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EIFL Guest Bloggers are experts in EIFL’s areas of work. From time to time, we invite experts to blog about topical issues of interest to our audience.

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Iryna Kuchma

Open Access Programme Manager

iryna.kuchma@eifl.net

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Iryna Kuchma

Open Access Programme Manager

Iryna Kuchma has been managing the EIFL Open Access Programme (EIFL-OA) since 2008. Working in collaboration with libraries and library consortia in more than 60 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, she advocates for open access to research results, facilitates the development and implementation of open science policies and infrastructures, and provides support and training.

An expert in open access, open data and open science, Iryna has published several works (see the full list), and contributed to recent reports including ‘Good Practice Advice for Managing Multilingual and non-English Language Content in Repositories’ by the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) Task Force on Supporting Multilingualism and ‘Quality Evaluation Criteria, Best Practices, and Assessment Systems for Institutional Publishing Service Providers’ by the DIAMAS project.

Under Iryna's management, EIFL-OA’s many achievements include the establishment of more than 1,200 open access repositories and more than 4,100 open access journals in EIFL partner countries, opening up a wealth of new knowledge and research to the world. The programme has also supported the development of 189 institutional and 19 national open science policies in EIFL partner countries, and has trained over 307,300 librarians, researchers and policy-makers across the EIFL network. Read more about 20 years of the EIFL Open Access Programme.

Iryna sits on the boards of Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR), the Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) and the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD). In addition, she serves on the advisory board of Open Access Week. Iryna co-chairs the OpenAIRE Training and Support Standing Committee, and is a member of the Coalition Publi.ca International Committee, the DSpace Community Advisory Team and the CODATA Policy and Legal Working Group. She was an Associate Editor for the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and a member of the DOAJ Council. She served on the UNESCO Open Science Advisory Committee as an international expert, as a Rapporteur for the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Skills and Training Working Group, and on the EOSC Association Data stewardship curricula and career paths Task Force.

In 2013, Iryna received the Electronic Publishing Trust (EPT) for Development Annual Award, in recognition of her ‘efforts in the furtherance of open access to scholarly publications in the developing and emerging countries’.

Before joining EIFL, Iryna worked as an Information Programme Manager at the International Renaissance Foundation (part of the Soros Foundations Network in Ukraine) and also coordinated the Arts and Culture Programme there.

Iryna completed the PhD programme at the Institute of Social Sciences, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and has an M.A. in Cultural Studies from the National University ‘Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’, Ukraine.

Languages: English, French, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian

More about the EIFL Open Access Programme

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Jean Fairbairn

Communications Manager / Website

jean.fairbairn@eifl.net

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Jean Fairbairn

Communications Manager / Website

Jean Fairbairn manages communications through the EIFL website that engage and encourage stakeholders to support EIFL’s mission. Jean also supports production of marketing and communication materials, such as annual reports, videos, brochures, and presentations.

Jean joined EIFL in 2010. Her expertise is in communication for development. She has 30 years’ experience developing capacity of local journalists and community-based organizations to disseminate information that improves lives, working for Open Society Foundation for South Africa, Developing Radio Partners, Internews and Healthlink Worldwide. She has published several manuals and guides to support this work.

Jean holds an M.A. in Globalization and Communication from Leicester University, UK, and a post-graduate Adult Education Diploma from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Languages: English, Afrikaans

Twitter Id jean.fairbairn@eifl.net blogs resources https://www.flickr.com/photos/eifl/15691090797/

Lorraine Estelle

Licensing Programme Manager

lorraine.estelle@eifl.net

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Lorraine Estelle

Licensing Programme Manager

Lorraine Estelle negotiates licence agreements with publishers to secure affordable access to e-resources and technology products, as well as open access publishing terms, such as waived or discounted article processing charges (APCs) or publish and read offers. She works with library consortia to raise awareness about these agreements.

Lorraine joined EIFL in 2022, bringing broad experience of consortia negotiations and open access business models. Lorraine started her career in publishing and in 1999 went on to develop a licensing programme for the UK non-profit organization, Jisc. As Director of Jisc Collections, she negotiated national licensing agreements for UK higher and further education institutions to improve access to knowledge and information to support education and research. She also orchestrated UK library support for open access initiatives and developed the first models to demonstrate the total cost of publication, including article processing charge (APC) costs, for UK academic institutions. In 2012 Lorraine led the first national negotiations to successfully agree on offset models to alleviate the cost faced by higher education institutions in maintaining subscriptions to hybrid journals while also paying APC charges.

