On 21 September 2022, South Africa’s Constitutional Court delivered a unanimous decision in favour of Blind SA to allow print-impaired persons access to reading materials. Blind SA has been in a long-standing battle to ensure disabled persons’ rights.
The Accessible Books Consortium has partnered with accessibility experts at the DAISY Consortium to produce a new ABC course on accessible publishing. The new module, which is offered free of charge, covers key topics for publishers including best practices, accessibility standards and accessibility metadata.
On 31 August 2022, the Australian Publishers Association (APA) released the Australian Publishing Industry Workforce Survey on Diversity and Inclusion, yielding important insights that will help to push for change in the sector. The key finding is that while the Australian publishing industry is highly educated, driven by women and has strong LGBTQ+ representation, it faces challenges to fully reflect Australia’s cultural and social diversity.
Copyright was high on IPA’s and our members’ agenda this September. Our Copyright Committee meeting took place on September 13th and gathered representatives from over 40 countries across IPA’s membership. This was also the month when we launched IPA’s copyright regional meetings, with the support of our members.
The final day of this SCCR began with the Chair recognising a cloud of fatigue in the room and encouraging delegates to press on through the day to finish the week.
Day 4 of this 42nd meeting of the SCCR picked up exactly where Day 3 left off, with discussions on exceptions and limitations and observer organisations continuing their statements.
Day 3 of SCCR 42 opened with further discussion and analysis of the new text on the broadcasting treaty with the afternoon reserved for discussions on exceptions and limitations.