News archive

• Second progress report on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and on digital preservation in the European Union - Working document (11/04/21)
  This report reviews and assesses the overall progress achieved in the European Union in implementing the Commission Recommendation of 24 August 2006 on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (2006/585/EC), as well as the related Council Conclusions of 13 November 2006 (2006/C 297/01).
• Europeana: Comité de sages Report "New Renaissance" and Strategic Plan 2011-2015 (11/01/18)
  Comité des Sages delivered its report, called "New Renaissance" by bringing Europe's cultural heritage online
  The report of the Comité des Sages (high-level reflection group) on Digitisation of Europe's cultural heritage was delivered today to Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, and Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner responsible for Education and Culture.
  Among its top recommendations are that Europeana should become the central reference point for Europe's online cultural heritage. Member States must ensure that all material digitised with public funding is available on the site, and bring all their public domain masterpieces into Europeana by 2016. Cultural institutions, the European Commission and Member States should actively and widely promote Europeana.
  
  To access the press release in other languages:
  http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/17&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

  To access the full report:
  http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/doc/reflection_group/final-report-cdS3.pdf
  
  Europeana just published its Strategic Plan 2011-2015
  
  Strategic Plan colour version
  http://version1.europeana.eu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=c4f19464-7504-44db-ac1e-3ddb78c922d7&groupId=10602

  Strategic Plan black and white print version
  http://version1.europeana.eu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=ffba031f-b320-4119-b9bc-8412890fd5a5&groupId=10602

• A Digital Agenda for Europe (10/05/24)
  The Commission adopted he Communication "A Digital Agenda for Europe" [COM(2010) 245].  The Agenda aims at contributing to the EU's economic growth and at spreading the benefits of the digital era to all sections of society.  It outlines seven priority areas for action: creating a digital Single Market, greater interoperability, boosting internet trust and security, much faster internet access, more investment in research and development, enhancing digital literacy skills and inclusion, and applying information and communications technologies to address challenges facing society like climate change and the ageing population.
• Russian edition of Handbook for cultural web user interaction (10/05/12)
  The MINERVA Handbook for cultural web user interaction has been translated in Russian. The Russian edition has been enriched with comments, links to resources and best practices of Russian cultural institutions.
• Methods and Technologies Used by EU Cultural Institutions for Inventory and Authentication of Objects (10/05/13)
  A research activity is carried out by the Russian Federal Ministry of Culture within a EU-Russia exchange programme on the use of modern technical tools to support the inventory, identification, safety and security of cultural valuables in EU countries.
  The group of experts working on this initiative is taking a survey on ‘Methods and Technologies Used by EU Cultural Institutions for Inventory and Authentication of Objects’.
  The questionnaire is quite short and you will take only few minutes to complete it. At the end you will find an automatic submission button.
  All institutions from the ALM sectors can fill it in; feel free to forward the news of this survey to other colleagues that may be interested on the subject.
  Questions regarding the survey/questionnaire can be addressed to the research team (Struan Simpson, Barbara Morganti or Nevra Erturk) at museums@stjamess-research.com, with the subject line ‘EU/Russia Museums Project’.
  Deadline for the submission of the questionnaire: Friday, 28 May 2010
• Europe 2020: A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (10/05/03)
  Over the last two years, we have faced the world's worst economic crisis since the 1930s. This crisis has reversed much of the progress achieved in Europe since 2000. We are now facing high levels of unemployment, sluggish structural growth and excessive levels of debt. The economic situation is improving, but the recovery is still fragile. At the same time, the world is moving fast and long-term challenges – globalisation, pressure on resources, climate change, ageing – are intensifying.
  Europe can succeed if it acts collectively, as a Union. The Europe 2020 strategy put forward by the Commission sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century. It shows how the EU can come out stronger from the crisis and how it can be turned into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. To deliver rapid and lasting results, stronger economic governance will be required.
  Following the Commission's communication "Europe 2020: a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth"  and the discussions held in the Council, on the 25-26 March 2010, the European Council reached an agreement on the new strategy, which will be formally adopted in June.
  
• The Europeana Public Domain Charter (10/04/15)
  The Europeana Foundation has published a policy statement, the Public Domain Charter, to highlight the value of public domain content in the knowledge economy. It alerts Europe's museums, libraries, archives and audiovisual collections to the fact that digitisation of Public Domain content does not create new rights in it.
  
• Judaica Europeana (10/02/15)
  Ten institutions in London, Frankfurt, Athens, Bologna, Budapest, Paris, Rome and Warsaw join forces to offer worldwide access to the treasures of European Jewish culture. Judaica Europeana, a ground-breaking digital project has been awarded a major grant by the European Commission eContentplus Programme to provide multilingual access to Jewish culture collections through Europeana, Europe’s archives, libraries and museums online.  It is one of only a dozen targeted projects co-funded by the EC for Europeana.  Europeana is a flagship project of the European Commission that will provide a common  point of access to millions of digital objects housed at Europe’s museums, libraries and archives.  A multilingual search engine will enable the users to find, view and compare cultural and scientific resources dispersed across the continent. More information on Judaica Europeana at www.judaica-europeana.eu
  
