Europeana Local Description of Work

Description of the issue addressed and the current situation (baseline)

EDLocal, part of the eContentPlus programme, is a Best Practice Network focused on enhancing the Europeana service of the European Digital Library This initiative aims to improve access to digital content across four key domains: libraries, museums, archives, and audio/visual archives Concurrently, various countries are advancing efforts at national and regional levels to facilitate integrated access to cross-domain content.

To achieve Europeana's 2010 content targets, it is crucial to make the vast digital resources from local and regional cultural institutions available alongside national collections This initiative aims to broaden the base of content providers by involving Europe's museums, archives, and libraries more extensively By integrating diverse content that complements themes, locations, and time periods, we can create richer and more complex services Additionally, linking the digital content from EDLocal with locally relevant materials from national institutions will enhance value for users These objectives represent the core goals of EDLocal.

A significant challenge in achieving EDLocal's objectives is the extensive distribution and diversity of digital content, which exists across various media, data formats, and metadata schemas This complexity affects user interactions with the network of content providers and the dispersed collections of digital objects Content models can vary widely, from federated autonomous digital libraries accessed through unified interfaces to managed approaches where metadata and objects are aggregated in centralized portals, often based on service agreements among collaborating providers, to scenarios where collections are simply accessible via individual websites.

To tackle the challenge of integrating local cultural content into Europeana, a clear pathway must be established for local institutions In the short term, EDLocal aims to provide access to valuable digital content from cultural institutions in various regions across Europe, excluding Luxembourg initially Additionally, EDLocal will implement and promote a standardized Europeana-compliant framework that includes both technical and governance structures, allowing cultural content creators to easily contribute their item-level content While building a pan-European infrastructure will take time, initiating this process is crucial for achieving standardization and generating a 'snowball effect' that benefits users and service providers throughout member states.

Creating conditions to leverage Europe's diverse cultural traditions and social identities is a significant challenge The anticipated integration of rich digital content within Europeana will facilitate not only federated searches and access to digital collections but also advanced semantic and geographic exploration capabilities In this context, Europeana's interaction with the evolving semantic and technical infrastructure of the Semantic Web is crucial for determining necessary standards and interoperability, particularly concerning the Resource Description Framework (RDF), the Web Ontology Language (OWL), and Simple Knowledge Organization Systems (SKOS).

EDLocal, along with the user base of local and regional institutions, will serve as a crucial testing ground for enhancing semantic interoperability and search capabilities at the Europeana level This initiative will leverage insights gained from the data flow of local digital collections across Europe Additionally, EDLocal partners will play a significant role in enriching this process through the contribution of semantic and geographic metadata annotations, supporting the efforts of the Europeana.Net Thematic Network and future initiatives.

EDLocal is committed to widely adopting the approaches, standards, and tools developed by Europeana, particularly through Europeana.Net, to enhance content interoperability across Europeana, extending beyond national institutions The EDL Foundation's participation in the consortium will be crucial in strengthening the connection between technical standards and the infrastructural efforts underway.

Europeana.Net offers valuable resources, including a metadata installer and automated metadata conversion tools, to assist EDLocal partners This initiative aims to foster the growth of a sustainable business model that encourages the ongoing involvement of a growing number of local and regional content providers.

The goal is to create a harvestable network of OAI-PMH compliant metadata repositories that aggregates content in a way that reflects the diverse demographics and digital content of Europe's municipalities, regions, and localities, while also enhancing the existing and planned Europeana network.

To enhance the usability of the Europeana interface and provide a diverse array of services, cultural heritage institutions must make their proprietary database data accessible through the OAI-PMH protocol This strategy is central to the EDLocal initiative, with several local and regional content providers already starting to adopt this model.

Key foundational assumptions have arisen at both strategic and political levels for Europeana, which are crucial to the positioning and objectives of EDLocal.

 Europeana will be a federated digital library built on distributed, autonomous and heterogeneous resources: this fact creates specific conditions and challenges for technical, functional and semantic interoperability.

 Europeana will be an access point to cultural content and not just a discovery point.

 Archives and museums must be involved effectively and visibly in Europeana, as soon as possible.

 Europeana will provide access to text, pictures, video, sound and 3D objects.

In 2008, the emphasis shifted towards utilizing open access, digital, and publicly available materials to reduce copyright complications during the initial development phases It is essential that all freely accessible content and its metadata are accompanied by an appropriate license that clearly outlines the rights and conditions for use.

Europeana aims to position itself as a service provider, moving beyond merely supplying data and objects While EDLocal's primary goal is to enhance accessibility to cultural objects through metadata exposure, Europeana is committed to developing specialized services that establish it as a valuable access provider Highlighting its unique selling points will be essential in achieving this strategic vision.

Europeana offers a well-structured platform that enhances user access to a diverse range of item-level content sourced from local and regional contributors through EDLocal This initiative plays a crucial role in developing services tailored to meet the specific needs of users.

Post-2008, it is essential to consider various reference models and frameworks, including Delos, 5S, JISC IE, and JCR, in shaping the future of digital repositories Approaches similar to DRIVER, which focuses on scientific and scholarly content, are expected to play a crucial role in the infrastructure of Europeana EDLocal emphasizes metadata exposure through OAI-PMH repositories, which is strategically designed to enhance this model, supported by strong evidence of its adoption in regions across France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, and the UK, highlighting the potential benefits of a well-defined position within the European landscape.

Description of the project objectives

EDLocal will significantly enhance the main goals of Best Practice Networks for digital libraries under eContentPlus by improving the interoperability of digital libraries across museums, archives, and institutions in all EU Member States This initiative will ensure that their content is accessible via Europeana's unified user interface, fostering collaboration with key initiatives in the digital library landscape.

Europeana.Net and its successor initiatives will establish Europeana-compatible infrastructures and standards across a vast array of new digital content aggregations at local and regional levels EDLocal will significantly enhance the growth of Europeana while fostering a practical understanding of the challenges associated with standards-based interoperability among digital objects and collections.

Implementing production standards, specifications, and tools is essential for facilitating cross-domain search, retrieval, and utilization of digital content across cultural institutions, such as libraries, museums, and archives, in all member states.

 establishing and promoting straightforward methods by which cultural institutions and aggregators may join Europeana and provide their content to its services.

EDLocal, in collaboration with Europeana and the EDL Foundation, aims to create a cooperative framework that supports cultural institutions across all Member States, enhancing their engagement and collaboration.

This process will add substantial added value to Europeana and its users, by:

 greatly expanding and enriching the freely available and accessible content to be found by users through Europeana interface itself, as its services come on stream;

Europeana aims to provide access to locally-relevant cultural content branded under its name for various service providers in sectors like tourism, education, family history, humanities research, and publishing This initiative will enhance interoperability with other services and support Europeana's goal of collaborating with major platforms to improve search results and user experience over time.

 Key content types to be made available through EDLocal include: items and collections of high cultural value (‘treasures’) held at local or regional level;

 specific local collections held by libraries, museums and archives, local sound and film archives;

 public records held by archives

The data presented in Section 4 indicates that over 20 million digital content items are available from a limited sample of institutions participating in EDLocal, showcasing a significant resource for Europeana This number highlights the untapped potential of local and regional sources, especially when considering the broader landscape of cultural institutions across Europe and the ongoing growth in digitisation efforts EDLocal aims to establish an infrastructure that not only increases the content accessible to Europeana but also enhances the skills and motivation of local institutions throughout Europe to contribute their valuable content.

The evaluation of content from EDLocal network partners and external providers will play a crucial role in shaping thematic strategies for Europeana in both the medium and long term.

Expected results

The expected results of the project, over its three year duration, will be to:

This project aims to enhance Europeana's accessibility by providing content from local and regional organizations, as well as content aggregators that are project partners Additionally, any new content that becomes available during the project will also be included, significantly increasing the overall amount of accessible resources through Europeana.

The initiative aims to establish a comprehensive network of OAI-PMH repositories across all member states and Norway, aligning with Europeana's content harvesting standards This network will ensure that metadata is aggregated at appropriate geopolitical or thematic levels within Europe, facilitating web harvesting and interoperability Additionally, the selected repositories will adhere to Europeana.Net's guidelines regarding protocols, technology, and metadata specifications.

The EDL Foundation will establish a test environment to harvest metadata generated by EDLocal, facilitating technical enhancements and optimization for access through the Europeana interface This environment is expected to be integrated with the main Europeana infrastructure, ultimately serving as a publicly available prototype service by the project's conclusion.

 make available to the local/regional content providers in EDLocal a ‘toolkit’, including the OAI

The 'installer' tool designed for Europeana facilitates the automated conversion of metadata, providing essential training and implementation support This tool simplifies the transition of local and institutional databases to OAI-PMH compliant digital repositories, ensuring the generation of consistent metadata throughout the process.

To address the persistent issue of varied metadata formats, particularly in museums and archives, it is essential to implement a practical convergence of key metadata schemas This can be achieved through automated processes for mapping and cross-walking between these formats Furthermore, it is crucial for EDLocal to adopt the interoperable metadata architecture and standards developed by Europeana.Net and its subsequent initiatives.

To ensure compliance with Europeana.Net and the EDL Foundation, local and regional content providers represented within EDLocal must adhere to specific requirements and guidelines This includes making content publicly available, ensuring copyright clearance, and agreeing to the processing of their data in accordance with Europeana practices.

To promote sustainable solutions, it is essential to leverage locally and regionally sourced content that aligns with the technologies established by Europeana This involves systematically enhancing metadata through semantic and geographic annotation of digital content, both at the collection level and for individual items Key strategies include user tagging, incorporating user-generated content, and integrating GPS coordinates to enrich the overall digital experience.

