Guaranteeing Access to Knowledge: The Role of Libraries

Use the link to access the full text article from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Magazine.  “As gateways to knowledge and culture, libraries play a fundamental role in society. The resources and services they offer create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative society. They also help ensure an authentic record of knowledge created and accumulated by past generations. In a world without libraries, it would be difficult to advance research and human knowledge or preserve the world’s cumulative knowledge and heritage for future generations.  Libraries are keenly aware of the need to maintain the balance between protecting the rights of authors and safeguarding the wider public interest. Copyright exceptions, which are currently under discussion in WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), form an integral part of national copyright systems. They play an essential role in enabling the delivery of library services to the public and in achieving the copyright system’s goals of encouraging creativity and learning. This article explores the enduring importance of libraries and some of the intellectual property-related challenges they face.  Libraries represent different things to different people – from a place where mothers can take toddlers to read their first stories and students can study, to a service allowing anyone to borrow a book, access the Internet or do research. Quite simply, libraries offer a means by which we can gain access to knowledge... The challenges facing libraries are linked in large part to the fact that, while international copyright agreements guarantee exclusive rights for authors and other right holders, the interpretation of the exceptions and limitations that entities such as libraries depend on in order to provide their services is left to national parliaments. In sum, exceptions and limitations are national and optional, whereas the rights accruing to right holders are international and guaranteed.  In 2008, WIPO commissioned a study on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives. The study found that statutes relating to library exceptions differ greatly from one country to another. It also found that, of the 149 countries surveyed, 21 had no library exceptions in their copyright laws, and 128 had a least one statutory library exception, with many, most often in developed countries, having multiple library-related provisions. Even where library exceptions to copyright laws do exist, however, they generally date from the pre-Internet age and now need to be updated and adapted to the digital environment.

The study’s findings highlight the important role that library exceptions play in enabling library services, and how they facilitate knowledge acquisition by students, citizens, businesses as well as academic researchers. They also point to the need for a common approach to ensuring equitable access to knowledge, and to providing libraries with the legal means to preserve the unique cultural, artistic and scientific heritage of each country...”