commission unveils plans for european digital libraries · the commission will work together with...
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Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries
Reference: IP/05/1202 Date: 30/09/2005
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IP/05/1202
Brussels, 30 September 2005
[Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]
Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries
The European Commission today unveiled its strategy to make Europe’s written and audiovisual heritage available on the Internet. Turning Europe’s historic and cultural heritage into digital content will make it usable for European citizens for their studies, work or leisure and will give innovators, artists and entrepreneurs the raw material that they need. The Commission proposes a concerted drive by EU Member States to digitise, preserve, and make this heritage available to all. It presents a first set of actions at European level and invites comments on a series of issues in an online consultation (deadline for replies 20 January 2006). The replies will feed into a proposal for a Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation, to be presented in June 2006.
“Without a collective memory, we are nothing, and can achieve nothing. It defines our identity and we use it continuously for education, work and leisure”, commented Information Society and Media Commissioner Reding. “The Internet is the most powerful new tool we have had for storing and sharing information since the Gutenberg press, so let’s use it to make the material in Europe’s libraries and archives accessible to all”. Ján Figel’, Commissioner for Education and Culture, added: “European cooperation is an obvious necessity in this field: it is about ensuring preservation and access to our common cultural heritage for the future generations”.
Making the resources in Europe’s libraries and archives available on the Internet is not straightforward. On one hand, we are talking about very different materials – books, film fragments, photographs, manuscripts, speeches and music. On the other, we have to select from very large volumes – for example, 2.5 billion books and bound periodicals in European libraries and millions of hours of film and video in broadcasting archives.
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The Commission communication sets out three key areas for action: digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation. At present, several initiatives exist in the Member States, but they are fragmented. To avoid creating systems that are mutually incompatible and duplicate work, the Commission proposes that Member States and major cultural institutions join EU efforts to make digital libraries a reality throughout Europe. Private involvement and public/private partnerships are a key element in achieving this goal.
For its part the Commission will step up coordination work and contribute funding through its research programmes and through the eContentplus programme:
● the results of an online consultation on digitisation and digital preservation issues (2005) will feed into Commission Proposal for a Recommendation ( 2006). The results will also be an input for other relevant initiatives such as the review of EU copyright rules (2006) and the implementation of the Community R&D programmes (2007). A High Level Group on digital libraries will advise the Commission on how to best address the identified challenges at European level,
● collaboration among Member States will be facilitated by an update of the Lund action plan, providing operational guidelines on digitisation (2005), backed up by quantitative indicators to measure progress. The Commission will work together with cultural institutions, such as the national and deposit libraries, to ensure co-ordinated action at European level,
● the Commission has made €36 million available for research on advanced access to our cultural heritage and digital preservation in the fifth call for proposals under the sixth research framework programme for R&D (2005). Under the seventh framework programme (FP7), the research on digitisation, digital preservation and access to cultural content will be considerably stepped up, inter alia through a network of Centres of Competence in the fields of digitisation and preservation (2007), and between 2005 and 2008, the eContentplus programme will contribute €60 million towards making national digital collections and services interoperable and facilitating multilingual access and use of cultural material.
Digital libraries is one of the flagship initiatives of Commissioner Reding’s initiative “i2010 – a European Information Society for growth and jobs”, adopted by the Commission on 1 June 2005 (see IP/05/643).
Useful links:
- online consultation on digital libraries
- eContentplus programme
- Lund action plan
- European Cultural Portal : http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/portal/index_fr.htm
see also MEMO/05/347
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Commission launches five-year strategy to boost the digital economy
Reference: IP/05/643 Date: 01/06/2005
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IP/05/643
Brussels, 1 June 2005
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Commission launches five-year strategy to boost the digital economy
The Commission today adopted the initiative “i2010: European Information Society 2010” to foster growth and jobs in the information society and media industries. i2010 is a comprehensive strategy for modernising and deploying all EU policy instruments to encourage the development of the digital economy: regulatory instruments, research and partnerships with industry. The Commission will in particular promote high-speed and secure broadband networks offering rich and diverse content in Europe.
“For many years, experts have been talking about digital convergence of communication networks, media content and devices”, said Viviane Reding, the Commissioner responsible for Information Society and Media. “Today, we see digital convergence actually happening. Voice over IP, Web TV, on-line music, movies on mobile telephones – all this is now reality. To enhance investment in this promising sector of the economy, we must provide a coherent regulatory framework for Europe’s digital economy that is market-oriented, flexible and future-proof. And we must focus our research spending on key information and communication technologies, such as nanoelectronics.”
