This vision is the driving force behind all efforts for the establishment of the European Digital Library, Europeana, an initiative within the framework of European Commission’s i2010 strategy. This digital library shall serve as single point of access for digital versions of works from cultural institutions all over Europe, including material from museums, libraries and archives abroad, which users will be able to visit without having to travel or turn hundreds of pages to find a piece of information.
According to Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, "The European Digital Library will be a quick and easy way for people to access European books and art – whether in their home country or abroad. It will, for example, enable a Czech student to browse the British library without going to London, or an Irish art lover to get close to the Mona Lisa without queuing at the Louvre."
However, according to the Communication from the Commission of August 2008, further efforts by the EU Member States are needed, on making available digital versions of works from cultural institutions all over Europe. In particular, the vision of a European Digital Library needs substantial investment from national institutions. However, at present most countries only provide small scale, fragmented funding for digitisation. Therefore, The Commission called on Member States to raise digitisation capacities to make their collections available for Europe's citizens, team up with the private sector, and address the following priorities:
- More funding needs to be allocated to digitisation, along with plans for how much material will be digitised.
- Most countries still lack methods, technologies and experience for the preservation of digital material, vital so that content remains accessible to future generations.
- Common standards need to be implemented to make different information sources and databases compatible for and usable by the European Digital Library.
The Commission itself confirmed its commitment to help Member States bring their valuable cultural content online. To this purpose, in 2009-2010 € 69 million from the EU's research programme will go to digitisation activities and the development of digital libraries, while approximately another € 50 million will be allocated by Europe's Competitiveness and Innovation Programme to improve access to Europe's cultural content.
The launch of Europeana is expected to take place in November 2008.
Further information:
Rapid Press release
European Commission’s Communication - Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse COM(2008) 513
Europeana
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