• Contribute to international survey on orphan works (10/01/25)
  Experts who create and curate digital content from public sector organisations across Europe, are invited to contribute to JISC’s international survey on ‘orphan works’ called ‘In from the Cold Europa 2010’. This survey is run in collaboration with EBLIDA and we hope that members will help to gather as many responses as possible.
  There are millions of so-called ‘orphan works’ - photographs, recordings, texts and other ephemera from the last 100 years – which risk becoming invisible because rights holders are not known or easy to trace.
  Now this topic is the focus of this survey commissioned by the JISC-led Strategic Content Alliance in conjunction with the Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER), the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA) and the Wellcome Trust.
  The survey aims to establish how much time, effort and money is spent on orphan works across Europe by people working in the public sector and to find out the effect orphan works have on cultural heritage preservation at an international level.
  Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said:   “If we do not reform our European copyright rules on orphan works and libraries swiftly, digitisation and the development of attractive content offers will not take place in Europe, but on the other side of the Atlantic.”
  Organisations such as universities, archives, libraries, museums, health services and public service broadcasters are invited to participate. Although no particular technical knowledge is required, the survey does ask participants to fill in relatively detailed information about the collections (digital and analogue) held or licensed by your organisation.
  In  May 2009 over 500 organisations took part in the UK only orphan works online questionnaire which showed that rich primary resources are being ‘warehoused’ at public expense – with little or no prospect of them being delivered online to the public without additional costs and/or risks being imposed on the public purse.
  Take part in the international survey ( http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/476EBBEAF7ED1854/) to help provide real comparisons between European countries on the impact of orphan works. Closing date 26 February 2010 at 18.00 GMT.
  Find out more about the issues surrounding this topic by reading the ‘In From The Cold: An assessment of the scope of ‘Orphan Works’ (http://sca.jiscinvolve.org/files/2009/06/sca_colltrust_orphan_works_v1-final.pdf ) report. This report shows how the UK is in real danger of losing 20th century materials due to the current copyright laws, the levels of resources needed to trace the rights for each orphan work and the potential lock down of access to these important works.
  
  
• The Setting-up of New Copyright Societies (09/12/21)
  In line with the evolution of digital technology, the advent and increasing pervasiveness of the practice of downloading music, films and other works protected by law, the collective management of copyright and related rights remains one of the simplest and most reliable means for collecting and distributing royalties to rights owners for the use of their protected works, especially in the field of music.
  Among the numerous projects undertaken by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a CD-ROM, designed to enable users to have a better understanding of the complexities of collective management of copyright and related rights, and of the concrete steps to be followed to appropriately administer the rights of music composers, authors and publishers, through the establishment of collective management organizations and their strengthening in countries where they already exist.
  The CD-ROM is in English and is free of charge. It's possible to order your copy free of charge.
  
  
• Public consultation on "Content Online" (09/11/12)
  The digital "dematerialisation" of content presents great opportunities for Europe, but also a number of challenges. First of all, obstacles still stand in the way of digital distribution of cultural products and services. In addition, illegal downloads on a large scale can jeopardize the development of an economically viable single market for digital content. Finally, there needs to be much more encouragement for legal cross-border offers. The consultation paper outlines the existing challenges for three groups of stakeholders – rightholders, consumers and commercial users – in order to start a reflection on possible European responses.
  With this public consultation the Commission's services wish to launch a wide-ranging debate on how to develop vibrant online markets for goods and services protected by intellectual property rights. The consultation addresses the role of legal online markets and explores a variety of copyright management models that may induce a more rapid development of such markets.
  All interested parties are invited to comment on the ideas raised in this reflection paper, and in particular on the "Possible Actions" outlined in Chapter 5 by 5 January 2010. All submissions will be published on the Commission’s website unless otherwise requested. Confidential contributions should be clearly labelled at the top of the first page. Should you want to add a cover letter please do so in a separate document. In case your comments exceed four pages, please provide an executive summary.
  
  
• Communication on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy (09/11/05)
  On 19 October the European Commission adopted a Communication on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy (English, French and German versions available) which addresses the actions the Commission intends to launch following recent consultations and events. It is the Commission’s response to the Green Paper of 2008. The consultation documents can be found on both the Internal Market DG pages and the Audiovisual and Media Policies pages on DG InfoSoc: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/2009/content_online_en.htm .
  
  
• Communication "Europeana - next steps": public consultation (09/09/03)
  On 28 August 2009 the Commission adopted the Communication "Europeana - next steps" which looks ahead to the next phase of development of Europeana and its orientation for the future. The public consultation launches a debate on the further development of Europeana. The questions of the consultation deal amongst other things with the way in which the private sector can be involved in the further development of Europeana through public private partnerships, and how in-copyright content can be made searchable through Europeana. Document and questions for consultation (closing date: 15 November 2009).
  
  
• Jodi Awards 2009: call for nominations for the most accessible cultural website (09/08/29)
  Nominations are now invited for the new International Jodi Award for the most accessible website or web-based service from a cultural organisation. You may have an accessible and easy to use website, it may provide informal learning materials for disabled people or you may use the web to supply print-disabled people with digitized reading materials. You may use the website in another way to provide access to cultural experience for disabled people. If so, you are invited to send in your nomination by 25 September.
  The award has now gone international and invites nominations from any cultural organization in any country. If you consider submitting a nomination and would like to discuss your ideas, you can contact Marcus Weisen who speaks English, French, German, Italian and Finnish: marcus.weisen@gmail.com, 0033-426 53 30 60. Deadline for nominations is Friday 25 September 2009.
  You can find more information and a nomination form on the culture 24 website: www.culture24.org.uk/spliced/online+collections/art69556
  
  
• EU survey results on access, dissemination and preservation (09/08/28)
  The results of a questionnaire sent to CREST members as a follow-up on the Council of the EU’s conclusions on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation (22—23 November 2007), were just published in June by the Research DG’s Science and Society. CREST is the Comité de la recherche scientifique et technique (Scientific and Technical Research Committee) and is an advisory body whose function is to assist the European Commission and the Council of the European Union in relation to performing its tasks in the sphere of research and technological development.
  The questionnaire attempted to identify ongoing initiatives in the Member States in connection with access, dissemination and reservation and to suggest follow-up actions.
  Also to provide input to the design of future actions at the European level and the 8th Framework Programme, and to contribute towards policy on the “fifth freedom”: the free movement of knowledge in the European Research Area. Read the report: http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/scientific-info-results-crest-final-090609_en.pdf
  
  
• Background to the Google Book Search Settlement (09/08/28)
  If you want to read up on the background and history of the Google Book Search project, then Version 4 of the Google Book Search bibliography contains links to everything you’ll need to know: http://digital-scholarship.org/gbsb/gbsb.htm
  
  
• OCLC releases software suite to help museums exchange data (09/07/23)
  OCLC Research has released a software suite to help museums exchange object descriptions and share data, the result of a cooperative effort made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to further develop infrastructure for museum data exchange.
  
