The European Commissions’ plan to promote digital access to Europe’s heritage is rapidly taking shape. At least six million books, documents and other cultural works will be made available to anyone with a Web connection through the European Digital Library over the next five years. In order to boost European digitisation efforts, the Commission will co-fund the creation of a Europe-wide network of digitisation centres. The Commission will also address, in a series of policy documents, the issue of the appropriate framework for intellectual property rights protection in the context of digital libraries....By the end of 2006, the European Digital Library should encompass full collaboration among the national libraries in the EU. In the years thereafter, this collaboration is to be expanded to archives and museums. Two million books, films, photographs, manuscripts, and other cultural works will be accessible through the European Digital Library by 2008. This figure will grow to at least six million by 2010, but is expected to be much higher as, by then, potentially every library, archive and museum in Europe will be able to link its digital content to the European Digital Library. This European Digital Library is a flagship project of the Commission’s overall strategy to boost the digital economy, the i2010 strategy.
The Conference of European National Librarians, CENL, welcomes with enthusiasm the European Commission’s plan to promote digital access to Europe’s heritage through the European Digital Library by co-funding the creation of a Europe-wide network of digitisation centres and by addressing the issue of the appropriate framework for intellectual property rights protection in the context of digital libraries.
CENL shares the vision of a European Digital Library and has been working towards this goal by creating TEL, The European Library, which received European Community funding in its early stage. CENL is honoured and pleased by the Commission’s intention to build the European Digital Library upon the TEL-infrastructure. The European Library is the webservice of the 45 CENL members providing access to the catalogue records and digital collections of currently 15 European National Libraries. By the end of 2006 the number of European National Libraries fully participating in the service will be enlarged by the ten new member states of the European Union which prepare to join The European Library in the European Community funded project TEL-ME-MOR, and by all remaining EU and EFTA member states....CENL especially welcomes the European Commission’s plans to expand this collaboration among the national libraries to archives and museums to create a true European Digital Library. CENL will embrace any moves to deepen existing contacts to groups of European archives and museums and to discuss the roadmap towards a European Digital Library.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/03/2006 09:36:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
