Commission staff working document - Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse - Progress on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation across the EU [COM(2008) 513 final]
Date: 2008-08-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, access to information, cultural heritage, digital technology, heritage protection, impact study, information service, virtual library

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 11.8.2008 
SEC(2008) 2372 

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 

accompanying the  

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse 

Progress on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital 
preservation across the EU 

[COM(2008) 513 final]

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CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

4.3. 

4.4. 

4.5. 

5. 

5.1. 

5.2. 

5.3. 

Introduction and aim of this paper ............................................................................... 4 

i2010 — Digital Libraries initiative: main steps taken 2005-2008.............................. 4 

Progress towards a common access point to Europe’s digital cultural heritage .......... 5 

The vision of a European Digital Library .................................................................... 5 

Europeana .................................................................................................................... 6 

European Digital Library Foundation .......................................................................... 6 

Progress in the Member States: digitisation................................................................. 7 

Introduction.................................................................................................................. 7 

Overviews of current and planned digitisation ............................................................ 7 

Quantitative targets for digitisation and related financial resources planning............. 9 

Partnerships between cultural institutions and private-sector organisations.............. 10 

Large-scale digitisation facilities ............................................................................... 11 

Progress in the Member States: online accessibility .................................................. 12 

Introduction................................................................................................................ 12 

Promoting access through Europeana ....................................................................... 12 

Improving conditions for digitisation and online accessibility.................................. 14 

5.3.1. 

Improving online accessibility of orphan works........................................................ 14 

5.3.2. 

Improving online accessibility of out-of-print works ................................................ 16 

5.3.3. 

Improving online accessibility of public domain works ............................................ 17 

6. 

6.1. 

6.2. 

6.3. 

6.4. 

6.5. 

6.6. 

7. 

Progress in the Member States: digital preservation.................................................. 17 

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 17 

National strategies and plans for digital preservation ................................................ 17 

Exchange of information with other Member States on digital preservation ............ 19 

Multiple copying and migration of digital material for preservation purposes ......... 19 

Legal deposit of born-digital material........................................................................ 20 

Legal provisions for web harvesting .......................................................................... 20 

Work with stakeholders ............................................................................................. 21 

7.1. 

High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries .......................................................... 21 

7.1.1. 

Introduction................................................................................................................ 21 

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7.1.2.  Copyright ................................................................................................................... 21 

7.1.3.  Public-private partnerships ........................................................................................ 22 

7.1.4.  Scientific information ................................................................................................ 23 

7.2.  Work with stakeholders on film archives................................................................... 24 

7.3. 

Interoperability Working Group ................................................................................ 24 

8. 

Technical issues ......................................................................................................... 24 

8.1. 

Leveraging research and deployment of digital libraries........................................... 24 

8.1.1.  Digital libraries under eContentplus .......................................................................... 25 

8.1.2.  Digital libraries and digital preservation research under the Framework Programme25 

8.1.3.  Future support ............................................................................................................ 26 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION AND AIM OF THIS PAPER 

Europe’s cultural institutions ― archives, museums, libraries, audiovisual archives ― hold a 
hugely  valuable  resource,  representing  Europe’s  collective  memory.  Information  and 
communication technologies provide powerful tools to exploit this heritage, for the benefit of 
all citizens. By bringing it online, citizens will have easier access to this information. It will 
enable  them  to  appreciate  their  own  past  as  well  as  their  common  European  history. 
Moreover,  it  has  major  creative  and  economic  potential.  It  attracts  new  users  and  new 
demands and drives the emergence of media-rich services to use and re-use the material.  

Many cultural institutions are already using the new technologies successfully, digitising their 
collections and providing users with improved access and services. Much more remains to be 
done, however, to speed up digitisation activities and improve the accessibility and long-term 
availability of cultural information in Europe. The goals set for the Digital Libraries initiative 
call  for  action  at  all  levels  ―  political,  strategic,  and  technical  ―  to  show  both  the 
heterogeneity and the connections that can be made between countries, domains, institutions 
and  collections.  Digitisation  policies  and  strategies  therefore  need  to  be  joined  up,  through 
coordination at national and at European level. 

This paper deals with questions related to progress on the digitisation and online accessibility 
of  cultural  material  and  digital  preservation  across  the  EU.  Its  aim  is  to  support  the 
Commission Communication ‘Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse’ and expand 
on  it  with  further  background  information.  The  information  is  based  largely  on  progress 
reports  from  all  27  Member  States  received  between  February  and  April  2008  in  reply  to  a 
request from the Commission to the Member States’ Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital 
Preservation. 

2. 

i2010 — DIGITAL LIBRARIES INITIATIVE: MAIN STEPS TAKEN 2005-2008 

Digital libraries, and in particular the vision of a European Digital Library, have been on the 
political agenda at European level for more than three years now. This has led to the adoption 
of a set of political and legislative acts by most of the EU institutions (Commission, Council, 
Parliament,  Committee  of  the  Regions  and  Economic  and  Social  Committee).  What  has 
emerged  is  a  broad  consensus  between  the  different  institutions  on  the  overall  objectives  of 
the  Digital  Libraries  initiative,  as  well  as  on  the  means  to  achieve  them.  An  overview,  in 
chronological order, of the steps taken at European level is given below: 

•  30  September  2005  ―  Adoption  of  the  Commission  Communication  ‘i2010: 
digital  libraries’,  which  outlines  the  vision  underlying  the  Digital  Libraries 
initiative  and  deals  with  Europe’s  cultural  heritage.  The  Communication  is 
accompanied by an online consultation of stakeholders. 

•  14  November 2005 ― Council, exchange  of  views. The Communication  is  well 
received  by  all  Member  States,  which  are  willing  to  contribute  to  the  European 
initiative. 

•  15  June  2006  ―  Committee  of  the  Regions,  opinion  welcoming  the  Digital 

Libraries initiative and emphasising the role of regions and cities.  

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•  24  August  2006  ―  Commission  Recommendation  on  digitisation  and  online 
accessibility of cultural material, and digital preservation (referred to in the rest of 
this document as ‘the Recommendation’). 

•  13  November  2006  ―  Council  conclusions,  including  priority  actions  and  an 
indicative timetable, adopted on the basis of the Commission Recommendation.  

•  14 February 2007 ― Commission Communication on scientific information in the 

digital age: access, dissemination and preservation.  

•  22  March  2007:  Commission  Decision  setting  up  the  Members  States’  Expert 
Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation. The group’s task is to monitor and 
assess  progress  in  the  implementation  of  the  Commission  Recommendation  and 
the Council Conclusions.  

•  27 September 2007 ― Parliament Resolution on digital libraries. The resolution is 

very supportive of the initiative and the approach taken by the Commission. 

•  22-23  November  2007  ―  Council  Conclusions  on  scientific  information  in  the 
digital age, welcoming the Commission’s initiative and inviting Member States to 
work together on the accessibility and preservation of scientific information. 

•  13-14  February  2008  ―  European  Economic  and  Social  Committee,  opinion 

supporting the launch of the European digital library in 2008. 

For  the  audiovisual  sector,  the  Parliament  and  Council  Recommendation  of  16  November 
2005 on film heritage and the competitiveness of related industrial activities also contributes 
to the aim of making Europe’s cultural heritage more accessible and preserving it for future 
generations.  A  specific  report  on  the  implementation  of  this  Recommendation  has  been 
prepared by Commission staff. 

3. 

PROGRESS  TOWARDS A COMMON ACCESS POINT TO EUROPE’S DIGITAL CULTURAL 
HERITAGE 

3.1. 

The vision of a European Digital Library 

Digitisation has benefits beyond improved accessibility. Coordination of digitisation between 
institutions and the various cultural domains leads to reunification of dispersed collections or 
the  linking  of  seemingly  disconnected  documents  and  artefacts.  This  provides  both  a 
convenience  to  the  user  and  a  more  complete  picture  of  the  heritage  preserved  in  the 
collections  all  over  Europe.  Therefore,  through  the  Recommendation,  the  Commission  has 
triggered support for the creation of a European Digital Library: a unique resource providing 
access to Europe’s distributed cultural heritage. It will ensure that millions of great paintings, 
historical  writings,  ancient  manuscripts,  personal  photos,  and  important  national  documents 
from  Europe’s  libraries,  archives  and  museums  will  become  more  available,  valuable  and 
usable, and it will facilitate new added value services in education, media and entertainment.  

In November 2006 the Commission’s plans for a European Digital Library were endorsed by 
the Culture Ministers of all EU Member States and backed by the European Parliament in a 
Resolution  in  September  2007.  The  rapid  development  of  a  single,  direct  and  multilingual 

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access  point  to  Europe’s  cultural  heritage  therefore  also  serves  an  important  operational 
purpose, in providing a showcase of what will be possible if Europe’s digitised collections in 
libraries, archives and museums become accessible to citizens. This is essential if we are to 
capitalise on and retain the interest that all stakeholders have shown so far.  

3.2. 