  
• Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference (SKOS) (09/06/17)
  W3C has announced the advancement of Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference (SKOS) to Proposed Recommendation.
  http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/PR-skos-reference-20090615/.
  
  
• Europeana Survey (09/05/11)
  The Europeana users have been invited to participate in a short survey. To answer this survey you should have searched or browsed Europeana already. To thank you for completing the survey Europeana will put your name in a prize draw for an iPod touch. The winner will be announced in the second week of May 2009.
  http://www.irn-research.com/surveys/30_europeana/Web HTML/Europeanasurvey_files/Europeanasurvey.htm.
  
  
• STERNA Technology Watch report (09/04/07)
  STERNA Project has produced a Technology Watch report [.pdf], edited by Salzburg Research in the period July to November 2008 as part of the project task 6.5: Cluster Activities, which forms part of work package 6: Network Extension and Deployment.
  The function of the Technology Watch activity is to provide STERNA and other projects related to the European Digital Library with a “radar” that identifies initiatives in content/metadata enrichment and integration of eterogeneous digital collections based on Semantic Web languages and technologies.
  As STERNA is an initiative of organisations from the fields of natural history and biodiversity, the radar was extended to ongoing developments in these fields. The aim was to create a wider picture of the digital environments natural science and history organisations and practitioners use to reate, manage and share information resources.
  
  
• What happens after eContentplus? (08/12/09)
  The eContentplus programme will expire on 31 December 2008.
  Measures to make digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable will, however, be continued after that date under the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Policy Support Programme ("ICT PSP"), one of three specific programmes implemented through Decision No. 1639/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 establishing a Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007-2013) ("CIP"), OJ L310, 9.11.2006, p. 15.
  To go to the CIP website http://ec.europa.eu/cip/index_en.htm.
  
  
• Development of legal offers of online cultural and creative content Council Conclusion (08/11/20)
  On 20th November 2008, in Brussels, during the 2905th EDUCATION, YOUTH AND CULTURE Council meeting, the Council Conclusions on the development of legal offers of online cultural and creative content and the prevention and combating of piracy in the digital environment was presented.
  
  
• The Collections Trust and Strategic Content Alliance Orphan Works Survey (08/12/19)
  The Collections Trust and The Strategic Content Alliance are carrying out research to examine the impact of 'orphan works' (works for which the copyright owner is unknown or cannot be traced) on the delivery of services to library, archive, museum and information service users in the UK and other European countries. Background information on the research and its sponsors is provided below. As part of this research project, Collections Trust invites to fill out a short online questionnaire. As a thank for taking part, partcipants will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 (or the equivalent in Euros), and they will receive you a synopsis of the findings once the research is complete. To fill out the questionnaire click on the link below (or copy it into your web browser):
  http://surveys.omni-web.co.uk/start.aspx?sid=5DZ6VD .
  The closing date for completion of the Survey is Friday 16 January 2009.
  
  
• Council Conclusion on EUROPEANA (08/11/20)
  The 20th November 2008, during the 2905th EDUCATION, YOUTH AD CULTURE Council meeting, the Council Conclusions on the European digital library EUROPEANA were presented.
  
  
• Coordinating digitisation in Europe (08/11/17)
  The new "Member States Progress report: coordination mechanisms for digitisation policies and programmes 2007" is online, with the reports of 27 Member States and 4 Observers
  
  
• Digitization in South-Eastern Europe (08/10/20)
  On the web pages of SEEDI (South-Eastern European Digitization Initiative ), it is available the Survey: Cultural and scientific heritage inventory and digitization in South-Eastern Europe, edited by Nikola Ikonomov and Milena Dobreva
  
  
• Commission consults on how to put Europe into the lead of the transition to Web 3.0 (08/10/01)
  Europe could take the lead in the next generation of the Internet. The European Commission today outlined the main steps that Europe has to take to respond to the next wave of the Information Revolution that will intensify in the coming years due to trends such as social networking, the decisive shift to on-line business services, nomadic services based on GPS and mobile TV and the growth of smart tags. The report shows that Europe is well placed to exploit these trends because of its policies to support open and precompetitive telecom networks as well as privacy and security. A public consultation has been launched today by the Commission on the policy and private sector responses to these opportunities. The Commission report also unveils a new Broadband Performance Index (BPI) that compares national performance on key measures such as broadband speed, price, competition and coverage.
  The Commission Communication on Future networks and the Internet is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/eeurope/i2010/index_en.htm
  The public consultation on the Internet of Things is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=IOTconsultation
  
  
• Commission approves new programme to break down e-barriers (08/10/01)
  The Commission approved a proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on a new programme for the
  period 2010-15: "Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations" (ISA).
  For further information visit the IDABC programme website at: http://ec.europa.eu/idabc
  
  
• Draft Version 1.0 of MINERVAeC IPR Guide online! (08/09/10)
  This guide is conceived for the use of cultural heritage institutions which are digitising cultural material and publishing it online, or are considering doing so.
  The objective of the document is to provide pragmatic, concise advice to cultural heritage institutions on the topic of intellectual property rights, as it impacts on digitisation projects.
  Please, give us your feedback
  
  
• Handbook on cultural web user interaction: first edition online (08/09/09)
  The MINERVA EC Working Group “Quality, Accessibility and Usability has just edited the first edition of the Handbook on cultural web user interaction, targeted to all people, institutions and projects connected with cultural heritage, which are planning to develop web applications or want to monitor and improve those already on the web.
  
