May 11, 2012

In a joint press release issued on April 16th, Access Copyright and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) announced they had negotiated a model license that purportedly allows universities to reproduce copyright protected materials in both print and digital formats. The agreement includes an astonishing increase on per-student fees of more than 600%, and has unprecedented and vague monitoring and surveillance requirements that may seriously compromise privacy and academic freedom. The agreement also contains the creation and assignment of fictitious rights to Access Copyright that do not exist under Canadian copyright law.

Under the agreement, universities and colleges will see a steep increase in payments to Access Copyright, which in many cases will be passed on to students by way of new ancillary fees. The agreement charges royalties to institutions at the rate of $26 per full-time student, up from previous agreements in which $3.38 per full-time student was paid in addition to course pack fees. Access Copyright rationalizes the increase based upon new digital rights added to this agreement. It does not account for the price of these new digital reproduction rights, and the fact that they are largely redundant. Universities have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to publishers directly to obtain online access to these materials including e-journals and e-books. Institutions that sign on to the agreement will be forcing their students to pay several times over for the use of copyrighted materials already licensed through direct-licensing with publishers.

The agreement creates and assigns new rights to Access Copyright that do not exist in copyright law, such as redefining “copy” to include “posting a link or hyperlink”. This will cause universities and students to pay yet again for linking to already licensed materials as well as for linking to articles that are freely available on the Internet. Additionally, this broad definition of copying, which encompasses email and Internet use, combined with unprecedented surveillance and monitoring powers granted to Access Copyright, will invariably lead to infringement upon student and faculty privacy. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has noted many privacy and academic freedom concerns in its own objections to the agreement stating that “because the license defines copying to include transmission by electronic mail and storing, posting, displaying, uploading and linking to digital files, the survey instruments will require intrusive monitoring of professors, librarians, researchers and students”.

The Manitoba Library Association urges universities and colleges to reject this terrible deal and not capitulate to Access Copyright's unreasonable demands. The MLA joins with many groups across Canada who have expressed their concerns on this proposed agreement including the Canadian Association of University Teachers, the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, the Canadian Federation of Students, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Library Association

Download the PDF version of this letter

The Manitoba Association of Library Technicians (MALT), the Manitoba Library Association (MLA), Public Library Services, a branch of Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, the Manitoba School Library Association (MSLA), Manitoba Library Trustees Association (MLTA), Manitoba Library Consortium Inc., Manitoba Association of Health Information Providers(MAHIP) and the Association for Manitoba Archives (AMA) are pleased to announce the Manitoba Libraries Conference 2012, taking place May 14 - 16, 2012 at the Delta Hotel Winnipeg.

For more information visit:

http://www.manitobalibrariesconference.ca/

The Manitoba Library Association is seeking nominations for several positions on our Board of Directors beginning in May 2012. Nominees to the board will be appointed/elected at the Annual General Meeting in May during the Manitoba Libraries Conference at the Delta Hotel (date and room location TBA).

We are seeking to fill four director positions. Directors serve a two year term on the board and are assigned to a variety of standing committees depending on their interests. Some directors will chair committees while others serve as directors-at-large with membership on various committees. Committees and position descriptions are available on the website at http://mla.mb.ca/mla-committees-positions

We are looking for individuals who are interested in serving in the following positions:

• Advocacy Director
• Communications Director
• Director-at-large
• Director-at-large

Board meetings are held in Winnipeg. Those living in rural Manitoba may participate in meetings via teleconference. We are also able to assist in covering a portion of travel expenses for in-person meetings for board members who reside outside of Winnipeg. The deadline for receiving nominations is April 27. Nominations may be submitted to manitobalibrary@gmail.com

Sincerely,

Alex Homanchuk

Vice President

Manitoba Library Association

As the Vice-President of the Manitoba Library Association, and Chair of the Scholarships & Awards Committee, it is my pleasure to invite applications for two MLA awards: Jean Thorunn Law Scholarship and the John Edwin Bissett Scholarship. These awards provide substantial support to future librarians who are either entering, or are already in an ALA-accredited program.

The following awards are available:

Jean Thorunn Law Scholarship (up to $3000)

Available to eligible applicants who have worked in a Manitoba library and who choose to further their career by pursuing a graduate program in library and information science. Applicants must have been engaged in recent library work in Manitoba for twelve months.

John Edwin Bissett Scholarship (up to $6500)

Available to eligible undergraduates of the University of Manitoba who are pursuing a graduate program in library and information science. Applicants must have completed an undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba.

Further information about the scholarship and application process is available on the Manitoba Library Association’s website at http://mla.mb.ca/awards-bursaries. The Application deadline is June 1, 2012.

Sincerely,

Alex Homanchuk

Vice President

Manitoba Library Association