[A2k] Digital Libraries Initiative: Agreement between Cultural Institutions and Right Holders on Orphan Works

[Michelle Childs]

EU press release below. Follow link for documents.
Michelle

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=
=3D4145
Digital Libraries Initiative: Agreement between Cultural Institutions
and Right Holders on Orphan Works

An agreement on copyright was signed today by libraries, archives and
right holders, in the presence of Commissioner Viviane Reding. The
Memorandum of Understanding on orphan works will help cultural
institutions to digitise books, films and music whose authors are
unknown, making them available to the public online.

(04/06/2008) This Memorandum is a major step for bringing Europe's
rich literary and audiovisual heritage online, as it deals with the
issue of orphan works =96 books, films, photographs or songs for which
it is impossible to identify or locate the rightholders. As a
consequence, rights cannot be cleared and therefore the works cannot
be digitised or made available to the public. It clarifies how
searches for rightholders have to be handled for libraries and
archives and representatives of publishers, photographers, authors,
record and film companies. Orphan works represent a substantial part
of the collections of Europe's cultural institutions: for example, the
British Library estimates that 40 percent of its copyrighted
collections are orphan works. 50,000 requests were also made for re-
using orphan works in Europe's film archives according to a recent
survey from the Association des Cin=E9math=E8ques Europ=E9ennes.

In parallel, the High Level Group on Digital Libraries, chaired by
Viviane Reding, adopted practical guidelines for partnerships between
cultural institutions and private organisations. These partnerships
such as the existing collaboration between the British Library and
Cengage Gale on historical newspapers =96 are essential to provide
funding and expertise for digitisation projects

In relation to copyright issues, the High Level Group adopted a final
report in which it endorsed a new model license for making works that
are out of print or out of distribution accessible for all on the
internet. It also gave guidance on copyright issues related to the
preservation of web-content by cultural institutions. In the area of
scientific information, publishers and scientists presented the
progress of a large scale project on the effects of open access to
scientific journals.

Background

European Digital Libraries is one of the flagship initiatives of
Commissioner Reding=92s initiative =93i2010 =96 a European Information
Society for growth and jobs=94, adopted by the Commission on 1 June 2005
(IP/05/643). On 25 August 2006, the Commission adopted a
Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation (IP/06/1124,
MEMO/06/311) which urged EU Member States to set up large-scale
digitisation facilities, so as to accelerate the process of getting
Europe's cultural heritage online via the European digital library. In
February 2007, the Commission adopted a Communication on "Scientific
Information in the Digital Age: Access, Dissemination and
Preservation" to examine and support new ways of promoting better
access to scientific information online and to preserve research
results digitally for future generations (see IP/07/190 and MEMO/07/57).

Further information :

IP/07/508

Full text of the Memorandum and further information on the Digital
Libraries initiative

Michelle Childs
Head of European Affairs
  Knowledge Ecology International
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone:+44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252
Email: michelle.childs@cptech.org