In its i2010 initiative, the Commission outlines three policy priorities:
● to create an open and competitive single market for information society and media services within the EU. To support technological convergence with “policy convergence”, the Commission will propose: an efficient spectrum management policy in Europe (2005); a modernisation of the rules on audiovisual media services (end 2005); an updating of the regulatory framework for electronic communications (2006); a strategy for a secure information society (2006); and a comprehensive approach for effective and interoperable
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digital rights management (2006/2007).● to increase EU investment in research on information and communication technologies (ICT) by 80%. Europe lags behind in
ICT research, investing only €80 per head as compared to €350 in Japan and €400 in the US. i2010 identifies steps to put more into ICT research and get more out of it, e.g. by trans-European demonstrator projects to test out promising research results and by integrating small and medium sized enterprises better in EU research projects.).
● to promote an inclusive European information society. To close the gap between the information society “haves and have nots”, the Commission will propose: an Action Plan on e-Government for citizen-centred services (2006); three “quality of life” ICT flagship initiatives (technologies for an ageing society, intelligent vehicles that are smarter, safer and cleaner, and digital libraries making multimedia and multilingual European culture available to all (2007); and actions to overcome the geographic and social “digital divide”, culminating in a European Initiative on e-Inclusion (2008).
i2010 is the first Commission initiative to be adopted under the EU’s renewed Lisbon strategy. It focuses on the most promising sector of the EU economy: ICT account for 40% of Europe’s productivity growth and for 25% of EU GDP growth. Member States are asked to define National Information Society Priorities in their National Reform Programmes in mid-October 2005 to contribute to the objectives of i2010.Further information on i2010 can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/i2010
MEMO/05/184
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[Skip Information Society Menu] Policies Activities Culture & Society Economy & Work Education & Training Quality of Life IS Industry Regions/World IS Research
Policy
● i2010
● A single European Information Space
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● Inclusion, better public services and quality of
life
● Preparatory Work for i2010
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Introduction
i2010 - A European
Information Society for
growth and employment
● Communication
● Press release EN ;
DE ; FR and EN ; DE ; FR
● Memo
News
NEW! The presentations from
the Workshop on Digital
Inclusion and Participation are
now available.
Workshop on Digital Inclusion
and Participation, in Brussels on
23 September, 2005
See the new calls for tender
News● Viviane Reding, Member of
the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media, "The role of libraries in the information society" (03/10/05)
● Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries (30/09/05)
● Commission proposes advancing the single market for radio spectrum use (29/09/05)
More news...
Funding Opportunities● IST Evaluation and
Monitoring (Deadline: 19/10/2005)
● Benchmarking in a policy perspective study (Deadline: 20/10/2005)
● Interactive content and convergence : implications for the Information Society study (Deadline: 20/10/2005)
● Broadband Coverage in Europe study (Deadline: 20/10/2005)
● Measuring progress of eAccessibility in Europe (Deadline: 25/10/2005)
● The impact of the ICT sector on economic growth and competitiveness (Deadline: 27/10/2005)
● Security consultancy and assessment services for European eGovernmment services (Deadline: 28/10/2005)
● Benchmarking policies and
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under Studies
The Digital Divide Report, the
open consultation and press
release are now available.
Background
The need for a new initiative is
driven by three factors that call
for a reassessment of the
objectives:
● New challenges:
Information Society is
moving from a “pilot
phase” to a “wide
deployment” as the ICT
world becomes more
mature and global. Since
2000, the ICT context
has changed
substantially, not only
from a technological
point of view (e.g. 3G,
Ipv6, nanotechnologies,
convergence, a new
generation of
computers, ambient
intelligent scenarios…)
initiatives in support of e- learning for enterprises in Europe (Deadline: 28/10/2005)
● Development of e-skills foresight scenarios in the EU (Deadline: 28/10/2005)
● Measures to increase trust and confidence of consumers in the Information Society (Deadline: 03/11/2005)
● Benchmarking on-line public services (Deadline: 03/11/2005)
● Impact of Information and Computer Technology on Patient Safety and Risk Management in Healthcare (Deadline: 10/11/2005)
● European ICT Prize - Prior information notice (Deadline: TBA)
More funding opportunities...
Forthcoming Events● Images et Mobilité: Lorient,
France, 7 October 2005
● ASK-IT Pan-European Workshop: Stuttgart, Germany, 13 October 2005
● Towards inclusive online provision of public services in European cities and regions: Prague, Czech Republic, 14 October 2005
More events...
In the Library● Speech: "Europa, die Medien
und die europäische Medienpolitik", Viviane Reding, Mitglied der Europäischen Kommission, zuständig für Informationsgesellschaft und Medien, 26 September 2005
● "September eHealth newsletter", Unit H1, 23 September 2005
● Speech: "Better regulation for Europe’s media industry: the Commission’s approach", Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, 22 September 2005
More publications...
Have your say● 2 open consulations
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but also for economic
players (for instance,
with the entrance into a
major deployment
phase, with the end of
the burst of the Internet
bubble, better internal
market regulation, and
the development of
public-private
partnerships).
● The forthcoming closure
of the eEurope 2005
Action Plan: the current
Action Plan will finish at
the end of 2005.
Following from this, a
natural expectation arise
to discuss the future of
an Information Society
(IS) policy initiative at
the EU level.
