European strategies for
digitisation: the context of
i2010 digital libraries
Pat Manson
Head of Unit
Cultural Heritage and Technology Enhanced Learning
Directorate General Information Society and Media
scene setting
 Long history of supporting innovation in libraries, in
networking and in digitisation
 A virtuous circle of actions – but unbalanced at
European level
Political limited
Strategic - intermittent
Operational – more than 100
M€ in projects since 2000
 Lasting effect on structures in Member States
 Balance between actions, optimise leveraging
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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overview of presentation
 Background to our strategies
 Political framework
 Current state of play
 The challenges – with focus on digitisation
 Our strategies for dealing with them – strategically
and operationally
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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background: i2010 a reminder

i2010: Commission strategy for the Information Society –
announced a flagship initiative on Digital Libraries:
digitisation, accessiblity and preservation of cultural and
scientific information i2010: digital libraries – launched 2
years ago
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Quality access to content for all
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Common multilingual access point
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Work needed on 3 interlinked axes:
 Digitisation
 Online accessibility
 Digital preservation

Made visible and operationalised through the European
Digital Library
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October 2007
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why Digital Libraries at
European level?
 Everyone should be able to access individual and
shared heritage
 Not only today but into the future
 Shaped by common effort not disparate local solutions
 Creative and economic potential of cultural and
scientific content
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Supporting education and research
New cultural and creative industries
Cultural expression and tourism
Media rich services
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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i2010 digital libraries ―
a framework for actions
 Commission Communication (2005)
 identified issues that were political, strategic and operational ―
applied to digitisation, accessibility and preservation
 Commission Recommendation to Member States (2006)
 Set out actions to tackle the challenges
 Council Conclusions (Nov 2006)
 endorsed actions, set out timeframe for all actors
 confirmation of work towards the European Digital Library
 European Parliament own initiative report (Sep 2007)
 Endorsed the Commission’s actions and calls
upon Member States
 Supported European Digital Library
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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Council Conclusions ―
more specifically

Council invites Member States:
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Council invites Commission:
 To reinforce national strategies and targets and co-ordination
within and between Member States
 To contribute to the European digital library
 To contribute to an overview of progress at European level
 To improve framework conditions
To stimulate & coordinate work towards European Digital Library
To improve policy coordination
To address framework conditions
To set up and chair a Member States Experts group and steer
process of implementing the actions
 To report on implementation progress, first time in 2008
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Clear framework for actions with concrete timeframes
– who should do what by when
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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the main challenges:
legal - financial - technical
Copyrights
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Problem - 20th century black hole
Addressed on strategic and operational level
Orphan works
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Different categories -> different problems -> different solutions
Scalability of search guidelines
Practical mechanisms for clearing rights, registries
Big test: legal recognition between MS of orphan work status
Out of print works
 Model licence
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Strategic recommendations agreed between stakeholders
Next step – practical operational test beds that create body
of evidence as to what works, if regulatory intervention is
needed
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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the main challenges:
legal - financial - technical
Digitisation costs

Coordinated approaches to avoid redundancy – selection,
prioritisation
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Identification of what has been digitised
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Incentives for public private partnerships

Improving technologies for digitisation
 Sponsorship, co-funding, technical support
 Need for body of experience on benefits and risks
 Guidelines from sub group of High Level Group
 Reduce costs for mass digitisation, for specific materials
 Competence centres – leverage, research improved solutions,
export competence, skills and services to smaller organisations
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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European Digital Library
 Our strategy –
operational role of the European Digital Library
 Showcase the effects of
political and strategic actions on the core problems
 Retains political interest
 Politically endorsed targets
 Integrating critical mass of content into EDL
 Reflect heterogeneity and connections between content in
different formats and institutions
 Implies – need for joined up digitisation policies and
strategies, at national and EU level
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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measuring
investments and progress
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Input and output of digitisation – quantitative measures
reported back to the political process
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Member States – collect information on current and planned
digitisation efforts
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Commission study – statistical methodologies and indicators
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Contractor IPF asking for input from stakeholders
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NUMERIC newsletter
 Absolute and relative digitisation costs
 Baseline statistical overview of digitisation volumes
 Ways to measure digitisation progress
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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conclusions
 i2010 - digital libraries: not just a short term goal
but a process
 Long term vision demands
 Cooperation of all stakeholders (ALMs plus private
sector)
 Already being taken forward in EDLnet
 New services and new business models
 Technically – providing multilingual access;
interoperability in short term and longer term
frameworks
 Digitisation today must adopt practices that will support
future usability and accessibility of digitised content
LIBER/EBLIDA Workshop on Digitisation, Copenhagen,
October 2007
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Further information from
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/...
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“i2010 - Digital Libraries”: ...activities/digital_libraries/
eContentPlus:
...activities/econtentplus/
ICT workprogramme / FP7: ...research/eu_research
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NUMERIC study:
www.numeric.ws
[email protected]
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
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October 2007
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