In April 2026, EIFL submitted comments for a public consultation organized by the Intellectual Property Office of the Republic of Serbia on the Draft Law on Copyright and Related Rights (2026). The amendments seek to harmonize Serbian law with two EU Directives (Directive 2012/28 on orphan works and Directive 2014/26 on collective management organizations), and to implement the Marrakesh Treaty for persons with disabilities into national law.

In March, EIFL responded to two public consultations on proposed new copyright laws. The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) invited stakeholders to submit written comments on the Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2026, while in Zambia, the Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) encouraged stakeholders to review and send proposals on the Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 2025 (extended deadline 31 March 2026). The bills seek to modernize the copyright frameworks in Kenya and Zambia in line with technological developments and international best practices.

EIFL has signed a three-year agreement with Encyclopaedia Britannica Ltd providing discounted pricing for Britannica Academic, a comprehensive, authoritative digital library featuring expert-reviewed encyclopedia articles, primary sources, journals, and multimedia.

Libraries in 29  EIFL partner countries are eligible to access Britannica Academic through this agreement. The agreement starts on 1 April 2026 and runs for three years, until 31 March  2029. 

This EIFL webinar will explore practical experiences in using AI (artificial intelligence) tools for learning and training. There will be a particular focus on using AI tools for personal learning and for developing materials for open science training. The webinar is intended for trainers, librarians and anyone interested in AI-enhanced learning. 

Milica Ševkušić, EIFL Open Access Programme Project Coordinator, will speak at the Seventh Workshop for Open Access Journal Publishers organized by the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information. Her presentation, 'Building a Diamond Open Access Publishing Ecosystem', will explore approaches to strengthening Diamond open access publishing.

Join the EIFL online meet-up of open science trainers, which will discuss tools for creating illustrations for training materials. We will also continue a discussion on institutional open science training. 

Date and time: 23 April, 9:00 UTC (convert to your timezone)
Registration: Please register here to participate in the meet-up.

Join the next meeting of the Community of Practice (CoP) for no-fee OA publishing in Africa. 

Date and time: 15 April 2026 at 10:00 UTC/11:00 WAT/12:00 CAT/13:00 EAT (convert to your timezone).

Milica Ševkušić, EIFL Open Access Programme Project Coordinator, will speak about open access and research impact during the Open Access Programme organized by Midlands State University in Zimbabwe. The event will feature presentations on open access fundamentals, research impact, ethical publishing practices, and the Midlands State University Institutional Repository.

Public librarians provide training on various topics in their communities, and to support them, the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) has developed several educational videos in the EIFL-PLIP ‘Small Bites’ series on organizing and delivering library training programmes. We are pleased to share a new 'Small Bites' video, on the topic, ‘Managing Distracting Behaviour in Training’. 

AEGIS-OA (Activate European Guidance and Incentives for Sustainable Open Access publishing), a project funded by the EU under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, kicked off on 19-20 March 2026 in Brussels. 

EIFL is one of 24 organizations from 16 European countries partnering in the AEGIS-OA project, which brings together a diverse range of research-performing organizations, service providers, and National Capacity Centres with expertise in institutional publishing, Diamond open access, and open science. 

Iryna Kuchma, EIFL Open Access Programme Manager, will speak about strengthening the quality and sustainability of Diamond Open Access in Africa: funding, support and impact. Her talk will cover results of the Collaboration for sustainable open access publishing in Africa project, implemented by EIFL, AJOL (African Journals Online) and WACREN (the West and Central African Research and Education Network), with funding from Wellcome. 

The ALMASI project (Aligning and Mutualizing Nonprofit Open Access Publishing Services Internationally) invites you to attend the 2nd Cross-regional meeting of the Diamond OA Policy Forum for Africa, Europe and Latin America.

New applications deadline for the 9th OpenAIRE Open Science Train-the-Trainer Bootcamp for librarians, data stewards, research support staff or any other professional stakeholders who are planning to deliver open science training to researchers, research support staff and/or students - 

Deadline for applications: Extended to 13 April 2026 (23:59 CEST)
Results announcement: 17 April 2026
Bootcamp: 25 - 29 May 2026

EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) Impact Manager Ugne Lipeikaite and two staff members of the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) – Ursula Birago-Yeboah and Nora Serwah Obeng – will take part in the eLearning Africa 2026 conference. The conference is a major global knowledge sharing event focused on digital education, training and skills on the African continent. 

The first meeting of the Diamond Open Access (OA) Policy Forum Europe will focus on policymaking for Diamond OA, showcasing one national policy and one institutional policy before breaking out into groups for more discussion on policymaking processes and challenges.

Join the first meeting of the Diamond Open Access (OA) Policy Forum Africa and discuss findings from the Scoping Report on Non-for-profit Publishing Ecosystems, Landscape Report on Diamond OA Publishing in Africa, Europe, and Latin America and advocacy materials for Diamond OA publishing presented by Pascal Aventurier (IRD, France).

Join the first meeting of the Diamond Open Access (OA) Policy Forum Africa, to be held in French, and discuss findings from the Scoping Report on Non-for-profit Publishing Ecosystems, Landscape Report on Diamond OA Publishing in Africa, Europe, and Latin America, advocacy materials for Diamond OA publishing, national and institutional approaches to Diamond OA publishing and policymaking processes and challenges.

Join the first meeting of the Diamond Open Access (OA) Policy Forum Africa and discuss findings from the Scoping Report on Non-for-profit Publishing Ecosystems, Landscape Report on Diamond OA Publishing in Africa, Europe, and Latin America and advocacy materials for Diamond OA publishing, presented by Iryna Kuchma and Milica Ševkušić from EIFL and Susan Murray from AJOL.

The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, Diamond open access journal published by the LINK Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa. AJIC's content focuses on the dimensions of digital, electronic and physical ecosystems that facilitate information, communication, innovation and transformation in African settings and in the broader Global South.