● The revision of the
Lisbon Strategy: The
last year of eEurope
2005 coincides with the
mid-term review of the
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Lisbon Agenda. The
Report from the High
Level Group chaired by
W. Kok makes a strong
recommendation for
Europe to reap the full
benefits of ICT: “In
order to ensure future
economic growth, the EU
needs a comprehensive
and holistic strategy to
spur on the growth of
the ICT sector and the
diffusion of ICT in all
parts of the
economy”(1). The focus
on ICT in the renewed
Lisbon Agenda is based
on the recognition of the
pivotal role of
Knowledge and
Innovation.
In November 2004, the
European Commission
published a Communication on
the challenges to be addressed
by a European Information
Society strategy up to 2010(2).
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This Communication highlights
the need to increase research
and investment in information
and communication
technologies, and to promote
their take-up throughout both
public and private sectors. The
adoption of the Challenges
Communication gave the
opportunity to go one step
further by consulting
stakeholders more directly. The
results of these consultations
highlight the changes expected
for a new strategy and provide
a valuable contribution to its
definition(3). The Challenges
Communication was discussed
at the December Telecom
Council and the Council
Resolution invited the
Commission to prepare the
follow-up of the eEurope 2005
Action Plan. The Commission
committed to the publication of
a full Communication strategy
in time for the June 2005
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Telecom Council.
(1) “Facing the Challenge - The Lisbon
strategy for growth and employment”
Report from the High Level Group
chaired by Wim Kok, November 2004,
p. 22.
(2) “Challenges for Europe’s
Information Society beyond 2005:
Starting point for a new EU strategy”
COM(2004)757.
(3) The public consultation report is
available on the European Commission
web-site.
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IP/05/643
Brussels, 1 June 2005
Commission launches five-year strategy to boost the digital economy
The Commission today adopted the initiative “i2010: European Information Society 2010” to foster growth and jobs in the information society and media industries. i2010 is a comprehensive strategy for modernising and deploying all EU policy instruments to encourage the development of the digital economy: regulatory instruments, research and partnerships with industry. The Commission will in particular promote high-speed and secure broadband networks offering rich and diverse content in Europe.
“For many years, experts have been talking about digital convergence of communication networks, media content and devices”, said Viviane Reding, the Commissioner responsible for Information Society and Media. “Today, we see digital convergence actually happening. Voice over IP, Web TV, on-line music, movies on mobile telephones – all this is now reality. To enhance investment in this promising sector of the economy, we must provide a coherent regulatory framework for Europe’s digital economy that is market-oriented, flexible and future-proof. And we must focus our research spending on key information and communication technologies, such as nanoelectronics.”
In its i2010 initiative, the Commission outlines three policy priorities:
- to create an open and competitive single market for information society and media services within the EU. To support technological convergence with “policy convergence”, the Commission will propose: an efficient spectrum management policy in Europe (2005); a modernisation of the rules on audiovisual media services (end 2005); an updating of the regulatory framework for electronic communications (2006); a strategy for a secure information society (2006); and a comprehensive approach for effective and interoperable digital rights management (2006/2007).
- to increase EU investment in research on information and communication technologies (ICT) by 80%. Europe lags behind in ICT research, investing only €80 per head as compared to €350 in Japan and €400 in the US. i2010 identifies steps to put more into ICT research and get more out of it, e.g. by trans-European demonstrator projects to test out promising research results and by integrating small and medium sized enterprises better in EU research projects.).
2
- to promote an inclusive European information society. To close the gap between the information society “haves and have nots”, the Commission will propose: an Action Plan on e-Government for citizen-centred services (2006); three “quality of life” ICT flagship initiatives (technologies for an ageing society, intelligent vehicles that are smarter, safer and cleaner, and digital libraries making multimedia and multilingual European culture available to all (2007); and actions to overcome the geographic and social “digital divide”, culminating in a European Initiative on e-Inclusion (2008).
i2010 is the first Commission initiative to be adopted under the EU’s renewed Lisbon strategy. It focuses on the most promising sector of the EU economy: ICT account for 40% of Europe’s productivity growth and for 25% of EU GDP growth. Member States are asked to define National Information Society Priorities in their National Reform Programmes in mid-October 2005 to contribute to the objectives of i2010.
Further information on i2010 can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/i2010
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i2010 – A European Information Society for growth and employment
Reference: MEMO/05/184 Date: 01/06/2005
HTML: EN
PDF: EN
DOC: EN
MEMO/05/184
Brussels, 1 June 2005
[Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]
i2010 – A European Information Society for growth and employment
Why a new initiative now?
Best-bet investment for growth and jobs
Information and communication technologies (ICT) are a powerful driver for economy-wide productivity, growth and jobs – and are arguably Europe’s best-bet investment for the future. A quarter of the EU’s GDP growth and 40% of our productivity growth are due to ICT. The ICT industry generates 8% of Europe’s GDP and employs 6% of its workforce.
