Project seeks to integrate new Member States' national libraries into EU research
A report by the EU-funded Tel-Me-Mor project has warned that the national libraries of the ten newest EU Member States find it difficult or impossible to get involved in European research activities, and that only four out of the ten have significant amounts of digitised content. The European Union places a high value on the preservation of cultural heritage, as well as facilitating access to such resources through increased digitisation and the use of information technologies. An effective way of building a shared 'European heritage network' is to encourage national cultural heritage institutions to collaborate in European research programmes, such as the 'access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources' activity of the information society technologies (IST) programme. However, following a survey of the national libraries of the newest EU Member States, the Tel-Me-Mor report cites a number of intellectual, financial and organisational issues that make it difficult or impossible for many of them to be actively involved in research and development (R&D) programmes. Other barriers include a lack of experience in managing digital content, the size of digital collections, the non-application of international standards, and inadequate technological infrastructure. 'To fulfil their role in the vision of a shared European heritage, the survey concludes that libraries should find a more prominent role in their national R&D programmes; that more resources need to be digitised and new funding models uncovered and that more effective systems for the management of research need to be put in place,' say the Tel-Me-Mor partners. While there are many challenges to overcome, the report makes it clear that the picture is different in each country. 'The capabilities of these libraries vary. Those of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia have been involved with more European R&D projects and have also built considerable infrastructure such as digitisation facilities, mass storage systems, web harvesting, and search and retrieval gateways,' it says. The report details the current state-of-the-art within national libraries in terms of research and their potential for participating in EU research, before going on to draw a number of conclusions for EU and national policy makers, library specialists and participants in EU cultural heritage research networks. While national libraries in the new Member States mostly follow the main priorities of European cultural heritage policy and research, some gaps still need to be overcome, particularly building a critical mass of digitised resources. Libraries should 'work on building large sustainable repositories of [...] digitized cultural heritage based on [...] international standards,' reads the report. In many cases, it continues, national libraries do not have appropriate mechanisms and procedures for assessing and tracking their research activities, and should therefore create an internal system for quality control and evaluation of R&D results based on the appropriate standards. Similarly, current funding models that no longer reflect the expanded responsibilities of national libraries should be updated, as insufficient funds will endanger the preservation of and access to cultural heritage for future generations. While there are obvious gaps in the ability of national libraries from the new Member States to compete and participate with the 'old-timers' at EU level, it is only by cooperating, networking and exchanging knowledge that these gaps will close. Therefore, the report calls on the European Commission to promote R&D initiatives that encourage participation from the new Member States, and urges the governments in these countries, many of which are currently formulating national cultural heritage policies, to take account of the need for European integration. The report and its conclusions were welcomed by the Conference of European National Libraries (CENL), which said that it would like to see the survey extended to all of its 45 member libraries. Another objective of the Tel-Me-Mor project is to support the ten national libraries of the new Member States in becoming full members of The European Library (TEL), an initiative established by CENL. As well as the national libraries of the ten new Member States, the other partners in the Tel-Me-Mor project are the National Libraries of Germany, the Netherlands Switzerland, the British Library, CENL and Eremo in Italy, a specialist in project management in the cultural heritage sector.
Countries
Switzerland, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom