Canadian Library Association E-Book Task Force Publishes Recommendations

From a CLA News Release:

In October 2014, CLA struck an e-Book Task Force chaired by Past President, Pilar Martinez, that included the membership of fifteen individuals that represent a broad range of sectors and geographic regions, including public libraries, academic libraries, consortia, and publishers, along with CLA (see below for a list of Task Force members). Executive Director, Valoree McKay, was an ex-officio member of this task force.
The terms of reference mandated that the CLA e-Book Task Force:

1. Identify, collect, analyse and share information on what is currently being done with respect to e- books, as defined by the task force;
2. Develop recommendations on which existing overarching principles could be adopted by CLA as well as recommend which overarching principles that CLA could/should be develop;
3. Identify and recommend potential advocacy roles and strategies related to the above and to the e-book issues that face the library and information community.

Between October 2014 and February 2015, the full group met via teleconference five times. Several cluster meetings including public library meetings, academic library meetings, meetings with Impact Affairs, and smaller group focused meetings to propose draft strategy and roles and responsibility documents were held throughout that same period.

From the E-Book Task Force Web Page:

Below you will find the recommendations resulting from the work of the Task Force. These include adoption and communication of the Key Library Priorities for e-Content and the implementation of e-Content public awareness and advocacy plans for academic and public libraries. These were approved by Executive Council in March 2015 and endorsed by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) in May 2015.
Furthermore, CLA has implemented the recommendation to become a signatory to ReadersFirst an initiative that is “dedicated to ensuring that library users have the same open, easy and free access to e-books that they have come to rely on with physical books”, and they have endorsed the TPL/OPL campaign Fair Pricing for Libraries.

• E-Book Task Force Recommendations
• CLA e-Book Task Force Summary and Recommendations
• Key Library Priorities for e-Content
• e-Book Advocacy Campaign Public Libraries Roles & Responsibilities – Phase One
• Public Library e-Content Public Awareness and Advocacy Plans
• e-Book Advocacy Campaign Academic Libraries Roles & Responsibilities – Phase One
• Academic Library e-Content Public Awareness and Advocacy Plans
• Library e-Book Advocacy Initiatives

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