Leverage the project's dissemination opportunities to promote affordable and simple digitization activities, such as OCR for full text, at regional and local levels Utilize the emerging network of 'centres of competence' to provide support for smaller institutions in their digitization efforts, ensuring access to essential tools and services.

By the project's conclusion, we aim to create a seamless process for local and regional content providers, as well as aggregators at various levels, to easily contribute their content to Europeana This will involve simplifying technical requirements and aligning with the Europeana business model, which may include negotiated subscriptions and collaborative efforts through regional, national, and international initiatives, such as dedicated portals and diverse aggregation strategies.

To ensure the sustainability of the repositories network, it is essential to negotiate and collaborate with key stakeholders within the national framework This approach aims to establish a rational, scalable, and maintainable solution for the long-term aggregation of digital cultural content and its associated metadata.

List of participants

No 1 Participant name Country Role in the project 2

Library NL Technology, standards and business model provider 1 36

3 MDR Partners UK Project manager and scientific co-ordinator 1 36

Educational Foundation CY Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

6 Cross Czech a.s CZ Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

7 Roskilde Kommune DK Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

8 City of Helsinki FI Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

Landesbibliothek Berlin DE Regional content co-ordinator

10 Veria Central Public Library GR Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

Human Service Centre HU Regional content co-ordinator

12 An Chomhairle Leabharlanna IE Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

13 Regione Marche IT Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

14 National Library of Latvia LV Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

15 DIZI UAB LT Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

Ltd MT Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

17 MDA (Europe) UK Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

18 Instytut Chemii PL Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

1 Participant number 1 is the Coordinator The remaining participants are beneficiaries.

Ferroviario PT Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

"Octavian Goga" Cluj RO Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

(Slovak National Museum) SK Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

22 Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica SI Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

Vọsternorrland SE Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

24 EEA s.r.o SK Technical implementation support 1 36

25 Asplan Viak Internet AS NO Technical implementation support 1 36

27 Provincie Limburg BE Regional content co-ordinator 1 36

(Estonian National Museum) EE Regional content co-ordinator

Gironde FR Regional content co-ordinator

31 Ministry of Culture, Spain ES

32 ABM-Utvikling NO Technical and service adviser 1 36

eContentPlus is a multiannual Community programme (2005-2008) aimed at enhancing the accessibility, usability, and exploitation of digital content in Europe It aligns with the i2010 Digital Libraries initiative, which seeks to establish the European Digital Library, known as Europeana This initiative aims to provide a common access point for millions of cultural objects, ensuring that all European citizens can easily access this wealth of information by the end of 2008 To achieve this goal, Europeana must incorporate content from various cultural institutions across Europe.

(libraries, archives, museums and other organisations) and of all types of digital content (textual, audiovisual, artefacts etc.).

EDLocal aims to significantly enhance access to digital content by engaging libraries, museums, and archives from all member states By operating at a European level, this initiative will foster greater motivation and collaboration, resulting in a substantial increase in the volume of digital content available to Europeana This coordinated approach will also expedite the process, ensuring that more resources are accessible in a shorter timeframe.

EDLocal collaborates with local and regional cultural institutions and content aggregators worldwide, partnering with the EDL Foundation to enhance the adoption of emerging architecture, infrastructure, and standards from the Europeana initiative This collaboration significantly boosts the interoperability of digital cultural content and metadata across Europe, facilitating better access and integration of cultural resources.

EDLocal aims to accelerate digitisation and improve access to regional content by forming a consortium of best practice partners from France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK This collaboration focuses on digitisation, content aggregation through portals and digital libraries, and establishing OAI-PMH-based harvesting infrastructures By facilitating knowledge exchange and providing valuable feedback, EDLocal will enhance the long-term development of Europeana.

EDLocal presents a significant opportunity to evaluate tools designed for national institutions, like national libraries through TEL, while addressing the specific needs of smaller local organizations that may lack records in standard formats such as MARC.

EDLocal aims to establish a paradigm for Europeana at a European level, following the framework proposed by Robin Murray This framework emphasizes the need to categorize digital information objects into three distinct levels, alongside the associated services that enhance their usability for end users.

 the first step is to synthesise the service elements combining them into a conceptually coherent whole using metadata and known standards and protocols as well as registries for aggregation;

 the second step is to specialise this coherent entity according to a specific use context;

 the third step then is to mobilise the result, i e to actually put it to action, via service based architectures.

EDLocal will make an especially large contribution at pan-European level to step 3 in this process paradigm.

The urgency to deliver concrete outcomes to European citizens is emphasized in the i2010 digital library agenda, as highlighted by Commissioner Reding The Committee on Culture and Education has endorsed the initiative report by Marie-Helene Descamps, titled "i2010: Towards a European Digital Library," adopted on July 23, 2007.

The report advocates for the phased establishment of a European Digital Library, providing a single, multilingual access point to the continent's cultural heritage While the ultimate goal is to encompass all types of cultural materials, including audiovisual content, the initial focus should be on leveraging text materials that are free from copyright restrictions.

The committee urges European libraries to contribute their copyright-free digital works to the European Digital Library Member States are encouraged to accelerate the digitization of cultural content and create national or regional digitization plans This will help establish a comprehensive European map of digitization efforts, fostering collaboration and minimizing redundancy in the resources and expenses incurred by public and private institutions in their digitization initiatives.

The report emphasizes the need for innovative financing methods, including partnerships with the private sector, to support digitisation efforts, while ensuring that all Member States progress at a uniform pace It highlights the critical importance of creating a multilingual interface that provides direct access to content in all European Union languages.

MEPs expressed their approval of the newly formed high-level expert group, particularly endorsing its initiatives to catalog all orphan and out-of-print works and create systems to assist in locating copyright holders They emphasized the importance of the European Digital Library potentially providing access to both copyrighted and out-of-copyright materials in the future, ensuring adherence to national regulations.

Community and international law on intellectual property

The report recommends establishing a steering committee that includes significant participation from cultural institutions This committee will be responsible for setting priorities and guidelines for the European Digital Library, while also overseeing its coordination, management, and monitoring activities.

The report emphasizes the need for increased visibility and accessibility of the European Digital Library through comprehensive communication and promotional efforts at all levels It advocates for allocating specific resources to enhance the library's outreach, ensuring that a portion of these funds is dedicated to engaging the widest possible audience.

The EDL Foundation and Euepeana.Net are actively addressing various requirements by creating both short and long-term agendas Additionally, EDLocal will play a significant role by contributing a substantial amount of content, which is essential for developing effective services.

EDLocal will foster strong connections with the EDL Foundation by actively participating in the partner group and engaging in significant projects and initiatives related to their collaboration.

Underlying content

The following table provides a list of the digital objects which the consortium undertakes to make available:

No local/regional content has a yet been identified from Luxembourg, but it is planned to identify sources if possible once the project is underway

Quality 4 IPR 5 Current Use 6 Existing Metadata 7 Language Additional comments Austria

Text 167,000 monographs, e-collections (e-books, e-papers), series, periodicals, grey literature'

MAB Public domain WWW Bibliographic fields English,

Image 75,000 files on CD TIFF None On demand Printed and online catalogue data C19th German manuscript description rule

Image 25,000 files on CD or

DVD JPG, TIFF None On demand Card catalogue; online image catalogue

Image 700,000 TIFF, PDF Open access 3000 per month OPAC; card catalogue German Printed books before 1900

Image 37,461 Pictures, slides, cards, posters JPEG, PDF Public domain As above As above

1 Short name of the participant who provides the content

2 E.g Text, image, movie, sound, music etc.

3 E.g 1,000 film clips, 2 million pages, 20,000 books etc.

4 E.g Format - JPEG, MPEG, Quicktime, HTML, PDF etc., Quality – Resolution, sampling rate, colour/greyscale etc.

5 Access rights to use the content in the proposed project e.g public domain or licence

Video 6,725 cassettes Public domain As above As above German,

Software 4,353 CD-ROMs, diskettes, DVD Public domain As above As above

Text; bibliographic metadata c 200,000 records MAB2 Public domain Students, staff, everyone cf format Multilingua l

Image JPEG Public domain MAB2 (or Dublin core) German Content providing planned

Sound WAV Public domain MAB2 (or Dublin core) German Content providing planned

24,100 bibliographic records Alephino MAB 2 Public domain Students / staff all interested web users MAB 2 German

Library Graz AV-Media 21,000 CD-ROM, DVD,

Museum Graz 790 paintings 790 images JPEG Licence No current users yet, only internal askSam German

Volksliedwerk Image c15,000 Public domain Public Partly DABIS

Sound c 6,400 Gramophone records, Music cassettes, CD

Public domain Public DABIS German

PCCE Physical artefacts in museums and churches currently about 85,000 objects Rich normalized metadata, derived from inventories and converted to RDF repository, about 30000 with linked digital images (mostly JPEG 800x600)

Rights on objects with the owners (churches, museums), data shared with PCCE for internet accessible database

Database will be available on line by the end of 2007

Rich metadata as in museum inventories;

In RDF format, data structure based on Spectrum and CIDOC-CRM

210,000 records (object registrations) with c 150,000 pictures of which 40,000 published on the web

Text: internal format (Adlib), xml, HTML

3 user interfaces: a Public domain: website: free consultations b.International application: protected environment c Internal application: content providers have access to all their own content a: c900/month b: c20 c: c120

Creation and modification info (registrator, date, remarks) Publishing information Copyright information (images)

Ovinob Text, images, mashup links 731,015 bibliographic records published Text:

UMIMARC Public rights Library members, librarians

Varna Image 1,500 JPEG Public domain Post cards from

Varna Image 450 JPEG Public domain Post cards from towns and places related to Bulgarian history

Varna Image 150 JPEG Public domain Old photos of buildings, people and events from the end of C19th and beginning of C20th

