Access to information and knowledge is
a core need for human development
and well-being, enabling individuals,
communities and countries to achieve
their full potential and to improve their
quality of life....UNESCO, with its mandate to promote
the free flow of ideas using words
and images, and to maintain, increase,
preserve and disseminate knowledge, has
thus established the Information for All
Programme – it seeks to narrow the gap
between the information rich and the
information poor and to contribute to
building Knowledge Societies.
Many of the actions of the Information
for All Programme are designed to set
standards, raise awareness and monitor progress so as to achieve universal access
to information and knowledge....This report provides an overview of
IFAP’s work within its current three
priority areas – information literacy,
infoethics, and the preservation of
information – over the last two years....
In parallel, handbook with essential information on a core set of issues is being developed. These include updating of national copyright laws, technological protection measures, the terms of protection, orphaned works, database rights, public lending right; trade agreements, the relationship between copyright law and contract law, open access publishing, Creative Commons licensing and international copyright developments. The
handbook will also outline policy issues relevant to libraries and will contain guidance on advocacy for non-specialist librarians, thus comprising a key part of the online resources toolkit, a central reference for copyright issues for libraries and a handy glossary. It is therefore important to ensure that the information is sufficiently generic so that it can be re-used throughout the region and in different jurisdictions. In this sense, take-up, re-use and translation into local languages are part of the success of the project.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/16/2006 08:26:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
