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The Urheberrechts-Wissensgesellschafts-Gesetz (UrhWissG, Act to Align Copyright Law with the Current Demands of the Knowledge-based Society) is in force since 1st March 2018- now it is time for a first provisional appraisal. Even last year when the parliament passed the law on 30th June 2017, it was discussed how the new regulations could be translated into library work, in which changes they would result in the libraries' everyday work and what opportunities they would create for the library services. This treatise deals with the concrete consequences of the reform concerning the library practise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explains the contents and implications of proposed German legislation governing distribution, copying, and copyright protections for digitized library textual materials. The author evaluates various negative and positive aspects of the bill, its implications for the "Open Access" initiative, and its alignment with European Union guidelines.

The article outlines the position of the Deutscher Bibliotheksverband (German Library Association) on questions of copyright reform and access to information, particularly in the area of scholarly publishing. Detailed recommendations are made regarding several elements of copyright law, including consistent fair use standards for academic research and teaching, digitization of copyrighted out-of-print material and orphan works, and copyright standards for interlibrary borrowing and lending.

The article comments on a working document on exemptions regarding copyright law to be granted to academic libraries and archives as well as libraries serving people with visual disabilities, drafted at the 21st meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) of the World Intellectual Property Rights Organization (WIPO), held from November 8-12, 2010, in Geneva, Switzerland. Opinions by various officials of international library organizations are quoted.