Technology for life
There is good evidence that rapid technological progress has brought us to a turning point in the history information society. Widely deployed, ICTs have the potential to transform the way in which we work, live and interact. The digital convergence of media and information services, networks and devices provide unique opportunities: for firms, to modernize their business processes and deliver a wide range of services; for consumers, to experience a range of new media and content services, and for governments, to offer efficient, modern, interactive public services on line.
New impetus for the Lisbon strategy
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“i2010” stands for a package of proactive policies to harness the potential of the digital economy to deliver growth, jobs and modern, on-line public services. It is a key component of the EU’s renewed “Lisbon” competitiveness strategy.
What is new in i2010?
An umbrella strategy
i2010 is a comprehensive strategy to guide information society and media policies. It states a common purpose for the various policy levers available to the Commission: regulation, R&D investment, innovation and deployment of information and communication technologies throughout the economy and society.
A locomotive for Lisbon
i2010 is strongly focused on the main axes of the renewed Lisbon strategy: growth and employment. It also provides tools for good governance, including better regulation commitments and progress reports.
ICT services and networks will be crucial to the success of the 2005-2008 “national reform programmes” that EU Member States will present in October this year. Reforms will be tailored to national circumstances, but compared and co-ordinated at EU level to find the best responses to new emerging issues. This will improve monitoring and policy consistency.
What are the “three pillars” of i2010?
The first pillar of i2010 combines all the regulatory instruments at the Commission’s disposal which will allow us to create a modern, market-oriented regulatory framework for the digital economy. The second pillar brings the EU’s research and development instruments into the game of digital convergence and sets priorities for our cooperation with the private sector to promote innovation and technological leadership. The third pillar seeks to promote, with the tools available to the Commission, an inclusive European Information Society, supported by efficient and user-friendly ICT enabled public services.
How widespread is broadband take-up in the EU?
Broadband take-up has increased fast. Growth has attained an average of 70% per year in the past 3 years, reaching 9% of population (roughly 20% of households EU-wide). Deployment (availability) has advanced to reach more than 85% of EU15 population. Overall, over the last three years, the EU has started to catch up with its main competitors, such as the US where broadband take-up stood at 11.5% at the end of 2004, Japan, with a rate of 14.6% and South Korea with a rate of 26.8%.
[Graphic in PDF & Word format]
Figure 1: penetration rates by technology
How fast are Europe’s broadband communication networks?
The EU is a long way behind its international competitors on network speed. For example, Japan had 15.4 million broadband subscribers in April 2004 and nearly 10% of these were connected via fibre optic cable with downlink rates of up to 26Mbps. In the EU, there are 40 million subscribers and few connections with bandwidth above 3Mbps. Speeds are generally increasing, but vary widely among Member States. This disadvantage could seriously delay the introduction of new services here. Competition affects both prices and speeds. The EU is improving access speeds, but is far behind key international competitors such as US, Japan and Korea:
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[Graphic in PDF & Word format]
Figure 2: increases in speed in EU15: a comparison December 2003-2004
How can the EU stimulate the take up of broadband?
A migration towards advanced high-capacity networks can primarily be achieved through more competition. As in other network industries competition is still weak. The Member States with the highest broadband penetration rates are those where competition between alternative technologies is most keen and the customer has most choice, with both cable and ADSL offers for instance. But cable coverage is limited in the EU and competition between alternative platforms is not widespread. Therefore stimulating competition through the full and correct transposition into national law and implementation of the regulatory framework for electronic communications are crucial.
A recent success story in this respect is France where a large increase in unbundled local loops induced by the implementation of the regulatory framework has enhanced competition in the market for advanced digital subscriber lines (ADSL).
Broadband prices in France are now among the lowest in Europe. Improvements in speeds in many areas allow the emergence of “triple play” offers (telephony, Internet and TV). One year ago France’s broadband penetration rate was below EU average and now tops the list.
What is “convergence” and why does it matter?
Digital “convergence” – of telecommunications, media content and electronic devices – is enabled and driven by the expansion of broadband internet. It is opening new markets and creating new challenges, not the least of which are interoperability at the network, device and content levels, the efficient management of spectrum to facilitate the emergence of new wireless technologies, and the availability of content. All this places new demands on regulators and policy makers in all these fields.
Convergence also calls for a new level playing field among audiovisual content service providers. Modern EU rules should be market-oriented, flexible, and neutral as between delivery platforms, and enable content service providers to compete on an equal footing, ensure regulatory consistency and strengthen legal certainty based on the country of origin-principle. To this end, the Commission will propose a modernisation of the Television without Frontiers Directive in 2005.
Is there any real evidence of link between information and communication technology R&D investment and productivity?
The intensity of the ICT research effort correlates directly with productivity growth. Within the EU, the countries that have a large ICT-producing
sector and invest the highest levels in ICT research, like Ireland, Finland and Sweden, also have the highest productivity growth rates[1]
.