Europeana 

The  work  towards  a  European  Digital  Library  involves  tackling  political,  human,  technical 
and  semantic  issues  in  order  to  facilitate  an  interoperable  system  between  the  cultural 
institutions in Europe. In autumn 2007, seventy senior managers and technical experts from 
museums, archives,  audiovisual collections  and libraries all across the EU started work in a 
thematic  network  co-funded  by  the  European  Commission’s  eContentplus  programme,  to 
prepare a detailed plan for realising the vision of the European Digital Library and for what 
they  have  named  Europeana.  Their  work  builds  on  the  success  of  earlier  initiatives  ―  the 
longest  running  one  being  a  service  called  The  European  Library  (TEL),  a  search  facility 
across 150 million titles from 172 collections in 31 European national libraries. 

By November 2008, Europeana will provide a multilingual interface with direct access to at 
least two million digitised objects selected from among what is already digitised and available 
from some of Europe’s major museums, archives and libraries. Content will be taken in from 
aggregators  and  national  portals  or  will  be  harvested  from  individual  organisations.  Special 
attention is paid to the needs of the  visually impaired.  By 2010  the number of digital items 
accessible  through  Europeana  will  go  far  beyond  the  six  million  originally  envisaged. 
Moreover, Europeana will not just be limited to public domain material but, where possible, 
will also concentrate on representing Europe’s more recent cultural records. 

The French National Library helped the Europeana service move a step closer to the 
goal  of  a  comprehensive  collection  of  cultural  heritage  by  raising  funds  for 
uploading 80 000–100 000 items each year from the library’s Gallica collection. The 
French National Library also provided a starting template for what will be used as 
the basic Europeana interface. 

3.3. 

European Digital Library Foundation 

For the purpose of creating an organisational entity at European level that will be in charge of 
building and sustaining the Europeana service, a foundation was established on 8 November 
2007 in The Hague, the Netherlands, formalising the agreement between European archives, 
museums, audiovisual archives and libraries to work together in the delivery of Europeana. 
The Foundation’s first priority is the launch of the Europeana prototype in November 2008 
that  will  demonstrate  proof  of  concept.  The  Foundation  is  open  to  content  holders  (such  as 
individual museums, archives and libraries) and national and European associations of content 
holders. Ministries and funding organisations can support the work of the foundation through 
an associate partnership. Signatories so far include most of the professional associations that 
act  on  behalf  of  the  European  cultural  heritage  domains  (European  Regional  Branch  of  the 
International  Council  on  Archives,  International  Federation  of  Television  Archives, 
Association  Cinémathèques  Européennes,  European  Museums  Forum,  Conference  of 
European  National  Librarians,  Ligue  des  Bibliothèques  Européennes  de  Recherche, 
International Council of Museums Europe, Consortium of European Research Libraries). 

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4. 

PROGRESS IN THE MEMBER STATES: DIGITISATION 

4.1. 

Introduction 

Digitisation  is  expensive  and  time  consuming  for  many  institutions  and  work  is  needed  on 
strategic and operational levels. Even though in some Member States support for the Digital 
Libraries initiative has stimulated more attention to digitisation and additional funding, a lot 
still needs to be done to create coordinated approaches at national level. The i2010 — Digital 
Libraries initiative aims to have a lasting effect on existing structures at European level and in 
the individual Member States. Member States have started to recognise the value of digitised 
culture and have urged for European action to coordinate digitisation efforts. Whereas in the 
past  initiatives  within  and  across  Member  States  were  unknown,  at  the  heart  of  the  Digital 
Libraries  initiative  today  is  concern  to  optimise  the  leveraging  effects  between  the  various 
actions taking place. 

4.2. 

Overviews of current and planned digitisation 

One first step is to improve the identification of what is and will be digitised. A number of 
different practical and organisational solutions have already been taken up. 

Triggered  by  the  Recommendation,  national  ministries  and  other  government  departments 
have  started  to  collect  information  on  digitisation  at  national  level.  In  Germany,  Sweden, 
Ireland  and  the  Netherlands,  for  example,  thorough  qualitative  evaluation  of  digitisation 
policies is being carried out with the aim of assessing the impact of digitisation so far and/or 
steering  future  policy  and  funding.  In  most  Member  States  dedicated  committees,  expert 
groups,  newly  established  authorities  and  evaluative  and  exploratory  surveys  have  been 
established  since  2005  to  provide  a  more  accurate  basis  for  claims  about  the  digitisation 
efforts taking place and the need for improvements. 

The overviews and surveys of digitised material show that much of the digitised material is 
not yet accessible on the web, thus limiting its usability. 

In  Poland,  according  to  research  conducted  in  2007  by  the  Committee  for 
Digitisation, the number of digital objects in libraries was estimated at 200 000, of 
which  over  130 000  were  accessible  online.  In  Polish  archives,  of  the  ca.  500 000 
digital objects only one percent is estimated to be accessible over the internet. For 
museums,  only  one  to  two  percent  of  the  ca.  500 000  digital  objects  can  be  found 
online. 

In  Germany,  the  Institut  für  Museumsforschung  recently  requested  all  German 
museums to provide information on their current digitisation status. Although about 
a  thousand  museums  reported  possessing  digitised  artefacts,  only  250  of  them 
replied  that  they  had  made  arrangements  to  offer  actual  online  access  to  these 
objects. 

The  reasons  for  this  can  vary.  They  can  be  of  a  practical  nature  (e.g.  lack  of  resources  and 
know-how; digitisation may be seen mainly as a preservation tool), of a legal nature (issues 
related to data-protection or intellectual property rights), or a mixture of both. 

In  most  Member  States  cultural  organisations  have  recognised  how  registries  of  digitised 
collections can contribute to improving the information available on digitisation status. In the 

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UK,  for  example,  the  Strategic  Content  Alliance  will  develop  a  strategy  for  content  and 
service  registries.  And,  although  registries  are  mainly  domain-specific,  in  a  few  cases 
integration  is  planned,  such  as  in  Sweden  where  the  online  catalogues  of  national  archives, 
libraries and audiovisual archives will all be brought together from 2008 on. This could allow 
easy comparison and steer future digitisation policy. 

In Slovenia, a new Cultural Heritage Protection Act was adopted in early 2008 that 
manages interoperability between the digital sources of different institutions in one 
national  register.  The  Act  also  requires  digitised  cultural  content  to  be  made 
accessible through the register if the digitisation is financed from public money. 

Besides  the  creation  of  registries,  many  Member  States  stress  the  useful  role  of  portal 
websites  for  creating  overviews  of  digitisation  activities,  e.g.  as  developed  under  the 
MICHAEL project (presenting a catalogue of a variety of digital collections, services, projects 
and institutions) or the European Library project (providing access to the digital catalogues of 
national  libraries).  However,  it  is  not  yet  always  clear  to  what  extent  such  information  is 
actually taken into account in further decision making, and different information sources will 
need to be made interoperable and usable not only to identify digital collections but also for 
profiling so that digitisation priorities can be set up. 

In  Belgium,  the  Heritage  Preservation  and  Exploitation  Programme  will  establish 
for the French Community an online inventory of digital collections, a directory of 
institutions and an overview of progress on digitisation funds, as well as projects per 
sector and per institution. Similar initiatives exist for the Flemish and the German-
speaking communities with the purpose of avoiding duplication of efforts. 

At the same time, as more and more cultural institutions make their digital items harvestable 
through  Europeana,  a  more  complete  picture  will  emerge  of  the  digitised  material  already 
available at European level. Europeana’s central index will provide descriptive information at 
object  level  and  will  include  direct  links  to  the  original  digital  objects,  enabling  a  detailed 
overview. 

Not only the Member States, but also the Commission itself is involved in digitisation 
projects. At the end of 2007 the EU Publications Office launched its digital library 
project.  This  project  intends  to  offer  European  citizens  free  online  access  to  all 
official publications ever produced by the European Union institutions, agencies and 
other bodies. The entrance portal to this digital library dating back to 1952 shall be 
the EU Bookshop website making available all publications for free downloads. The 
PDF  files  will  contain  searchable  text  layers  and  will  comply  with  the  latest 
guidelines  for  long-term  preservation.  A  print-on-demand  option  will  also  be 
available.  The  digital  library  created  by  the  Office  will,  in  due  course,  also  be 
accessible  through  Europeana.  A  pilot  phase  of  the  Office  digital  library  project 
(PODL) started beginning of February 2008. 6 000 publications, requiring around 1 
million  pages  to  be  scanned,  will  then  be  available  in  EU  Bookshop  as  of  summer 
2008. Based on the results of the pilot phase, the main phase envisages the treatment 
of the complete physical archive of the Office, demanding the scanning and handling 
of about 13 million pages by October 2009. This makes this project one of the most 
ambitious digital library projects in the world, given the timescale and volume. 

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4.3. 

Quantitative targets for digitisation and related financial resources planning 

Real quantitative targets are still difficult to find for most Member States. Although the aim of 
funding programmes is normally to enhance access to collections, rather than simply increase 
the amount of content, quantitative targets can, for example, contribute to technological and 
organisational  efficiency,  prioritising  the  digitisation  of  specific  content,  or  planning  of 
budgets  —  both  within  Member  States  and  at  European  level.  Figures  for  most  Member 
States,  where  they  exist,  are  merely  expressed  in  terms  of  quantitative  results  of  projects 
already completed or funding made available in previous years. There are some exceptions: 
the major cultural organisations (national libraries, national archives, national museums) that 
run multi-annual digitisation plans as well as some national programmes (e.g. in Slovenia) or 
large digitisation schemes (e.g. in the Netherlands) that have planned in detail the number of 
objects for each domain or thematic area. 

