In retrospect the clouds hovering above the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva look ominous (see photo for our news item on the 2014 WIPO General Assemblies).

EIFL was participating in the General Assemblies, WIPO’s main policy and decision-making bodies that took place from September 22 to 30, 2014.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), short courses that are delivered online for free, are said to be taking the academic world by storm. Thousands of courses in many languages are on offer from top universities all over the world.

One such offering is Copyright for Educators & Librarians, launched in 2014 by Duke University in the US. The aim of the course is to ‘begin to demystify the law and help educators and librarians do their jobs more effectively’.

EIFL has released a new video which shows the impact of an EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) supported project that uses tablet computers to support children’s education in Kibera, the largest slum in Eastern Africa.

In a disagreement that split mainly along north-south lines, the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) failed for the second time this year to reach agreement on the conclusions of the session, and also couldn’t agree on the all-important recommendations to WIPO’s General Assemblies that meet in September.

While some progress was made in the discussion on limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives in the digital environment, and India became the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty, it was another disappointing end to the week.

Two representatives from EIFL joined a 16-strong international team representing 11 library and organizations spanning Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the United States at WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) that took place in Geneva from 28 April - 2 May 2014.

To celebrate UNESCO's World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April 2014, and WIPO's World IP Day on 26 April 2014 – we asked librarians in EIFL partner countries what they wish for copyright today.

Read what librarians in Armenia, Latvia, Botswana, Kenya, Estonia, Russia, Uzbekistan, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Senegal, Mongolia, Poland, Ghana and Nigeria said.

Download the flyer.

Libraries in EIFL partner countries perform a vital role getting reading and other materials into the hands of people who need information and knowledge for education, research, health or leisure. The seven point plan submitted by EIFL in response to the (ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2013/copyright-rules/index_en.htm) European Commission's Public Consultation on the review of EU copyright rules highlights some issues that libraries want to see addressed.

"A lot of research has been undertaken over the years in Uganda and many seeming breakthroughs arrived at, however these have not been disseminated and subsequently have not added value to the lives of Ugandans," said Dr. J. C. Muyingo, Minister of State-Higher Education in Uganda.

This revealing statement was made at the very first national open access conference in Uganda, which EIFL co-hosted with the Consortium of Uganda University Libraries (CUUL).

Only between 1-7% of books worldwide are published in formats accessible to blind people such as Braille, large print, audio, DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System). The aim of the Marrakesh Treaty, that creates an international legal framework to enable the cross-border sharing of accessible materials, is to alleviate the “book famine” for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled.

EIFL has released a new video which highlights the impact on farmers in a small community in rural Uganda when the local library receives laptops and internet connections.

Bwera Information Centre (BIC) is a tiny rural library in Kasese District in Western Uganda, featured in the EIFL video.