Copyright in distance education and research – survey for Public interest institutions

• July 4, 2024

Dear members/network,

European Commission is conducting a study exploring the role of copyright in facilitating access to digital collections of public interest institutions (PIIs), such as libraries, archives, museums, as well as educational establishments and research organisations specifically for distance education and research purposes.

The main objective of this study is to understand how copyright rules impact access to various content (books, journals, films, videos, visual works, music, databases, etc.) for education and research, especially in digital contexts.

The study is carried out at the request of European Commission by Visionary Analytics together with research partners Ecorys, KEA, and OK Consulting. Please find the support letter from the European Commission here.

A survey within the study is currently ongoing. The survey has two target groups potentially relevant to you or your network:

• Cultural heritage institutions (e.g. library, museum, archive), educational institutions (e.g. school, university), and research institutions (e.g. think-tank, research institute)
• Educators (school teachers, university lecturers), students (general, vocational, higher education), scientific researchers, or patrons of a library, museum or archive

This is a unique opportunity to share your experiences, which will directly inform policy-making and thus will be very valuable.

We encourage you to participate in the survey and disseminate it further to your network and community. If you have already received a link to the survey, please use the one you received to complete the survey if you are in the target group, or share it with your members if you are an association representing the target group. If you have not received a link, please use the below links:

• If you want to share your perspectives on behalf of a cultural heritage institution (e.g. library, museum, archive), educational institution (e.g. school, university), or research institution (e.g. think-tank, research institute), please use this link: survey
• If you want to share your perspectives as an individual – teacher, educator, lecturer, student, researcher, or patron of a library, museum or archive – please use this link: survey

We kindly ask to fill in the survey until the 15/07/2024.

If you need to pause survey and continue later, you should press “Save and continue” in the upper right corner and provide your email. The link to the survey will be sent to your email and after opening the you will be directed to the point where you paused the survey. Your progress is saved once you proceed to the next survey page.

If you have any questions regarding the survey or the study, please reach out to the study team via copyright@visionarysurveys.lt

Thank you!

Photo via NICK ARTSRUNI