IFLA Statement on Text and Data Mining

As the leading international professional association concerned with information and library services, IFLA represents associations and institutions worldwide that endeavour to provide equitable access to a diversity of information.

IFLA maintains that legal certainty for text and data mining (TDM) can only be achieved by (statutory) exceptions. As an organization committed to the principle of freedom of access to information, and the belief that information should be utilised without restriction in ways vital to the educational and cultural well-being of communities, IFLA believes TDM to be an essential tool to the advancement of learning, and new forms of creation.

Copyright and database laws can affect the ability of libraries to fulfil their mandates and deliver information services for the benefit of their patrons, and can impede the use of materials by library users in ways that would benefit communities – for scholarship, research, improvements in health and science, creativity and social inclusion.

…