Varna History Image 400 JPEG Public domain As above

Museum Image 250 JPEG Public domain As above

Books 30,000 pages PDF Free Public No Greek,

Manuscripts 10,000 pages PDF Free Public No As above

Newspapers 20,000 pages PDF Free Public No AS above

Magazines 5,000 pages PDF Free Public No As above

Antiquities Books 30,000 pages PDF Free Public No Greek,

Antiquities Magazines 15,000 pages PDF Free Public No Greek,

Antiquities Statues, artefacts 20 Point Clouds

Antiquities Ancient jewelleries 15 MS-Access-

Database format Licensed Public No English

Icons 15 Icons Point Clouds in

Moravian Library in Brno Images of text including OCR

Scanned microfilms, digitized maps (high resolution), and manuscripts (300 dpi+)

JPEG, DJVU, TXT c 300 dpi, greyscale

Any type of user MARC21, METS,

Museum in Brno Text 45,000 cards of collected objects ACCESS 97 – fields of database Local, protected by password Museum employees

(20) and researchers Name, producer, period, technical description, idenTIFFication number, place of origin, link to relevant database fields

Czech Detailed data structure of program DEMUS01 is available in CITEM in Moravské zemské muzeum v Brně

Museum in Brno Images c2,000 photographs of repositories JPEG, 100 dpi colour

Local, protected by password, linked to database fields

(20) and researcher As above As above

Museum in Brno Text 5,000 collected objects MDB Upon agreement MZM Demus Czech

Mpix) Upon agreement MZM EXIF, partly Demus Czech

Museum of Brno Images 6,000 books JPEG, 200-300 dpi Owner About 30 registered users of the library CLAVIUS

Moravian Gallery in Brno Text 50,000 items MDB Employees of MG , registered users Microsoft Access Czech

Images 11,000 images JPG, JPEG Employees of MG, registered users Microsoft Access Czech

History Archive Text, images, movies 100 text

PDF, JPEG Public domain Library users, local history researchers Library catalogue

Images 22,000 JPEG Public domain Library users, local history researchers Catalogued within the project z39.50 convertible

Cathedral Text, images 15 HTML Public domain Members of ht parish, citizens of Roskilde and tourists

Text, images 25 PDF, JPEG Public domain Library users, local history researchers Library catalogue

Photographs 170,000 digitized photographs TIFF – 300dpi,

(screenshots of the same photographss JPEG – 96 dpi, 24bit)

Licensed Amateur and academic researchers, lecturers and teachers publisherss ah subjects, museum curators, architects

Fields: title of the object; event; time and place of taking the photo; photographer; origin of the photo; original format/material of the photos

Metadata is in Estonian language

Audio, text 51 MP3, 44,2 kHz Public domain, to use it you need to have a library card and the assosiated PIN-code

Swedish, English www.helmet.fi, The joint database of Helsinki Metropolitan Area Libraries Via database customers can load MP3-files to their own computers

Sininen meteoriitti Inc Audio, text http://www.fono.fi/

Fono.fi is based on Finland’s National Public Service Broadcasting Company’s, YLE’s, record databank and shaped for library use.

Fono.fi houses a comprehensive database of all records acquired by YLE since 1974, along with data from earlier collections added retrospectively The digitization of these records commenced and is set for completion in 2008.

Volume: 149,000 records, of which 10% has been digitized, approximately 15,000 records.

Database application, Microsoft SQL- server 2005 wav.-files

Public domain Database application, Microsoft SQL- server 2005

Images, text RikArt introduces artists' books collected in Rikhardinkatu Library Arthitheque.

There is also information of the artists and pictures of their works

JPEG Public domain, to use it you need to have a library card and the associated PIN-code

Text 137,517 catalogue records (archives) XML Public domain 13,000 XML-EAD French

FRAD033 Image 1, 134, 872 images JPEG Licence 83,000 JPEG online viewed (20 000/month Dublin Core static repository French

Conservatoire estuaire Image 15,000 images JPEG Public domain Local access None French

SRI(Patrimonial inventory) Image 20,000 images JPEG Public domain Website under construction XML French

Text 5,000 images JPEG Public domain Local use ? French

Image 50,00 images JPEG Public domain Local access public access (10/07) Dublin Core static repository French DTD-EAD in

350,000 pages PNG public domain / common licence 10,000 visits/month Bibliographic entries in the Zeitschriftendatenb ank (MAB) and XML-indices

200,000 pages PDF public domain / common licence Not available Bibliographic entries in the Zeitschriftendatenb ank (MAB) and XML-indices

50,000 pages PDF public domain / common licence N.A Bibliographic entries in the Zeitschriftendatenb ank (MAB) and XML-indices

Text, iImage 750,000 pages PDF public domain / common licence Forthcoming Bibliographic entries in the Zeitschriftendatenb ank (MAB) and XML-indices

Text, image, sound, music, movies

PDF public domain / common licence N.A Catalogue data from the library’s OPAC (MAB); for sound and movies not yet available

PDF public domain / common licence N.A XML-indices and

Berlin history documenting the changes since 1985, including aerial movies, also manyeyewitness reports)

Movies 300-500 film clips Quicktime Licensed (for short clips in mid resolution, full movies in high quality are sold to TV stations and on DVD)

Forthcoming Not yet available German

Images 117 digitized carte postal JPEG Public domain Open access, mainly used for educational and research purposes

MARC, Dublin Core, Keywords, controlled vocabularies

Greek Themes include: traditional and neoclassical houses, old buildings, churches, monuments, etc.

Public domain Open access, mainly used for educational and research purposes

Dublin Core, Keywords, controlled vocabularies

Greek Includes rare and old materials such as local history books, local newspapers, serials and periodicals, from Imathia region

Text, image 1,000 photographic images and document images.

Public domain or AFS restricted or publication usage with permission from AFS

Greek Themes include: history of agricultural development and education in Greece/ Balkans; transition from Ottoman rule to independence , settlement of Asia Minor refugees.

Image, text 5,500 rare and old photographs each accompanied by a short description

JPEG, HTML Public domain, publication usage with permission from E.L.I.A.

Open access to the public, researchers, journalists, academics/teachers, students, writers, etc.

Metadata, keyword, ISAD(G), descriptions, categories, controlled vocabularies

Mountain Agio Oros [Athos Byzantine Art, reek Struggle for Macedonia 1904-

Text 150 transcripts of oral history interviews from the documentation of the digitized materials such as photographic images, postcards, interviews, etc.

Interviews by Greek refugees of the Asia Minor Catastrophe

(1922) and the Treaty of Lausanne (Treaty for the exchange of populations 1923).

Text 300 archival entries– documenting the essential information for identifying and understanding the content from photographs, publications, maps, oral history, interviews, etc.

H.A.G.R Open access Similar approach as above Greek (text of transcript)

Images 1,600 b/w and colour photographs and postcards of high resolution, watermarked

TIFF, JPEG, Exclusive to the

H.A.G.R Open access Similar approach as above Greek and

Images 200 documents from public and private archival collections

TIFF, JPEG Exclusive to the

H.A.G.R Open access Similar approach as above Greek and

Audio 200 digitised audio oral history interviews MP3,

Exclusive to the H.A.G.R Open access Similar approach as above As above Audio interviews last from 30 to 90 minutes each

Video 20 digitalised videotaped oral history interviews

Exclusive to the H.A.G.R Open access Similar approach as above As above Video interviews last from 20 to 30 minutes each

Text 3.000 entries for museum exhibits (archaeological)

MCA MCA restricted Adjustable according to the Dublin Core Element Set

Images 12.000 colour and b/w images of high resolution, watermarked

MCA MCA restricted Rendition no rendition date; media type; media size, copyright restrictions; public caption

UCY Library Images 2,285 pictures JPEG, TIFF

Public domain Open access Dublin Core Greek Cyprus history

UCY Library Movies 116 movies MPEG 2, Colour or greyscale Public domain and licence Open and controlled access Dublin Core Greek

UCY Library Sound (audio cassettes) 530 audio files Format:MP3

128 kbps Audio Sample rate 44khz

Public domain Open access Dublin Core Greek Cyprus history

UCY Library Text 21 leaflets ,8 books and

HTML Public domain Open access Dublin Core and

Cyprus history (1955-1959) and Proceedings of the Pan-Hellenic Academic Libraries Conferences

UCY Library Slides 8,047 pictures JPEG, TIFF

Colour or greyscale Quality: 4000dpi

Licence Controlled access Dublin Core Greek Archaeological slides

Text, image, audio file 4,006 pages text,

Public domain: 45,637 individual visitors Dublin Core Hungarian,

Achives Text, image, cartography 668 pages text,

TIFF Public domain: www.bekes- archiv.hu

7,297 individual visitors Dublin Core Hungarian

Town Library Text, image, 8,312 pages text,

XML, HTML, PDF, JPEG, TIFF Public domain: 70,520 individual visitors Dublin Core Hungarian

HTML, JPEG Public domain: 200 individual visitors per days on average Static, there are no metadata Hungarian

Mihály Museum Image 1,182 images JPEG, TIFF Public domain: 93,014 individual visitors Static, there are no metadata Hungarian

CL Text 4,461 pages Text Copyright managed by CL General public Dublin Core variant

(see below) English Local studies collections of the public libraries in Ireland providing a unique national collection.

Images 9,743 JPG Copyright managed by CL General public English The images include photographs, maps, drawings, letters and paintings.

Images 421 Gif Copyright managed by CL General public English

Movies 22 MPG Copyright managed by CL General public English

Movies 14 Quicktime Copyright managed by CL General public English

Interactive games 414 Flash Copyright managed by CL General public English The games are devised to provide a new learning experience in the history, geography and science curricula.

