Transposing the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market: A Guide for Libraries and Library Associations

Organisations representing libraries across Europe have launched guidance on the transposition of the European Union’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market in Member States. The goal is to provide essential background to libraries, library associations, researchers and others involved in national discussions about the new rules, the choices that will need to be made, and goals that libraries can adopt.

The guidelines have been created jointly by EBLIDA, IFLA, LIBER and SPARC Europe, and cover 12 of the Articles in the Directive, looking at text and data mining, education, preservation, contracts and technological protection measures, out-of-commerce works, works of visual art in the public domain, press publishers rights and platform liability.

In each case, the guidelines set out what the Article is about, what the new provisions mean, where there is room for flexibility, what a good implementation would look like and suggests improvements that can be made if there is desire to go further.