GDP share of ICT-producing sector1995-2000
Labour productivity growth 1995-2000
Ireland 12.3 % 5.3 %
Finland 10.6 % 2.5 %
US 7.3 % 2.5 %
Sweden 7.3 % 2.1 %
UK 7.1 % 1.8 %
EU 5.9 % 1.4 %
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Netherlands 5.8 % 0.9 %
Germany 5.6 % 1.3 %
France 5.5 % 1.2 %
Italy 4.7 % 0.8 %
Denmark 4.7 % 1.9 %
Figure 3: Research effort and labour productivity growth in EU Member States
How does Europe’s R&D investment in information and communication technologies compare with the US and Japan’s?
ICT represents more than 30% of the total R&D budget in all major OECD countries but only 18 % in Europe. For instance, investment in ICT research in the EU is around one third that of the US and is 30% lower than Japan. In fact, the gap in ICT research investment represents half of the total gap in research spending between the EU and the US. The picture is similar for both public and private investment.
ICT R&D[2] EU15 US Japan
Private sector investments 23 B€ 83 B€ 40 B€Public sector investments 8 B€ 20 B€ 11 B€Inhabitants 383 m 296 m 127 m
Investments / inhabitant 80 € 350€ 400€.
ICT R&D as % Total R&D 18% 34% 35%
Figure 4: Investment in ICT Research (2002)[3]
It is ICT use that is driving the next wave of innovation, putting technology at the service of people and businesses. Research is aiming at getting computers, phones and electronic devices out of the boxes and bringing them to the user wherever she/he is and at any time. ICT research today is about electronics at home bringing content across different media and in the most natural forms. It is about ICT supporting creativity and design across the industry. It is about efficient solutions for early detection and close monitoring in health, security and for environmental risks.
Europe must and is certainly capable of reversing the trend and of remaining a key player in these strategic technologies. A renewed and more intensive effort in ICT research needs both private and public investments.
How will i2010 be funded?
Two crucial EU programmes – the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7) and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) – both give priority to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as drivers for competitiveness.
The new Information Society Technology (IST) Priority in FP7 will put €1.8 billion annually into strategic research priorities in areas of European technological leadership such as fixed and mobile communications, embedded systems, nanoelectronics and high-quality audiovisual content. At 30% of the budget, the IST priority gets the largest single share of collaborative research funding.
The new €802 million Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy Support Programme, a specific programme within the CIP, will promote wide take-up of promising ICT applications, by demonstrating industrial-scale technological and organisational solutions to interoperability, identity management and security problems.
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What will EU-funded information and communication technology R&D achieve?
Our priorities are to reinforce leadership in areas where Europe has recognised strengths, to build capacities to seize new opportunities as they emerge, and to ensure co-evolution of technologies and application and boost innovation from ICT use.
Under the current EU Framework Programme for Research, FP6, this has given a boost to promising fields such as embedded systems and semantic-based knowledge handling, and areas such as nanoelectronics and mobile and broadband communications are also allocated significant resources to reinforce strengths in these fields.
The Commission proposal for FP7 contains additional reinforced technology pillars on “simulation, visualisation, interaction and mixed realities” and on “software, Grids, security and dependability”. Another novelty is the emphasis on “Integration of Technologies” in areas such as “personal environments”, “home environments” and “robotic systems”.
What does an “inclusive European information society” mean?
The information society will be sustainable only if it ensures inclusion and broad electronic participation in society (e-participation). Tackling all forms of the “digital divide” is therefore a key concern of i2010.
Less than 50% of EU households have access to the internet (the figure is much lower in the EU10) and the benefits reaped are uneven. The EU needs to address threats (“no one left behind”) but also seize new opportunities for better participation and empowerment. This is a moving target, as the information society keeps evolving. i2010’s aim is to showcase concrete achievements (drawing on existing developments), while exploring new ICT solutions for everyday life challenges.
The currently planned i2010 “flagship initiatives”, to be shaped by stakeholders’ feedback and emerging needs, are:
Caring for people in an ageing society: further explore and exploit ICT solutions for “Ambient Assisted Living”, to extend the time older people can live independently in their homes (supporting their daily activities, health and security).
Safer, smarter and cleaner cars: this will build on ongoing work under the “eSafety” initiative, e.g. recent announcements of “eCall” system allowing cars to automatically call an emergency number after collision; anti-crash short range radars for cars.
Digital libraries: announced communication for July 2005 addressing development, management and usage of digital archives for text, image and sound information, thus promoting European cultural heritage.
How will eGovernment contribute to the i2010 agenda?
There is a political consensus in the EU that ICT plays a key role to improve quality, efficiency and accessibility of public services. Therefore Member States have invested in ICTs to reshape their public services. As a result 90% of EU public service providers are now online; 40% of 20 “basic services” are fully interactive. Challenges are now shifting from online availability to rising demand and reaping benefits (e.g. greater efficiency through back-office restructuring, improved quality of services, and increase cross-border services). I2010 will support these new challenges and foster innovative approaches to eGovernment solutions.