MPEG Copyright managed by CL General public English Includes stories, poems, music and songs

Text 968 PDF Copyright managed by CL General public English Includes newspaper pages, and handwritten documents.

Regione Marche Text 169,900 pages Format: TXT –

Public domain (livello visitatore); licence (livello superiore)

Regione Marche Image 207,185 Format: JPEG –

Public domain (livello visitatore) Visitors: XXXX Didascalia Italian

Aluksne under the name of

300-600 dpi Public domain N/A Dublin Core based;

300-600 dpi Public domain N/A As above Latvian

Library of Riga Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF

Ogres district of the Laubere parish

Ulbroka Library Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF

Main Library of the Preilu district

Library of the town Smiltene Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF

Central Library Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF Public domain N/A As above Latvian

Aglona parish Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF

Latvian History at the University of Latvia,

Library of the town Valka Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF

Library of the town Tukums Image 1,000 Colour, TIFF

Museum of the photography of

Lithuanian theatre, music and cinema museum

Posters 1,900 JPEG None Staff DC Russian,

Biržai Sėla museum Photographs 10,000 TIFF, 300 dpi Staff, students, scientific community, individual researchers

Descriptive metadata not in standardised format

Lithuanian Not available online

Biržai Sėla museum Negatives 2,000 TIFF, 300 dpi Staff, students, scientific community, individual researchers

Descriptive metadata not in standardised format

Lithuanian Not available online

Public Library Electronic reference Text: 262

Public domain Internet users, target groups with educational needs (students, teachers) ethnic groups and other community groups;

Key words Lithuanian http:// atminimas.kvb.lt/ Website

Public Library Bibliographic information; book science

Public domain As above Key words Lithuanian http:// knyga.kvb.lt Website

Public Library Digital image collections Images:1,781 JPG (72 dpi; 24 bit) Public domain As above Key words Lithuanian No description

Public domain As above Key words Lithuanian http:// www.kvb.lt/ leidiniai/kmb/ LeonasStrioga/ Website

„ Historical dates and facts of

Public domain As above Key words Lithuanian http://datos.kvb.lt

Public Library Lithuanian bibliography Text: 547 HTML Public domain As 2 rows above Key words Lithuanian http:// www.kvb.lt/ leidiniai/ lietuvos_bibliogr afija_2/ default.htm Website

.com Images of national newspapers from 1930 onwards

200,000+ pages JPG or PDF Accessible to paid registered users Hundreds of local and international researchers

English keywords English New content added daily

Allied Retail Co Text – out of print books 50+ books Text or PDF Licence Local Melitensia enthusiasts English keywords English -

Museum Text, images, out of print books

1,000+ documents Text or HTML Public domain Emigrants from

Australia, Canada all over the world

English keywords English Updated irregularly

Council Text, Images 100+ works of art,

PDF Public domain Cultural researchers, artists Maltese + English keywords Maltese &

Council Text, images, local newspaper, maps

PDF Public domain Cultural enthusiasts, tourists Maltese, English,

Text, images, dissertations 100+ documents and dissertations PDF Public domain University students English English Dissertations added annually

Text 80,000 books, chapters from books and journal articles

Public domain General public, students, researchers Dublin Core Dutch

Text, image 19,000 photographs, maps and old prints Public domain General public, students, researchers Dublin Core Dutch

Movie 700 films Public domain General public, students, researchers Dublin Core Dutch

Text, image 50,671 photographs Public domain General public, students, researchers Dublin Core Dutch

Text 108 archival inventories Public domain General public, students, researchers Dublin Core

Text, image 1,109 collection level descriptions of 94 museums in Noord- Brabant

XML, JPG Public domain General public, students, researchers, tourists

Tilburg Text, image 1,028 museum objects XML, JPG Public domain

General public, students, researchers, tourists

Text, image 1,464 museum objects XML, JPG Public domain

Text, image 1,340 museum objects XML, JPG Public domain

Archive, and museums Sogn og Fjordane

Photographss (including photographs from museums, municipalities etc)

150,000 TIFF All handled by public inst Internet and reading room (all)

Keywords, descriptions, categories, controlled vocabularies, some directly or indirectly geoferenced 1870- 2006

Archive Municipal and private archives – catalogues

4,000 Oracle Descriptions, categories, controlled vocabularies 1837- 1990.

Archive Music, melodies 14,000 AVI, MP3 Descriptions, categories, controlled vocabularies

Norwegian The main part is traditional music from the region (recorded 1950-2007)

Archive Place names 250,000 Oracle All geo referenced, local proNorwegiannciatio n recorded on tape,

Archive Minutes from the county councils

50,000 JPG Digitized from the protocols 1837-1945 Norwegian

Archive Minutes from the county councils , index of cases

90,000 Oracle Database with case title, type of case, Descriptions, categories, controlled vocabularies 1837- 1945

Archives and museums Articles about attractions, cultural heritage, etc

2,000 Oracle Database, all geo referenced Norwegian,

Archive Farms 2,400 Oracle All geo referenced Norwegian

Archive Mountain farms 2,200 Oracle All geo referenced Norwegian

Archive Organisations and clubs in the region

Archive Census 150,000 Oracle Norwegian Some with information about farms and number of people/ production, some with names on individuals too

Archive Church records 1,000,000 Oracle 1660 – 1970 Norwegian

Archive Land records 20,000 Oracle 1838, 1890, 1950 Norwegian

Archive Letters 4,000 Oracle Written by American emigrants Norwegian,

Archive GIS-service 70-100 layer Some relevant for

CH, also important information about the region

6,000 Oracle About photos, emigrants etc Norwegian

Archives and museums Recorded interviews 300-600 hours Oracle Descriptions, categories, controlled vocabularies, keywords on item level and time code.

Library Articles in local and regional magazines

12,000 Articles about local history, local culture, local and regional events etc.

Museums Museum objects 130,000 Oracle Keywords, categories, controlled vocabularies, description etc (date 1600-1970)

Libraries Books and other media 72,000 Library index or catalogue Norwegian

Articles about local history, local culture, local and regional events etc.

DjVu, PDF Image: 25 – 200 dpiText: 300 – 600 dpimaster file:

Public domain 40,000 users per month Dublin Core Polish,

Digital Library Image, text 400 books,

DjVu, PDF, resolution: 300 dpi, colour/greyscale

DjVu Mainly public domain 100,000 users per month Dublin Core Polish,

Małopolska Image with text (hybrid), image without text

Library Image 1,000 newspapers, 100 old printed books, 50 books, 40 historical sources

PDF Public domain 10,000 users per month Dublin Core Polish,

PDF Public domain 80,000 users per month Dublin Core Polish,

DjVu Public domain 125,000 users per month Dublin Core Polish,

Image, text 730 graphics, 400 postcards, 300 periodicals, 187 drawings, 100 photographs, 100 books

DjVu, JPG, HTML Public domain 30,000 users per month Dublin Core Polish,

Image, text 450,000 images TIFF and JPEG

(for Internet publishing); greyscale; resolution 200-

Public domain Researchers; law professionals; students; genealogists; general public.

6,000 users and 32,000 public accesses to the archive website

Portuguese documents spanning from the 10th to the 19th century include a variety of valuable historical artifacts such as parchments, cartularies, papal briefs with plumb seals, wills, regal letters, antiphonaries, liturgical codices, and parochial registers These documents hold significant cultural and heritage value, contributing to the understanding of local, regional, and national history.

800 pixels horizontal JPEG compression 7 (Medium Quality

Public Domain (except 2423 images that need licence from the authors)

General public, researchers, municipality workers.

Dublin Core Properties; Adobe Photoshop Properties; XMP Media Management Properties; XMP Rights Management

Archive of Lisbon seeks to provide the knowledge about the tradition and evolution of the city

Guarda - Guarda Text, images 400 images JPEG; PDF Public domain Researchers and general public No Portuguese Regional cultural contents (archaeology, painting, sculpture, among others)

Images Around 120,000 pages TIFF (minimum

Public domain Ongoing digital library researchers, general public

Detailed contents structural metadata following METS standard

Portuguese Images of digitized old printed books, printed literary and manuscripts

Quality of images can vary

Around 80% public domain Researchers, musicologists, students, educational services, teachers, professors, journalists.

Images 5,000 JPEG Public domain Researchers, general public No Portuguese

Cultural contents of local and regional scope

Text, images 3,000 JPEG; PDF; Public Domain General Public, researchers No Portuguese

Pixels Public domain Contents are not (yet) public accessible No Images of the

City of Lisbon Public Art

E-newspapers and e-magazines created using the open source application ContentE, which supports the METS format

Key words or meta tags are entered in each digital collection “index webpage

Portuguese titles often include a historical overview that contextualizes and analyzes the publication Additionally, some collections have been enhanced by the creation of electronic versions of printed indexes, featuring unique collections of vintage magazines and newspapers.

