we are stronger together. Though United in Diversity is the motto of the European Union, it could well applied to libraries across Europe.

Since this is my last editorial as EBLIDA President, I would like to highlight here that I dedicated a large amount of my time to advancing the library situation at European level and I hope to have served you well. Now that we are coming closer to the end of my mandate, I would like to wish all the best to my successor and to the new EC in this immense task of building a stronger library community across Europe and gaining an even louder and acknowledged voice across European fora.
Looking back at what has happened during the last period especially concerning the discussion on copyright reform, I am convinced that EBLIDA has played a role that cannot be ignored. Of course the discussions on the political European level and conflicts with publishers and their associations were heavy but the interests are different and I think that we were able put forward our arguments quite coherently into the public discussion. Especially the “Right to E-Read” campaign has contributed a lot to the acceptance and understanding of libraries and EBLIDA’s role herein.

I took great pleasure in working with my Executive Committee colleagues, members of the expert groups and the task force and I would like to thank them for their work and their dedication. I would like to extend my greetings to all our reliable members of EBLIDA as well as extend my sincere thanks to the EBLIDA team without whom nothing would happen.

I hope to see many of you at our coming conference to unite together, get stronger and put libraries higher on the agenda.

Enjoy reading!

Klaus-Peter Böttger
EBLIDA President

JURI Committee meeting of 23 and 24 March in Brussels

The JURI committee held its monthly meeting on 23 and 24 March 2015 in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Interesting points were discussed like Towards a renewed consensus on the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: An EU Action Plan.

A few members are of the opinion that there is not enough Intellectual Property protection and to some extent complacence towards people infringing copyright. Other members consider the need of balancing right holders interests with the protection of users data and freedom.

Mr. Bergevin, Head of the Fight against Counterfeiting and Piracy Unit from DG GROW (Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), highlighted that the point is not to penalise final users but to avoid counterfeit products ending up in the chain.

What was interesting with this text was that we can see aligned position from MEPs with the question of the INFOSOC Directive (see below).

The implementation of 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.

The draft report led to 556 amendments! You can access the 1^st set here, and the 2^nd set here.

This report on the implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC has been highly commented within the JURI committee and online. It is important to highlight that here again, we notice different views among MEPs. A good example of the different opinions can be seen in this video.

Without emphasising the differing opinions among MEPs, it is interesting to note that some of them highlighted the fact that it was the first report to take into account the right of Internet users. And that there is currently too much discussion on what is forbidden, and too little discussion on what is authorised. It is also true that libraries are facing real obstacles especially on cross border issues, and that those obstacles should be tackled.

A few days after the JURI Committee, the IMCO (Committee on Internal Market and Consumers) issued its opinion on the draft report that shows some positive remarks (see point 15 and 24 of the IMCO opinion here).

The report should be voted in Committee session by 7 May for a vote in Plenary by 7 June.

EBLIDA votes for Glòria Peréz-Salmerón for IFLA President-elect

Glòria Peréz-Salmerón

EBLIDA will vote for our outgoing Vice-President, Glòria Pérez-Salmerón, for IFLA President-elect 2015-2017.

Glòria has always been a dedicated member of the EBLIDA Executive Committee and a strong Vice-President, looking after the benefits of the whole library community at European level and acting as an important link to international level.

In her long and varied professional career, she has been involved in library services and management at all levels, as well as in library associations nationally with FESABID, at the European level with EBLIDA and internationally with IFLA.

We believe her CV and her IFLA statement will leave you with no doubt as to why EBLIDA is encouraging our members to vote for Glòria.

EGIL, CLM and other meetings on Information

– from 25 to 27 March in The Hague

It has become customary over the past few years, that EGIL holds its spring meeting the day before the CLM mid-term meeting in The Hague.

This interesting combination is an ideal way in which to work on issues of common interest to both EBLIDA and IFLA and to liaise work in a meaningful way.

This year, key issues were e-lending, licences and WIPO.

