In 2018, EIFL and partners Peer to Peer University and Kenya National Library Service completed a three-year project to test and encourage growth of learning circles - in-person study groups for online learners - in public libraries in Africa. The results far exceeded the project’s goals - in just one year (2018) over a thousand people completed online courses in a wide range of subjects in libraries in Kenya and Uganda, and in Zambia dozens of learners are working through courses.

EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) Advisor for Initiatives for Africa, Janet Sawaya, shares her takeaways from the 13th Annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2018, in Paris, France (November 12 - 14), which attracted more than 3,000 participants from 143 countries. This year’s IGF theme was the Internet of Trust.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, attended the 37th meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the global body that sets international copyright law and policy, that took place in Geneva from 26 - 30 November 2018.

In August, 15 young African public librarians travelled to Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Malaysia) to take part in an intensive learning, knowledge-sharing and networking experience organized by EIFL and partners. The 15 were participants in the Initiative for Young African Library Innovators (IYALI). After their journey, we asked them to reflect on the experience, and how they might apply what they learnt in their libraries back home.

To stay relevant, public libraries must develop strong relationships with their communities, and meet their information, education or leisure needs. Also, public libraries should know local socio-economic development priorities to make sure that they can contribute to these. For librarians, this means constantly learning new skills or upgrading old ones so that that they are confidently able to offer new and innovative services to meet changing needs and priorities.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager participated in the 36th meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the global body that sets international copyright law and policy, that took place from 28 May to 1 June 2018. During the busy week, EIFL engaged in discussions on libraries and archives, made interventions in plenary sessions, met with member state delegates and collaborated with NGO partners.

EIFL has been working with public libraries in Africa since 2010, supporting introduction of new services that use computers and the internet. In the course of our work, we observed that public librarians were struggling to collect statistics about their new services. Statistics gathering was limited to basic library operations, like lending books and library membership numbers.

‘Is your institution willing and committed to offer training on open access, open research data and open science as a part of standard training for PhD students?’

This is the question we asked our network a year ago. We also offered support in developing such training courses for those who were interested.

EIFL is participating in Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, an annual celebration designed to highlight the opportunities presented by fair use and fair dealing, celebrate success stories, and explain these doctrines. In 2018, Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week runs from 26 February - 2 March. Over 45 countries around the world have a fair use or fair dealing provision in their copyright law.

Open scholarship is growing in importance as a way of ensuring that there is global participation in research, improved quality and efficiency of education and science, and faster economic and social progress.

Over the next two years, the EIFL Open Access Programme will support open scholarship by focusing on four key areas: open access policies, open science training for early career researchers, sustainable open access journals and repositories, and Open Educational Resources.