The results of the stakeholder consultation on the Commission's plans to build a European Digital Library show strong support for the idea but point to the need to clarify the copyright issues. Opinions on intellectual property rights divides in particular cultural institutions and right holders. "Whatever policy the EU might favour, the most important element is a guarantee that authors are rewarded and that their moral rights are recognised and protected. It is a matter of justice that the providers of cultural content are not losing out while all other participating producers and service providers are remunerated," state the European visual artists.
"Once the digitisation is under way, contracts between rights holders and users will need to be developed in order to provide access to copyright digitised works," suggests the Hungarian publishers' and booksellers' association. By the end of 2006, a Commission Communication on 'Content Online' will address intellectual property rights management in the digital age.
European Digital Library is set to be build upon The European Library (TEL) -infrastructure, which is currently the gateway to the catalogue records of collections in a number of national libraries. The aim of the Commission is not to achieve a single database, but rather integrated access to the digitised material (books, audiovisual material, photographs, documents in archives etc.) of Europe’s cultural institutions such as libraries, archives and museums.
A recent report by an EU-funded project discovered significant gaps in digitisation capacities in the new EU member states. Barriers to digitisation include intellectual, financial and organisational issues such as technological infrastructure and the size of digital collections.