RIGA 2015, Information for EBLIDA Members

Council 7^th May
new timing 13h00 – 18h00

As mentioned in the editorial, there have been a few notable changes for the 7^th of May. First of all, the timing of the Council meeting has been extended by one hour. The time of the Council meeting on 7^th of May will now be from 13h00 – 18h00, not ending at 17h00 as previously announced. This information has been circulated by e-mail to members on Tuesday 10th March.

By now most of our members will have received the Draft Council Meeting Agenda and Invitation, as well as the papers for the Elections. If you haven’t received these, please contact our offices as soon as possible.

Reminder of EBLIDA Elections 2015-2018

for President and Executive Committee Members

The upcoming elections are taking place during a period of profound political and economic crisis and will shape the association for the next three years.

EBLIDA elected its Executive Committee and President for 2012-2015 at its Council meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark in May 2012.

This means that we will hold new elections at our next Council Meeting, to be held in Riga, Latvia on 7 May 2015.

According to the EBLIDA Constitution (Chapter 3, Article 29), the members of the Executive Committee shall be elected by the Council for a period of three years, serving a maximum of two terms.

As cited in Article 31 of the Constitution, the members of the Executive Committee, with the exception of its chairperson, are Full Members of the Association.

EBLIDA Secretariat has invited members of the Association to nominate, in writing, their representatives for election of a new President and the EBLIDA Executive Committee. We have started to receive your forms, many thanks for this. We would like to remind interested associations to nominate your candidate by 22^nd of April at the latest.

You are requested to return the forms to the Secretariat, together with a short biography or CV of the nominee.

Elections only happen every three years and are a great opportunity for new candidates to get involved, to represent the values of libraries, to campaign for the issues we - EBLIDA and our members - believe in.
We hope you are looking forward to it as much as we are!

A word from current EC Members

Glòria Pérez-Salmerón

My name is Glòria Pérez-Salmerón and I’m the Vice-President of EBLIDA until the elections in May. I’ve been involved in the EBLIDA Executive Committee since 2008, which was also the year that I was elected President of FESABID. At that time I was a member of the IFLA Public Libraries Standing Committee as well.

The European Directives regarding information access, copyright issues and specific questions of e-lending information drive the national laws. I believe that National Library Associations of European countries need to join forces and work together with EBLIDA, in order to build a strong European voice globally, to advocate for quality libraries services and access to information for citizens.

For these reasons, we in FESABID trust in EBLIDA and we are willing to work together with all European National Library Associations to chart the future of libraries.

Aldo Pirola

Basically, being an EC member enables you to express your view about various items significant for libraries on a European level.

National Associations can be kept informed about campaigns, meetings , initiatives, which helps them broaden their professional horizons, making them feel part of a much wider network.

A potential candidate, in spite of his/her almost inevitable enthusiasm to start, should make the effort to behave as an observer, trying to understand very well what's going on in a sort of environment he/she is unlikely to have experienced before. This attitude will enable the new EC member to combine professional competence with the knowledge derived by his/her very careful approach .

Latest News on the Conference programme

Theme: Building a Europe of Readers

07 May - 08 May 2015, Riga, Latvia

These are the last in the series of introductions to the main speakers and moderators of the conference with our 2 last speakers.

Ms Kate Russell will moderate the session 1.
Kate started writing about technology, gaming and the Internet in 1995 and now appears weekly on BBC World and BBC2 reporting for technology programme Click. A regular expert on the sofa at ITV’s Daybreak and various other TV and radio stations, she writes columns for National Geographic Traveller magazine (about travel apps and websites), BBC Focus magazine (about science apps) and Original Volunteers website (about travel tech tips, tools and apps […] Kate is also a prolific speaker and commentator on the technology scene, often being invited to speak in schools and at educational events to inspire the next generation of tech enthusiasts. Read more.