  
• Communication on Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse (08/08/11 )
  On August 11, 2008, The Commission adopted a Communication on Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse - Progress on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation across the EU. The Communication describes progress towards the creation of the European digital library as well as the actions deployed by Member States to address organisational, financial, technical and legal issues, essential for making cultural material available on the internet. It calls on Member States and stakeholders to step up their efforts to make our common heritage more accessible, and confirms the Commission’s commitment to support this goal through its policy actions and funding programmes.
  
  
• European Commission launches consultation on copyright in the knowledge economy (08/08/11)
  In the middle of July the European Commission published its Green Paper entitled “Copyright in the knowledge economy”.
  The stated purpose of the Green Paper “is to foster a debate on how knowledge for research, science and education can best be disseminated in the online environment. The Green Paper aims to set out a number of issues connected with the role of copyright in the "knowledge economy" and intends to launch a consultation on these issues”.
  
  
• Commission's lobby register: it's time to sign up (08/06/24)
  The European Commission launched its online register of interest representatives. All interest representatives engaged in influencing the policy formulation and decision-making processes of the European institutions are invited to register. When registering, they will be asked to disclose some information to enhance the transparency of the relations between lobbies and the Commission.
  The multilingual register is publicly accessible online and will be fully searchable.
  • The register
  • The European Transparency Initiative
• European Commission launches e-government support service SEMIC.EU (08/06/24)
  Semantic interoperability - or the ability to exchange data across national, sectoral and linguistic boundaries while preserving the meaning of the data - is a major challenge for public administrations everywhere. As a first step towards meeting this challenge, the European Commission has launched the Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe (SEMIC.EU), a single point of reference for semantic interoperability in Europe. It provides a valuable range of services and a collaboration platform for pan-European e-government projects.
  
  
• Statistics on European Efforts and Progress in Digitisation of Culture (08/06/16)
  The latest newsletter of Numeric is online, providing you with information about the progress of this study for the European Commission:  "Statistics on European Efforts and Progress in Digitisation of Culture [.pdf 161kb]". The study has reached an important stage when sample surveys are being undertaken amongst cultural institutions throughout Europe. The results of these surveys will provide a baseline measure of the important work that is being undertaken to digitise Europe's cultural heritage.
  
  
• Directory of European and national rules on Web Applications online (08/05/30)
  The new edition of the Directory of European and National Rules on Web Applications, edited by the Research Staff of the Italian Senate Library, offers an updated panorama of standards and regulations - issued both by the European Union and by each single Member State - related to Web Applications, in the conviction that information on directions and policies currently in act in the various national contexts is a necessary step towards the adoption of uniform and shared qualitative criteria.
  This version includes the 12 new EU Member States. Searching and compiling criteria have not changed; the Directory may also include documents no more in force, if useful to draw the evolution of relevant policies in a country.
  
  
• E-content plus: call for proposals 2008 (08/02/04)
  A new call for proposals will be launched under the eContentplus programme in 2008. The provisional date for publication is March. The provisional deadline for receipt of proposals is 12 June 2008.
  
  
• MINERVA EC WP5 - Collection of good practices on Web user interaction Campaign (07/11/07)
  MINERVA EC WP5 - Quality, Accessibility and Usability, is going to publish a "Handbook on cultural websites user interaction". This handbook will include in the annex examples of good practises.
  All institutions and cultural web professionals are therefore invited to send to MINERVA information on their cultural web applications involving services and initiatives dedicated to user interaction, such as questionnaries, wiki, panel groups, focus groups, personas, contact centres, folksonomies, etc.
  Your information must include: the name of the institution/initiative, the title, a short description of the service, the URL.
  Reporting campaign will close at the end of march 2008.
  Please send all information to: otebac@beniculturali.it (Subject: Collection of good practices on Web user interaction Campaign).
  We will collect all applications and will come back to you before publishing those selected.
  
  
• Council Conclusions on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation (07/11/30)
  Conclusions approved on 22-23 November 2007 during the 2832nd COMPETITIVENESS (Internal market, Industry and Research) Council meeting in Brussels.
  The Member States are invited to: reinforce national strategies and structures for access to and dissemination of scientific information; enhance the co-ordination between Member States on access and dissemination policies and practices; ensure the long term preservation of scientific information - including publications and data - and pay due attention to scientific information in national preservation.
  The Commission is invited to: experiment with open access to scientific publications resulting from projects funded by the EU Research Framework Programmes; support experiments and infrastructures with a cross-border added-value for access to and preservation of scientific information; contribute to improved policy co-ordination between Member States and to a constructive debate between stakeholders.
  
  
• Digital Preservation Europe (DPE) announces the Research and Industrial Exchange Programme (DPEX) (07/10/31)
  Digital Preservation Europe, building on the earlier successful work of ERPANET, works to improve coordination, cooperation and consistency in current digital preservation and curation activities to secure the longevity of digital assets and heritage.
  DPE, supported by the European Union with funding under the Sixth Framework Programme, recognises the value of exchange
  programmes as a mechanism to establish cross-institutional synergies.
  Participants in the DPEX programme benefit from contact with the experienced preservation professionals, engagement in environments where preservation challenges are encountered on a daily basis, and/or contact with renowned research labs and industrial partners in the area of digital preservation in Europe. DPEX will allow participants to look beyond their specific professional environment.
  The next application deadline is November 15th 2007. The application process can be completed online.
  