Information  about  available  and  planned  budgets  or  funding  for  digitisation  shows  a  very 
diverse  picture  across  the  whole  of  Europe.  Overall,  funding  for  digitisation  is  still  being 
made available on a small scale and in a fragmented manner in most countries and, therefore, 
it is difficult for most Member States to present digitisation budgets and targets in an accurate 
and  aggregated  form  ―  with  the  exception  of  the  figures  for  some  larger,  individual 
institutions. Only in those Member States that have already prioritised digitisation at national 
level  can  the  related  financial  resources  and  planned  targets  be  provided  normally  and, 
therefore, is the coordination and planning of resources for digitisation easier. 

In Romania, cultural content owners were requested to send a precise approximation 
of the estimated costs over a three-year period, taking into consideration the number 
of  resources  to  be  digitised,  the  timeframe,  the  necessary  equipment  and  the 
identified training needs. This information will feed into a multi-annual programme 
and budget under the recently approved Public Policy Proposal on the digitisation of 
cultural resources and on the creation of a Digital Library of Romania. 

In  Finland,  a  national  programme  and  action  plan  on  digitisation,  including 
quantitative and qualitative targets, will be launched in 2008. It will be based on the 
Commission  Recommendation  and  the  Council  Conclusions  and  will  be  part  of  the 
broader national information society policy. In 2008, a new State budget line of €2 
million was already made available for digitisation of cultural material and for the 
accessibility and preservation of digital cultural content. 

In  the  Netherlands,  €90  million  (out  of  a  total  budget  of  €154m)  was  allocated  to 
‘Images for the Future’, a programme for the large-scale digitisation of film, video 
and  audio  heritage.  This  allocation  was  made  possible  on  the  basis  of  thorough 
economic research, including an impact assessment that calculated €176 million of 
eventual  positive  economic  effects  deriving,  inter  alia,  from  increased  use  of  the 
digitised  material  and  copyright  and  far-reaching  cost  reduction  through  better 
handling conditions and professional delivery services. 

In  Cyprus,  the  Press  and  Information  Office  has  been  working  for  two  years  on  a 
pilot  programme  for  the  digitisation  of  its  Press  Archive,  which  dates  back  to  as 
early as 1878 and includes about three million  pages. The costs amount to around 
€1.2 million. The programme is  carefully planned and will be completed in a number 
of phases, also in order to find financial resources outside the government budget. So 
far, 250 000 pages have been digitised and are available online. 

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A few Member States make use of the EU Structural Funds as a way of finding extra funding 
for digitisation, for example Finland, Slovakia and Lithuania. In Lithuania, a detailed national 
digitisation  strategy  has  been  drawn  up  and,  with  the  support  of  €9  million  from  the  EU 
Structural Funds, five large digitisation projects will be carried out between 2007 and 2013. 

In  2007,  the  Commission  launched  the  Numeric  study.  This  two-year  study  will  establish  a 
framework of standardised methods for the collection and analysis of data on digitisation in 
the  EU.  More  and  better  information  should  enable  governments  and  institutions  to  more 
precisely  identify  their  digitisation  efforts,  to  make  comparisons,  and  to  plan  further 
digitisation. 

4.4. 

Partnerships between cultural institutions and private-sector organisations 

Examples  of  public-private  partnerships  and  sponsorships  by  private  organisations  are 
emerging in some Member States as a new way of funding the digitisation of cultural content, 
as an alternative to public funding. Certain Member States have also developed incentives to 
attract private investments in the cultural domain. Most of the smaller Member States report 
no experience at all, or, as in the case of Estonia, mention that the small size of the State and 
the language is hampering private-sector interest in digitisation, although there are exceptions, 
e.g. in Latvia. 

In  Latvia,  to  encourage  partnership  and  cooperation  in  the  digitisation  process,  a 
special purpose programme ‘Cooperation of Archives, Museums and Libraries in the 
Digital  Environment’  was  developed.  Within  this  programme  cooperation  between 
archives,  libraries  and  museums,  authors  and  users  as  well  as  with  private 
companies is being stimulated within various, relatively small-scale projects. 

In  Slovenia,  a  Public-Private  Partnership  Act  entered  into  force  in  2007.  The  Act 
provides  new  opportunities  for  private  promotion  of  digitisation  projects  in  public 
institutions.  The  new  legislation  includes  general  provisions  on  public-private 
partnerships that are also applicable to the area of digitisation. Pilot projects started 
in the National Archive and the National Library, ranging from simple sponsorships 
for  digitisation  to  new  business  models  based  on  joint  exploitation  of  digitised 
content. 

The size of successful collaborative ventures involving public and private entities has varied, 
ranging from small  local initiatives up  to  examples of large-scale digitisation projects. Also 
the forms of the collaboration and the business models show a high degree of variety, but they 
can be grouped in two main categories: sponsorships (direct funding of digitisation activities 
by  private  entities)  and  public-private  partnerships  involving  the  provision  of  technical 
resources (digitisation equipment, infrastructure and know-how). 

In Spain, Telefónica is contributing €10 million towards th e digitisation of National 
Library  objects  to  be  included  in  Europeana.  Also,  the  Spanish  Biblioteca  Virtual 
Cervantes  in  Alicante  is  based  on  a  sponsorship  scheme.  Examples  of  quite  large 
partnerships based on technical support are available in the United Kingdom, such 
as  that  involving  the  British  Library  and  Cengage  Gale  for  digitised  historical 
newspapers.  Other  digitisation  partnerships  are  reported  for  e.g.  Germany 
(Bavarian  State  Library),  Belgium  (Ghent  University)  and  the  United  Kingdom 
(Oxford  University  Library),  all  of  them  with  Google.  Another  model  of  public-
private collaboration concerns collaborative research where industry contributes to 

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the  development  of  digitisation  technologies  (e.g.  in  the  CATCH  research 
programme in the Netherlands). 

Engaging in public-private partnerships could create pitfalls (e.g. exclusive deals) and there is 
a need in Member States to build up a better body of experience on the benefits and risks, for 
both  parties,  and  to  understand  what  good  or  accepted  practice  is,  and  where  the  public 
interest  might  be  compromised.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  research  is  being  done  on  the 
developing business models by the Strategic Content Alliance. And the Commission’s High 
Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries has addressed the issue of public-private partnerships 
through  a  report  based  on  a  set  of  case  studies,  analysing  issues  such  as  success  factors, 
choice  of  partners,  business  models,  IPR,  protection  of  the  public  domain  and  exclusivity 
issues. 

4.5. 

Large-scale digitisation facilities 

Turning the vision of a European Digital Library into reality calls for Member States to step 
up  the  rate  of  and  capacity  for  digitisation  and  the  usability  of  the  resulting  content  in  new 
services.  The  Commission  has  therefore  recommended  Member  States  to  build  up,  on  the 
basis of existing competence, large-scale digitisation facilities. The aim is to provide smaller 
archives,  libraries  and  museums  with  more  widely  available  access  to  advanced  digitisation 
technologies,  innovative  tools  and  services,  and  expertise  and  knowledge.  Only  in  this  way 
will it be possible to enlist the critical mass of resources required and to increase the capacity 
for digitisation in Member States. 

In  quite  a  few  Member  States  digitisation  centres  have  been  established  in  different  forms 
already, linked to either a university (e.g. Germany), a national library (e.g. Finland, France, 
the Netherlands), a national archive (e.g. Sweden, France, Greece), a ministry (e.g. Italy) or a 
private  company  (e.g.  Hungary).  In  Spain  extra  funding  is  made  available  for  digitisation 
training tools for archives to promote the use of standards required by Europeana. 

In  Slovakia,  the  National  Library  is  establishing,  with  co-funding  from  the  EU 
Structural Funds, a high-capacity digitisation centre in the former military depots in 
Vrútky.  Procurement  and  construction  activities  are  currently  in  progress  and  two 
out  of  four  automatic  page-turning  robots  will  be  in  operation  by  November  2008, 
along with high-capacity digital storage (1.5 PB). 

In Sweden, under the auspices of the National Archives, a digitisation centre (MKC 
—  Media  Converting  Centre)  was  set  up  for  the  large-scale  production  of  digital 
images from national,  regional and local archives  as well as content holders other 
than the archival institutions, for example the Swedish land survey. The aim of MKC 
is  to  achieve  effective  utilisation  of  resources  in  Sweden  and  to  maximise  the 
throughput to reduce costs per unit. 

In  France,  one  of  the  French  National  Library’s  mass  digitisation  programmes 
allows the digitisation of about 30 000 printed documents and the conversion to text 
mode  of  another  60 000.  Another  of  the  library’s  mass  digitisation  programmes  is 
digitising some 8 000 documents a month. By late 2010, the library’s online portal, 
Gallica,  will  provide  access  to  some  400 000  printed  documents,  simultaneously 
available in text and image mode, representing over 45 million pages. Gallica has a 
full-text based search engine and offers readers the possibility to create a personal 
space where they can save their documents and insert page markers. 

