Press Release

The Hague, 23 September 2021

Stichting IFLA Foundation is delighted to receive a €3m Arcadia grant to launch the new Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21) programme to promote access to knowledge for study, research and cultural life in Europe

Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21) formally launches today. We are grateful to Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin, for its grant of €3m over three years awarded to the Knowledge Rights 21 programme to Stichting IFLA Foundation (SIF). SIF will work with key partner associations – IFLA, LIBER and SPARC Europe as well as experts to strengthen the voice of libraries.

KR21 will be advocating for a 21st century copyright environment across Europe that is friendly to the modern delivery and use of education and research materials as well as the spread of culture and heritage in the digital age.

With a focus on evidence and capacity building, our goal is to achieve and implement reforms to copyright law and practice that enable knowledge institutions to provide unhindered access to copyright works for education and research purposes.

Libraries are recognised as powerful interlocutors that have an important role to play in any copyright discussion as they seek to improve access to and use of knowledge in a fast changing digital environment. They are uniquely placed to know what elements in copyright and related bodies of law and licences do not work well causing uncertainties and impeding teaching, learning and research.

Working with public, national, educational, health and research libraries, universities and the wider access to knowledge movement, we aim to build networks and promote copyright reform at the European and national levels, and through our work leave a lasting legacy that influences similar developments elsewhere in the world.

We shall work in the following key areas:

  • Facilitating fair access to e-books for users of public, national, educational and research libraries;
  • Protecting users’ rights under copyright legislation from contract override and technological protection measures that undermine statutory exceptions to copyright;
  • Promoting the case for the introduction of open and flexible copyright norms in Europe to aid research, teaching and learning;
  • Advocating for a legislated scholarly publication / secondary publishing right in laws;
  • Accelerating the uptake of author rights retention activities and open licensing in Europe.