Text, images, movies 26,186 JPEG; PDF;

MPEG; Public domain except 20.420 that are exclusively for

Text, image, sound 402 PDF; JPEG Public domain

(some are for restricted use)

Images 544 images JPG 300x300dpi greyscale/colour Public domain The members of the regional community Researchers, teachers and students

Audio files 6 audio files MP3 Public domain As above Romanian

Text 1,623 pages PDF Public domain As above Romanian

Library Sibiu Images 752,222 JPEG (PDF),

6MPixeli, colour Public Domain Registered users Author, data, key words Various languages Correspondence, manuscripts , iconographic collection Romanian books;- manuscripts; Old Romanian books; old Foreign books; ex-libris

Public domain researchers, 20 No Romanian,

Library Text 10,268 pages, A4 format PDF scanned pages + OCR + text correction

Public domain 9,377 No, content added to library on-line catalogue

Romanian School bibliography for school and high- school

Text with images Aprox.150 pages each PDF Licence - - Romanian Monographs from 8 local villages/ communes/ towns)

CJCPCTC Images 200, colour JPG Public - - - -

CJCPCTC Movie 100, colour AVI Public - - - -

Library Images from old town Cluj 883, 1.81 GB JPEG, (Greyscale and colour No copyright needed Registered users – no web access (No metadata)

Library Text 384 pages (67 MB) JPEG, Resolution

Copyright BJC Registered users – no web access (No metadata) It is a musical manuscript

Text with images Aprox.150 pages PDF Licence - - Romanian Monograph of

DJAN Cluj Text 2,500 pages PDF Public domain 325 users last year

Text with images Aprox 150 pages for each (7 books) PDF Licence - - Romanian Monographs from 9 local villages/ communes/ towns

Public Library Books, text and images 2,744es TIFF, JPEG, 300 dpi, colour, greyscale

Public domain Registered users - no web access Romanian

Public Library Manuscript, text 348 files TIFF, JPEG, 300 dpi, colour Public domain Registered users - no web access Romanian

Public Library Engraving, images 10 files TIFF, 300 dpi, colour, greyscale Public domain Registered users - no web access

County Library Text 1,500 pages PDF and doc licence - - Romanian Personalities of

Hunedoara County, calendars, magazines, monographs Iasi County

Photo images 3,505 files TIFF, JPEG, 300 dpi, colour, greyscale, greyscale

Public domain Registered users – no web access - Romanian

Library Books (100), periodicals (newspapers) and magazines) text and images

28,600 pages PDF Public domain Registered users – no web access Romanian

Movies 10-15 min VHS Licence - - Romanian Traditional trades and customs from different areas of Hunedoara County

Text with images 150 pages, 270 pictures PDF Licence - - Romanian Ethnological material about traditional customs, arts and crafts from different areas of Hunedoara County

Text with images Aprox.150 pages PDF Licence - - Romanian The historical and geographical monograph of Petrosani locality

Text with images 1,600 pages PDF - 500 users - Romanian Magazine of the museum,, biographies and monographs by/about leading figures

Library Text and images 87 Books

23 Periodicals (newspapers and magazines) 39,900 pages

PDF Public domain No users – no web access Romanian Books from

Banat’s County writers and edited by Timisoara’s publishers C19th and early C20th newspapers, unique in South- Eastern Europe

SNM Images 6,300 JPG, TIFF Licence 130 registered users, limited free access metadata scheme

SNM 3D objects 12,800 JPG, TIFF Licence 130 registered users, limited free access metadata scheme

PU SR Images 5,000 JPG, TIFF Not yet available via internet 2,000 registered users, limited free access

PU SR Projects, planes 2,000 JPG, TIFF Not yet available via internet 2,000 registered users, limited free access

SNG Images 6,000 JPG, TIFF Not yet available via internet Limited free access Metadata scheme

Novo mesto Images 10,000 JPEG Public domain General public COMARC Slovenian Photos

Public Library Images 20,000 JPEG Public domain General public COMARC

Library Images 357 TIFF, colour Public domain None none - Postcards

Library Text 165 pages PDF Public domain None none Slovenian -

Library Video and film titles 150 DVD-MPEG; resolution 720 x

Limited public domain Registered users of the library, 10.000 format COMARC Slovenian,

Gorenjski muzej 1 Digital inventory book of objects registered in Ethnological Dept.

8,000 filed objects / Internal Curator in charge Extensive Inventory data

Gorenjski muzej 2 Images 1,300 BMP Internal Curator in charge Inventory data

(object identification: object physical description: dimensions, object history: connections, other data)

Collection of drawings and water colours by Rudolf Arh

Gorenjski muzej 3 Vintage postcards of Gorenjska sites

3,200 TIFF G4 Internal Curator in charge Inventory number, description, period, author, publisher, digital image

Image 1,000 photographs JPEG Public domain Scholars, researchers Object ID Slovenian Collection of

Text 500 items JPEG Public domain Scholars, researchers Object ID Slovenian Collection of documented experiences of participants in World War II

Movie 1 movie Public domain Scholars, researchers Object ID Slovenian Film: Comments from Dahau, 1945

(reproductions) of original art works

TIFF 600 dpi TIFF 300 dpi JPEG 300 dpi

Dublin core: title/author/year/note/ material designations /dimensions/location

Photographs of original paintings, graphic arts, sculptures, old furniture

(photos) 2,004 JPEG, TIFF 300 dpi Public domain Slovenian

Maribor Text 44,000 records Relational database, 1 Public domain Employees and customers Professional standard

ISAD(g)2 Slovenian Archival material and data about persons

Maribor Text (*.doc and *.PDF) c 3,000 files In folders Public domain Employees and customers - Slovenian Archival material

Maribor JPG 20,000 files In folders Public domain Employees and customers - Slovenian Scanned documents

Library Image 200 images JPG, GIF Public domain (COBISS)

COMARC Slovenian Database with postcards

Library Image 4,500 images TIFF Internal DVD ROM

Library Sound, video 70 records MPG, MP3 Public domain (COBISS)

Library Text, image 357 documents PDF Public domain Slovene

Library Image 463 images JPG Public domain Title, author, publishing year, publisher

Slovene Database with postcards and metadata of city Celje (KAM)

Library Text, image 211 records HTML, JPG Public domain Name, date, keywords… Slovene Biographic database (CBL)

Library Image 45 images (maps) TIFF Raw material DVD ROM

Public domain Library users Dublin Core Slovene Local history material

Public domain Library users Dublin Core Slovene Old photos of

KAMRA Text, images, audio and video material

PDF, TIFF, JPG, MPG, WAV, WMA, MP3

Public domain Dublin core Slovene Local history portal

MCU Spain Newspapers 4,000,000 pages JPEG/TIFF/PDF

Public domain Over 15,000 different visitors/month DC/ISO 15836,

XML MARC, PREMIS, MADS, METSRights, METS

All the Spanish official languages + English

OAI/PMH repository and SRU/SRW server available

MCU Spain Manuscripts, rare books and old prints

Statistics will be available next October

DC/ISO 15836, XML MARC, PREMIS, MADS, METSRights, METS

All the Spanish official languages + Latin + English

OAI/PMH repository and SRU/SRW server available

YLM Image, movie, sound, music, catalogue posts (books)

5,0000 images, 25,000 object descriptions, 10,000 book records, 1,000 sound and movie files

JPEG, MPEG, HTML, XML, PDF

Public domain Open use There are about 100,000 users per annum of the web site today.

Sweden Swedish mostly (liked by the Michael database.)

Accessible via topic and maps

Catalogue posts 11,000 books HTML Public domain Open for use MARC Swedish Part database of the national Libris Catalogue.

MGF Catalogue posts 100,000 person names Text, HTML Licence ? GEDCOM Swedish Distribution on

SVAR Images of archival documents

11.7 million documents TIFF, DjVu Licence c10,000 registered users/accounts EAD Swedish

MLA Text 54,9579 metadata records XML Creative commons licence http:// www.peoplesnetwork. gov.uk/discover/

People’s Network Dublin Core Application Profile

MLA Text 800 metadata records XML Creative commons licence http://www.michael- culture.org.uk/

MICHAEL data model English Some fields have multilingual values available (Welsh, French, Italian)

Commanet Text and images 82,023 metadata records and images www.commanet.org/ Access database, could be mapped onto schemas e.g

Photographic images (still and video) from 1870 to present with accompanying text and oral reminiscences Geographical coverage from Yorkshire to Gloucestershire. Durham County

14,790 images and related metadata records

Durham Record, Durham SMR and DLI.

Council - Text and images 4,144 metadata records and images Pictures from

Gateshead Local Studies' Image Collection Lambeth

Text and images 5,701 metadata records all records have thumbnail, small and large images attached

All web images are watermarked

"Copyright London Borough of Lambeth" or

"Copyright held by Third Party

Access database Images of places, streets, buildings, events, and people in the London Borough of Lambeth Mainly 20th century photography with some earlier documentary material.

Images and text 49,164 metadata records and images JPEG, HTML, resolution for images 72dpi greyscale or 150dpi colour.

Public domain but all images remain under copyright.

Users are predominantly adults but the website is also promoted to schools

2006: 447,432 visitors to the site and 8,619,263 page hits.

Leodis - photographic archive of Leeds

The database contains 65,024 metadata records, each accompanied by at least one low-resolution digital image available in four different sizes This feature enables users to zoom in on images directly within the database for enhanced viewing.

Some of the images are protected by copyright

Reproduction agreements are recorded in the database. various levels of rights from educational use through to full commercial rights.

The content is gathered through a server based xml database and is then transferred to an xml on-line database.

Database of historic photographs, postcards, paintings and engravings from the photographic archives of the local authorities of Derby,

Tyne & Wear museums 4,269 metadata records and over 15,000 accompanying images

All records have at least one associated image.

Tyne and Wear Museums has taken diligent steps to ensure that all content on the IMAGINE website is reproduced with the consent of copyright holders For more information, visit www.imagine.org.uk Abbreviated records are available in an online MySQL database, while comprehensive records are stored in a MODES database, with access provided upon request.

All items have item level records which are fully

SPECTRUM compliant and can be mapped to Dublin Core

The IMAGINE collection showcases the diverse offerings of Tyne and Wear Museums, encompassing four key subject areas: Archaeology, Natural Sciences, Art, and History, all with significant ties to the North East of England.

Text, images, audio, video and interactive quizzes.

Journey pages: 1,363 Museum pages: 77 Videos: 136 Audios : 161 Documents : 426 Quizzes : 49 Interactives : 11

JPEG, Audio MP3, Flash.fly, Flash.SWF, PDF, word docs, HTML, XML.

