Council Conclusions on the Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Cultural Material, and Digital Preservation
Date: 2006-12-07
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU action, access to information, cultural heritage, digital technology, digitisation, heritage protection, virtual library

7.12.2006

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 297/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

Council Conclusions on the Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Cultural Material, and Digital
Preservation

(2006/C 297/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Considering that:

— cultural heritage and cultural content and expressions
embody and convey the European Union's common and
fundamental values and demonstrate Europe's cultural and
linguistic diversity;

— cultural content plays a key social and economic role. There
is a real demand for digital content among citizens as well
as within the research community. Digitisation and online
accessibility of our cultural heritage can fuel creative efforts
and support activities in other sectors, such as learning and
tourism,
thereby enhancing competitiveness and growth
across Europe in line with the Lisbon Strategy.

— to avoid duplication of efforts and to create synergies, coor-
dinated action at Community level is imperative; this action
must nevertheless take into account that current levels of
progress and coordination in Member States regarding digi-
tisation of content and digital preservation vary consider-
ably, as do the national priorities in these areas.

1. WELCOMES

— the Commission Communication and Recommendation on
‘the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material,
and digital preservation’ as part of
the i2010: digital
libraries initiative.

2. ENDORSES

— the underlying strategic objectives and main elements of the
Commission Recommendation on the Digitisation and
Online Accessibility of Cultural Material, and Digital Preser-
vation.

cultural heritage, hospitable to all types of cultural material
(texts, audiovisual, museum objects, archival records etc.)
and targeted at delivering rapidly a critical mass of
resources to the users.

3. RECOGNISES

— the variety of efforts ongoing in Member States to digitise
and make accessible online the content of their archives,
libraries and museums, as well as their different stages of
progress.

— the valuable coordination work done by the National
Representatives Group on digitisation (NRG) to exchange
Member States' experiences and monitor progress, inter alia
through the Dynamic Action Plan (1)

— the need to anchor this coordination work within the

Community's institutional framework.

4. UNDERLINES

— the instrumental work done at European level by CENL (the

Conference of European National Librarians);

— in organising and creating The European Library (TEL)
as a gateway to the collective resources of national
libraries across Europe;

— in carrying this work forward towards the creation of

the European Digital Library

— the work ongoing in the Michael (2) and Michael Plus
projects in describing and linking digital collections of
museums,
libraries and archives from different Member
States and providing access to these collections;

— that future work should be based on these and related
initiatives, towards the goal of achieving a balanced coop-
eration between libraries, museums and archives;

— the vision of a European Digital Library as a common
multilingual access point to Europe's distributed — i.e. held
in different places by different organisations — digital

(1) The Dynamic Action Plan for the EU co-ordination of digitisation of

cultural and scientific content.

(2) Multilingual Inventory of Cultural Heritage in Europe.

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— that while making from the outset conceptual and technical
(texts,
preparations for all categories of cultural material
audiovisual, museum objects, archival records etc.),
the
European Digital Library may exploit in its early stages the
potential of a critical mass of multilingual textual material;

— the importance of undertaking work in the field of digitisa-
tion, preservation and availability of content with full
respect for Community and international legislation in the
field of intellectual property.

5. TAKES NOTE

— of

the Commission intention to carry out studies on
progress in the digitisation of culture within the European
Union, on the socio-economic impact of long-term preser-
vation of digital resources, and on the socio-economic
impact of public domain resources;

— of the Commission intention to co-finance a network of
centres of competence for digitisation and digital preserva-
tion under the 7th Framework programme for Research
and development.

6. INVITES THE MEMBERS STATES

— To address the issues related to digitisation and online
accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation
identified in the Commission Recommendation, and in par-
ticular those aspects highlighted in these conclusions;

— As first steps, in line with the indicative timeline in Annex
and taking into account the different starting points in the
Member States, to

— reinforce national strategies and targets for digitisa-

tion and digital preservation;

— contribute to the European digital library, a multilin-
to Europe's distributed

gual common access point
cultural heritage;

— improve framework conditions for digitisation and
online accessibility of cultural material and digital
preservation;

— reinforce co-ordination within and between Member

States on related issues;

— contribute to an effective overview of progress at Euro-

pean level.

7. INVITES THE COMMISSION

— As first steps and in line with the indicative timeline in

Annex, to

— stimulate and co-ordinate work towards a European
digital library as a common multilingual access point
to Europe's distributed digital cultural heritage;

— contribute to improved policy co-ordination on the
digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material
and digital preservation, in particular through the crea-
tion of a group of Member States' representatives to take
forward the coordination work of the NRG within the
Community's institutional
framework, securing conti-
nuity — including effective transitional arrangements —
and building on the experience and expertise gained.