Mr Ryan Heath will wrap-up the day.
Ryan works in international settings to deliver high quality content for global commercial and political leaders: speeches and positioning, articles, books, press releases, social media - whatever is required. He is an experienced author, speaker and spokesperson. He was the spokesperson for Nellie Kroes when she was Vice-President of the European Commission. Read more.

We count on your active contribution to the debate at the conference, during the main session and at the workshops and hope you will take the opportunity to network with your peers.

We are looking to welcome you in Riga for the EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference on 8 of May.

ELINET

Over the past months, EBLIDA has been allocated a certain number of case studies to monitor, asses and to send back to the responsible person in charge of classifying them.

Those case studies were composed of a certain number of literacy actions (from long lasting awareness raising campaign, to one-day literacy event) and from very different stakeholders (from literacy organisations to library associations).

The work consisted mainly of assessing the quality of information provided by the different organisation against selection criteria, to contact the organisations to check the validity of information, and to revert back to the ELINET team 7 responsible of the case studies.

The expected result from this pooling of resources is the creation of a database that could be used at a later stage by people interested in raise awareness on literacy issues in their country.

In addition to this long-lasting work, EBLIDA is also committed in several tool development that will be tested live at the ELINET convening in Budapest from 20 to 22 April 2015.

To be continued.

Lifelong Learning Programme

The Voice of Culture

EBLIDA applied to Voice of Culture, structured dialogue between the European Commission and the cultural sector.

The website shows that: The Voice of Culture is a process of exchanges between civil society stakeholders in the cultural field and the European Commission. It aims at making sure that the voices of cultural professionals are heard at the European level. Further information about the process can be found here.

In this context, cultural professionals and stakeholders from civil society in the EU Member States are invited to take part in what are called “Brainstorming Sessions”. There will be five brainstorming sessions over the years 2015-2016, each focusing on a different key issue. For each Brainstorming Session, 40 representatives from the cultural sectors will have the opportunity to meet with their peers; the core ideas resulting from the discussion and the main messages to be conveyed to the EU level will be gathered in a policy paper presented to the European Commission and to EU Member States groups working on similar issues in the framework of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC).

Audience Development via Digital Means ‒ Brainstorming Session
18-19 June, Amsterdam/The Netherlands.

Participatory Governance in Cultural Heritage ‒ Brainstorming Session
2-3 July, Florence/Italy.

Fair copyright for all across Europe - Rallying call from libraries, archives and charities

The London Manifesto calls for fair copyright for libraries and archives across Europe. The manifesto outlines needed reforms that will better support research, innovation and growth and will help create a digital single market. It focuses on the important role of libraries and archives.

EBLIDA is a signatory and we encourage member organisations to also sign the Manifesto and to support it on social media using the hashtag #faircopyright.

Read more

The Government of Catalonia declares 2015 Year of the Library

2015, Year of the Library, marks the centenary of the Network of People’s Libraries set up by the Commonwealth of Catalonia.

According to the government’s public-reading map, 93% of the Catalan population has a library service in their town.

The government will introduce a single catalogue with unified access by all municipal libraries, a single library card for the whole of Catalonia and an interlibrary lending service spanning all Catalan libraries.

Read more

Events and Dates

April - May

08-10 April 2015
CILIP Ireland/ Library Association of Ireland Annual Joint Conference 2015
Belfast, Northern Ireland

15-17 April 2015
Annual Meeting of the Danish Library Association
Danmarks Biblioteksforening
Aarhus, Denmark

29-30 April 2015
Lithuanian National Library Week
Lithuanian Librarians' Association (LLA)
Vilnius, Lithuania

07-08 May 2015
23rd EBLIDA Annual Council Meeting & EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference
Riga, Latvia

07 May 2015
Ebooks 2015 - E textbooks, elearning, econtent
UCL
London, United Kingdom

20-22 May 2015
Leadership Programme for Library Directors
LIBER
Paris, France

22-23 May 2015
BiblioPride 2015
AIB
Milan, Italy

28-30 May 2015
FESABID 2015
Gijón, Spain

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