  
• IFLA Brief Survey on the Metadata Decisions for Digital Libraries (07/10/12)
  A task of the IFLA-World Digital Library Working Group on Digital Library Guidelines is to collect your suggestions to be used in preparing a chapter on metadata decisions for the Digital Library Guidelines, The Guidelines will be developed for use by libraries and other cultural institutions around the world. The purpose of this survey is to investigate different issues, levels, and concerns regarding metadata and controlled vocabularies that need to be addressed in the Guidelines.
  Please take 3-5 minutes to answer these questions on the survey available on the Web
  More info about this research project: Marcia Zeng
  
  
• Eurobarometer on culture (07/10/10)
  "A new Europe-wide survey has revealed that two-thirds of Europeans feel that they share elements of a collective culture. Nearly nine out of ten Europeans say that culture, cultural exchanges and intercultural dialogue should have an important place in the EU. These findings emerged from the recent Eurobarometer survey of people's views on culture, which was carried out during the spring. The survey covered 26,000 persons from all over Europe and from all walks of life".
  The European Commission has published the results of its new Eurobarometer survey of people's attitudes to 'culture'. The survey covered 26 000 citizens in the 27 Member States and took place in February and March. These findings were presented at the first European Culture Forum in Lisbon on 26 - 28 September 2007, which brought business, cultural operators and policy makers together to explore the importance of culture.
  
  
• NUMERIC (07/09/17)
  One of Europe's key Information Society policy objectives is to make the content and digitally preserved materials of archives, museums and libraries more widely available. Across Europe these institutions are converting their "analogue" collections into digital form thereby creating new opportunities for all interests to benefit from improved and convenient access to these resources. NUMERIC is a European Commission project that will define the empirical measures for digitisation activities and establish the current investment in digitisation and the progress being made by Europe's cultural institutions.
  We invite you to edit the Consultation Questionnaire edited by Numeric.
  
  
• Towards a European Infrastructure for e-Science Digital Repositories (07/07/27)
  The European Commission has launched a public consultation on e-Science Digital Repositories.
  The consultation forms a key part of the study "Towards a European e-Infrastructure for e-Science Digital Repositories", sponsored by the European Commission. This consultation "seeks input from stakeholders on digital repositories. Responses will help identify needs, priorities and opportunities with regard to digital repositories and an e-infrastructure to support them and their use".
  
  
• Coordinating digitisation in Europe(07/07/16)
  The new "Progress report of the National Representatives Group: coordination mechanisms for digitisation policies and programmes 2006" is online, with the reports of 24 Member States and Observers.
  
  
• Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation(07/06/26)
  On 22nd March 2007 the European Commission adopted the Decision setting up the Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation, whose goal is to take forward the coordination work of the NRG within the Community's institutional framework.
  
  
• International competence centers for digital curation and preservation activity and expertise [.pdf 516kb](07/05/22)
  DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE) has carried out a state of the art review on international competence centers for digital curation and preservation activity and expertise.
  A list of institutions that completed the survey can be found here:
  http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/competence-centres/list/
  The deadline for inclusion in the report was 13:00 CET on March 23, 2007, but further additions are welcome at:
  http://www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu/competence-centres/
  
  
• Member States Experts Group (07/04/05)
  The European Commission has published on the Commission Digital Libraries website the Decision of setting up the Member States' Expert Group on Digitisation and Digital Preservation.
  
  
• Centres of competence for digitisation and digital preservation(07/04/04)
  As part of the preparation of the work programme, the European Commission organised on 14 November 2006 a workshop on centres of competence for digitisation and digital preservation. The report [.pdf 408 KB] is available for download.
  
  
• CCO Cataloging best practices for the community (07/03/12)
  Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) is a data content standards initiative for the cultural heritage community. CCO web resources include cataloging examples, training tools and presentations for use by practitioners, excerpts from the CCO print publication, etc. Sponsored by the Visual Resources Association, CCO activities center on educational efforts to promote widespread acceptance of cataloging best practices for the community.
  
  
• Petition for guaranteed public access to publicly-funded research results (07/02/14)
  You may sign this petition to register your support for free and open access to European research and for the recommendations proposed in the EU's 'Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publication Markets of Europe'.
  
  
• 2007 Digital Preservation Award - Call for entries (07/01/19)
  The Digital Preservation Coalition has announced the call for entries for the third Digital Preservation Award (worth £5000). This is the eleventh anniversary of the Conservation Awards, sponsored by Sir Paul McCartney, and is the third year to include the prestigious Digital Preservation Award, which recognises the many new initiatives being carried out by museums, libraries, galleries and archives in the challenging field of digital preservation.
  To be eligible for the Digital Preservation Award, a project must demonstrate leadership and advancement in digital preservation which will benefit the UK. It must focus on preserving digital materials (whether "born digital" or digitised copies), rather than on the use of digitisation as a preservation reformatting tool. Only projects that have been completed by 31 March 2007 will be considered for the Award.
  Applicants from overseas are welcomed, providing that the project can demonstrate benefit to the UK. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2007.
  
  
• First FP7 call open (07/01/10)
  On 22 December 2006, the Commission published the first call for proposals under FP7. Among the research objectives addressed by this call are "Digital libraries and technology-enhanced learning" - see work programme 2007-08, Challenge 4, Objective 1.
  Before submitting a proposal, please read the work programme in order to check if your project idea corresponds to the type of research to be funded in 2007-08.
  A short summary and links to all relevant documents can be found here: http://cordis.europa.eu/ist/digicult/fp7_overview.htm
  
  
• MICHAEL: Explore the European digital cultural heritage (06/12/22)
  Through the multilingual MICHAEL service you can find and explore digital collections from museums, archives, libraries and other cultural institutions from across France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Whether you are interested in art or archaeology, family history or planning holidays, the Romans or modern History, MICHAEL can show you what is available. Explore it
  As regards the International Conference, "Museums, libraries and archives online:
  MICHAEL service and other international initiatives", held in Rome last 4-5 December, we inform you that the following documentation is available online:
  • Programme, abstract, PPT presentations and MP3 recordings:
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/programme06120405.html
  • Poster session online:
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/postersession06120405.html
  • Video online
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/video/MICHAEL_EN.html
  • Image Gallery
    http://www.minervaeurope.org/events/michael/imggallery06120405.html
  
  
  
• Italian project wins eLearning Awards (06/12/21)
  A project called "Living in Europe: on highlands and lowlands" from Scuola primaria "Ada Negri" in Lodi Vecchio, Italy has won the Young Digital Planet Award for best use in ICT in the eLearning Awards. The award was presented at a magnificent ceremony at the Round Table Conference in Bruges on 7 December 2006.
  
