EBLIDA Press Release - Thanks to VOB for supporting e-books and e-lending
14 January 2015
The beginning of a new year is a time to reflect on the previous one. We look back on 2014 with a letter of thanks to the VOB for supporting e-books and e-lending. Let’s hope that this brave action will lead to further positive developments for e-books in other European countries during this coming year.
To: Vereniging van Openbare Bibliotheken (VOB)
(Dutch Association of Public Libraries)
EBLIDA and the Vereniging van Openbare Bibliotheken (VOB) go back a long way and have a shared history.
We have been extremely grateful to have had the support of VOB over years, and this has helped EBLIDA to build a strong European network as well as becoming an identified voice representing libraries at the European level. Furthermore, we have always appreciated the reliability and enthusiasm we have encountered in our cooperation with the VOB.
In particular we would like to extend our sincere thanks to your organisation for taking the brave step of engaging in a court case on e‐books in The Hague, which has now gone to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
EBLIDA welcomes this procedure and we hope it leads to a declaration of principle that should apply to public libraries in other European countries as well.
Indeed, this brave action is greatly appreciated by the library community in Europe, and extends far beyond Dutch borders since we hope the resulting ruling will be of help to the broader library community. In recent years, the issue of e‐lending has been on each library community agenda, as well as on the European agenda. We believe your brave action, in combination with the EBLIDA Right to E‐Read Campaign will provide libraries and their users with better rights in the near future.
On behalf of all EBLIDA members and our Executive Committee, I would like to thank you once again for your wonderful and determined action.
I wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and all VOB staff and colleagues.
Yours Sincerely,
Klaus‐Peter Böttger
EBLIDA President
See here for the original letter dated 18th December 2014 as pdf version.
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