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Although the willingness to set up digitisation services is impressive in most Member States, 
it is not always clear how such facilities are expected to operate with their ‘constituency’ in 
practice, how they will bring about scalability, and in what ways they will actually contribute 
to the reduction of costs and to sustainability. Besides, the focus is currently on technologies 
capable  of  improving  digitisation  processes  for  text-based  materials  and  support  for 
digitisation of other types of objects is still limited. 

Parallel  to  the  actions  in  Member  States,  the  Commission,  through  the  Information  Society 
Technologies  work  programme  (FP7-IST)  for  2007-2008,  has  established  as  a  research 
priority  the  development  of  competence  centres  for  digitisation  and  digital  preservation  at 
European level. This support should bring together the existing expertise that is being built up 
in  several  organisations  across  Europe  and  will  work  towards  convergence  of  the  various 
competences and capacity available in the Member States. 

5. 

PROGRESS IN THE MEMBER STATES: ONLINE ACCESSIBILITY 

5.1. 

Introduction 

One  of  the  challenges  addressed  by  the  Commission  Recommendation  is  the  online 
availability of digitised material. This concerns the practical accessibility through Europeana 
as well as the framework conditions for the online accessibility of in particular orphan works, 
out-of-print  works  and  public  domain  material.  Most  twentieth  century  material  is  still  in 
copyright, and without solutions to bring in-copyright works online, there is the risk of a ‘20th 
century  black  hole’  on  the  internet,  a  situation  in  which  most  material  from  before  1900 
would be accessible but much less from more recent times. 

5.2. 

Promoting access through Europeana 

The  Commission  Recommendation  urges  Member  States  to  implement  measures  that  will 
stimulate  cultural  institutions  as  well  as  private  content  holders  to  make  their  collections 
available  through  Europeana  and  measures  that  will  contribute  to  the  implementation  of 
common standards. 

In some Member States, this was translated directly into the amount of funding available for 
institutions to  digitise ― be it at institutional level or through increased special programme 
funding  from  ministries.  New  funding is  awaiting evaluation  in countries such as Denmark, 
Ireland, Hungary and Romania or has recently been allocated in, inter alia, the Netherlands, 
Greece, France and Finland. 

In  Greece,  the  current  national  Information  Society  Programme  is  supporting  180 
different  digitisation  projects  from  museums,  libraries  and  archives  with  total 
funding  of  around  €100  million.  As  from  2008  it  is  specifically  concentrating  on 
achieving  interoperability  with  Europeana.  Under  the  Greek  National  Digital 
Strategy 2008-2013 this support will be continued and the amount of content readily 
available for inclusion in Europeana will increase significantly. 

In the UK, the  Integrated Architecture Project will make a large number of digital 
items  from  thirty  different  institutions  available  to  Europeana.  In  Germany  a 
‘German Digital Library’ is under development, bringing in content from institutions 
at the federal state level and the level of the Länder. It will be the German building 

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block  to  Europeana  and  involves  public  and  private  content  holders.  In  Spain,  the 
National  Library  of  Spain  will  digitise  with  private  sponsoring  an  extra  200 000 
items to be included in Europeana. 

In  most  cases,  the  extra  funding  for  digitisation  comes  with  standardisation  criteria  for 
bringing  about  interoperability  between  initiatives  at  national  level  and  for  guaranteeing 
interoperability  with  Europeana.  The  standardisation  work  performed  in  the  past  by  the 
Minerva  project  that  was  co-funded  by  the  Commission,  and  the  work  currently  ongoing  in 
the framework of the Europeana project, are quoted as the main reference for standards and 
criteria at national level. Most Member States are establishing national portals and ― if the 
methods and standards used are consistent with the Europeana model ― such portals can be 
important initial building blocks for Europeana, as they can function as an easy aggregator of 
a significant amount of underlying content to be delivered to Europeana. 

In  Spain,  all  projects  funded  under  the  Spanish  National  Digitisation  and  Public 
Access  Plan  will  have  to  conform  to  the  standards  recommended  by  Europeana,  so 
all the relevant content will become available also at the European level. 

In  Ireland,  a  number  of  institutions,  e.g.  An  Chomhairle  Leabharlanna  and  the 
Library  Council,  are  examining  the  implications  for  Europeana  interoperability  in 
relation to their websites. At the same time, a national steering committee made up of 
key  stakeholders  will  oversee  and  carry  out  a  wide-ranging  survey  and  emphasise 
the  Europeana  initiative  by  encouraging  institutions  to  consider  implications  for 
interoperability at national and at European level. 

In  Bulgaria,  the  digitisation  centre  at  the  Institute  of  Mathematics  and  Informatics 
will  prepare  and  provide  common  digitisation  guidelines  and  ensure  their 
dissemination  throughout  the  country  to  improve  interoperability  at  national  level 
and with Europeana. 

The  Commission  Recommendation  also  urges  Member  States  to  stimulate  private  content 
holders to make their content searchable and discoverable through Europeana. Some projects 
directly  involving  publishers  and  other  private  content  holders  have  been  reported  already. 
These  projects  concern  the  online  availability  of  in-copyright  works.  The  German  Book 
Dealers  and  Publishers  Association  developed  the  Libreka!  project,  a  central  access  portal 
allowing search for and paid access to German in-copyright books. A partnership between the 
French  National  Library  and  the  French  Publishers’  Association  is  developing  a  common 
platform  and  a  business  model  that  aim  to  bring  benefits  to  both  the  private  and  the  public 
sides  within  the  context  of  Gallica.  In  Italy,  an  agreement  between  the  State  (ICCU  — 
Ministry of Culture Heritage and Activities) and the publishing house Laterza guarantees the 
right of the Italian Digital Library to digitise and publish on the internet, free of charge, the 
entire  classical  book  collection  ‘Scrittori  d’Italia’.  In  Belgium,  the  central  catalogue  of  the 
Flemish  public  libraries  has  been  linked  to  the  central  database  of  the  book  trade  via  data 
exchange and using the same front-end system. Users can now consult both systems and have 
a ‘borrow-or-buy’ option. 

Next  to  implementing  the  measures  addressed  by  the  Communication,  Member  States’ 
departments  and  national  funding  organisations  can  contribute  to  Europeana  by  becoming 
associated participants in the European Digital Library Foundation. This will make it possible 
to support more directly the activities to link the digitised heritage from all Member States. 

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5.3. 

Improving conditions for digitisation and online accessibility 

Reviews of the national intellectual property and copyright legislation considering new ways 
to  facilitate  online  accessibility  in  a  digital  environment  are  or  have  been  on  the  agenda  of 
several Member States. Public consultations, review reports, working groups and amendments 
to the legislative framework are reported by most Member States. In certain cases, legislation 
was actually adapted. For example, the Italian law on copyright was amended in early 2008 in 
order to allow the non-profit free dissemination of low-resolution images and sounds on the 
internet for teaching and educational purposes. Other ― non-legislative ― policy lines point 
in  the  same  direction,  such  as  the  Dutch  government  support  for  the  development  and 
implementation of the Creative Commons licence scheme in the Netherlands. 

In the Czech Republic, a dedicated working group for the European Digital Library 
and  Copyright  was  convened  by  the  Copyright  Department  of  the  Ministry  of 
Culture,  to  discuss  key  principles  for  orphan  works,  out-of-print  works  and  rights 
clearance  centres,  to  launch  consultations  on  copyright-related  problems,  and  to 
collect  the  opinions  of  the  different  stakeholders,  including  libraries,  museums, 
archives and publishers. 

5.3.1. 

Improving online accessibility of orphan works 

Orphan  works  are  works  for  which  it  is  very  difficult  or  even  impossible  to  find  the 
rightholders.  It  is  therefore  impossible  to  obtain  a  licence  from  these  rightholders  for  the 
digitisation  and  online  accessibility  of  such  works.  The  Recommendation  urged  Member 
States to adopt mechanisms to deal with the issue. Still, at this moment, a large majority of 
Member States do not have any legislation or other national mechanism in place to facilitate 
the use of orphan works. 

In  a  small  group  of  Member  States  (Denmark,  Finland,  Sweden  and  Hungary)  extended 
collective licensing is used as a solution to the problem of orphan works. This system is not 
specifically  tailored  to  orphan  works  but,  as  its  application  is  general,  it  will  cover  the 
problem  of  orphan  works  as  well.  The  system  applies  automatically  to  all  rightholders  in  a 
given field, even if unknown or untraceable. 

Denmark and Hungary are in the process of adopting a mechanism to deal with orphan works 
that is stronger than the general extended collective licensing scheme. Germany is working on 
a  legislative  solution  within  the  context  of  a  broader  adaptation  of  its  copyright  legislation. 
France has a judicial mechanism in place that can be used in relation to orphan works and is 
considering introducing a lighter mechanism. In a few smaller Member States, orphan works 
are currently not perceived as a problem deserving special attention. 

In many countries the issue is being debated in dedicated working groups, sometimes as part 
of  the  broader  discussions  on  the  legal  framework.  The  main  solutions  that  are  under 
consideration in the Member States are: 

•  Extended collective licensing; 

•  The grant of a non-exclusive licence by an independent body following a diligent search 

for the rightholders. This is the mechanism that Hungary is considering; 

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•  A  limitation  or  exception  to  copyright.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  the  Gowers  Review  of 
Intellectual Property recommended to the UK government that a solution for orphan works 
is  implemented  at  European  level  through  an  amendment  of  the  Directive  on  the 
harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society 
(EU Copyright Directive). 