  
• Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Cultural Material (06/12/20)
  The Council conclusions on the Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Cultural Material, and Digital Preservation were published in the
  Official Journal of the EU C 297, p. 1 of 7 December 2006 (all official languages available).
  
  
• Consumer Guides on Digital Rights Management(06/12/14)
  November 2006: INDICARE (INformed DIalogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe) has published its Consumer's Guide to Digital Rights Management in 10 European languages. The aim of the Consumer's Guide is to provide concise, neutral and comprehensible information about what Digital Rights Management is and why it matters to consumers. The Guide tells how to recognise if DRM is applied and informs about its potential effects when using digital content. The Guide also explains the current legal situation and what the legal standing of consumers is today. Its ambition is to respond to questions and concerns consumers facing DRM actually have.
  
  
• Minerva EC poster (06/12/07)
  A poster on MINERVA EC was presented at the poster session of the MICHAEL International Conference
  
  
• FP7 in Motion: Cognitive Systems, Interaction, Robotics, Digital Libraries and Content (06/12/07)
  These information days are dedicated to the research challenges in the first ICT Work Programme of FP7 which fall under the responsibility of the 'Content' Directorate: Cognitive Systems, Interaction, Robotics, Digital Libraries and Content. The event is intended to help participants to understand the work programme, to facilitate sharing of ideas and experiences, and to find partners for project consortia.
  The "Learning and Cultural Heritage" unit will organise some sessions on the research objectives for Digital Libraries and Technology-enhanced Learning.
  Online registration form and draft programme
  
  
• 11th NRG Meeting - Presidency Conclusions (2006-11-27)
  The NRG meetings met in Helsinki, Finland, last 13 October 2006. You can read the conclusions [.pdf 40KB].
  
  
• Culture 2007-2013 and Europe for citizens programmes (2006-11-27)
  Next 11-12 December it will take place in Brussels the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council Meeting. Concerning the proposal for a decision establishing the culture 2007 programme, the Council approved all the amendments passed by the European Parliament at second reading, with the abstention of the Portuguese delegation. The programme will give priority support to three objectives:- promoting transnational mobility of people working in the cultural sector in the EU; encouraging transnational circulation of works of art and cultural products; encouraging intercultural dialogue. The programme will provide for three strands of intervention:
  - direct financial support for cultural actions (multi annual cooperation projects, cooperation measures and special actions);
  - support for bodies active at European level in the field of culture;
  support for analyses, for the collection and dissemination of information and for other activities improving the impact of projects in the field of European cultural cooperation.
  Further information on the new Culture programme can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/culture/eac/culture2007/cult_en.html
  
  
• Towards FP7 (2006-11-23)
  Published on CORDIS website the draft of the "ICT Work Programme 2007-08". Look at the new service for ICT - Information and Communication Technologies
  
  
• eLearning Awards 2006 (2006-10-02)
  European Schoolnet, together with several partners such as Young Digital Planet, Intel, Michael and Oracle invites teachers and schools to submit their ICT projects to the eLearning Awards. The eLearning Awards is Europe's premier competition rewarding excellent use of new technologies by schools. Often the good work at schools is not further known than in the classrooms. The eLeaning Awards give the unique possibility to schools to highlight and share best examples with a wider audience, inspire others and encourage greater school collaboration between schools in Europe.
  The awards include a number of special categories in which attractive prizes can be won. Over ˆ 200,000 have been awarded to schools since it was first organised in 2000. The winners will be invited to a prize-giving ceremony that will take place in Bruge, Belgium in early December 2006.
  The awards are open to all schools in Europe and all entries are showcased in a project gallery.  Projects will be evaluated by educational experts from all over Europe. The deadline is 13 October 2006.
  
  
• i2010 Digital Libraries Initiative (2006-09-08)
  The European Commission adopted on 24 August 2006 a Recommendation on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation (EN PDF file). The Recommendation aims at bringing out the full economic and cultural potential of Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage through the Internet. It is part of the Commission’s strategy for the digitisation, online accessibility and digital preservation of Europe's cultural and scientific heritage as set out in the Commission Communication ‘i2010: digital libraries’. In the Recommendation, the Commission calls on Member States to act in various areas, ranging from copyright issues to the systematic preservation of digital content in order to ensure long term access to the material.
  
  
• eInclusion and eAccessibility (2006-06-27)
  During the Ministerial Conference "ICT for an inclusive society" (Riga, 11-13 June 2006), the Ministers of the European Union (EU) Member States and accession and candidate countries, European Free Trade Area (EFTA) countries and other countries adopted a Declaration on eInclusion, which will provide political guidance for future action.
  
  
• eContentPlus programme (2006-06-12)
  PThe European Commission is preparing a Call for Proposals under the eContentPlus programme. An Information Day is being held in Luxembourg on Wednesday 28 June for this second call for proposals of eContentplus. The Work Programme includes - between others - calls for targeted projects for digital libraries and a thematic network on cultural content under the  "digital libraries (cultural and scientific/scholarly content)" action.
  Subject to the completion of all the necessary procedures, it is intended to launch the call in July 2006. The provisional deadline for receipt of proposals will be 19 October 2006.
  The details about the Information Day together with the draft Work Programme 2006 and call for proposals can be found at http://europa.eu.int/econtentplus.
  
  
• Multilingualism and Thesaurus (2006-06-05)
  Published the Final Plan for using and disseminating knowledge and raise public participation and awareness Report on inventories and multilingualism issues: Multilingualism and Thesaurus, edited by the MINERVA Plus Working Group 3 Inventories, discovery of digitised content, multilingualism issues Working group.
  Multilingualism and thesaurus Subgroup.
  This document was created for cultural institutions to emphasize the importance of multilingualism, and to provide them information and tools for establishing multilingual access to their collections.
  There are two versions available: a longer one to be consulted on the web [pdf 817 kb], and a printed one [pdf 272 kb], more sinthetic.
  
