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IFLA Secretary General Gerald Leitner today wrote to IFLA members to mark the start of the 70th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
IFLA is deeply concerned by the announcement of the destruction of 140 000 books held by public-controlled libraries in Turkey. As established in IFLA’s Statement on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom, decisions on the selection and availability of library materials and services should be governed by professional considerations and not by political, moral and religious views. Such broad and indiscriminate withdrawals of books from libraries risks challenging the principle that the right of freedom of access to information should be guaranteed in all but the most extreme circumstances.
The Twelfth Meeting of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflict took place in Paris, on 29-30 November. IFLA was invited as one of the eminent professional NGOs who have a formal relation with UNESCO.
Today is the first day of the European Year of Cultural Heritage. For the next twelve months, libraries across Europe will be celebrating the importance of heritage, and the contribution it makes to communities. In doing so, they will underline the indispensable role they play in preserving, managing, and giving access.
The IFLA Libraries for Children and Young Adults Section invites proposals for online articles to be included in the Winter 2018 Newsletter with the special theme: Libraries supporting curriculum.
When they signed the Marrakesh Treaty in 2013, the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organisation committed to removing legal barriers to access to books for people with print disabilities. They opened the way to dealing with a key cause of the book famine – the fact that barely 7% of published books were available in suitable formats. IFLA is working on a guide to ensure that libraries can make full use of the potential that the Treaty offers.
Theme "Video Games: Winning strategies for libraries"
Over 80 organisations, among which IFLA, have co-signed an open letter to Ministers attending the European Union’s Competitiveness Council on 30 November - 1 December 2017. The letter underlines, in only one sentence, the potentially irreparable damage that the European copyright reform could cause to Europe's fundamental rights and freedoms, economy and competitiveness, education and research, innovation and competition, creativity and culture, if the wrong decisions are taken.
Digital technologies have massively reduced the costs of producing and sharing information, and have allowed for an explosion of creativity. But to ensure we have a record of this for future generations, we need to act today. IFLA is therefore celebrating the first International Digital Preservation Day as an opportunity to mark the work already done, and highlight the challenges before us.
The work of libraries relies on the existence of a modern and complete set of exceptions and limitations to copyright. While national legislation is usually the responsibility of national parliaments and policy-makers, the influence of International trade deals – and Treaties – is significant. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – currently under renegotiation – is no exception. Following a meeting in Washington, IFLA and other library organisations have endorsed a series of principles on balance in trade deals.
IFLA attended the 35th session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights to make the case for the need of a minimum standard of exceptions and limitations to copyright for libraries, archives and museums. While a minority of states continue to question the need for action, the majority remain convinced that effective, universal access to information requires progress at the international level.
The report from the scoping workshop sets out recommendations for implantation of coordinated regional work. Participants will continue to work together to deliver a metadata framework, as well as to explore other relevant issues.