In  Denmark,  the  legal  issues  associated  with  digitisation  have  been  addressed  in  a 
proposed revision of the Danish Copyright Law. It includes a provision dealing with 
the general use of extended collective licensing. The provision will grant permission 
to  parties  to  make  agreements  in  an  area  to  be  specified  by  the  parties  but  with 
consequences  for  all  rightholders  in  that  area.  The  provisions  include  an  opt-out 
clause  for  rightholders  who  do  no  wish  to  be  included  in  the  extended  collective 
licence. Moreover, the conclusion of agreements in this area by collecting societies 
is subject to approval by the Ministry of Culture. The proposal will broaden the use 
of  extended  collective  licensing  from  more  specific  areas  to  all  areas  where 
rightholders wish to use this practice. The proposed scheme will enable new parties 
to  make  use  of  extended  collective  licensing.  The  new  legislation  will  contribute  to 
solving  the  issue  with  orphan  works  and  out-of-print  works  insofar  as  a  collecting 
society  is  appointed  to  represent  the  rightholders.  The  law is  to  come  into  force  in 
2008. 

A  relevant  question  raised  in  the  2006  Council  Conclusions  on  the  digitisation  and  online 
accessibility  of  cultural  material  and  digital  preservation  has  to  do  with  the  cross-border 
aspects  of  the  solutions.  This  concerns  in  particular  the  mutual  recognition  across  Member 
States of orphan status, as well as the possibility to make the orphan material available over 
the internet. Addressing these issues is also essential for the accessibility of orphan material, 
digitised by national institutions, at European level through Europeana. 

On a practical level, the legislative mechanisms can be accompanied by registries, shared at 
European level, of declared orphan works. Structured databases or lists of orphan and public 
domain  works  do  not  currently  exist  in  Europe.  EC-funded  projects  such  as  MILE  and 
ARROW are quoted by Member States as actions that will help to fill the current gap. 

MILE  deals  with  metadata  for  digital  images,  and  it  is  co-funded  by  the 
Commission’s  eContentplus  programme.  It  aims,  among  other  things,  to  set  up  an 
‘Orphan Works Database’ which should act as a repository for all orphan works and 
invite users to offer information about those works. And a proposal recently selected 
for  co-funding  under  eContentplus  is  ARROW  —  Accessible  Registries  of  Rights 
Information  and  Orphan  Works  towards  the  European  Digital  Library.  European 
national libraries, publishers and collecting societies, also representing writers, will 
address  the  issue  of  rights  information  management  to  underpin  the  Commission’s 
Digital  Libraries  initiative.  The  project  is  expected  to  deliver  an  infrastructure  for 
the  management  of  any  type  of  rights  information,  to  overcome  the  challenges  of 
orphan  works,  out-of-print  books,  clearance  of  protected  material  and 
interoperability  between  public  and  private  collections,  and  to  facilitate  the  actual 
implementation  of  innovative  business  models  for  both  digital  libraries  and  private 
econtent providers. 

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5.3.2. 

Improving online accessibility of out-of-print works 

Out-of-print  works,  where  the  rights  holder  is  known  but  where  the  work  is  no  longer 
commercially  available,  give  rise  to  a  different  set  of  problems.  According  to  the  reports 
received, in most Member States there are no specific mechanisms to facilitate digitisation of 
and  access  to  out-of-print  and  out-of-distribution  works.  Working  groups  and  consultation 
processes  have  been  activated,  normally  in  connection  with  orphan  works,  but  with  a  few 
exceptions practical measures or policy directions have not yet emerged. 

In the Netherlands, the National Library Forum (FOBID) and the Dutch Foundation 
for Copyright Interests recently signed a letter of intent for an arrangement that will 
facilitate the mass-digitisation of collections by libraries. This will have to be further 
concretised in agreements for specific digitisation projects. Such agreements would 
contain  information  about  which  works  are  eligible  for  digitisation,  the  procedure 
for  making  these  works  available  digitally,  and  the  fee  possibly  owed  to  the 
rightholders.  The  Dutch  Foundation  for  Copyright  Interests  and  ‘VOICE’,  the 
branch  association  for  collecting  societies,  will  support  cultural  organisations  in 
making the necessary arrangements with Dutch copyright holders. 

The Commission Recommendation and the model licence proposed by the High Level Expert 
Group on Digital Libraries are quoted by several Member States as the elements that started a 
national reflection on possible policy initiatives on out-of-print works. Some Member States, 
e.g.  Italy,  Slovakia  and  the  UK,  took  an  active  role  in  promoting  the  model  licence,  others 
have  used  specific  contractual  arrangements  to  facilitate  access  to  out-of-print  works  (e.g. 
Italy). Smaller countries note that their market size could make adoption of the model licence 
relatively complicated and alternatives should be explored (e.g. Luxembourg). 

Some Member States (Austria and Slovenia) indicate that in their legal system the notion of 
out-of-print work is already present and legally defined. 

Austrian Copyright Law (Urheberrechtsgesetz) contains an exclusion concerning the 
right  of  reproduction  of  works  out  of  print  and  works  that  are  published 
(‘veröffentlicht’)  but  not  distributed  in  sufficient  number  (‘erschienen’),  which 
allows public institutions to reproduce these works, if they do so without commercial 
intent. This enables these works to be digitised, but does not allow online distribution 
of the digital copies; it allows on-site access only. 

The Slovenian Law on Copyright and Similar Rights defines out-of-print works (less 
than  five  per  cent  or  less  than  a  hundred  copies)  and  allows  public  institutions  to 
reproduce such works only for their own needs and not for public use. Furthermore, 
the Legal Deposit Act allows the depositary organisation, where the publication has 
not  been  available  on  the  market  for  at  least  two  years  and  in  case  of  loss  or 
damage, to reproduce one mandatory copy of the publication that is stored by some 
other depositary organisation for the purpose of preservation and availability for use 
on-site only. 

The related copyright exception is limited to reproduction (digitisation) and on-site access in 
the  cultural  institutions’  premises.  In  order  to  facilitate  online  access  to  out-of-print  works 
through Europeana, further work is needed with stakeholders and possibly at legislative level. 

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5.3.3. 

Improving online accessibility of public domain works 

Member States seem to have taken hardly any action to identify and eliminate barriers to the 
online accessibility of works in the public domain held by public institutions. Most Member 
States do not address the issue in their reports. Some (e.g. Finland) indicate that they did look 
into  the  matter  and  did  not  find  any  problem.  A  few  Member  States  report  that  there  are 
provisions in the national legislation that limit the online accessibility of public domain works 
(e.g. Portugal, Sweden, Greece): 

•  Legislation  on  public  access  to  documents  held  by  public  bodies:  the  general 
principle of free access to information may be limited on grounds such as personal 
data protection (privacy) or State security. Such provisions, concerning both on-
site  and  online  access,  may  restrict  access  to  material  that,  from  an  intellectual 
property  rights  point  of  view,  is  in  the  public  domain.  This  affects  in  particular 
archives; 

•  Legal provisions in the area of copyright giving the State certain exclusive rights 

in relation to public domain material; 

•  Legal provisions concerning the protection of the cultural heritage, providing that 
reproduction  and  dissemination  of  cultural  heritage  belonging  to  or  held  by  the 
State is subject to a licence and to the payment of a fee, even if it is in the public 
domain.  

In  particular  the  last  two  types  of  barriers  can  create  unnecessary  problems  for  making  the 
public domain material accessible through Europeana. No actions are reported to address this 
type of barriers. 

6. 

PROGRESS IN THE MEMBER STATES: DIGITAL PRESERVATION 

6.1. 

Introduction 

Ensuring  preservation  of  information  into  the  future  brings  with  it  significant  challenges. 
Most  organisations  lack  the  policies  and  procedures  to  prevent  digital  information  from 
becoming inaccessible in the course of time. Electronic resources, regardless of whether they 
are created initially through digitisation or are born digital, are threatened by deterioration of 
the medium carrying them or obsolescence of the technology on which they depend. There is 
growing recognition in all Member States of the potential societal and financial costs of losing 
data and of the financial, organisational and legal challenges to be faced given the wide range 
of  issues  and  stakeholders  involved,  at  national  and  international  level.  The  Commission 
Recommendation drew Member States’ attention to measures to lower the risk of information 
loss and wastage of resources. 

6.2. 

National strategies and plans for digital preservation 

Many  Member  States  already  began  preparing  national  digital  preservation  policies  some 
years  ago  through  special  committees  or  working  groups  involving  the  main  memory 
institutions.  

In Finland, the Ministry of Education set up a working group to draw up a plan for 
organising  long-term  preservation,  with  emphasis  on  the  legal  preservation 

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obligations  of  central  government  bodies  (the  National  Archives  Service,  the 
National  Library  of  Finland,  the  National  Board  of  Antiquities,  and  the  National 
Audiovisual Archive), and to look into the benefits of shared technical infrastructure. 

