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FINAL REPORT
International Expert Workshop on Library Legislation
Prague, Czech Republic, 19th - 20th November 1999

  1. The "International Expert Workshop on Library Legislation" of experts from the Central European Initiative countries and the Baltic states was organized from the 19th to 20th November 1999 in the National Library of the Czech Republic by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic under the auspices of the Czech Commission for the UNESCO and with moral support from the UNESCO.

    The meeting was attended by experts from 8 countries delegated by the National Commissions for the UNESCO, namely from Albania, Czech Republic, Latvia, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
    As experts the meeting attended Mr. Giuseppe Vitiello, advisor for the area of new technologies, books and archives of the Council of Europe, Mr. Bendik Rugaas, director of the Norwegian National Library and Ms. Ingrid Mauritzen, legal counsel from Norway. Furthermore, the meeting was attended by 10 observers from the Czech Republic and 1 observer of the Open Society Institute.The meeting was also attended by Mr. Michal Beneš, a UNESCO representative.

  2. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Vojtěch Balik, director of the National Library of the Czech Republic and the minutes were taken by Mrs. Zlata Houšková of the National Library of the Czech Republic.

  3. In his opening speech the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic, Mr.Ilja Racek, welcomed the attendants and informed about the plans of the Ministry of Culture to draft a new Library Act. Further, Mr. Michal Beneš, the representative of the Czech Commission for UNESCO, welcomed the attendants.

    In his contribution he informed the participants in the workshop that the UNESCO General Conference dealt with the problems of libraries, namely both in the major general discussion and in individual commissions. It was stressed that libraries have a significant place in life-long education of inhabitants,that they are the most important public information centres and, at the same time, also places of protectionand development of culture and care for the cultural diversity. The fulfilment of these functions must be also in compliance with the legislative environment of libraries.

  4. The main objective of the International Expert Workshop included mutual clarification of current principles and trends in this legislation in different countries with the potential to seek and find principles and aspects common or similar as well as the assistance in the formulation of the pieces of legislation respecting a present situation as well as the foreseeable future developments in the field in the countries where no (new) laws have been as yet enacted.

  5. The workshop participants had received in advance the main documents for the discussion, covering the key issues which could or should be regulated by legislation.

  6. The first discussion block dedicated to issues of unrestricted access to information was opened by the speech of Ms. Ingrid Mauritzen. She characterized the library as an institution representing a real fulfilment of the principle of free access to information and the tool whereby the community promoted free expression of ideas. Libraries are established to meet the needs of user groups and for the support of their rights for access to information and ideas. Ms. Mauritzen stressed the free-of-charge character of libraries and information services and the fact that the principles of free access to information are the basis of the development of the democratic society. The building of library funds, as well, has to be relieved from political, religious and other interest effects. New problems in legislation are brought by the development of information technologies, especially providing services through Internet. The key significance poses the question of copyrights. It is necessary to achieve a compliance between the rights of the authors, publishers and distributors on one side and the basic right of people for the access to information. One of the ways for libraries is to create consortia and conclude licences for making use of information sources. The stress should also be laid on a mutual link between the copyright and legal deposit legislations. The discussion focused on the following issues:

    1. Are all library services to be rendered free?

    2. Is the free nature of the library services to be limited to the basic service only?

    3. Which services can be characterised as basic?

    4. Unless the basic library services are rendered free, who is to decide the pricing?

    5. Is the issue of library services pricing to be addressed within the scope of the library law?

    6. Should the library law limit in one way or another the access to specific information rendered through libraries or is to ban expressly any limitations whatsoever?

    7. Is the law to specify (or limit) the content of the library stocks or to guarantee their balance in terms of the subject matter and quality?

    8. Is the law to guarantee the library services and their availability for the handicapped and national and social minorities and in what way?

  7. It ensued from the discussion that all participants consider free access to information as the basic
    principle of the library services. However, in its fulfilment the role will be also played by traditions, the
    particular social and economic situation and the level of technical equipment of the libraries. Also the free-
    of-charge nature of basic services is the supported principles but the libraries in the majority of countries
    of the Central and Eastern Europe feel strong pressure on imposing charges on pricing the services.