Resolution SVGA minimum (400x600) true colour.

Public domain Users are teachers and learners.

Average 29,000 users per month and rising.

Galleries Text, images 37,954 Objects available online, approx 10,189 objects have images with a Manchester City Galleries copyright line.

JPEG colour 600dpi Manchester City

Galleries copyright The copyright holders details are published

Manchester City Galleries credit line reads:- (C) Manchester City Galleries

797,976 users per annum Data is stored in

Spectrum DC is a framework that allows for the mapping of culture schemas to various data schemas The information is stored within the Ke EMu collections management system and can be accessed in XML format, enhancing data interoperability and accessibility.

IPR issues

EDLocal is committed to promoting and implementing the outcomes of Europeana.Net, particularly regarding the expression of rights associated with digital content While Europeana aims for open access to participants' collections, much of the initial content from EDLocal may be in the public domain Therefore, it is crucial to include a description of the rights related to this content within its metadata from the beginning.

To foster trust among producers and consumers of freely available objects and metadata, it is essential to establish appropriate licensing policies and implementation methods Clearly defining the terms and conditions of use for these objects is crucial, even when they are freely accessible The potential of licensing approaches like Creative Commons is currently being explored to address these needs Furthermore, a long-term legal framework for access protection, along with relevant implementation strategies, is necessary Additionally, introducing remuneration processes for copyright holders, such as publishers, may be required to ensure fair compensation.

EDLocal will evaluate and promote the outcomes of Europeana.Net and related initiatives like Arrow As Europeana evolves, access and usage rights for certain items may be restricted due to ownership, licensing, or intellectual property concerns Consequently, the management of authentication data will become crucial for EDLocal, particularly as this data is essential for personalizing Europeana services.

Multilingual and/or multicultural aspects

Europeana aims to provide access to digital content from cultural institutions across Europe, necessitating the ability to operate in a multilingual environment Users will expect to interact with Europeana in their native languages, aligning with EU policy that prohibits mandating English usage However, developing a basic service for the 2008 prototype that functions in over 20 languages presents significant challenges that must be meticulously planned A multilingual user interface will be essential for this initiative.

Europeana language policy covering all Europeana functionality is a probable minimum intended short term outcome Where interfaces are being provided locally this will be the responsibility of local service providers

Multilingualism can be considered in at least two different ways in the context of the goals of Europeana:

 multilingual user interfaces to access the digital library content;

 access to the content itself (‘the object space’) in multiple languages

Effective localization solutions exist, utilizing established techniques, though they often require considerable human resources to implement successfully.

In terms of the second approach to multilingualism, three aspects can be distinguished:

 query translation - multilingual access to indexes;

 multilingual access to objects containing written text or spoken word

Many projects are currently focusing on query translation as a straightforward solution for multilingualism The two primary methods include structured browsing using subject keywords, backed by multilingual terminology resources, and free-text searches, which rely on multilingual dictionary resources However, the lack of suitable multilingual resources has hindered the quality of search results.

There is ongoing work to look into this issue, for example the MACs project supported multilingual subject access to library catalogues through mappings between subject terminology resources, while the

MULTIMATCH project is building on existing terminology resources using automated techniques to build a multilingual search engine for cultural heritage

Europeana.Net is exploring various solutions for query translation, including the implementation of multilingual thesauri While it may not resolve all query translation challenges in its initial phase, Europeana can leverage findings from research projects like MULTIMATCH and the TEL environment to enhance its services in the future To facilitate multilingual exploration of its object space, Europeana will likely need to employ automated translation techniques for queries, metadata, or object content Additionally, incorporating Semantic Web techniques will be essential for achieving effective multilingualism.

EDLocal will support the creation of a diverse and inclusive digital library, facilitating access to culture by all communities and individuals, and representative of diverse cultures and languages

By providing a vast array of multilingual and multicultural content from each member state and various regions, we can effectively develop and test proposed Europeana applications and services.

Supporting the development of semantic approaches to multilingualism involves supplying and converting locally-used multilingual vocabularies through SKOS from both domain-specific and cross-domain services This initiative will enhance the identification of the effectiveness of translation tools.

(metadata, object data) and available vocabularies can support multilingual access to Europeana;

 by promoting and disseminating news and guidance of Europeana policies, guidelines and services among holders of local and regional content, decision makers and other stakeholders at that level

Analysis of demand

The demand for accessible online content is clearly established, with numerous case studies showing that digital content provided by local cultural institutions reaches a far larger audience than physical collections This reach is amplified significantly when content is optimized for discovery on Google, enhancing online visibility and user engagement to meet specific needs effectively.

‘market’ sectors are made accessible through popular added value service providers, use and subsequent demand for similar content is likely to increase further

Demand for cultural content is driven by various factors, including tourism, migration, employment, and education, making it as relevant as other content types Research indicates that family history, closely tied to cultural and historical contexts, ranks as the fifth largest area of user interest on the World Wide Web.

Europe as a geographic and political region provides a coherent user view onto cultural content and

Europeana serves as an effective platform for exploring the significance of place and locality in user interests Many individuals seek information related to the lives of people, which are often intertwined with specific locations A substantial amount of content about these places is generated locally, highlighting the importance of regional contributions To gain a comprehensive understanding of a location, it is essential to access both national and locally held resources that showcase the treasures and information unique to that area.

EDLocal serves as a crucial tool for meeting and stimulating user demand, enabling Europeana to remain adaptable to changing user needs and environments By assisting in the development of a systematic approach to identifying user requirements, EDLocal leverages new use cases from local users and existing lists from Europeana.Net, TEL, and MICHAEL, along with initiatives from member states Additionally, EDLocal enhances its contributions through log analysis of requests received in its test execution environment, supporting the ongoing efforts of the Network.

Considering diverse user perspectives is essential, as the needs of content-consuming end users differ significantly from those of technical administrators, content authors, digital content aggregators, and policymakers By prioritizing the functionality of Europeana, it is likely to align more closely with user needs and demands.

Europeana's unique selling propositions (USPs) will focus on how it adds value to user needs, distinguishing itself from services like Google and Yahoo by effectively addressing specific user demands.

 I want to get the object from my local library

 I want to find pictures / maps I am allowed to use of things from near where I live

 I want to find images fit for specific purposes

 I want to find objects related to my family

 I would like to have an overview of what is available in Europeana

 As a researcher I would like to know about open accessibility of a journal article found on a pay per view site

 Has this item already been digitised by somebody?

 I'd like to find objects from a given author's scientific community

 I want to put my objects into Europeana

 I want to comment on objects in Europeana

 I'd like to find objects similar to a given example

 I'd like to be notified about new items of a certain kind)

 What are my user rights for a given object? somewhat like a reference librarian, museologist or archivist

Target users and their needs

Target user description Needs Involvement & Role Country coverage

Collection managers and content aggregators

Sustainable methods by which to make their content available to Europeana and for wider exposure to users

Many content providers are involved as network partners or associated to them by Letter of Intent.

Others will be targeted through dissemination activities.

All member states i-2010 policy makers To see Europeana incorporate a critical mass of content and provide successful services

EU level and all member states

Regional and local policy makers

To promote their region and its heritage to audiences for tourism, education and research of all kinds

Involved in discussions on aggregation services and dissemination stage

End users (researchers at academic and personal level, students and teachers, business, tourists and visitors )

Easy and reliable access to more content in their field of interest, supported by more contextualised information and improved user support services

The EDLocal initiative will test and eventually implement a Europeana service that features enhanced local and regional content Each participating regional or local partner will select a diverse user group of 20 to 40 individuals to ensure demographic representation for this testing phase.

Critical Mass

Despite the challenges posed by varying local metrics, such as 'pages' versus complete 'objects' in digitized textual content, a rough estimate indicates that the total digital content discussed in Section 4 falls within a specific range.

Europeana offers access to 23 million digitised items from its EDLocal partners, comprising approximately 14 million text-based items, including archival records and manuscripts, alongside around 9 million digitised images, maps, and other visuals A notable portion of these contributions comes from content providers in countries like Sweden, Spain, and France.

The Numeric study, funded by ICT FP7, aims to evaluate the volume of digitized content in the EU, highlighting the significant contributions from each country This assessment is expected to clarify key metrics, with the terminology and definitions likely to be adopted by EDLocal.

Online metadata and catalogue records that link directly to digital content have been included in the content description, while those that do not link have largely been excluded from the count The metrics for counting audio and video/film objects vary, with approximately 4,750 film titles and 17,000 audio items included, along with 12,800 3D objects and 464 interactive games.

EDLocal aims to showcase a diverse range of digital content from public libraries, local university libraries, archives, and museums across Europe, featuring popular formats such as MP3, AVI, HTML, XML, and PDF With substantial quantities available in every major European language and a variety of metadata schemas like Dublin Core, MARC, and ISAD, EDLocal is positioned to reflect both a critical mass and a microcosm of local and regional digital content This rich repository not only facilitates exploration of cross-domain contexts at both European and regional levels but also includes content with various rights types, such as public domain and licensed materials This diversity offers a valuable opportunity to test rights expression approaches emerging from Europeana.Net within a heterogeneous context.

Many partners in EDLocal are pioneers in the digitization and aggregation of digital cultural content in their respective countries While the content they offer cannot be directly used to estimate the total local and regional content available, it is evident that this total is significantly greater than what EDLocal currently provides As more organizations adopt the best practices encouraged by EDLocal, the volume of local and regional content accessible by 2011 is expected to increase exponentially.

