CORDIS Archive

The following articles first appeared in "CORDIS focus" Special Edition (Issue Number 77, 23 December, 1996):

• Libraries in the Information Society
• Telematics for Libraries
• Initiatives for Public Libraries
• Cooperation between European National Libraries
• Libraries and networking
• The European Commission and Copyright Issues: ECUP+
• Libraries of the future ... digital?
• HARMONICA - A Concerted Action on Music
• Exploitation ... crucial but difficult
• Library Cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe
• "Telematics for Libraries" Website
• Telematics for Libraries Publications
• Telematics for Libraries National Focal Points

The "Telematics for Libraries" sector of the Community's specific programme of research and technological development and demonstration in the area of telematic applications of common interest supports actions aimed at facilitating access to library resources and promoting the interconnection of libraries, both directly with other libraries and within the European infrastructure. Research and development in the "Libraries" sector of the Telematics Applications programme (herafter refered to as the Libraries programme) aims to help increase the ready availability of library resources across Europe and to facilitate their interconnection with the information and communications infrastructure.

The two main orientations are the development of advanced systems to facilitate user acces to library resources, and the interconnection of libraries with other libraries and the developing "information highway".

This special CORDIS feature provides an overview of the aims and activities of the European Union in this important sector.

Libraries in the Information Society

Interview with Mrs. Ariane Iljon, Head of Unit XIII/E-4, responsible for the Libraries programme

Mrs. Iljon, as Head of Unit responsible for the implementation of the Libraries programme, could you please outline for us your views on the changing role of libraries in the Information Society.

The electronic age is generating libraries without walls, where people can learn at a distance or access information using electronic media. Nevertheless, libraries as we now know them will continue to exist. They will remain a central reference point and will, in addition, rapidly become a focus as a place from which to access the new electronic services and to seek advice on them.

In your opinion, therefore, increasing access to information via electronic services will not reduce the need for libraries ?

The need for libraries not only stems from their wealth of experience in managing and storing information but also from their essential democratic and educational roles. Firstly, some people cannot afford the equipment necessary to access information electronically, while others have limited storage facilities. Libraries are also an essential source of specifically local, but vital, information which falls outside the scope of other service providers. At the same time, certain libraries provide targeted information on education, science and markets, for example for SMEs. Some play an important role in adult education, providing vocational training and advising on course and electronic learning material. Others have long provided services for certain disadvantaged groups, such as the visually impaired.

A new call for proposals under the Libraries programme, the second under the Fourth Framework Programme, was published on 17 December 1996. How will this contribute to the continued importance of libraries in the information age?

The very precise and generic fields proposed for the call were designed to modernize the library world and build an effective information infrastructure, helping to tackle certain major problems and providing test beds. The first stage of the Libraries programme, under the Third Framework Programme, addressed each library function with its respective protocols and services separately, it being too difficult to address several functions and integrate them. Now that the issues and the technical difficulties involved are clearer, the focus is on developing a better integrated service, building on the know-how gleaned from previous projects.

The new work plan looks beyond the library as an information gatherer and storer, to the role it can play in helping its users access outside information - the internet phenomenon. Emphasis is on what other activities libraries can pursue and how they can intermediate and apply their information management know-how. Librarians must adapt to this process and learn to share resources. The roles of the librarian, whose main purpose was to keep information, and the documentalist, who concentrated on providing access to information, are now converging.

How will the call continue the objectives of the programme?

The new call will be very important. It will be the last under the Fourth Framework Programme and will essentially be the "real" call, since many who responded to the previous call failed to understand the focus of the new work plan. The initial Libraries' programme, under the Third Framework Programme, was a start-up exercise, promoting awareness and a project-oriented culture and providing a broad action plan. The "Telematics for Libraires" sector of the Telematics Applications programme builds on this but has a different structure. Interested parties now understand the philosophy behind the new work plan and this should produce better proposals.

How would you like to see the current call extend participation in the programme?

There are roughly 95,000 libraries in the European Union (different classifications applied by individual Member States hinder a more accurate assessment). Therefore, rather than targeting individual libraries, the Libraries programme aims to reach key players and opinion leaders who can produce multiplier effects. This is why the current work plan encourages libraries to create new alliances - with both traditional and new partners. Firstly, libraries and publishers must cooperate on developing devices and services geared to the new world of electronic publishing and document delivery and on providing better access to the bibliographic information which leads to the information itself. Secondly, libraries must cooperate increasingly with new players entering the electronic publishing world who are very different from paper publishers.

Could you outline the role of libraries in the Commission's information policy?

Libraries are among those public services which are essential to the European Commission's information policy. They can make an important contribution to a wide range of issues raised by the Information Society in relation to citizens' rights, the social effects of new technologies, education, culture and copyright protection. In this context, the European Parliament has requested the preparation of a Green Paper on the role of libraries in the Information Society and this will be on the European Commission's agenda next year.