Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to give an overview about the framework of copyright law and licences as well as the development of German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) full-text supply services within that framework. The change of German copyright law in 2008 posed a challenge to TIB’s full-text supply services. While TIB can deliver on the basis of a statutory limitation any document to customers within Germany via mail and fax, there are restrictions for electronic delivery. Design/methodology/approach – The article describes the framework of German copyright law and licences for document delivery as well as activities of TIB to continue servicing customers in a best possible way within the existing framework. Findings – Licence agreements with publishers or intermediaries such as Rights Reproduction Organizations are now in place to allow delivery of electronic documents on a wide scale. Within this complicated framework of licence agreements, digital rights management (DRM) systems are a challenge for customers and the delivery service. However, it can be noted, that a simple watermark suffices nearly all publishers in agreements covering pay-per-view delivery of generic digital article files, and only 25 per cent require strict DRM for document delivery scanned from the print. At the same time, TIB looks for more customer-friendly DRM systems. Also, TIB is looking for ways to cooperate with partners to raise efficiency gains and to offer a more convenient service to its customers. Finally, TIB experiences that inadequate copyright law still poses a major hindrance for the international exchange of scientific information being part of its collection. Originality/value – The article describes the development of document supply services of the major TIB publications. It also shows the barriers which inadequate copyright law poses to the exchange of scientific information.

PurposeThis paper aims to describe the development and current situation of electronic document delivery by public libraries in Germany, taking into account the impact of the changing regulatory framework of German copyright law and the consequences of law suits against libraries and Subito.Design/methodology/approachThe paper describes the current situation. Also, the new licensing strategy of the Subito delivery service and the national licensing strategy for electronic media of German libraries and the German Research foundation come into focusFindingsThe negative development of copyright law posed a new challenge for document delivery services in Germany since the statutory licence in German copyright law no longer covers electronic document delivery provided by Subito and other library document delivery services. Licence agreements with publishers or intermediaries such as copyright clearance centres are now necessary to allow delivery of electronic documents. These negotiations have proven to be very complex and controversial, but now a complicated framework of licence agreements has been concluded and will enable German libraries to generally provide electronic documents in the future. DRM‐systems, however, still are a challenge for customers and the delivery service.Practical implicationsDemand of delivery services has decreased and may decrease even more in the long run due to availability and direct accessibility of electronic documents, together with the national licensing program in Germany.Originality/valueThe paper provides a concise summary and gives an impression of the development of document delivery services of German libraries between 2003 and 2008 with special reference to the legal position and changes to German copyright law.

The competency network Knowledge Exchange was established in 2005 at the instigation of four European organizations which have actively shaped the structural frameworks for the academic and research sectors:the German Research Foundation (DFG),the Danish Electronic Research Library (DEFF), the British Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the Dutch SURFfoundation. Based on the overriding goal of enabling optimal access to content knowledge at universities and in the research sector, a steering committee was set up in 2006 with the primary task of developing and implementing a model for pan-national licensing. The method chosen by this expert group involved a Europe-wide call for proposals within the EU Competitive Dialog process and ultimately lead to supra-national basic contracts with five providers of scientific information. This article describes the individual steps of this process and offers an interim evaluation of the opportunities and limitations of multinational licensing within the context of Knowledge Exchange.

This article deals with the operational problems confronting large libraries in seeking to fulfill their national mandate to provide access to information in their areas of specialization due to the enactment of Germany's new copyright law. The abolishment of a legal basis for providing electronic delivery of documents in PDF format has made it necessary to acquire the requisite licenses, In addition to an extensive re-structuring of IT systems, it has been necessary to re-design delivery services and their fee schedules, organize extensive in-house training for the help desk and reference service, as well as to make use of legal expertise for the negotiations with legal proprietors.