Response: WIPO report on COVID-19's impact on creative industries, cultural institutions, education and research

Abstract

IFLA wishes to thank the authors of this WIPO report on this important topic, and to highlight the extent to which the pandemic revealed longstanding issues that existed well before COVID. For libraries, this included access challenges to digital content which were only partially mitigated by publishers’ offers of expanded access to content which were largely limited to the chaotic early months of the pandemic. We affirm the report’s attention to the challenges copyright posed for sharing materials outside of library buildings and in online educational settings, in a period when online access went from being a major way of access to being the primary one for many library patrons.