From 2015 in her role as Project Director of the non-profit organization COUNTER, she gained experience in working collaboratively with library consortia, libraries, publishers, and vendors in reaching consensus and in developing industry standards for reporting usage of their electronic resources in a consistent way. Lorraine has collaborated in several projects helping libraries and publishers to develop open access strategies, business models, policies, and practices. Lorraine is also co-editor of the open access journal Insights: the UKSG journal.

In 2022, Lorraine was the recipient of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) award for Contribution to Scholarly Publishing.

Lorraine holds an honours degree in Psychology from The Open University, UK, and is currently studying an M.A. in Art History.

Languages: English

More about the EIFL Licensing Programme

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Milica Sevkusic

Open Access Programme, Project Coordinator

milica.sevkusic@eifl.net

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Milica Sevkusic

Open Access Programme, Project Coordinator

Milica Ševkušić has been coordinating the EIFL Open Access Programme (EIFL-OA) and projects since 2022. Working in collaboration with libraries and library consortia in more than 60 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, she advocates for open access to research results, facilitates the development and implementation of open science policies and infrastructures, and provides support and training.

A librarian by profession, Milica has served as the EIFL Open Access Country Coordinator in Serbia since 2014, playing a leading role in open science advocacy, awareness raising and training in the country. In 2016-17 Milica coordinated the EIFL-funded project, Revisiting Open Access Journal Policies and Practices in Serbia, as a result of which over 100 journals developed policies and improved their editorial and publishing processes.

Since 2007, Milica has worked as a librarian at the Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. She is a member of the repository development team at the University of Belgrade Computer Centre, where she is responsible for repository user support and training. She has contributed to popularizing institutional repositories and is active as a CORE Ambassador in Serbia.

Milica is a founding member and co-coordinator of the Open Science Community Serbia, which was launched in 2021. She is also involved in education programmes conducted by Wikimedia Serbia.

Milica holds an M.A. in Art History from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. ORCID Id: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2888-6611

Languages: Serbian, English, French, Italian, Russian

More about the EIFL Open Access Programme

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Ramune Petuchovaite

Public Library Innovation Programme Manager

ramune@eifl.net

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Ramune Petuchovaite

Public Library Innovation Programme Manager

Ramune Petuchovaite oversees and contributes to development, delivery and evaluation of a range of activities which support piloting innovative public library services that contribute to community development.

Since 2012, Ramune has worked with over 30 public library projects focused on crucial community development needs, such as farming, health, employment, education and social inclusion, in more than 20 developing and transition economy countries. She managed and contributed to the development of a framework for capacity building of public librarians in Africa, and an international leadership programme for young African librarians.

Before joining EIFL, Ramune served as Chief Specialist at the Division of Information Society Development of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. During her term at the Ministry of Culture, a countrywide project, ‘Libraries for Innovation’, was launched. This US$36-million government project, co-funded with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supported over 1,300 public libraries in Lithuania to launch and improve services offering public access to computers and the internet, and to provide ICT training in communities. The project contributed to a significant increase (15%) in the number of regular internet users in Lithuania in the period 2008-2013. During Ramune’s term as Chief Specialist, the Ministry of Culture initiated changes to library legislation, improving library management and services.

Ramune has also lectured library and information students on library management, project management and other subjects at the Faculty of Communication, Vilnius University.

Ramune holds a library postgraduate degree from Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Languages: English, Lithuanian, Russian

More about the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme

Twitter Id ramune@eifl.net blogs resources https://www.flickr.com/photos/eifl/15689350368/in/photostream/

Rima Kupryte

Director

rima.kupryte@eifl.net

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Rima Kupryte

Director

Rima Kupryte oversees the implementation of EIFL’s overall organizational strategy and operations. Rima has led EIFL since its inception in 2003. Under Rima’s leadership, EIFL has grown into a thriving international organization working in more than 60 developing and transition economy countries.

