Too brief a brief? A comprehensive approach to a more effective multilateral system needs a stronger focus on culture

The Summit of the Future, planned for 2024, looks set to be a key moment not just in the evolution of the United Nations’ work on its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but also in what comes next.

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Support for copyright limitations & exceptions strong at the WIPO General Assembly

On July 15 & 18, the Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR) presented the outcomes of its 42nd meeting (SCCR/42) to the WIPO General Assembly. IFLA was there to reiterate support for strong limitations & exceptions (L&E) for libraries. We were joined on-site by other organizations – including EIFL – and national delegates – including those from South Africa, Iran, Malawi, Brazil, and Uganda – who spoke of their support for strong L&E’s and the WIPO African Group’s proposal that was adopted into a workplan at SCCR/42 two months earlier.

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COVID-19 Impacts on Cultural Industries and Education and Research Institutions: Key Questions from the WIPO Report

Tomorrow, the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) will hold an information session on the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural and creative industries, on the one hand, and on education and research on the other.

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Strengthening Relationships, Empowering Communities: Library Reflections on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

On 9 August, we mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Through the 2021 theme: Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract, the UN calls for a new approach “based on genuine participation and partnership that fosters equal opportunities and respects the rights, dignity and freedoms […]

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Hammer Time (or not): Breaking Free from the Law of the Instrument at WIPO

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This – the law of the instrument, or Maslov’s hammer – refers to a situation where someone’s actions are more determined by the tool that they have at hand than by consideration of what the best response might be. The consequence is likely […]

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Libraries at the Heart of Educational, Social, Cultural, Innovation and Democratic Infrastructure

When we talk about infrastructure, it’s easiest to think of things like roads, railways, bridges. Things that connect us together, allowing economies and societies to work. Things that serve many people, and many purposes, providing a basic service that you may take for granted when you have, but that you miss when you don’t. They […]

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Library Stat of the Week #50 (Part 2): Where there are stronger and better used public and community libraries, more people read, more often

In the final post both of this mini-series on libraries and cultural data, and of our regular Library Stat of the Week posts, we return to a core function of libraries – to promote reading and access to books. In the past three weeks, we have looked at data around how much households spend on […]

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