[1] “ICT and Economic Growth: Evidence from OECD Countries, Industries and Firms”, OECD, 2003
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[2] "Investment in ICT Research, Comparative Study”, IDATE 2002
[3] Comparable data for EU 25 will be available by the end of 2005.
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/184&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (6/6)2005.10.5 10:48:31 PM
Digital Libraries - HOME - Europa - DG Information Society & Media
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ACTIVITIES :: Digital Libraries :: Homepage
i2010 Digital Libraries Digital Libraries are organised collections of digital content made available to the public. They can consist of digital copies of books or be based on information produced in digital form. The "i2010: Digital Libraries" initiative aims at making European information resources easier and more interesting to use in an on-line environment. >>more...
Communication
The Commission adopted on 30/09/2005 the "i2010: Digital Libraries" communication outlining the vision of this initiative and addressing in particular the issues of digitisation, on line accessibility and digital preservation of our cultural heritage. The communication is supported by a Staff Working Document which provides further background information. >>more...
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Download the Communication pdf 75 kb :
Download the Staff working document pdf 110 kb :
On-line Consultation
All interested individuals and organisations are encouraged to provide by 20 January 2006 their views on several key issues and problems for realising the digital libraries initiative. >>more...
Download On-line consultation pdf 20 kb :
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ACTIVITIES :: eContentplus
eContentplus programmeeContentplus programme
On 9 March 2005 the European Parliament and the Council approved the eContentplus Programme, a multiannual Community programme to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable.
The eContentplus programme will support the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services across the EU.
The 4-year programme (2005‒08), proposed by the European Commission, will have a budget of € 149 million to tackle organisational barriers and promote take up of leading-edge technical solutions to improve acessibility and usability of digital material in a multilingual environment.
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The Programme addresses specific market areas where development has been slow: geographic content (as a key constituent of public sector content), educational content, cultural, scientific and scholarly content. The Programme also supports EU-wide co-ordination of collections in libraries, museums and archives and the preservation of digital collections so as to ensure availability of cultural, scholarly and scientific assets for future use.
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The call for proposals in now open, the relevant final documentation is online.
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A Call for Independent Experts for the econtentplus and Safer Internet plus Programme 2005-2008 is now open
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News
● Commission starts final phase in consultations on modernising EU rules for audiovisual content (12/07/05)
● "The demand for future mobile communications markets and services in Europe", Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Joint Research Centre, European Commission, 4 April 2005
● Improving and extending the use of ICT to make the most of Europe’s cultural and audiovisual heritage (03/05/05)
More news...Funding Opportunities
● Benchmarking on-line public services (Deadline: 03/11/2005)
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ISTweb - Directorate E - DigiCULT - eEurope digitisation - The Lund Principles and the Lund Action Plan
Information Society Technologies
Directorate E - Content
Cultural Heritage
eEurope digitisation - The Lund Principles and the Lund Action Plan● Digitisation and the eEurope Action Plans
● Why coordinate?
● The first step in the coordination of digitisation
Digitisation and the eEurope Action PlansThe original challenge is to unlock the cultural and scientific resources for the present and the
future. Digitisation has been recognised as key if Europe is to exploit in the new digital world the
rich cultural and scientific resources it holds. As digitisation is considered a huge contribution to the
conservation and preservation of heritage and scientific resources, the intention is to create with it
new educational opportunities; to use it to encourage tourism; and to provide ways to improve
access by the citizen to the patrimony.
The critical role played by digitisation was recognised by the eEurope 2002 Action Plan and amongst
the objectives of the Action Plan was that of stimulating European content in global networks in
order to fully exploit the opportunities created by the advent of digital technologies. One specific
action encouraged Member States to "create a coordination mechanism for digitisation
programmes".
Why coordinate?There is a considerable financial and human effort invested in projects and in a variety of
digitisation campaigns across Europe yet these activities are highly fragmented and many obstacles
put in jeopardy the success and economic sustainability of these initiatives over time. These
obstacles include:
● the diversity of approaches to digitisation
● the risks associated with the use of inappropiate technologies and inadequate standards
● the challenges posed by long-term preservation and access to digital objects
● the lack of consistency in approaches to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)
● the lack of sinergy between cultural and new technology programmes
Therefore, better awareness of what is going on in other countries (and within countries) at policy
and project level, guidelines, development of best practice, and the promotion of standards which
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ISTweb - Directorate E - DigiCULT - eEurope digitisation - The Lund Principles and the Lund Action Plan
support interoperability contribute to providing a better access to digitised resources and to
improving the effectiveness of digitisation initiatives.
The first step in the coordination of digitisationOur Unit organised an expert meeting with representatives from all Member States in Lund on 4
April 2001. The conclusions and recommendations derived from this meeting are known as the Lund
Principles and have developed into the Lund Action Plan, aiming at establishing an agenda for
actions to be carried out either by Member States or by the Commission, and by the two of them
jointly. The approach is ranging from bottom-up involvement of the cultural institutions themselves,
for instance in determining cases of best practice, to top-down policy initiatives.
