France signs library e-book loan charter

French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin has signed a 12-point charter with 10 book organisations in France to promote the loan of e-books in public libraries.

The 10 represent local authorities, libraries, publishers, booksellers and authors and the 12 points include access to all titles available in electronic form, sharing of data on usage, interoperability of lists, respect for copyright, paying for creation and public expectations.

The charter, which Pellerin claims is a first for Europe, was signed at the end of a French libraries conference in Paris last Monday. It is based on contracts because European law stipulates that authors have exclusive rights over e-book loans by libraries.

The French librarians association (Association des Bibliothèquaires de France, ABF) regretted that this was the only possible legal framework, but decided to sign up to the charter anyway, it said in a statement.