The EIFL Core Library Exceptions Checklist sets out provisions that every copyright law should have to support modern library activities and services, such as making an electronic copy of a journal article or book chapter for a user, providing library material for use in virtual learning environments, and undertaking digital preservation.

The checklist is a practical way to evaluate your copyright law, identify gaps or see where the law is doing well. It is a starting point for policy advocacy, or to propose amendments if the copyright law in your country is being updated.

The first part of the checklist features library activities and services. The second part deals with cross-cutting issues that affect the scope and efficacy of the exceptions. Each question is accompanied by a short explanatory note and a model provision.

The Checklist was published in 2016, and translated into French in 2022.

Thanks to EIFL’s partner Consortium des Bibliothèques de l’Enseignement Supérieur du Sénégal (COBESS) and the translator, Daouda Ndao, for the French version that was done as part of the project “Contributing to Public Interest Copyright Policy in Senegal and at WIPO: Promoting Access to Knowledge and the Right to Research”.