Added Value

Progress towards cross-domain and pan-European harmonisation of standards and infrastructure to support Europeana's interoperability is currently slow By promoting a consistent set of standards, infrastructure, and tools to partners across all member states, and leveraging advancements made by leading-edge partners, such as the adoption of OAI-PMH, EDLocal aims to enhance momentum and increase adoption rates.

Another major area in which EDLocal will add value lies in the development of thematic areas for

Europeana aims to enhance its thematic offerings by conducting a thorough content analysis early in the project This analysis will determine how EDLocal can complement upcoming themes on Europeana.Net in the short term and contribute to the development of new themes over the long term Preliminary evaluations of the available content indicate that EDLocal has the potential to reveal promising thematic areas for exploration.

The history of newspapers is intricately linked to the lives of individuals who have engaged with various localities and regions, reflecting the broader historical narratives of numerous places across Europe and their connections to one another.

EDLocal aims to demonstrate the feasibility of cross-domain cooperation in digital content provision across Europe, despite varying patterns in different countries An analysis of regional and local content coordinators reveals that 11 are libraries, 8 coordinate content across domains, 5 are from museums, and 2 are from archives Notably, even single-domain coordinators often receive significant contributions from organizations in other domains, highlighting the collaborative nature of content provision.

Networking Capacity

The consortium envisaged as necessary for successful networking is:

6.1.1 A financial co-ordinator (Sogn og Fjordane)

6.1.2 A project manager/scientific co-ordinator and experienced dissemination leader with responsibility for development and maintenance of the project information service and website (MDR Partners).

6.1.3 EDL Foundation which will act as technical, standards and interoperability co-ordinator.

Two technical partners, Asplan Viak from Norway and EEA from the Slovak Republic, will offer specialized support and training to regional partners for the installation and maintenance of Europeana-defined software tools essential for achieving the Network's objectives Their assistance includes providing repository support and a comprehensive toolkit with guidelines on repository selection, implementation, and utilization, as well as tools for metadata mapping and vocabulary transformation, such as SKOS.

Each EU member state should designate a major municipal, regional, or national representative capable of offering a significant collection of digital content from museums, archives, and libraries This representative must demonstrate effective content use policies and the ability to implement the frameworks and tools established by EDLocal Additionally, they should secure partnerships with other content holders through Letters of Intent to ensure a robust and thematically relevant selection of digitized cultural content.

Each country should select a municipality or region that possesses a significant amount of pre-digitized content from museums, archives, and libraries This content should be accessible online or stored in machine-readable databases, content management systems, and repositories This model has been adopted by the partners representing most regions within the Network.

In many regions, public libraries often take the lead in coordinating access to cross-domain digital content, which is evident in the selection of consortium partners Efforts have been made to include aggregator services and content partnerships from various cultural organizations to enhance collaboration and accessibility.

In certain member states, regional infrastructure is lacking, making it essential to rely on strong national content holders, such as national libraries or museums, which often possess significant digital cultural content relevant to local communities These institutions are typically the preferred partners for EDLocal initiatives, particularly in smaller countries like Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, where they play a crucial role in content aggregation.

Likewise, where some countries have established agencies or mechanisms (such as Digital Libraries) for co-ordination and/or strategic leadership of local/regional cultural content providers (e.g

In Poland, local and regional institutions may benefit from collaboration with private sector organizations or NGOs to enhance coordination and activity Additionally, countries like the Czech Republic and Malta require strategic involvement from these entities to effectively galvanize local efforts.

Members of the project consortium are actively involved in prominent EU networks, and the EDLocal network will be accessible for adoption by additional regions The specific timeline for allowing other content providers to join the EDLocal execution environment will be established in the second year of the project's implementation.

Clustering Activities

Europeana.Net serves as a pivotal clustering initiative within the Europeana framework, uniting diverse cross-domain associations, organizations, and projects invested in its processes and outcomes EDLocal will closely align with Europeana.Net, adopting its standards, infrastructure, and technology based on the recommendations and guidelines established by Europeana.Net and its subsequent initiatives.

EDLocal aims to enhance the Europeana community by incorporating local and regional content along with its provider organizations By leveraging the outcomes of Europeana.Net, EDLocal facilitates the implementation of these results within local institutions, supported by various countries.

EDLocal should actively participate in Europeana.Net and its successor initiatives to leverage its expertise and insights regarding the needs of the domains it represents.

Future eContentPlus and CIP calls are expected to fund various projects aimed at aggregating specific content from diverse sectors EDLocal plans to coordinate its efforts with these initiatives, starting with collaboration through Europeana.Net.

Europeana.Net aims to deliver a significant portion of its outcomes prior to the launch of EDLocal and will conclude its efforts shortly thereafter The initiative is focused on coordinating its activities with future developments to establish a fully operational Europeana, ensuring alignment with upcoming coordination and clustering efforts.

Given the rapid development of repository networks across Europe, it is anticipated that clustering activities will quickly emerge to ensure technical interoperability and compatible strategies For instance, a dialogue is expected between the DRIVER federation, which utilizes OAI-PMH harvesting technology to aggregate distributed e-content from scholarly repositories, including national and institutional targets EDLocal is committed to supporting and actively participating in these clustering efforts to address integration and demarcation issues identified during the Eurpeana.Net initiative.

The integration of infrastructures for accessing local and regional content is a global concern, particularly in Europe In addition to the Semantic Web's emerging infrastructure, various domains, including cultural heritage, are exploring service integration to enhance audience engagement Notable initiatives such as the World Digital Library and national projects like the China Digital Library and the Digital Library of India highlight this trend Moreover, significant efforts in eGovernment and the reuse of Public Sector Information, which often have local implications, are also underway The Project Manager of EDLocal (MDR) is coordinating the ePSIplus Thematic Network to support the PSI reuse directive and is actively involved with Europeana.Net EDLocal aims to contribute its expertise and eagerness to learn within established clustering forums in these areas.

Success indicators

EDLocal aims to significantly enhance the availability of high-quality digital content accessible through Europeana To achieve this, the project will establish both quantitative and qualitative targets in collaboration with each network partner, ensuring that the metadata of accessible digital items is available for harvesting in OAI-compliant repositories.

Broad quantitative targets and milestones will be established to take account of the various digitisation

The primary objective is to showcase that a substantial volume of content can be made accessible through Europeana by leveraging local and regional resources in each participating area This initiative will highlight the importance of 'starting points' in various regions, contributing to the overarching content goals for Europeana.

The project will prioritize collaboration with participating regions to identify and make specific digital content available, focusing on themes that highlight European added value This involves curating content related to particular individuals, events, or cultural movements that exist across multiple countries or regions To facilitate this, working groups will be established among partners to determine the most effective management of relevant content, ensuring optimal presentation in Europeana.

Indicato r Nr Objective/expected result Indicator name Expected Progress

1 Quantity of digital content from EDLocal accessible through

‘themes’ agreed or generated with specific reference to EDLocal content

3 Number of EDLocal participant countries with repositories of local/regional content harvestable by

4 Number of new regional/ local content providers accepted to join

5 Number of countries with agreements to supply content to

Europeana through nationally or regionally co-ordinated mechanisms

The data required to inform these performance indicators will be reasonably readily available through basic systems/empirical evidence:

 indicator 1 will be countable through standard statistical features in the Europeana environment;

 indicator 2 will be based on empirical evidence and agreed between the EDL Foundation and EDLocal management;

 indicator 3 will be the subject of a simple count, against certain clearly established functionality criteria to be agreed with Europeana management;

 indicators 4 and 5 to be agreed and checked versus records at both EDLocal management and EDL Foundation;

 indicator 6 will either be countable through standard statistical features in the Europeana environment or amenable to an agreed sampling procedure.

Linkages between Expected results, WP tasks, deliverables and success indicators

Expected result WP/task Deliverable Success Indicator

Make content accessible to Europeana

Establishment of a widespread operational network of OAI-PMH repositories,

Establish Europeana test environment for

Make toolkit available WP4 Task 2 D4.2 3

Ensure EDLocal standards comply with

Achieve ease of joining by new content providers

Description of work and roles

The EDLocal workplan will involve the following main, phased activities:

See Section 9 for detailed description.

Workpackage 2 focuses on conducting a brief survey to assess the variety of content and metadata schemas utilized by museums, archives, libraries, and cultural institutions across Europe This survey will evaluate metadata harvesting activities and repository aggregation levels at local and regional levels, aligning these findings with the recommended architecture of Europeana The goal is to develop a practical approach to metadata interoperability that meets Europeana's discovery and user needs Following the survey, a content analysis will be performed in each region based on the latest available data.

The Requirements Analysis provided by Europeana aids in identifying significant cross-border and Pan-European themes that are crucial for potential users, thereby facilitating the prioritization of content additions to the Europeana service.

Workpackage 3 focuses on content harvesting and aggregation by creating a scalable test execution environment managed by the EDL Foundation or its contractor, integrated with Europeana This environment will allow new local content aggregators to connect easily and test modifications beneficial to the Europeana interface Utilizing spare technical infrastructure from the TEL project, this initiative will facilitate phased content harvesting and establish a central service for synchronizing OAI-PMH servers, along with a central metadata repository and index Insights from implementing OAI-PMH repositories in the TELplus project will serve as valuable resources for EDLocal.

The workpackage will execute essential tasks for the iterative implementation and quality assurance of OAI-PMH compliant repositories across partner regions This involves converting existing databases and metadata to Europeana-compliant formats, utilizing the Europeana ‘installer’ tool when applicable The process will initiate with content coordination partner regions that demonstrate a high level of readiness, followed by phased implementation in additional groupings However, many vendors in the cultural sector do not provide OAI-PMH capabilities, and there is often a lack of implementation expertise In such instances, the most effective solution is to export data from existing systems and import it into an OAI-PMH server.

