Geneva, 30 June – 4 July 2014
Agenda item 6: Limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives
AIB Statement
Thank you Mr. Chair.
Founded in 1930, AIB represents over 3,000 librarians and information professionals. AIB’s main objective is to support the development of libraries and library services in Italy, in light of the concrete and evolving needs of library users.
I am speaking with reference to exceptions and limitations in a digital environment. Italian libraries, universities, and research centres are increasingly dependent on digital resources. And contracts with publishers are currently dictating how digital resources can be used, with in many cases little room for face-to-face negotiations. What our libraries and their users experience on a daily basis is the steady erosion of socially and economically important uses of copyrighted works, hampering the provision of core library services. Where Italian law permits an act like for instance the reproduction of copyrighted works for long-time preservation or archival purposes, contractual terms for digital resources, governed by foreign or national law, often prohibit or restrict it.
In Europe, the principle of non-overridability of limitations and exceptions by way of contract is already recognised in the Software and Database Directives, while the Information Society Directive is silent on this specific issue, still hard to anticipate at the end of last millennium.
But as Vice President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes said yesterday “when European scientists have to abandon text or data mining because they can’t afford the legal fees – how does that help innovation and scientific progress?”.
Member States can choose whether to make or not limitations and exceptions resistant to contractual terms. But the widespread circumvention of limitations and exceptions in the digital age, and what this means for libraries and their users, is a serious issue that needs to be urgently and suitably addressed.
