Follow-up on the Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market

The situation is moving fast in Brussels and the opinions of the different Committees are being heavily amended.

To date, the current situation is as follow:

• Legal Affairs JURI Committee:
  • Draft Opinion on the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market , 10^th March 2017
  • 576 Amendments published here (69 to 303) and here 304 to 576 CULT.

• Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee:
  • Draft Opinion, 20^th February 2017
  • 576 Amendments published here (69 to 303) and here 304 to 576.

• Culture and Education (CULT) Committee:
  • Draft Opinion, 6^th February 2017
  • 609 Amendments published here 86 to 300 and here 301 to 609.

• Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee
  • Draft Opinion, 2^nd March 2017
  • 259 Amendments published here and here.

• Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee haven’t made information public yet.

The library organisations and partners are studying the amendments and making sure to support the favorable ones.

PL2020 Library Lab – Gathering Library leaders of Europe

Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 April PL2020 organised the Advocacy Lab in Brussels gathering 16 library leaders from all over Europe, the Director of EBLIDA and the team of 3 from PL2020.
Throughout the two days, participants discussed in depth the activities of the MEP Library Lovers group and the upcoming projects, namely:

• the 60 books for the Summer event at the European Parliament, 6 June;
• the Generation Code exhibition of October.

On Monday afternoon there was a visit to the brand new Library of Gent (Belgium), De Krook, opening in March 2017. This is a major project of the City of Gent that associates the University, businesses and citizens.
 
The library is seen as a research centre and is equipped with a large number of sensors that are there to capture real time information, users reading behaviours and to develop research projects through 3D printing, fablabs and much more.
 
More about De Krook here.

Library Lovers breakfast at the European Parliament 25 April

On 25 April, PL2020 organised a MEP Library Lovers Breakfast at the European Parliament hosted by MEP Catherine Stihler.
 
The event gave MEP Library Lovers the opportunity to meet with representatives from pioneering EU libraries. The event was introduced by PL2020 Programme Director Ilona Kish and the discussions launched  with presentations from Rolf Hapel (Dokk 1, Aarhus) and Frank Daniel (Cologne Public Library).

Each Library Pioneer had a wonderful opportunity to engage in close discussion with interested MEPs and raise awareness on the many opportunities libraries are offering in today’s society.
 
EBLIDA Director discussed in particular with MEP Anne Sander (France, S&D) and MEP Cécile Kashetu KYENGE (Italy, S&D) on the copyright issue, literacy and library development in Africa, and how libraries help building fairer societies.
 
Read more at http://meplibrarygroup.eu/index.php/2017/05/09/mep-library-lovers-meet-some-of-europes-finest-librarians/
 
Participants then ended the event up with a visit to the European Parliament Library and there an internal meeting to review the copyright proposal and discuss the next steps of PL2020 in detail.

Meeting Place Open Access – Karlstad (Sweden)

At the invitation of the steering committee organising Meeting Place Open Access (MOA), EBLIDA Director Vincent Bonnet gave a keynote speech on the 2^nd day of the conference on European Policies for an Open Library.

The talk provides incentives to make the Open Library a reality in making the audience aware of the European Union as a political body, the digital technologies opportunities and the question of the EU Open Agenda (Open science, Open data, Open Access, etc.).
 
He concluded by underlining that the Open Library is not a given and that it needs to work on several issues to make it a reality:

1. Work with politicians;
2. Change the perception about libraries;
3. Seize digital opportunities and connect with the smart cities movement;
4. Propose a consistent legal framework;
5. Work with committed citizens;
6. Bridge the different type of libraries and work more in coordination;
7. It is already happening through specific projects (such as the Gent Library project on Research).

Lots of other issues were discussed during the conference that was hosted in the magnificent AULA of the University Library of Karlstad.
 
The University Library of Karlstad is a magnificent building that’s really worth a visit.

EBLIDA Executive Committee Meeting – Aarhus (Denmark) – 3 May 2017

On 3 May 2017, EBLIDA Executive Committee members met in Dokk 1 in Aarhus for the second meeting of the year. Last details for the Council that afternoon and the next day’s conference, were fine-tuned.

EBLIDA would like to thank in particular the Danish Library Association and the Aarhus City and Dokk 1 for their support in organising the event.

25th EBLIDA Annual Council 3 May 2017

LET’S RETHINK, EBLIDA-NAPLE Conference, 4 May 2017

• Advocacy activities at national level /Barbara Lison
• Main issues for new national strategies / Michel Steen Hansen
• Strong partnerships with who and how? /Vincent Bonnet
• Digital visibility (services, collections, etc.) / Mikkel Christoffersen

Enable Libraries to provide Smart Access to Culture, Information and Knowledge!

We call upon the local, the regional and the national governments of Europe to:

• Empower libraries in providing the citizens of Europe unhindered access to reliable information and knowledge in a digital society;

• Enact copyright exceptions for libraries that reflect the needs of users in a digital world;

• Promote and support strong reading and critical thinking competencies through libraries in a time of fake-news and information overload;

• Rethink and update local and national library policies, strategies and legal frameworks;

• Recognise libraries as Europe’s knowledge, culture and learning institutions;

• Acknowledge libraries in promoting and reaching the Sustainable Development Goals.