  
• Published the Arabic version of the Quality Principles for cultural Web sites: a handbook (2006-04-11)
  MEDCULT project is based on the results achieved by the MINERVA project, with particular regard to the activies concerning the Quality of Cultural Websites.
  Final aim of MEDCULT is to improve the quality of cultural and educational Websites in the Mediterranean countries. This aim will be pursued by providing a methodology and by establishing a support network, where organisations from the cultural and educational sectors of the Mediterranean countries can find information, advice and tools to improve the quality of their Websites.
  Up to now, the most important result achieved is the translation of the MINERVA Handbook on Quality Principles for cultural Web sites, agreed by Egypt, Jourdan and Morocco.
  
  
• On 1st February 2006 the European Commission adopted a White Paper on a European Communication Policy (2006-04-11)
  The White Paper is a call for action on how we can close the gap between the EU and its citizens. Communication on Europe is a matter of democracy.
  The White Paper proposes five areas where joint action should be taken: defining common principles to guide communication activities on European issues; empowering citizens; working with the media and new technologies; understanding European public opinion; doing the job together.
  The Commission invites to have comments on the suggestions and send new ideas on the matter.
  
  
• Building a European digital library: a challenge in the culture wars (2006-03-16)
  In her overview of work on the development of the European Library, Susanne Bjrner quotes Horst Forster's vision of a true European digital library and the requirements put forward in December's TheEuropeanLibrary newsletter:
  "To build a true European digital library, four major factors are needed, according to Horst Forster, of the EU's Directorate General (DG) for Information Society and Media: cooperation, digitization, standards, and multilingual search. At a December workshop, Forster essentially drew the blueprint for the builders of the European digital library-at least for any builders hoping to get funding from the European Union. Noting that he viewed The European Library as "an embryo" of a European digital library, he called for more cooperation between museums, archives, libraries, and other holders of digital material. Also badly needed? Digitization of many more resources; agreement on common standards; and a solution to the problem of multilingual search (TheEuropeanLibrary.org Newsletter, December 2005)."
  
  
• Research reveals significant gaps in digital R&D programmes of national libraries of European Union New Member States (2006-01-19)
  The vision is a shared European heritage network. The aim of the European Commission Information Society Technologies Programme is to ensure better access to resources by fostering European partnerships and increasing the participation of new member states in EU research activities. A recent survey of new member states under TEL-ME-MOR looked at how well the new member states national libraries are achieving or can achieve this goal. The resulting report is aimed at the European and national policy-makers, library specialists, and the managers of the EU research networks in cultural heritage (e.g. MINERVA). The survey revealed what makes it difficult or impossible for National Libraries to be actively involved in research and development programmes. The result is that only 4 of the 10 libraries surveyed had significant amounts of digitised content. The report of the "Questionnaire for Analysis of Research Activities and Needs of National Libraries of the New EU Member States" can be downloaded here. It gives considerable detail on the state of research and digitisation of resources in the national libraries of the New Member States. The report was commended by CENL (Conference of European National Librarians). TEL-ME-MOR supports the 10 national libraries from the New Member States, that are partners in the project, in becoming full members of The European Library , an initiative established under the aegis of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), providing unified access to the electronic resources of the main European National Libraries as well as to other library services.
  
  
• eAccessibility of public sector services in the European Union (2005-12-20)
  The report eAccessibility of public sector services in the European Union was commissioned as part of the UK's presidency of the EU. It revealed that few member states know how well they are doing in the accessibility field: of the 25, only six felt able to estimate the proportion of their web sites meeting 'A' requirements, but all six were found to have overestimated.
  
  
• MEDCULT Project Kick-off (2005-12-12)
  Last 12 December the kick-off meeting of the MedCult Project took place in Rome. The project MEDCULT aims at improving the quality of the cultural websites through the dissemination across the Arabic mother tongue countries of the MINERVA guidelines and tools. This goal will be pursued by providing a methodology and by establishing a stable support network, where organisations from the cultural sector can find information, advice and tools to improve the quality of their websites. These actions are fundamental to improve the awareness of the importance of assuring reliability, transparency, and accessibility to an even wider public of the cultural and ducational contents provided through the web, in order to contribute to information literacy and capacity building.
  
  
• Dynamic Action Plan for the EU co-ordination of digitisation of cultural and scientific content (2005-11-14)
  The eEurope 2002 Action Plan recommended the creation of a co-ordination mechanism for digitisation programmes across Member States. In 2001, representatives and experts from Member States met under the Swedish Presidency, supported by the European Commission, and agreed the Lund Principles that established priorities to add value to digitisation activities in ways that would be sustainable over time. The accompanying Lund Action Plan recommended actions to support progress for the period until 2005. The Lund Action Plan is being implemented by a group of National Representatives (NRG) and successive Presidencies, and benefits from several projects and research networks, including the highly successful. Minerva2 and Digicult3 projects. As many of the barriers identified within Lund continue to exist, one of the Council's priorities for the 2005-2006 Work Plan is to proceed with coordination through an updated action plan as a follow up on the Lund actions4. On 14 November 2005, the Council reaffirmed the validity of the Lund Principles, and recognised digitisation of cultural and scientific heritage to be of strategic importance.
  
  
• Guide to Intellectual Property Rights and Other Legal Issues (2005-11-11)
  Rights issues are prevalent within pretty much anything to do with digital content, from its formation, reproduction, adaptation, negotiation, dissemination and repackaging. In order to limit risks of infringement and take advantage of the benefits that the digital environment presents, it is essential that museums, libraries and archives familiarize themselves with copyright and other issues, as well as train staff in good practice procedures. Minerva publishes the draft of the Guide to Intellectual Property Rights and Other Legal Issues, Version 1.0, edited by Naomi Korn. Send your comments before the end of November.
  