Rima’s deep knowledge of international development and library operations and infrastructure has led to the strategic expansion of EIFL’s programmes which help people to access and use information for education, learning, research and sustainable community development.

Rima joined EIFL from the Open Society Institute - Budapest (currently known as the Open Society Foundations), where she managed the Network Library Programme, supporting library development in approximately 35 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Africa.

In 2008, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) awarded Rima the IFLA Medal, one of the highest professional accolades, for her contributions to international librarianship.

Languages: Lithuanian, English, Russian

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Teresa Hackett

teresa.hackett@eifl.net

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Teresa Hackett

Teresa Hackett oversees the delivery of a copyright service for libraries in over 35 developing and transition economy countries, creating specialised copyright resources in multiple languages, and providing technical assistance on legislative issues.

With over 25 years’ experience as a leader engaged in public interest copyright reforms at national and international levels, Teresa has been a frequent contributor at conferences and events around the world.

Her commitment and advocacy skills have helped to grow a network of knowledgeable copyright librarians, many of whom have achieved success in improving national laws. At international level, Teresa has helped to make EIFL a leading voice for global copyright law reform. At the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), where EIFL has observer status, Teresa has participated in negotiations for copyright rules that promote access to knowledge for all, and has contributed to over 26 nations joining the landmark WIPO Marrakesh Treaty for persons with print disabilities. She served as Regional Coordinator for Africa on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law, a project of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at American University Washington College of Law (2021-2023).

Prior to joining EIFL, Teresa held a number of policy, advocacy and technical positions. From 2000-2003, she was Director of the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations; before that she provided support to the European Commission library research programme. Teresa has served on numerous professional committees including the Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) (2011-2015), World Blind Union (WBU) Marrakesh Strategic Advisory Group (2016-2017), Advisory Board of the project SCOIR (Secondary rights, Copyright, Open access, Institutional policies, and Rights retention) (2024-2025). She has also received a number of awards for her work on copyright including a Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant as an agent of social change (2015), an IFLA Medal for distinguished contribution to IFLA and international librarianship and her commitment to enabling equal access to information (2018), and in 2020, the work of the EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme was recognized as a finalist for the ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing.

Teresa has an honours degree in German, History and Politics from University College Dublin, Ireland, a postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Studies from the University of North London, UK, and a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland.

More about the EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme

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Ugne Lipeikaite

Public Library Innovation Programme Impact Manager

ugne.lipeikaite@eifl.net

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Ugne Lipeikaite

Public Library Innovation Programme Impact Manager

Ugne Lipeikaite oversees impact planning and evaluation for the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP). Ugne built the impact evaluation framework and tools that are now being used by EIFL-PLIP grantees. She facilitated the creation and implementation of EIFL’s training programmes for public librarians in five African countries, developing librarians' capacity to introduce and implement innovative services that meet community needs, and improving their ICT and ICT training skills. In Uganda, Ugne led and managed the implementing team for the EIFL 'Digital skills and inclusion through libraries in Uganda' project, a country-wide programme to build public libraries' capacity to provide digital skills training for vulnerable women and youth, in addition to developing the impact assessment and evaluation framework for the project.

Before joining EIFL in 2011, Ugne was responsible for impact planning and evaluation of a nation-wide project, ‘Libraries for Innovation’, a US$36-million project co-funded by the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project helped almost 1,300 public libraries in Lithuania to develop public access to computer and internet services.

Ugne’s other projects include ICT diffusion and adoption projects for the Open Society Fund-Lithuania and the e-Inclusion project ‘Rural Internet Access Points’, funded by the European Union Phare Programme.

Ugne has contributed to the design and implementation of major international research projects, among them, the ‘Global Impact Study of Public Access to Information & Communication Technologies’ (2012); ‘Perceptions of Public Libraries in Africa’ (2011); ‘Advancing Library Visibility in Africa’ ( 2018 - ongoing), and the ‘Role of Libraries in National Broadband Plans and Policies’ (2019 - ongoing).

Ugne served on the Statistics and Evaluation Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) from 2011 to 2014. Ugne has published several works (see the full list here).

Ugne holds a Ph.D in Communication and Information from Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Languages: Lithuanian, English, Spanish

More about EIFL’s public library capacity building initiatives in Africa

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