In  Italy,  various  projects  and  networks  are  in  place,  aimed  at  Italian  libraries  and 
archives,  to  tackle  collaboratively  issues  such  as  the  creation  of  scalable 
infrastructures for long-term preservation, the development of emulation strategies, 
the  conduct  of  research,  awareness  raising,  and  the  framing  of  local  and  national 
preservation policies. 

However,  most  countries  still  lack  more  precise  plans  or  strategies  for  tackling  the  most 
urgent issues and describing in detail the various roles and responsibilities and the resources 
needed. Many reports mention the lack of scalable technologies and methods as well as lack 
of experience. Therefore, in few Member States do strategies for digital preservation actually 
translate into changes and improvements at infrastructural and organisational levels. 

In  Poland,  a  special  committee  is  dedicated  to  shaping  a  national  strategy  for  the 
digital  preservation  of  Polish  cultural  heritage.  The  strategy  will  consist  of  a 
framework  for  developing  cooperation  between  all  institutions  responsible  for 
cultural heritage and a number of main recommendations. Problems mentioned are 
that technical methods for the long-term preservation of digital resources in Poland 
are  still  far  from  functional  or  from  being  applied  for  mass  usage,  and  that  most 
Polish  memory  institutions  have  no  experience in testing  the sustainability  of large 
digital repositories facing software and hardware obsolescence. This also impacts on 
the repository function in Poland. Only when trustworthy and lasting organisational 
and technical procedures are established will repositories in Poland be able to rely 
on digital copies. 

Real progress is being made only in those countries that have one or more organisations with 
a  long  record  in  the  area  of  digital  preservation  and  in  collaborating  intensively  with 
counterparts at national and European level. This is the case, for example, in the UK, where 
the  Digital  Preservation  Coalition  (DPC),  in  which,  inter  alia,  the  British  Library  and  other 
libraries,  the  JISC  and  research  organisations  are  participating,  has  already  been  active  for 
several  years  in  building  expertise  among  its  members  and  providing  a  common  national 
forum  for  the  development  and  coordination  of  digital  preservation  strategies  in  the  UK.  In 
the Netherlands, a National Coalition for Digital Preservation was established in 2007, at the 
initiative of the National Library,  and with  support from  the Ministry of Education, Culture 
and Science. Its ambitious aim is to ensure that within five years a national organisational and 
technical  infrastructure  is  in  place,  to  secure  the  long-term  accessibility  of  scientific, 
commercial, governmental and cultural data. In Germany, the NESTOR competence network 
has similar objectives, with a focus on training and the sharing of expertise and information. 
In  Sweden,  the  National  Archives,  the  National  Library,  and  the  National  Archive  of 
Recorded  Sound  and  Moving  Images  have  together  embarked  on  far-reaching  cooperation 
through  the  Centre  for  Long  Term  Digital  Preservation  and  Access  (LDB-Centre)  based  at 
Luleå University of Technology. 

Digital  preservation  costs  remain  a  critical  and  little  known  issue.  A  Commission 
study on the socio-economic impact of digital preservation was therefore launched in 
January 2008 and should lead to better knowledge of the costs of failing to preserve, 

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the issues if data cannot be recovered, as well as the potential value of new services 
based on preserved digital content. 

6.3. 

Exchange of information with other Member States on digital preservation 

An  effective  platform  for  the  exchange  of  information  and  good  practice  in  digital 
preservation  was  found  in  the  Member  States’  Expert  Group  on  Digitisation  and  Digital 
Preservation  on  two  different  occasions.  On  these  occasions  presentations  and  discussions 
were held on progress in digital preservation at national level, with special reference to legal 
and organisational arrangements as well as web harvesting. 

European  projects  co-funded  from  the  Research  Framework  Programme  are  the  other 
platforms  often  mentioned  by  Member  States  for  exchanging  information  and  experience  at 
European level. For example, the ERPANET project organised between 2003 and 2004 more 
than twenty workshops bringing together several hundred experts and practitioners in digital 
preservation  coming  from  museums,  libraries  and  archives,  the  ICT  and  software  industry, 
research  institutions  and  government  bodies  all  across  Europe.  Building  on  the  earlier 
successful  work  of  ERPANET,  the  DPE  (Digital  Preservation  Europe)  project  co-funded 
under  FP7  is  playing  an  important  role  in  terms  of  outreach  in  order  to  attract  people  from 
various  disciplines  to  digital  curation  and  preservation.  DPE  facilitates  pooling  of  the 
complementary  expertise 
the  academic  research,  cultural,  public 
administration and industry sectors in Europe and fosters collaboration and synergies between 
many existing national and international initiatives throughout the European Research Area. 
DPE  addresses  the  need  to  improve  coordination,  cooperation  and  consistency  in  digital 
preservation activities.  

that  exists  across 

In  some  Member  States  digital  preservation  is  being  integrated  into  new  relevant  education 
and  training  curricula,  for  example  the  new  Master’s  degree  course  in  conservation  of  new 
media and digital information at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Germany. The 
Commission  recognises  the  need  for  more  consistency  in  education  on  digital  preservation 
and the importance of spreading competence, training and awareness at European level, and 
will bring together various stakeholders to explore the possibilities for developing a common 
European curriculum for digital curators. 

The  need  for  collaboration  is  also  reflected  in  the  creation  of  the  Alliance  for 
Permanent  Access,  a  group  formed  at  the  initiative  of  the  National  Library  of  the 
Netherlands  and  consisting  of  national  and  pan-European  research  organisations, 
data  centres,  archives,  libraries  and  publishers.  The  Alliance  promotes  new 
collaborative  and  coordinated  actions  at  European  level  contributing  to  a 
sustainable  virtual  infrastructure  for  permanent  access  to  scientific  information  in 
Europe. 

6.4.  Multiple copying and migration of digital material for preservation purposes 

Copying for the purpose of preservation of digital material is not perceived as a major legal 
obstacle by most Member States. Some reports mention considering a more explicit reference 
to digital material in the national copyright law. At the same time, some related policies, e.g. 
with  regard  to  electronic  deposit,  are  still  quite  varied  in  most  Member  States  and  largely 
depend  on  individual  voluntary  licensing  agreements  with  publishers,  which  raises  ad  hoc 
issues  for  copying  for  preservation  purposes.  Another  issue  mentioned  is  DRM  clearance. 
DRM deployed by publishers is mainly for controlling copying for access purposes, but this 
can also limit a library’s copying activities with a view to preservation.  

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In the UK, a report by Andrew Gowers published findings on the UK’s intellectual 
property regime in December 2006. It included provisions to enable materials to be 
copied for preservation purposes. A formal consultation on these and other copyright 
exceptions  is  currently  under  way  and  is  expected  to  lead  to  legislation  being 
introduced at the end of 2008. 

6.5. 

Legal deposit of born-digital material 

Until recently, voluntary agreements for the acquisition and deposit of electronic information 
were the only instrument in most Member States, either complementing the legal provisions 
or  as  the  only  practice  (as  is  the  case  in  the  Netherlands).  However,  in  more  and  more 
Member  States  the  legal  deposit  legislation  is  being  revised  to  include  electronic  deposit 
obligations  (e.g.  Spain,  Portugal,  Austria)  or  has  already  been  amended  in  recent  years  to 
cover  also  digital  material  (e.g.  Finland,  Germany,  France,  Estonia).  Member  States  that 
joined  the  European  Union  in  2004  have  been  particularly  swift  in  preparing  deposit 
legislation or adapting it to the digital environment. 

Although, in most countries, implementation usually preceded regulation to test the specific 
issues  of  acquisition,  storage,  preservation  and  access,  most  Member  States  have  reported 
only in vague terms on actual progress in implementing their new deposit legislation. As for 
the question what is being done to prevent divergence of depositing arrangements with other 
Member  States,  an  issue  mentioned  in  many  reports  is  the  variation  in  types  of  electronic 
publications covered. For example, the National Library of France also collects games, expert 
systems  and  databases.  In  Finland  the  mandate  applies  only  to  material  on  CDs  and  DVDs 
excluding  computer  programs.  In  some  Member  States  the  provisions  refer  to  text-based 
information  products  rather  than  entertainment.  There  is  a  need  for  stronger  cooperation 
between the depositing organisations to develop shared approaches, requirements and related 
certification  criteria  as  to  the  acquisition,  registration  and  storage  of  and  access  to  the 
materials.  A  good  example  at  national  level  is  the  case  of  Sweden,  where  the  National 
Archives,  the  National  Library  and  the  National  Archive  of  Recorded  Sound  and  Moving 
Images are developing a joint repository management system. 

6.6. 

