CECUP brings (electronic) copyright awareness to the library community in the 10 Central and Eastern European countries which have applied membership in the European Union. CECUP aims to encourage librarians and their associations to take a more active part in the copyright discussion in their respective countries. First contacts with right owners will also be established. Tuula Haavisto introduces CECUP, its plans, dissemination strategy, and political results.
 |
Copyright is getting to be a hot matter in libraries in the 10 Central and Eastern European countries which have applied for membership in the European Union (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). Changes in the legislation are demanding from libraries and librarians much more involving than earlier. |
Before the 1990s the copyright laws used to be quite favorable for libraries and other users - the legal exemptions were formulated in very general terms. They allowed generous copying and other non-commercial use of documents. These privileges were also largely used in and by libraries. In the 1990s the laws have been tightened towards the Western European models, and this is a continuing line. The basic reasons are harmonizing with the EU legislation, fighting piracy and changes within the electronic environment. Changes also include elements which affect libraries strongly.
CECUP [1], Central and Eastern European Copyright User Platform, was born in this situation. EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations)[2] has organized this concerted action with the accession countries with financing from the European Commission DGXIII/E.
Library associations taking part in CECUP:
The working plan includes:
The project period is 18 months from June 1998 to December 1999.
There is a very active Steering Group [11], composed of representatives of all the ten countries and different types of libraries. It has had three meetings during the first year of the project. The meetings have been a very important source of information in many ways, and the discussions have really put thinking forward. The members are able to enrich the project with the experiences from their own countries. [Note: Editors apologies for missing accents/characters lost in the conversion process.]
Nine of the ten workshops have been held, with more than 630 participants in total. The feedback and results have been rewarding and encouraging, immediate actions taken. All partner library associations have formed copyright groups (where there were none). Several associations are planning regional copyright workshops. Many library journals have or will be publishing related articles about copyright. During the preparations and workshops, active contacts were established with the legislators and other parties interested in copyright.
The CECUP project has its own web site which is integrated with the well-known ECUP+ site. It is especially worth mentioning that direct law quotations [12] concerning the most important articles for libraries and copyright can be found at the site (at the end of the report "Copyright and libraries in the ten C&EE countries").
The preliminary report, "Copyright and libraries in the ten C&EE countries", was published on the web in Spring 1999 [13]. It includes the basic facts about the copyright legislation from the library point of view in the countries, and a chapter with more detailed descriptions of especially library-related regulations. The report will be completed with the information collected from the workshops on-site and with up-dated information about the development in the copyright laws. The final version will be published in paper form and on Internet in the end of the project in late Autumn 1999.
During the project contacts with publishers and other right holders will be made as well. In October 1999 there will be a meeting in Budapest, where 10 representatives of publishers' associations, authors associations, collecting societies and subscription agents will be invited.
From the political point of view one of the most important achievements of CECUP has been the new visibility which libraries have reached through the workshops. Libraries used not to be discussion partners (parties?) in copyright matters - in fact it seems there have been no voices speaking for any user group in these countries. Now, in most of the workshops also ministry officers, political adivisors or even politicians have participated, who have got new information about users position in copyright matters. It has got clear that the response towards the more active role of libraries in copyright matters is welcomed in most C&EE countries.
One important topic has been spontaneously discussed in most of the workshops: the Public Lending Right (PLR) systems. They are more or less under work (if not yet existing) in most European countries because of the regulations of the Rental and Lending directive of 1992. This is also a new phenomenon where libraries should express their opinions, and need basic information about existing models for that. Co-operation between CECUP and the international PLR focal point in the UK has begun.
If you have any comments on this article, please contact the editors (exploit-editor@ukoln.ac.uk).
Tuula Haavisto
CECUP Project Manager
Haemeentie 153 B, FIN-00560 Helsinki, Finland
Email: tuulah@fla.fi
URL: http://www.edliba.org/cecup/
Tel.:(mobile) +358 40 568 9396
Fax: +358 9 560 70 550 and 560 70 P
|
Tuula Haavisto is on leave from the Office of the Secretary General, Finnish Library Association, while working with CECUP. |
For citation purposes:
Tuula Haavisto, "Central and Eastern European Copyright User Platform (CECUP),"
Exploit Interactive, issue 2, 20 July 1999
URL:
<http://www.exploit-lib.org/issue2/cecup/>
|
Issue Home | Editorial | Features | Regular Columns | News and Events | Et cetera | ||
|
| ||
| Go to Top |
A UKOLN Service. Contact Us. Copyright © 1999-2006 
|
Last Updated: 20 July 1999 |