Advocacy & Policy

MLA works in partnership with the national library associations, through the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) and the Information Access Alliance, to address international intellectual property issues that impact national laws and regulations and library practices, particularly as these relate to fair use and databases, and public access to scientific literature.

Group Letter to President Obama re: transparence in negotiations of an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement; Nov. 4, 2009;
MLA letter to Executive Secretariat of U.S. National Commission for UNESCO in support of the UNESCO IFLA Multicultural Library Manifesto; Sept. 30, 2009
Joint letter to Senator John Kerry, Chair, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations expressing concern with the use of the word "piracy" in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, H.R. 2410. (July 6, 2009)
Joint library association comments on the European Commission's Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy (December 5, 2008)
Joint library association position: Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries for WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, Seventeenth Session, Geneva (November 2008)
Joint library association statement of Certain Non-Governmental Civil Society and Technology Organizations on Copyright Limitations and Exceptions for WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, Seventeenth Session, Geneva (November 2008)
Joint library association background paper: Why Copyright Exceptions and Limitations are Central to the WIPO Development Agenda for WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, Seventeenth Session, Geneva (November 2008)
Joint library association comments to U. S. Trade Representative regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (September 2008)
Joint library association letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to express concerns regarding the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, S. 3325 (September 2008)
Joint library association letter to Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation opposing mandatory statutory damages in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (July 23, 2008)

Joint library association statement (external pdf) of principles to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative re: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (March 2008)
Statement by Robert Oakley (external pdf) on behalf of the LCA to the Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda (June 2007)
Joint Paper on the WIPO Development Agenda (external pdf) from the Library Copyright Alliance, International Federation of Library Associations, and Electronic Information for Libraries (June 2007)
LCA statement of concerns with the WIPO Broadcast Treaty (external pdf) (May 2007)
LCA statement #1 at WIPO meeting in Geneva (external pdf) regarding how WIPO should refine and implement the proposals under consideration for facilitating a development agenda (February 20, 2007)
LCA statement #2 at WIPO meeting in Geneva (external pdf) addressing electronic information for libraries and widespread access to the information (February 21, 2007)
Library Association Comments on Proposed Us-Malaysia Free Trade Agreement (May, 2006; external PDF)
Library-related Principles for WIPO (January 2005)