Legal provisions for web harvesting 

The collection of particular portions of the web and their preservation in an archive for future 
researchers, historians and the general public is taking place in most Member States. Only in 
about half of them is this on the basis of a legislative arrangement. Such arrangements have 
given an official mandate for web harvesting to specific institutions, such as national libraries 
or national archives. In all other cases, where no law legitimising web harvesting exists, the 
practice is blurred and fragmented as consent from the rights owner needs to be found on a 
case-by-case basis or access provided to these materials has to be restricted. 

is  normally 

the  national 

In the situation where provisions for mandatory web harvesting exist these are often directly 
integrated  in  the  provisions  for  legal  deposit  of  born-digital  material.  The  organisation 
responsible 
library.  No  difficulties  are  mentioned  with 
implementation  once  a  legal  mandate  is  in  place,  e.g.  for  dealing  with  the  distribution  and 
unpredictable  temporality  of  online  content,  the  rapidly  evolving  publishing  and  encoding 
technologies, the authenticity of the material, or the vast number of actors contributing to the 
web.  Selection  criteria  used  are  often  the  country’s  top-level  domain  (e.g.  .fi)  or  the 
origination of a publisher/creator/author. Although language could be considered it is hardly 
mentioned.  Thematic  selection  also  takes  place,  e.g.  based  on  elections,  government  and 
university  websites,  newspapers.  Access  policies  with  regard  to  electronic  deposit  and  web 

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harvested  material  vary  between  Member  States  but  are  generally  restrictive,  for  reasons  of 
copyright or privacy.  

In  Sweden,  owing  to  restrictions  in  the  Swedish  law  on  personal  integrity,  the 
National Library, which started a web harvesting initiative already in the 1990s and 
has  collected  over  300  million  files  from  Swedish  websites,  is  only  able  to  provide 
public access to the material within the premises of the National Library. 

7. 

WORK WITH STAKEHOLDERS 

7.1. 

High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries 

7.1.1. 

Introduction 

In  February  2006,  the  Commission  set  up  a  High  Level  Expert  Group  on  Digital  Libraries, 
bringing  together  cultural  institutions,  publishers,  technology  firms  and  academics.  The 
group, chaired by Commissioner Reding, has been working for over two years to advise the 
Commission  on  how  to  best  address  the  organisational,  legal  and  technical  challenges  at 
European  level,  as  well  as  to  contribute  to  a  shared  strategic  vision  for  digital  libraries  in 
Europe.  Adopting  a  pragmatic  method  of  work,  the  group  has  been  able  to  build  bridges 
between the different stakeholders, and to facilitate the identification of solutions to specific 
problems.  Three  priority  work  areas  have  been  identified:  public-private  partnerships, 
scientific information and copyright issues.  

7.1.2.  Copyright 

At  its  third  meeting  on  18  April  2007,  the  High  Level  Expert  Group  approved  a  report 
produced by the copyright subgroup on three copyright-related issues: orphan works, out-of-
print  works  and  digital  preservation.  The  report  proposes  a  series  of  concrete  measures, 
essentially of a non-legislative nature, to be implemented on a voluntary basis by or with the 
direct involvement of the stakeholders (publishers, libraries, collecting societies, etc.) and by 
Member  States.  These  measures  constitute  an  important  step  forward  for  facilitating  the 
digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation of cultural material and for enabling 
Member States to comply with the provisions of the Commission Recommendation. 

In  the  area  of  digital  preservation,  the  High  Level  Expert  Group  recommends  that  public 
libraries,  educational  establishments,  museums  and  archives  should  be  allowed  to  make 
multiple  (an  open-ended  number  of)  copies  where  necessary  to  ensure  preservation  of  the 
work.  Moreover,  the  report  indicates  that  copies  of  born-digital  works  to  be  deposited  in 
national deposit libraries under mandatory (legal) deposit schemes should have any embedded 
protection device disabled.  

The report advises on how Member States and stakeholders should put in place mechanisms 
to  deal  with  orphan  works,  in  particular  through  a  set  of  commonly  agreed  core  principles, 
which allow interoperable solutions and mutually  recognised  mechanisms on orphan  works. 
The proposed solutions include:  

•  Guidance  on  sector-specific  diligent  search  (or  due  diligence  guidelines):  what 
steps are considered as sufficient for fulfilling this prerequisite, such as consulting 
databases, organisations representing rightholders, etc.;  

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•  Provisions for withdrawal should the rightholder reappear; 
•  Inclusion  of  commercial  users  but  with  special  treatment  for  cultural,  non-profit 

establishments; 
•  Remuneration 
reappearance); 

requirement 

(general  or  conditional  on 

the 

rightholder’s 

•  Dedicated databases of orphan works;  
• 

Improved copyright metadata tagging to be included in digital/digitised material. 

The  Commission  has  taken  an  active  role  in  disseminating  the  results  of  the  High  Level 
Group through existing organisations and networks, such as the Member States’ Expert Group 
on  Digitisation  and  Digital  Preservation  and  through  a  stakeholders  meeting  held  on  14 
September  2007,  attended  by  representatives  of  authors  and  publishers  from  the  different 
media sectors, libraries and other cultural institutions.  

As  follow-up  action  in  the  area  of  orphan  works,  four  sector-specific  stakeholder  groups 
(text/books,  audiovisual,  music  and  visual/photography)  have  met  on  a  regular  basis  to 
develop  due  diligence  guidelines  for  each  of  these  sectors.  These  guidelines  embody  a 
common understanding of what measures have to be taken before a work can be considered to 
be  orphan.  On  4  June  2008  stakeholders’  organisations  representing  the  different  sectors 
signed a Memorandum of Understanding, thus endorsing the due diligence guidelines. 

The  copyright  report  also  addresses  the  issue  of  how  to  ensure  better  access  to  out-of-print 
works.  An  out-of-print  work  is  defined  as  ‘a  work  that  is  not  commercially  available,  as 
declared  by  the  appropriate  rightholders’.  The  High  Level  Expert  Group  agreed  a  model 
licence for out-of-print works, to be adapted at national level, including a Community-wide 
licensing  feature,  to  facilitate  the  lawful  digitisation  of  out-of-print  works  by  libraries  and 
archives  and  their  subsequent  accessibility  on-site  or  through  secure  networks  to  authorised 
users. The model licence was subsequently extended to include internet online accessibility. 

At its fifth meeting on 4 June 2008, the High Level Expert Group adopted a final report on 
copyright  related  issues.  The  report  consolidates  the  work  done  in  this  area,  including  the 
issues  of  orphan  works,  out-of–print  works,  and  digital  preservation  (in  particular  multiple 
copying for preservation purposes and web-harvesting). 

7.1.3.  Public-private partnerships 

Public-private  partnerships  in  the  digital  libraries  domain  are  particularly  interesting  as  a 
means of funding digitisation, given the large financial burden often involved. For this reason, 
the  Commission  Recommendation  and  Council  Conclusions  encourage  the  development  of 
public-private partnerships.  

At its fifth meeting on 4 June 2008, the High Level Expert Group adopted a report identifying 
opportunities, key success factors and guidelines for the use of public-private partnerships in 
the digital libraries domain, in particular for digitisation, with the aim of providing benefits to 
all parties involved: cultural institutions, private partners and citizens.  

The  report  is  based  on  a  number  of  case  studies  involving  different  types  of  cultural 
institutions  (libraries,  archives,  audiovisual  archives,  and  museums)  and  private  actors.  It 
addresses  key  issues  such  as:  exclusivity  clauses;  transparency  of  agreements;  avoidance  of 
copyright restrictions for digitised public domain content.  

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Public access 

•  The partnership should maximise public access and take into account long-term 

preservation and sustainability issues; 

•  Public domain content in the analogue world should remain in the public domain 
in the digital environment. If restrictions to user access and use are necessary in 
order to make the content available at all, these restrictions should only apply for 
a limited time period; 

•  The  partnership  should  operate  within  the  framework  of  applicable  intellectual 

property laws. 

Transparency and non-exclusivity 

•  The  partnership  should  be  transparent  and  accountable.  It  should  be  managed 
through  a  formal  governance  structure  and  based  on  a  memorandum  of 
understanding or contract that is accessible for the public; 

•  The partnership should not establish exclusive agreements. Exceptionally, where 
exclusive agreements are necessary to provide a service in the public interest, such 
arrangements should be time-limited, regularly reviewed and transparent. 

Mutual benefits 

•  Partners  should  clearly  state  their  strategic  objectives  and  the  benefits  for  the 

citizen to be achieved through the project; 

•  Partners should take into account and respect the different interests that may be at 

the basis of the partnership; 

•  The partnership should fully utilise the experience and expertise of the partners, 

and combine complementary skills and resources. 

7.1.4. 

Scientific information 

The High Level Expert Group was active also in the area of scientific information, providing 
a  discussion  and  cooperation  forum  between  scientific  publishers  and  the  scientific 
community. The Commission took an official position in the debate on scientific information 
through the Communication on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination 
and  preservation  (adopted  on  14  February  2007),  setting  the  objective  of  improving  current 
and  future  access  to  scientific  information.  On  23  November  2007,  the  Council  adopted 
Conclusions  on  scientific  information  in  the  digital  age,  welcoming  the  Commission’s 
initiative and inviting Member States to work together on the accessibility and preservation of 
scientific information. 

Through  the  High  Level  Expert  Group,  basic  consensus  has  been  built  among  stakeholders 
on: agreed principles on access; preservation of scientific information and research data; and 
future paradigms for scientific information. The most controversial issue remains the request 
for  open  access  formulated  by  the  research  community  and  strongly  rejected  by  publishers. 
The two parties have nevertheless agreed to conduct a large-scale experiment on the impact of 
the  publication  of  scientific  articles  in  open  repositories  (the  PEER  project  that  will  be  co-
funded under the eContentplus programme). 