The Lund Action Plan was updated during the Copenhagen NRG meeting in December 2002. The
"Implementation Framework for Coordination Mechanisms for Digitisation Policies and Programmes"
states the progress made until that date by the Member States and indicates the objectives for
2003.
The main conclusion at Lund were that Member States could make progress on the eEurope
objective if they:
● Established an evolving forum of coordination
● Supported the development of a European view on policies and programmes
● Developed mechanisms to promote good practice and skills developments
● Worked in a collaborative manner to make the digitised cultural and scientific heritage of
Europe visible and accesible
The Commission could help achieve the eEurope objectives by:
● Supporting coordination activities
● Enabling the creation of centres of competence
● Fostering the development of benchmarking standards for digitisation practices
● Encouraging a framework that would enable a shared vision of European content
● Assisting Member States to improve access and awareness of citizens by enhancing the
quality and usability of content and the development of models to enable eEurope entreprises
"An Open Method for Benchmarking Digitisation Policies-Objectives, Methodology and Indicators"
has been proposed by the Commission to Member States representatives as a tool to exchange
good practices and to improve national practices, coordination and investments. Member States
have adopted the model, including the benchmarking approach to the Lund Principles framework
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ISTweb - Directorate E - DigiCULT - eEurope digitisation - The Lund Principles and the Lund Action Plan
and establishing a Benchmarking Workgroup with experts nominated officially by national
authorities.
List of relevant background documents
● Conclusions of the Lund Experts meeting on 4 April 2004 - Summary of the Lund Principles
● Download the Lund Principles in all official languages (PDF):
EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, PT, DK, SV, FI, EL, NL
● Action Plan on coordination of digitisation programmes and Policies
● Download the Lund Action Plan in all official languages (PDF):
EN, FR, DE, IT, ES, PT, DK, SV, FI, EL, NL
● Revised Action Plan in Dec. 2002 (DOC)
● Benchmarking digitisation
● Benchmarking workgroup
This page is maintained by: Manuela Speiser
Last updated on: 24/06/2004
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European digital libraries : Frequently Asked Questions
Reference: MEMO/05/347 Date: 30/09/2005
HTML: EN
PDF: EN
DOC: EN
MEMO/05/347
Brussels, 30 September 2005
European digital libraries : Frequently Asked Questions
1. How would you summarise the European strategy for digital libraries?
Creating a virtual library of European dimension will depend on a common effort to move ahead on the following three strategic issues:
● digitisation of content stored in traditional formats (e.g. text and photos on paper, photographic negatives, films on reels, music on vinyl records or tape, etc);
● online accessibility of this content; ● digital preservation – making sure that the digital information will also be available for future generations.
The commitment of the Member States and the individual institutions (libraries, archives) to this project will determine how fast it is carried out. The Commission will help to co-ordinate efforts at national level. Through its programmes - for example eContentplus and the research framework programmes - it will help to build “critical mass” and to ensure EU-wide access to digitised collections.
2. What material will be available in the digital libraries?
The European digital libraries initiative addresses all types of material: books, audiovisual material, photographs, documents in archives etc. The technology is beginning to enable users to find and work with information in all these forms. Information about Leonardo da Vinci, for example, can exist in the form of his work, books about him, documents with his drawings etc, plus films etc. The challenge is to create a digital library that combines these resources. This will also make it possible to tap the vast and diverse potential of Europe’s written text, image and sound archives.
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3. Will there be one centralised European digital library?
Technology is moving fast and there are potentially many different ways of creating virtual European libraries. We should not aim at one single site or structure, but combine efforts in all the countries. What matters is to integrate access. This does not mean that the libraries or digital collections should be merged in a single database or library. Ideally, the user should be able to search in different collections through one single entry point and use the material. This would obviate the need to know about and visit multiple libraries.
4. How does the European initiative relate to the letter from 6 heads of State and Government about the creation of a European digital library and to the statement by 19 European national libraries?
The Commission has welcomed the letter by the Heads of State and Government on the creation of a European digital library and the statement of the national libraries in which they express their commitment to realise this objective. The Commission’s digital libraries communication sets out its view on how Europe can turn the digital libraries vision into reality. Making Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage available on line provides an immense reservoir of starting materials for Europe's artists and scientists - and information and communication technologies provide powerful new tools with which to exploit them, to the benefit of all. The Commission Communication outlines the actions that will be taken to give new impetus to digitisation work under way in the Member States and to contribute in the areas where Europe can add value.
5. Is the digital libraries initiative part of i2010 and of the Lisbon strategy?
The digital libraries initiative is a flagship project of i2010, the overall Commission strategy for the information society for the coming years (see IP/05/643).
Initiatives that improve the accessibility and flow of information are good for the knowledge economy, and the digital libraries initiative has a considerable economic potential. Once digitised, our cultural and scientific heritage can be used as input for a wide range of information products and services, e.g. in the education and tourism sectors.