  8. The next topic block was dedicated to the most important issues of organisation and management of and co-operation between libraries. In his opening speech, Mr. Bendik Rugaas highlighted the need to organise libraries into the national library system. Rather than any single library standing alone, the varied demands of a broad spectrum of users can be met only by the national library system as a whole. A substantial factor is the development of international co-operation, such as e.g. the co-operation of European national libraries (CENL, GABRIEL). The funding spent for the libraries operation should be deployed as cost-efficiently as possible. The following discussion was devoted to general principles of co-operation of libraries, overcoming both professional barriers and conflicts between libraries and institutions from the area of state administration and self-administration. The co-operation of libraries is the decisive item of their further development. The point is their own will for co-operation rather than a legislative problem. Further discussion was dealing with two different conceptions of a library law. On one hand, as a short standard covering only basic principles, on the other hand as a comprehensive enumeration of all rules and procedures. The concept of a brief law seems to have more prospects, because it makes it possible to carry out changes more easily by means of linked up decrees and orders. In general the tendency shows to the conception of the law which would cover all types of libraries. The stress was laid on the significance of national libraries for the development and activity of a national library system. An extensive discussion was devoted to the questions of qualification of librarians which, in some states, has already been codified by legislation. The need of the further development and deepening of professional education of employees of libraries is felt in all countries as very important. However, it is limited by bad economic situation of libraries.

  9. The third block was dedicated to issue of financing of libraries. Mr. Benedik Rugaas characterised libraries as a public service which is financed from public resources. The level of financing the libraries from public budgets was observed in some cases to fail to be on par with their role of the guarantee of equal rights to access of people to information and knowledge in the information society. The discussion also dealt with the basic problems and issues of financing of libraries, such as:

    1. Should the municipalities be bound to secure availability of library services for the citizen? If so, in what form:

      • Is a library to be established in every municipality or only in those with a certain number of inhabitants?

      • Is it not more advisable to establish only the duty of the municipality to secure the availability of library services to the citizens and to promote at the same time mutual co-operation of municipalities in securing such services or establishing a common library for a number of smaller municipalities?

    2. Who is to finance the libraries? Is the financing duty to be set forth under the law for a specific type of a founder? Are there to be set forth binding parameters for financing? By what criteria?

    3. What preconditions should be set forth for the dissolution of a library?

    4. Who is to finance the trans-local functions of libraries within the library region - the government or the competent regional government body?

    5. Should the basic services be provided for libraries free of charge?

    6. By what other forms the operation of libraries should be promoted and in what way this support should be anchored in the library legislation? For example, tax relieves, lower post and telecommunication charges, copyright fees payments (royalties), support for the construction and reconstruction of libraries, support for the information infrastructure and outfitting of libraries with information technologies, dedicated grants, government subsidies in proportion to that of the founder, etc.

  10. It ensued from the discussion that in the law of the majority of states the duty is laid down of the municipality to establish a library or secure, in co-operation with another municipality, the library and information services. In all countries the responsibility of the state is acknowledged for the activity of libraries which should also be expressed by the participation in their financing, e.g. in the purchase of literature, purchase of automated systems, in the introduction of information technologies, tax relieves, etc.. Considered a progressive form of financing the libraries is the financing from different sources. The state share in financing the libraries ensures the desirable dynamic character of the development of their services.

    An obstacle to the development of library services based on information technologies are the high prices of telecommunication tariffs. The libraries and other educational institutions should be provided reductions of these tariffs.

  11. The fourth topic block dedicated to the general tenets of library legislation was opened by Mr. Giuseppe Vitiello. In his speech he outlined the principles of library legislation in European countries and mentioned the efforts of UNESCO and the Council of Europe in the area of library legislation. The importance of library legislation in the times of formation of the information society was discussed. The participants agreed that the development of library and information services must necessarily be supported by legislation. The general efforts for decentralization and devolution should be balanced by a clear definition of the state cultural and information policy. This policy should not be oriented at preserving the existing infrastructure but it should strive for the creation of co-operative network of libraries and also that of museums, archives and other areas on the basis of information technologies.

    The discussion also dealt with establishing a central body for an inter-branch co-ordination of the national library system. The function of these co-ordinating centres should be fulfilled, especially, by the national libraries under the precondition that they will be provided by relevant competencies by the legislation. An attention should also be paid to an active co-operation of the bodies of state administration and self-administration.
    The last discussed topic was the application and enforcement of legislation, or of the subsequent sanctional measures.

    The topic of the new library legislation in the period of information society is extremely topical and all the more frequently the necessity shows of the integration of its basic principles in the all-European context. Due to this reason the attendants appreciated highly the possibility of mutual discussion which was made possible by this meeting.

  12. After this discussion the delegates passed a resolution after discussion which is enclosed herewith.

  13. At the close of the meeting the delegates acknowledged the verbal version of the Final Report. The written wording of the Report will be received by all participants of the meeting and it will be posted on the web page of the National Library of the Czech Republic together with the other documents (the address: http://www.nkp.cz/o_knihovnach/MePraEng.htm). The workshop was closed by its chairman, Mr. Vojtěch Balík. On behalf of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic Ms. Blanka Koubová said good-bye to the delegates and observers and thanked all delegates for coming to attend the meeting and for the fruitful talks.

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