A Digital Knowledge Act for Europe

On October 2, representatives from LIBER attended a Communia event in Brussels to promote its proposal for a Digital Knowledge Act.

Legal academics and practitioners from knowledge institutions were invited to share their insights on the issues addressed in the proposal. Information about the event is available here.

The Communia proposal outlines four actions that a digital knowledge act should focus on:

1. Protect the Public Domain
2. Unlock Research
3. Promote Digital Adaptation
4. Shield Institutions from Legal Risk

There is a lot for research libraries to digest in this proposal.

Unlocking Research involves two proposed legislations changes:

• The introduction of an EU-wide mandatory and flexible copyright exception for researchers allowing researchers to use copyrighted material for scientific research. Such an exception would support cross-border research collaboration and potentially enable research libraries to better support such collaboration.
• An EU-wide obligation to make the published outputs of publicly funded research immediately available in an open access repository. For research libraries aiming to maximise access to knowledge in a sustainable manner this would be a welcome and also challenging development as it necessitates investment in robust and interoperable repository infrastructure across the EU.

The challenges that libraries are facing when it comes to licencing ebooks are increasingly well elucidated by ebookSOS and other national campaigns e.g. in Ireland. The Promote Digital Adaptation action sees this addressed through an EU-wide e-lending exception granting libraries the right to lend books in digital form. This, coupled with a proposed obligation on rights holders to licence to libraries aims to reinforce and support the public service mission of libraries.

Other measures to support and protect libraries and other knowledge institutions in fulfilling their public service mission, such as a limitation on liability and protection from unfair licence terms,  are outlined in the proposal.

It could be argued that libraries’ agency in delivering on our mission to provide access to and support the creation of knowledge has been eroded in the digital age. This proposal, in many ways, aims to address this and bring some balance back to the EU knowledge ecosystem.

This blog post was written by the LIBER Copyright & Legal Matters Working Group co-chair Susan Reilly. Learn more about the Copyright & Legal Matters WG.