TeLearn - DigiCult

Digital Libraries

Context

Libraries, museums and archives face huge challenges in the way that they acquire, preserve and offer access to their collections in the digital age. With more and more digital resources, both results of digitisation and digital originals, new issues are raised in terms of cataloguing, search and preservation.

The value of libraries in the Internet area lies not only in their own resources but they also serve as gateways enabling the public to access collections in other cultural institutions. This raises major challenges in terms of seamless, high value, interactive and multilingual services.

EU-funded research

The EU has been supporting research into digital libraries for many years, promoting objectives evolving with the advancements of the state of the art in the field. This research is also part of the actions implementing the European Commission's policy initiative i2010 Digital Libraries.

Projects:

• The Coordination Action DL.org (FP7) has set up a framework that allows representatives from digital library initiatives and projects to collaborate, and to share experiences and expertise. The project has worked towards increased awareness and understanding of interoperability of digital libraries systems and towards a consolidated version of the DELOS Digital Library Reference Model.
• BRICKS (FP6) has created a basis for a new generation of digital libraries by establishing the organisational and technological foundations of the European Digital Memory (EDM). The EDM has been reinforced through user support from the 'BRICK'S Community' and conceived as an open, networked system to integrate distributed collections of multimedia resources in museums, libraries and archives.

• The DELOS (FP6) Network of Excellence has built a European research community in the field of digital libraries, integrating research on library architectures, information access and personalisation, audio-visual and non traditional objects, user interfaces, knowledge extraction, semantic interoperability, preservation and evaluation. After the end of the funding period in 2008, DELOS members have continued collaborating in form of the "DELOS-Association".

Two projects funded at the start of the 6th Framework Programme have facilitated the co-ordination of digitisation initiatives and digital services on national or local level: MINERVA and CALIMERA.

The TEL-ME-MOR project supported the National Libraries of the ten new EU Member States of 2004 in becoming part of The European Library (TEL).