  
• Tessa Jowell keynote speech to the Creative Economy conference, London 2005 (2005-10-12)
  The Minister mentioned the Dynamic Action plan saying: "there is a prescription for progress, that was clearly set out in the Lisbon Strategy. We need to start putting more emphasis on growth and jobs. And take concrete steps to ensure that Europe is the most attractive place for businesses to work and invest in". Read the speech for more details.
  
  
• Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries (2005-10-04)
  The European Commission today unveiled its strategy to make Europe's written and audiovisual heritage available on the Internet. Turning Europe's historic and cultural heritage into digital content will make it usable for European citizens for their studies, work or leisure and will give innovators, artists and entrepreneurs the raw material that they need. The Commission proposes a concerted drive by EU Member States to digitise, preserve, and make this heritage available to all. It presents a first set of actions at European level and invites comments on a series of issues in an online consultation (deadline for replies 20 January 2006). The replies will feed into a proposal for a Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation, to be presented in June 2006. (EU Press Releases, 30 September 2005)
  
  
• Culture 2000: new call launched by EU (2005-08-05)
  Recently the European Commission launched a new call to transnational projects and European networks looking for funding under the Culture 2000 grants scheme. The Culture 2000 programme contributes to the promotion of a cultural area common to the European peoples. Projects aiming at the preservation, restoration, interpretation and/or presentation of cultural heritage are fully eligible for Culture 2000 subsidies. The total budget for projects supported under this call for proposals is approximately EUR 28 million. The funding requested for annual projects must range from EUR 50,000 to EUR 150,000 and may not exceed 50% of the project's total eligible budget. Funding requested for multi-annual projects must be above EUR 50,000 but not more than EUR 300,000 per year and may not exceed 60% of the total eligible budget. The annual projects must be supported by partners from at least three countries of the European Union, the multi-annual projects should be composed of partners from at least five E.U. countries. Applications must be sent to the European Commission not later than 17 October 2005 for annual projects and 28 October for the multi-annual projects.
  
  
  
• The MINERVA Project through the words of Mme Viviane Reding in Luxembourg (2005-07-13)
  Durig the "International Conference on future coordination of digitisation" organised in Luxembourg last 21 June 2005 within the Luxembourg Presidency, Mme Viviane Reding, Commissioner for the Information Society and Media at the European Commission cited many times in her speech the MINERVA project, as excellent example of European co-ordination of digitisation of cultural heritage programmes and politices.
  
  
  
• Survey on audiovisual archives in Europe launched (2005-07-04)
  A survey to identify problems and priorities in audiovisual archives in Europe was recently launched by TAPE, an initiative for training for audiovisual preservation in Europe. The results of the survey, that is supported by the Netherlands National Commission for UNESCO, aims at promoting preservation of audiovisual collections and for developing training activities The questionnaire is available on TAPE's website as a PDF file and web form in eight languages (English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish). Responses should be submitted by 1 August 2005. Responses will be treated confidentially and in the survey that will be published organizations will not be named. All organizations that respond will receive a printed copy of the final publication.
  
  
  
• Guidelines for Encoding Bibliographic Citation Information in Dublin Core Metadata (2005-07-01)
  The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Citation Working Group has produced this document which provide guidelines for capturing bibliographic citation information within a Dublin Core description. It focuses on bibliographic citations for journal articles, but it also considers other genre. It deals primarily with bibliographic citations for a resource within its own metadata, but some guidelines for describing references to other resources are also indicated. Some other issues that arise when describing a bibliographic resource using Dublin Core metadata are also discussed.
  
  
  
• EPOCH Survey on usability evaluation for Cultural Heritage applications (2005-06-20)
  This survey is carried on in the context of the EPOCH project. The survey focuses on usability - a fundamental factor for the overall quality of an interactive application. The questionnaire aims at to investigating the current usage of usability evaluation methods, identifying the most common approaches and practices currently adopted by cultural institutions in the development of digital applications. The projects attempts to identify some critical requirements for CH evaluation methods, by understanding the needs and expectations of the various stakeholders involved in the evaluation activities of CH applications (e.g., application analysts, domain experts, project managers, information architects, interface designers, end users). In particular, the projects wants to explore the characteristics that should be provided by an evaluation method in order to be accepted and effectively used in CH projects.
  
  
• Agenore
  Last 26-28 May the International Seminar on the European Culture Portal: AGENORE,  was held in Assisi.
  The objective of the seminar was to progress on the discussion about improving on line accessibility and reinforcing visibility of cultural content and activities of each Member States, contributing to the promotion of the European culture.
  The final document produced, some papers and a demonstration are available on line.
  
  
• Accessibility of museum, library and archive websites: the MLA audit
  MLA has launched a new report revealing that the sector's compliance with web accessibility standards is above the national average.  The level of compliance with the basic accessibility guidelines, WAI Level A, is over twice that found by the UK Disability Rights Commission in an audit undertaken last year.
  Accessibility of museum, library and archive websites: the MLA audit is available to download from http://www.mla.gov.uk/information/publications/00pubs.asp. It is based on a representative sample of 300 museum, library and archive websites in England and a comparison of 25 international museum websites. The policy context for the audit was set by the Disability Discrimination Act, which covers websites, and the e-government 2005 policy which requires that public sector websites meet specified web accessibility guidelines.
  
  
• Jerusalem Declaration
  Last 11-12 Octoner in the occasion of the Jerusalem Conference on the Digitisation of Cultural Heritage the  Jerusalem Declaration was adopteds. This document seeks to establish the framework for a cultural heritage digitisation agenda. It clearly states its debt to the work that has been carried through the NRG and MINERVA in the last three years in Europe.