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7.2.  Work with stakeholders on film archives 

Within the context of the Parliament and Council Recommendation of 16 November 2005 on 
film heritage and the competitiveness of related industrial activities, the Commission is acting 
as  a  facilitator  for  a  framework  agreement  between  film  archives  and  rightholders.  This 
agreement would regulate the use of deposited films in archives, including access through the 
internet for researchers. 

7.3. 

Interoperability Working Group 

The  Commission  envisaged  that  the  interoperability  issues  for  Europeana,  especially  given 
the  short  timescale  for  the  launch  of  a  first  prototype  at  end-2008,  needed  support  at  a 
relatively  early  stage  and  with  a  lot  of  drive.  The  Commission  therefore  organised  in  early 
2007  a  series  of  three  technical  meetings  with  experts  representing  all  four  domains 
(museums,  libraries,  archives,  audiovisual  sector)  to  discuss  issues  of  interoperability  and 
multilingualism  in  the  context  of  Europeana.  The  aim  of  these  meetings  was  to  adopt  a 
number  of  fundamental  principles  for  Europeana  (distributed,  heterogeneous  resources, 
access  at  item  level,  all  domains)  and  to  establish  an  initial  framework  on  which  existing 
initiatives  at  national  and  European  level  could  easily  align,  as  well  as  to  make 
recommendations  for  a  longer-term  strategy  to  give  some  stable  perspectives  to  decision 
makers, cultural institutions and service providers so that they could anticipate and undertake 
investments  or  new  developments.  The  principles  and  recommendations  were  adopted  by 
Europeana in 2007. 

8. 

TECHNICAL ISSUES 

8.1. 

Leveraging research and deployment of digital libraries 

Progress on technical issues is a prerequisite for the development of digital libraries in general 
and improvement of the services of Europeana in particular. 

In  general,  for  creating  Europe’s  future  digital  libraries,  research  is  needed,  among  other 
things  to  create  new  and  improved  mass  digitisation  techniques  and  technologies,  covering 
various types of objects, and to improve on OCR technologies to be able to tackle the various 
fonts,  multiple  languages  and  variety  in  paper  material  and  document  layout.  Also,  the 
creation  of  better  and  more  cost-effective  preservation  processes,  through  improved 
automation,  is  important  to  ensure  that  future  generations  can  continue  to  access  the  digital 
material.  More  specifically  for  Europeana,  deployment  of  new  technologies  and  tools  is 
needed to find the most efficient ways to encompass the many metadata formats and be able 
to  display  text,  pictures,  video,  sound  and  3D  objects  effectively.  Europeana  will  need  a 
model  that  can  deal  with  different  technical  architectures,  can  encompass  harvesting  and 
crawling,  can  deal  with  various  protocols  and  standards,  and  is  able  to  handle  full  text  and 
metadata. Some research and deployment actions are unique to the cultural sector ― such as 
searching across the different organisational domains ― or unique to Europe, e.g. cultural and 
linguistic barriers. Improvements, therefore, also need to be made in multilingual search and 
retrieval and the  use of semantics to create more structured and cross-domain searching. At 
Community level, the Research and eContentplus programmes are supporting actions that will 
have to tackle this wide range of issues. 

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8.1.1.  Digital libraries under eContentplus 

The eContentplus programme is part of the European Commission’s measures to facilitate the 
creation,  dissemination,  use  and  exploitation  of  digital  content  in  areas  of  public  interest  in 
Europe.  The  four-year  programme  (2005-2008)  supports  actions  to  tackle  organisational 
barriers and promote the take-up of leading-edge technical solutions to improve accessibility 
and  usability  of  digital  material  in  a  multilingual  environment.  Within  eContentplus,  about 
€60 million is allocated to reinforce networking between museums, archives and libraries ― 
particularly  for  interoperability  issues,  to  enhance  the  quality  of  content  with  well-defined 
metadata and to tackle organisational and technological barriers.  

Among  the  projects  co-funded  under  eContentplus  is  EDLnet,  a  core  project  to  Europeana 
that is bringing together museums, libraries and archives from 25 Member States to work on 
an operational framework for interoperability between museums, archives and libraries. Other 
projects aim to bring into Europeana collections from various cultural domains, for example 
VideoActive  (television  archives,  radio  archives),  European  Film  Gateway  (film  archives), 
Internet Gateway for the Archives (national archives), EDLocal (local and regional museums 
and other cultural organisations). 

From  2009  the  eContentplus  programme’s  follow-up  programme  is  going  to  be  part  of  the 
ICT Policy Support Programme under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP 
ICT-PSP). 

8.1.2.  Digital libraries and digital preservation research under the Framework Programme 

Under the Framework Programme for Research and Development, the Commission co-funds 
research  on  digital  libraries  and  digital  preservation.  This  has  been  an  area  of  incremental 
development,  from  building  specific  digital  libraries  towards  work  on  infrastructures  and 
architectures  supporting  greater  interoperability  of  resources  and  services  across  distributed 
digital collections. 

The  research  priorities  set  for  the  current  7th  Framework  Programme  (FP7)  will  especially 
need  to  speed  up  implementation  of  the  i2010  —  Digital  Libraries  agenda.  The  focus  is 
therefore  on  the  establishment  of  massive,  larger-scale,  automated  digitisation  of  various 
types  of  objects,  as  well  as  on  the  creation  of  more  cost-effective  approaches  and  on  new 
technologies to search and automatically index content. The challenge is to tackle the issues 
deriving  from  the  heterogeneity  of  formats,  objects  and  underlying  computing  platforms  to 
create  seamless  virtual  objects,  as  well  as  to  build  organisational  infrastructures  for  digital 
preservation  such  as  global  and  scalable  object  registries  and  reliable  services  guaranteeing 
the trustworthiness of the preserved data. 

There  are  also  organisational  challenges,  for  the  archive,  library  and  museum  domain,  in 
ensuring the availability of digitisation competences and, if necessary, of capacity ― not only 
in  large  organisations  but  also  in  smaller  ones.  This  was  behind  the  identification  in  the 
research agenda for 2007-2008 of the need to establish competence centres at European level 
that will support digitisation and digital preservation. The purpose is to leverage the effect of 
and  on  national  actions,  to  improve  technological  capacity  and  solutions,  to  use 
complementarity to extend competence, and to develop skills and services at European level. 
As a result of the first call for proposals, the Commission is providing co-funding of €11.5m 
in  the  IMPACT  project,  focused  on  digitisation  of  printed  materials,  with  the  aim  of 

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improving  the  technologies  for  optical  character  recognition,  for  structuring  documents  and 
for working with different languages. 

Other  projects  previously  funded  under  the  Framework  Programme  included  the  DELOS 
Network of Excellence for integrating digital libraries research in Europe, as well as projects 
targeting  archives  and,  in  particular,  audiovisual  resources.  These  developed,  for  example, 
methods  and  tools  for  semi-automatic  indexing  and  semantic  annotation  of  non-textual 
objects such as music, speech and images. The PRESTOSPACE project worked on enabling 
automated preservation of and access to Europe’s diverse audiovisual collections.  

Currently,  the  MultiMATCH  project  is  focusing  on  multilingual  information  retrieval  for 
cultural  objects  of  different  media  formats,  and  designing  a  system  to  support  diverse  user 
groups.  For  digital  preservation,  the  Commission  is  funding  the  PLANETS  project  (where 
national libraries, archives and industrial partners join together in developing tools to integrate 
preservation  into  their  workflows),  CASPAR  (covering  the  preservation  of  high-volume 
scientific data and multimedia art), as well as a coordinating action called Digital Preservation 
Europe that has the explicit goals of raising awareness, developing strategies and mobilising 
all  stakeholders,  including  a  wider  research  community,  around  the  topic  of  digital 
preservation. Also within the Capacities Programme attention is given to the issue of digital 
preservation,  for  example  in  the  context  of  the  work  done  on  digital  repositories  and  their 
sustainability. 

Within the 7th Framework Programme - and in particular the Cooperation programme theme 
6, Environment - the Commission also addresses important aspects related to physical cultural 
heritage. These actions are complementary to those on digital cultural heritage and in many 
cases involve the same actors. Also in relation to physical cultural heritage it is essential to 
use consistent and harmonised descriptions of cultural assets to improve the compatibility and 
interoperability  of  databases  for  the  benefit  of  scientists,  conservators,  restorers,  architects, 
owners and managers of these assets. 

8.1.3.  Future support 

Continued  support  for  research  and  deployment  actions  in  digital  libraries  and  digital 
preservation  should  guarantee  the  harnessing  and  strengthening  of  the  synergies  between 
digitisation,  online  accessibility  and  long-term  availability  of  Europe’s  cultural  memory. 
Through  its  funding  programmes,  the  Commission  will  continue  to  support  projects  that 
enhance  the  digitisation,  online  accessibility  and  digital  preservation  of  cultural  content  and 
contribute to the development of Europeana. Under FP7, within the ICT work programme for 
2009-2010,  digital  libraries  and  digital  preservation  will  be  a  specific  objective  with  an 
estimated budget of €69 million. And within the eContentplus programme, about €25 million 
has  already  been  earmarked  for  digital  libraries  for  2008  whereas  for  2009  and  2010  this 
support is expected to be continued within the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.  

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