Time for a single global copyright framework for libraries and archives

• Author: Teresa Hackett
• Position: Copyright and Libraries Program Manager, Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL), Vilnius, Lithuania

Preserving our documentary heritage, “our memory of the world,” is expensive. To lower these costs, reduce duplication of effort and maximize reach, libraries and archives are exploring ways of using digital technologies to create shared preservation infrastructures both nationally and internationally. This is imperative within the borderless digital arena. As noted by European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip, responsible for the Digital Single Market, “the borderless nature of digital technologies means it no longer makes sense for each EU country to have its own rules for telecommunications services, copyright, data protection, or the management of radio spectrum.”

Global resources, national laws

While the operations of libraries and archives are increasingly global, they are bound by national copyright laws. These laws govern many of the core responsibilities of libraries and archives, for example, the preservation of cultural and scientific heritage, providing access to resources in support of education and research, and lending books and other materials.

In many countries, libraries and archives enjoy exceptions under copyright law enabling them to reproduce copyright-protected works under certain circumstances. Examples include private research and study, preservation and replacement of materials, and interlibrary document supply. But these laws can vary considerably from one country to another, as demonstrated in a recent WIPO Study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives.

The WIPO study reveals that the majority of member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – 156 of the 188 countries surveyed (83 percent of them) – have at least one statutory library exception. This is good news. Less good, however, is the fact that 32 countries (17 percent) of those surveyed still have no provision for libraries or archives within their domestic copyright law.

Nearly half of WIPO’s member states – 90 of them (48 percent of the total) – do not explicitly allow libraries to make copies for research or study. The situation is even worse for archives, with two-thirds – 126 countries or 67 per cent of them –not permitting archives to make copies for research or study purposes. Moreover, 89 countries (47 per cent of the total surveyed) do not explicitly allow libraries to make copies for preservation purposes; and 85 of them (45 per cent of the total) do not allow archives to make such copies.

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