Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Thursday, March 27, 2008

Libraries and A2K

How do you say Access to Knowledge?  A short (105 second) video from eIFL.net

Also see the longer announcement of the video at the UNESCO IFAP.  Excerpt:

Access to knowledge (A2K) is essential for the functioning of a healthy and democratic society....

[L]ibraries are a key component in the burgeoning social movement that is A2K....

Academics have embraced the ideas and deepened the analysis....

Members of the international consortium, Electronic Information for Libraries (eiFL.net) are a natural ally in the A2K movement. With millions of users in over 2,000 libraries in 50 developing and transition countries, they know only too well the value of providing access to critical educational and training materials for the scholars and researchers, doctors and lawyers, students and teachers in their countries....

They see at first hand how the digital environment has the potential to transform access and use, especially for those disadvantaged by distance or economic circumstance....

Librarians support a vibrant public domain, fair and balanced copyright laws that take into account the stage of development of a country, transparency and participation in decision-making and openness to new models, such as open access and open source software.

“Access to Knowledge” means many things to many people. First, we asked librarians how to say “Access to Knowledge” in their own language [for our video]. The variety of responses shows a rich diversity of language and culture, with the common purpose of making access to knowledge a reality for library users in developing and transition countries....