— address framework conditions for digitisation, online

accessibility and digital preservation.

themes taking into account

— assess overall progress in the Member States on the
their different
relevant
starting points; and to assess overall progress towards
the European digital library and to report to the Council
accordingly.

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ANNEX

PRIORITY ACTIONS AND INDICATIVE (*) TIMETABLE

A. Activities and goals for Member States

1. To reinforce national strategies and targets for digitisation and digital preservation by:

drawing up and updating plans and national strategies for digitisation of cultural material

2007

establishing national strategies for long term preservation and deposit

developing quantitative and qualitative targets including the associated financial planning on a multi-
annual basis for deposit, digitisation and online access of cultural material and long-term preserva-
tion

Mid-2008

2007

investigating, and where appropriate initiating and promoting public-private partnerships for digitisa-
tion

2007-2008

2. To reinforce co-ordination within and between Member States by:

setting up national coordination mechanisms for digitisation activities, including at the regional and
local levels, in the field of cultural content

2007

exchanging information with other Member States in order to create synergies, to avoid fragmenta-
tion and duplication

2007-2008

developingcommon criteria for selection of the material to be digitised with a view to achieving
added value at European level

2007

3. To contribute to the European digital library by:

preparing roadmaps and incentives for cultural institutions to bring existing and newly digitised
material into the European digital library

2007

encouraging private content holders to make their copyrighted material searchable and accessible
through the common multilingual access point

2008-2009

agreements or collective agreementsbetween right holders and cultural institutions, such as archives,
libraries and museums, by which the latter can make copyrighted material accessible online on
contractual terms

2009

4. To contribute to an effective overview of progress at European level by:

assessing the results and experience gained at national level

informing the Commission of these results and experiences and on the follow-up given to the
different elements of its Recommendation and of these Conclusions on the digitisation and online
accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation

Spring 2008

Spring 2008

(*) The suggested timetable for activities and goals represent targets for Member States and the Commission but does not have a binding

character.

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5. To improve framework conditions for digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preserva-

tion by:

having identified and initiated action to remove barriers in national legislation concerning digitisa-
tion of cultural material and its online accessibility, including for study and research purposes or
other uses subject to appropriate conditions.

2008

having mechanisms to facilitate digitisation and online access of orphan works and out of print and
out of distribution works, while fully respecting content owners' interests and rights

2008

having an established legislative or other effective framework in support of digital preservation; this
should include deposit of digital cultural material with legally mandated institutions, web-harvesting
by such institutions taking into account inter alia Community data protection law, as well as multiple
copying and migration

2009

encouraging cultural institutions to implement relevant technical standards for digital preservation
within the organisational workflow of digitisation.

2008

B. Activities and goals for the Commission

1. To stimulate and co-ordinate work towards a European digital library by:

co-ordinating and stimulating the efforts to arrive at a multilingual common access point for the
distribution of cultural material

2007
onwards

co-ordinating and stimulating work towards solutions on issues relating to standards in order to
achieve interoperability, and towards effectively dealing with multilingual access

2007-2008

providing a forum for discussion with the private sector and relevant organisations in order to
outline the principles for providing material for the common access point

2007-2008

providing financial and other resources for activities on the European level; supporting within FP7 a
network of competence centres for digitisation and digital preservationin Europe, while taking fully
into account the varying possibilities for Member States and the specific characteristics of different
types of cultural content; supporting within FP7 technologies underpinning innovative services that
could be integrated in the common multilingual access point

2007
onwards

2. To contribute to improved policy co-ordination on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and

digital preservation by:

monitoring activities carried out by the Member States and supporting cooperation between the
Member States

2007
onwards

assisting Member States to identify problems and to monitor bottle-necks, and to suggest, if need be,
measures to kick-start the process of digitisation

2008-2009

setting up a group comprising experts designated by the Member States to take forward the coordi-
nation work of the NRG within the Community's institutional framework, securing continuity —
including effective transitional arrangements — and building on the experience and expertise gained

2007

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3. To address framework conditions by:

proposing solutions on certain specific rights issues, such as orphan and out-of-print works, while
fully respecting content owners' interests and rights, and ensuring their effectiveness in a cross-
border context

2008-2009

on the basis of identified bottlenecks, propose corrective measures at European level if ‘flexible coor-
dination’ fails to lead to the expected results

2008-2009

4. To assess overall progress at European level by:

monitoring progress in the Member States and towards the European Digital Library using both
quantitative and qualitative indicators based on the information collected both at national and Euro-
pean levels

presenting a report on progress in the Member States and on progress in the common multilingual
access point, and in particular assessing the extent to which the ‘flexible coordination’ approach has
been successful

2007
onwards

2008