Europe's Digital Library Doubles in Size but also Shows EU's Lack of Common Copyright Solution
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, December 6, 2024


Europe's Digital Library Doubles in Size but also Shows EU's Lack of Common Copyright Solution
The collection of Europeana has more than doubled since it was launched in November 2008. Photo: EFE/Oliver Hostel.



BRUSSELS.- 4.6 million digitised books, maps, photographs, film clips and newspapers can now be accessed by internet users on Europeana, Europe's multilingual digital library ( www.europeana.eu ). The collection of Europeana has more than doubled since it was launched in November 2008. Today the European Commission, in a policy document declared as its target to bring the number of digitised objects to 10 million by 2010. The Commission also opened a public debate on the future challenges for book digitisation in Europe: the potential of the public and private sector to team up and the need to reform Europe's too fragmented copyright framework.

"The digitisation of books is a Herculean task but also opens up cultural content to millions of citizens in Europe and beyond. This is why I welcome first efforts made by Member States and their cultural institutions to fill the shelves of Europe's digital library,” said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "However, I find it alarming that only 5% of all digitised books in the EU are available on Europeana. I also note that almost half of Europeana's digitised works have come from one country alone, while all other Member States continue to under-perform dramatically. To me this shows, above all, that Member States must stop envying progress made in other continents and finally do their own homework. It also shows that Europeana alone will not suffice to put Europe on the digital map of the world. We need to work better together to make Europe's copyright framework fit for the digital age."

Today a user can find 4.6 million digitised objects on Europeana, compared to 2 million nine months ago. New items that have been added include: a collection of 70 incunabula (books printed with the earliest printing techniques) from the library of Catalonia, a 1572 edition of 'Os Lusíadas' by Lu ís de Camo ẽs, the national poem of Portugal, and footage of the Friedrichstraße in Berlin from 1913, from the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes .

However, the substantial progress made with Europeana also brings to the surface the challenges and problems linked to the digitisation process. At the moment, Europeana includes mainly digitised books which are in the public domain and are thus no longer protected by copyright law (which extends to 70 years after the death of the author).

For the moment, Europeana includes, for legal reasons, neither out-of print works (some 90% of the books in Europe's national libraries), nor orphan works (estimated at 10 – 20% of in-copyright collections) which are still in copyright but where the author cannot be identified.

Europeana also shows that licensing of copyright-protected material in Europe still takes place under a very fragmented legal framework. Earlier this year a French aggregator had to withdraw photographs from Europeana, since it only had the right to disseminate the material on French territory.

To address all these issues, the Commission launched today a public consultation on the future of Europeana and the digitisation of books that will run until 15 November 2009. Questions the Commission asks include: How can it be ensured that digitised material can be made available to consumers EU-wide? Should there be better cooperation with publishers with regard to in-copyright material? Would it be a good idea to create European registries for orphan and out-of print works? How should Europeana be financed in the long term?











Today's News

September 1, 2009

The Walt Disney Company Builds its Strategy Acquiring Marvel Entertainment for $ 4 Billion

Allen Memorial Art Museum Opens Out of Line: Drawings from the Permanent Collection

Europe's Digital Library Doubles in Size but also Shows EU's Lack of Common Copyright Solution

Evil Things: An Encyclopaedia of Bad Taste at the Museum der Dinge in Berlin

Rijksmuseum Presents Photographs from Surinam and Curacao

Getty Exhibition Looks Closely at the Fanciful Images in the Margins of Medieval Manuscripts

Edinburgh International Festival 2009 Shows a Series of New Commissions

Brad Pitt Visits Urban Development Project in Oviedo, Spain

A Large, Magnificent Roman Building, c. 1,800 Years Old, was Exposed in the City of David

ING Cultural Centre in Brussels to Show The "Mandarin's Three Dreams"

Biggest Curated German Photo Festival to Open in Three Cities

First Time: Art College Featured and Pictured in U.S. News Roundup

Just Announced; The Dayton Art Institute to Host Norman Rockwell Exhibition in 2010

Rare 900-Year-Old Sacred Bull Sculpture Added to National Art Collection

UNESCO Regional Office to be Installed in Zacatecas

50 Kilometers, 30,000 Photos, 1 Picture - In his Wall Project Stephan Kaluza Makes the Invisible Visible

Gardner Museum Launches Avant Gardner Contemporary Classical Series




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful