In May 2019, six young African public librarians travelled to Denmark to take part in an intensive week-long learning, knowledge-sharing and networking experience that included participation in the Next Library 2019 conference in Aarhus (2 - 4 June), which was attended by over 400 people from 44 countries. The six young librarians, from Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and Zambia, were participants in the EIFL Initiative for Young African Library Innovators (IYALI) 2019 programme. 

In May 2019, I joined six young public library innovators from Africa at the 3rd African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA) Conference and 5th African Library Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference was a rich learning ground for the young librarians, who were all there as a result of their participation in the Initiative for Young African Library Innovators (IYALI).

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, participated in the 38th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) that took place in Geneva from 1-5 April 2019. EIFL engaged with member states to explain why libraries need an international copyright framework, and how the planned WIPO regional seminars can contribute to achieving real results.

Limitations and exceptions for libraries & archives and education have been on the agenda at WIPO since 2011. Work on the topic has been extensive, substantive and has enjoyed much support from most WIPO member states. But two allied groups of member states, the European Union (EU) and the group of Central European and Baltic States (CEBS), have resisted progress and repeatedly opposed discussion on an international instrument concerning limitations and exceptions for education, research, libraries, archives, and museums.

Members of the EIFL Open Access Programme team, Iryna Kuchma and Gwen Franck, blog about a new training format and training resources for open science trainers. 

Take our training materials, build on our training format and organize your train-the-trainer event! 

EIFL Guest Blogger, Open Access Programme Coordinator in Serbia, Milica Sevkusic, updates us on the latest developments in open access (OA) in Serbia. EIFL-supported awareness raising, advocacy and policy development workshops since the year 2000 have resulted in the launch of two OA journals portals (doiSerbia and SCIndeks), and improved OA publishing policies and practices.

In 2018, EIFL and partners Peer to Peer University and Kenya National Library Service completed a three-year project to test and encourage growth of learning circles - in-person study groups for online learners - in public libraries in Africa. The results far exceeded the project’s goals - in just one year (2018) over a thousand people completed online courses in a wide range of subjects in libraries in Kenya and Uganda, and in Zambia dozens of learners are working through courses.

EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) Advisor for Initiatives for Africa, Janet Sawaya, shares her takeaways from the 13th Annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2018, in Paris, France (November 12 - 14), which attracted more than 3,000 participants from 143 countries. This year’s IGF theme was the Internet of Trust.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, attended the 37th meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the global body that sets international copyright law and policy, that took place in Geneva from 26 - 30 November 2018.

In August, 15 young African public librarians travelled to Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia) to take part in an intensive learning, knowledge-sharing and networking experience organized by EIFL and partners. The 15 were participants in the Initiative for Young African Library Innovators (IYALI). After their journey, we asked them to reflect on the experience, and how they might apply what they learnt in their libraries back home.