EIFL is delighted to be  invited to speak at this informal early evening social gathering via Zoom organized by the International Library and Information Group (ILIG) and the UK eInformation Group of the UK library and information association, CILIP.

Join us for a presentation and discussion about the open access policy development process in India, with Dr Arul George Scaria, Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC), National Law University, Delhi.

The Global Sustainability Coalition for Open Science Services (SCOSS) has helped raise funds for six open access and open science infrastructures, generating 2,781,525 Euros in just three years. Iryna Kuchma, EIFL Open Access Programme Manager, who is on the SCOSS Board, updates us on SCOSS’ efforts to sustain open infrastructures. 

Rima Kupryte, EIFL Director, and Romy Beard, EIFL Licensing Progamme Manager, have been invited by the Open Access (OA) 2020 Initiative and the Max Planck Society to attend the OA2020 Summit of Chief Negotiators. 

The first part of the meeting, documenting the progress of OA2020 stakeholders, will be recorded and published on the OA2020 website; the second part of the meeting, highlighting benchmarks in key areas of transformative negotiation strategies, will be reserved for OA2020 partners participating live.

EIFL has signed a new read & publish agreement with the European Respiratory Society. The agreement, which lasts until December 2023, covers free and discounted read & publish prices for access to and publishing in its flagship journal, the European Respiratory Journal, for libraries and authors from 37 EIFL partner countries.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL’s Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, reports from the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) copyright committee that met recently in hybrid mode in Geneva 

The theme of the 10th e-Age20 conference, to be held online this year, is the ‘Power of e-Infrastructures - Shaping the Future of Online Research and Education’. 

The role of e-Infrastructures during the COVID-19 pandemic will be a key focus of e-AGE20, which will cover experiences of research collaboration, online teaching and learning, resource sharing, assessments, and classroom integration and interaction. The role of NRENs (National Research and Education Networks) and e-Infrastructures in the COVID-19 crisis will also be discussed.

Myanmar’s research community has enthusiastically embraced the new Myanmar Education Research and Learning (MERAL) Portal. 

In just four months since the launch of the MERAL Portal in July 2020, content has doubled. The portal now includes almost 6,000 journal articles, conference papers, theses and dissertations, research papers, books and books chapters from 19 universities. 

EIFL has renewed its agreement with Cambridge University Press for access to and publishing in Cambridge University Press journals for a further year, until December 2021.

Free read access

Through the agreement, libraries in 11 EIFL countries can get free access to the Cambridge University Press Journals Collection of 404 titles.

Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Fiji, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Namibia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), an annual forum that brings together stakeholders from government, industry and civil society to discuss public policy issues relating to the internet, was held online this year from 2 - 17 November. For 12 days, the IGF 2020 digital platform was buzzing - with a record 6,000 participants from 173 countries. Ramune Petuchovaite, Manager of the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP), reports.

COVID-19 is taking its toll on libraries since teaching and learning moved online earlier this year. University World News interviews Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, librarians and academics about challenges faced by libraries supporting teaching and learning during the pandemic, and the urgent need for library-friendly copyright laws.

Article title: COVID-19 prompts calls for library-friendly copyright laws

Publication/media outlet:  University World News / Africa Edition

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, will join three other experts in a webinar to discuss national and international copyright issues, the costs and benefits of open source, and the COVID-19 publication race.

The other speakers are Jonathan Klaaren and Malebakeng Forere, School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, and Kirstin Krauss, University of South Africa. See the full programme.

A multitude of open science training courses is being delivered by institutions across Europe (and beyond) to researchers at different stages of their careers. Many agencies and groups have described their valuable work in reports and recommendations. However, basic information on curriculum specifics at the institutional level does not appear to be generally available.

Join this two-day workshop to discuss the challenges and opportunities for universities engaging in citizen science, and explore how citizen science can benefit from and add to the transition to open science.

The WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/40) met from 16 - 20 November 2020, for the first time in over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

EIFL was represented by Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, and Dick Kawooya, University of South Carolina, who called for fair access to broadcast content by libraries, adoption of a work plan digital preservation, and highlighted the challenges of public lending right in developing countries.

Join LIBSENSE Francophone Africa Day, hosted by the West and Central Education and Research Network (WACREN), Université Virtuelle de Côte d’Ivoire (UVCI) and EIFL as part of Open Access Week Côte d’Ivoire. 

L’Université Virtuelle de Côte d’Ivoire (UVCI) and EIFL’s partner library consortium, Consortium des Bibliothèques de l‘Enseignement Supérieur de Cote d‘Ivoire (COBES-CI), are co-organizers of Open Access Week Côte d’Ivoire, with  the West and Central Education and Research Network (WACREN/LIBSENSE) and Commission Nationale Ivoirienne pour l’UNESCO. 

Open Access Week Côte d’Ivoire, from 24 - 27 November, takes place in conjunction with the international colloquium, ‘Digital. Social dynamics and resilience in the context of COVID-19’. 

The Scholarly Kitchen, an independent blog established by the Society for Scholarly Publishing, asked EIFL to give input into a series of articles asking, ‘How Can We Achieve Equitable Participation in Open Research?’ Romy Beard, Manager of the EIFL Licensing Programme, and Rima Kupryte, Director of EIFL, responded by urging publishers to cut or waive article processing charges (APCs) to help authors from developing and transition economy countries, and to streamline

Iryna Kuchma, Manager of the EIFL Open Access Programme, will speak at the 15th Munin Conference on Scholarly Publishing, an annual conference on scholarly publishing and communication that primarily focuses on open access, open data and open science. 

Iryna Kuchma, Manager of the EIFL Open Access Programme, and Irakli Garibashvili, EIFL Country Coordinator in Georgia, will present at this NI4OS (National Initiatives for Open Science in Europe) training event.