6. Is the Commission initiative a reaction to Google’s digital library project?
Google’s initiative is an example that shows the potential of the online environment for making information more accessible for all. The sheer size of the announced operation – 15 million books – appeals to the imagination. The initiative has certainly triggered a reflection on how to deal with our European cultural heritage in the digital age. It is also interesting in that it highlights the possibilities for public/private initiatives in this area. Public/private partnerships or sponsoring by private companies will accelerate digitisation. Given the budgetary constraints on many cultural institutions, initiatives involving the private sector can be a useful means to complement public funding.
7. Will all material in Europe’s libraries and archives be covered?
We are dealing with potentially huge volumes of data. To take an example: The British Library has some 150 million items (books and others). European libraries hold in total more than 2.5 billion (2,500 million) books and bound periodicals. Not all of these books are unique, but even digitising all the unique material would be practically impossible. European archives also contain enormous amounts of documents and audiovisual material. Choices will have to be made as to what can be digitised, and of course copyrights have to be respected.
Digitisation is costly and requires a considerable upfront investment. The costs of a European virtual library would depend on the extent of its ambition, but also on the quality of the digitised material and the type of service offered. Downloadable versions of the highest quality would be more expensive than a “view only” service, based on low-quality scans.
Value can be added at European level through co-ordination to ensure that resources are used efficiently (no duplication of efforts) and that good practices enhancing cost-efficiency are known to all.
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8. How will the material to be digitised be chosen?
The institutions or Member States themselves will be responsible for the selection. No “top down” model is envisaged. The decisions about what is included will need to be taken by the libraries and archives who own the materials as part of their own strategic development plans and in light of the resources (human and financial). However, European added-value is important. If a writer has, for example travelled and worked in different countries, it is interesting to combine material from the different countries.
9. Are European citizens interested in a European digital library?
Digitisation and online libraries initiatives have to be rooted in demand and use. European libraries have 138 million registered users. Putting the material online will not only increase possibilities for these users, but will also open it up for wider and cross-border use. Until now, the experience with online services is that people do use them. For example, Gallica, the online section of the French national library, gets 4, 000 downloads a day and 1.5 million hits a month. The fact that Google invests so much money in its digitisation project also demonstrates that there are clear commercial expectations.
10. What possibilities will the users have?
The needs of the users should be central. Developments will be demand-driven, but it is important to take a longer term and visionary view of what the user will get from the library in the way of services. Different users will have different needs and uses: One can imagine researchers wanting annotation tools; other users may wish to develop their family histories and genealogies using the materials in historical community archives. We see in the future that users can and will be much more actively involved in contributing to their cultural heritage online (e.g. the Wikipedia model).
11. What will be funded at European level?
Financing digitisation is mainly a responsibility of the Member States. The Commission can contribute in areas where there is most European added-value. Instruments such as the EU research programmes and eContentplus can play an important role, for example by helping to aggregate digitised material across borders. These programmes cannot, however, be used to fund routine digitisation.
At present, digitisation efforts in the Member States are progressing rather slowly. One of the aims of the European action in this area is to reinvigorate the national efforts. Public/private partnerships or private sponsorship can be a useful means to complement public funding and will allow some libraries to accelerate digitisation.
12. What work has already been done in this area?
Making Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage available online is not a new topic. In recent years, various policy initiatives have addressed digitisation and visibility of collections held by libraries, archives and museums. The EU Member States, supported by the Commission, exchange information and work together on digitisation. An important basis for their work is the Lund eEurope digitisation action plan (which came out of a major conference on digitisation in Lund, Sweden, held by the Commission in 2001). http://www.cordis.lu/ist/digicult/lund-principles.htm
Several EU-funded research projects have dealt with the online availability of Europe’s cultural heritage, some specifically with digitisation. A recent project dealing with the digitisation of Europe’s film heritage is PRESTO-SPACE. http://www.cordis.lu/ist/digicult/presto.htm
13. How does the vision for digital libraries relate to The European Library project?
The European Library service originates from the TEL project, co-financed under the EU’s 5th research framework programme. The vision of the project is that it will provide a gateway to the catalogues of the collections of European libraries and will eventually give access to their combined
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resources. Through TEL, some of the digital content of these libraries can already be obtained online. The TEL project ended on 31 January 2004. Its results can be seen as the embryo of a European digital library.
14. How will you deal with the issue of intellectual property rights?
Under current legislation only public domain works (where there is no longer copyright) can be made available to the public online. For other works, digital libraries need to get the explicit agreement of rightholders. In practice this means that only works from the 1920s or before will be covered in a digital library, or works for which there is an agreement, on a case by case basis, with the rightholders.
Intellectual property rights are a crucial issue in the online consultation that accompanies the digital libraries Communication. The replies to the consultation by all the stakeholders involved will be a valuable input for further reflection and action in this area.
See also IP/05/1202
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