[access-uk] Re: Why are they so difficult?
- From: "Neil Jarvis" <neiljarvis@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 21:47:33 +1300
Ari and others,
I'm afraid this is a symptom of the current state of copyright legislation
in the US and to some extent other countries as well.
Its an irony that, as more titles become easier to access now that the
digital age is upon us, fewer and fewer of them are actually legally
available to non-Americans in the case of the US because of its stringent
legislation in this area.
\The library for which I'm responsible used to get a lot out of the
interloan systrem for instance when everyone was using cassettes: sadly in
the digital age this system is no longer available to us as far as US
libraries are concerned.
And its why a lot of work is going on right now at the World Intelectual
Property Organisation (WIPO) to change this.
That organisation's Standing Committee On Copyright is currently working
through a couple of models which, if successful, will ease these
cross-border restrictive practices. One of these is an international treaty,
supported by the World Blind Union, which will make the exchange of
materials across national borders easier than it is today.
Up until recently, this treaty was being blocked by the bloc of developed
countries like the US, the EU and indeed my own country New Zealand.
I'm glad to say though that this is changing, and New Zealand, Australia
and, yes, even the US is starting to come round to the idea.
There's a long way to go and I'm afraid you won't see any results in the
immediate future, but its a start.
So, its not that the organisations you refer to are being deliberately
unhehlpful: they're simply not allowed to be helpful to you if you are not a
US citizen.
Believe me, they are frustrated by this as you are and their
representativers are actively working to change things.
By the way, its not only the US where this is a problem. I'm a British
citizen living overseas, but am not able to access talking books directly
from the RNIB: again, not because they want to be difficult about it but
because they are not allowed to give unfettered access to their library to
people based outside the UK. I can though at least negotiate the purchase of
some of their titles by the library which I'm in charge of, but even that is
not an unrestricted arrangement.
Its not quite the same as, but its similar to the silly, artificial and
outdated situation which surrounds DVDs and the various so-called regions
which make up the world in that field.
All the best,
Neil
----- Original Message -----
From: "ari" <aridamoulakis@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 9:51 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Why are they so difficult?
Oh yeah and George, the other thing I forgot is, I am studying German and
the German library also is ok about letting me join, sending me daisy and
braille (at the moment trying to understand fairytales and kids
literature) so it doesn't look as if there is any problem with any other
blind libraries as far as I know who refuse to do intercountry lending.
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