The European Commission’s plan to promote digital access to Europe’s heritage was given a new push this month with the publication of the results of its on-line consultation on the ‘Digital libraries’ initiative, and the announcement of targets for the next five years. Some 6 million books, documents and other cultural works are expected to be available on-line by 2010.
The internet consultation revealed widespread support for the initiative, though with some concerns over copyright issues from publishers and rights holders. It has helped to further define the practical details of the planned European Digital Library, which will build on the existing TEL (The European Library) infrastructure to create a high-profile, multilingual, single access point to the vast resources of Europe’s
In order to boost European digitisation efforts, the Commission will co-fund the creation of a Europe-wide network of digitisation centres. The institution will also address, in a series of policy documents, the issue of the appropriate framework for intellectual property rights protection in the context of digital libraries.
