In January 2023, EIFL wrote to the President of Nigeria, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, requesting that he sign the Copyright Bill 2022 (SBs. 688 & 769) into law at the earliest opportunity. In March 2023, the President assented to the Copyright Act, rebooting Nigeria’s copyright system for the next generation.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2022 took place from 28 November to 2 December 2022 in hybrid format, with remote participation online and in-person participation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. EIFL’s Ramune Petuchovaite reflects on shifts in debates at the Forum and highlights two reports that will be useful for policymakers working in the area of digital inclusion.

A new report (2022) examining the status of reproduction rights organizations (RROs) in Africa finds that RROs in most countries do not meet global best practice guidelines as set out by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

At the EIFL General Assembly 2022, licensing coordinators from EIFL partner countries shared their experiences of negotiating and managing transformative agreements. There have been positives, but also some challenges, writes EIFL Licensing Programme Manager Lorraine Estelle.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, highlights an information sheet developed by EIFL for EU libraries supporting Ukrainian refugees with print disabilities. We developed the resource in response to requests from libraries seeking information on getting accessible books in Ukrainian to support the new arrivals.

Iryna Kuchma, EIFL Open Access Programme Manager, provides an update on SUES, an initiative to support Ukrainian academic journals and publishers during the war with Russia.

Since the start of the war, EIFL has been involved in various activities supporting Ukrainian librarians and researchers. And so we welcomed the formation of SUES - Supporting Ukrainian Editorial Staff - in April 2022, and were among the first to join the initiative.

Lorraine Estelle, EIFL Licensing Programme Manager, discusses the main routes for making articles open access and introduces EIFL’s guide for authors on obtaining their Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) from journal publishers.

Lorraine Estelle, EIFL Licensing Programme Manager, analyses the amount of research published in open access in 2021 by authors from EIFL partner countries, to find out how EIFL-negotiated open access agreements are making a difference.  

The two African public librarians who travelled to Romania as part of the 2022 EIFL Initiative for Young African Library Innovators (IYALI 2022) programme, and the Romanian librarians they met on their journey, were amazed at how much their libraries have in common, writes EIFL Public Library Innovation Manager, Ramune Petuchovaite.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, reports on recent evidence highlighting the need for strong copyright exceptions for libraries to support the delivery of online content and services during the COVID-19 pandemic.