Workpackage 4 focuses on the implementation of Europeana standards and tools, facilitating a phased adoption aligned with key activities from Europeana.Net, as outlined in workpackage 3 EDLocal aims to tailor these tools to the specific needs of content providers across Europe, particularly addressing challenges related to configuring OAI-repositories for non-standard data formats By testing Europeana.Net's recommended tools in real-world settings, EDLocal will customize them as needed, offer relevant documentation and installation support, and assess the outcomes Additionally, when gaps exist in available tools for essential implementation tasks, EDLocal, in collaboration with its technical partners, will explore suitable options from the broader technical landscape.

Among the key components of the toolkit envisaged will be tools for:

 processing locally-used vocabularies through SKOS or any agreed analogous approach;

 if applicable during the project period, tools for metadata enrichment, user-contributed content, to be applied at local/regional level.

Europeana will ensure the translation of its metadata application profiles and essential documentation into local languages as needed While robust tools and applications are anticipated to be delivered, some local testing will be necessary to identify and resolve any issues or bugs in the databases, with assistance from EDLocal technical partners.

This work package (WP) will establish a comprehensive training process and ongoing technical support for EDLocal partners and content providers It will focus on best practices in the installation and implementation of tools related to OAI-PMH, repositories, database conversion, metadata mapping, collection-level description, vocabulary conversion via SKOS, rights expression, and semantic enrichment To facilitate this, a series of multi-regional workshops will be organized, and a help desk will be set up, complemented by the publication of best practice guidance.

Technical support work will be divided broadly equally between two geographic sections of Europe as follows:

Asplan: Belgium, France, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

EEA: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia

Workpackage 5 Dissemination and awareness raising will promote the results and availability of the

EDLocal is a service designed for decision-makers and senior practitioners, focusing on enhancing access to information through an interactive website and distribution service It aims to leverage the established network of local institutions from the CALIMERA and PULMAN initiatives under IST FP6 and FP5 Additionally, EDLocal will organize national meetings to encourage more regions outside the project partnership to contribute content to Europeana, utilizing the infrastructure developed by the initiative.

The WP will outline the necessary structures for future governance and local participation aligned with the EDL Foundation EDLocal will establish clear administrative and technical procedures for content providers to join Europeana, determining any subscription fees or conditions for membership This will likely require creating processes and agreements in each country, ensuring local content providers collaborate with a manageable number of organizations for contributions Additionally, it is essential to agree on the governance procedures with the EDL Foundation to facilitate the involvement of local and regional content provider representatives in Europeana's future governance.

Workpackage 6 will evaluate and monitor progress by focusing on key issues related to tracking milestones and quantitative targets, assessing their impact on local and regional content providers as well as Europeana This includes analyzing the volume, types, and quality of metadata and content contributed by EDLocal partners, examining how local and regional content enhances the richness and value of Europeana's services, identifying any redundancy or duplication, and determining if the efforts undertaken during EDLocal provide a sustainable foundation for the long-term growth and integration of local and regional content within Europeana.

End users will play a crucial role in validating EDLocal's work by forming a user testing group that is demographically segmented by age, education level, and social structure This group will conduct structured usability testing on Europeana prototype interfaces at various key stages throughout the project.

Technologies and Standards

The primary objectives of the EDLocal workplan are to enhance the accessibility of local and regional content to Europeana and to create streamlined pathways for future contributions from other content providers To achieve this, EDLocal is essential in developing and invigorating the infrastructure and standards required for local and regional content provision.

EDLocal's work emphasizes the importance of technical standards that facilitate interoperability Traditional methods, such as Z39.50/SRU+SRW, are increasingly being replaced by more modern harvesting techniques that utilize OAI-PMH This shift highlights the growing reliance on web service-based approaches for effective data harvesting and interoperability in library systems.

The emergence of SOAP/UDDI and the Java-based API defined in JCR (JSR 170/283) highlights a significant trend towards OAI-PMH, which aims to address the challenges of distributed search models These models often limit users by requiring them to select specific collections for searching, leading to suboptimal result rankings Additionally, implementing desirable features such as personalization services and multilingual access is particularly difficult within a distributed framework, making a centralized indexing approach essential for enhancing user experience.

OAI-PMH compatibility is being promoted in national libraries through initiatives like TELplus, enabling integration of The European Library with various cultural and scientific heritage repositories using Open Source software The implementation of OAI-PMH offers significant usability benefits and is a key standard endorsed by Europeana.Net for stakeholders EDLocal aims to maintain low barriers for stakeholders while favoring the OAI-PMH protocol, particularly in the development of new repositories.

To ensure interoperability of resources within Europeana, a compatible approach to metadata is crucial, accommodating both distributed and centralized environments This approach should facilitate effective searching across collections and aggregating descriptions for indexing at various levels, including central, regional, domain-specific, and local Given the diversity of participants in the Europeana network, it is essential to accommodate existing metadata practices across different domains, databases, and repositories, rather than expecting uniform adoption of a single standard or software A common standard metadata format, or clear mappings between various standards, is vital for efficient search and retrieval operations across distributed resources and for object exchange A metadata specification is currently under development within Europeana.Net and will be implemented by EDLocal upon its completion in late 2008, leveraging use cases from local partner institutions to inform further development of user requirements for Europeana metadata.

Emerging service description profiles for Europeana are being developed through collaboration between the standards community and practical implementations It has been proposed that the collection-level metadata from these initiatives could be utilized to create a shared collection/service registry for Europeana Based on the outcomes of ongoing discussions, EDLocal participants will contribute collection and service-level metadata to a designated collection description service as outlined by Europeana Future close collaboration between Europeana and EDLocal will be essential to address the needs of local and regional content providers effectively.

The use of controlled vocabularies is crucial for the consistent creation of metadata and effective cross-collection searches These vocabularies can range from simple predefined code lists for languages, countries, media formats, and object types to more complex and dynamic systems like ontologies, thesauri, and classifications for subject description Research from the MULTIMATCH project shows that the adoption of internationally established controlled vocabularies remains limited, with local and nationally managed vocabularies being more prevalent A significant factor contributing to this trend is the lack of availability of international controlled vocabularies in all European languages.

23 official languages in the European Union)

A limited selection of widely used approaches in Europeana.net domains is proposed for vocabulary mappings and cross-walks EDLocal is poised to enhance this initiative by providing multilingual vocabularies utilized by local cultural institutions and services across Europe This effort aims to make existing controlled terminology machine-readable, facilitating the creation of a data layer suitable for semantic queries One key method for achieving this will be the conversion through SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System).

SKOS is creating specifications and standards to enhance knowledge organization systems like thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading systems, and taxonomies for the Semantic Web By utilizing the Resource Description Framework (RDF) for information encoding, this method allows service providers to enrich metadata collected from various sources.

The development of an object model compatible with the cross-domain Europeana approach is a key focus for EDLocal Ongoing discussions within Europeana aim to establish a minimum consensus on object models for diverse types of objects This consensus is essential for ensuring interoperability between Europeana and external repositories.

EDLocal aims to establish federations by building on the foundational work within the Europeana framework This initiative is still in its early stages and seeks to facilitate future collaborations with local and regional content providers and aggregators.

Semantic web technologies can be used to create semantic interoperability in three areas:

 interoperability of the distributed content resources at the conceptual level;

 the semantic interoperability of Europeana at the user interface level;

Europeana's semantic interoperability enables automated processing by integrating with emerging semantically aware web services, enhancing its functionality and connectivity within the digital ecosystem.

Europeana.Net is exploring immediate opportunities to enhance its platform through the application of W3C semantic web languages and the conversion of existing controlled vocabularies While the mapping of resulting ontologies will be addressed in the long term, the initiative will also incorporate generalized ontological frameworks like CIDOC CRM This strategy aims to effectively integrate Semantic Web technologies into the platform.

A workshop at the European Semantic Web Conference in June 2008 will focus on Europeana, aiming to make existing metadata and controlled terminology machine-readable This initiative will establish a data layer suitable for semantic query methods within Europeana, with the conversion results set to be published in the Europeana registry EDLocal will leverage these results to enhance awareness and facilitate implementation in local and regional institutions across each member state.

Ensuring consistent identification and resolution of digital objects in Europeana is crucial to prevent broken links Europeana.Net aims to establish a consensus on this matter, potentially utilizing established identifier frameworks such as DOI, NBN, URN, ARK, and PURL, provided they are implemented systematically with a transparent resolution mechanism Standard identifiers must be used for the creation of new resources To address the lack of browser support for these frameworks, the proposed Europeana Resolution Infrastructure will facilitate resolution and identifier referral, with EDLocal supporting the implementation of persistent identifiers and their connections.

Europeana metadata application profile(s) by or on behalf of local and regional content providers as soon as the Europeana approach is defined

Project plan

WP1 Project managemen and co-ordination

WP 2 Metadata survey and content analysis

T1 Partner survey metadata/voc use

WP 3 Content harvesting and aggregation

WP 5 Dissemination and awareness raising

WP 6 Evaluation and progress monitoring

Work package and labour effort overview

Work Package and Labour Effort Overview

Person months effort per workpackage per applicant 6

1 Project management and coordination

2 Metadata survey and content analysis

4 Implementation of Europeana standards and tools

No 7 Work package title Lead

Applicant Start month 9 End month 10

Person months effort per workpackage per applicant 12

2 Number of the applicant leading the work in this work package.

3 Relative start date for the work in the specific work packages, month 0 marking the start of the project, and all other start dates being relative to this start date.

4 Relative end date, month 0 marking the start of the project, and all ends dates being relative to this start date.

5 The total number of person-months allocated to each work package

2 Metadata survey and content analysis

4 Implementing Europeana standards and tools

1 Number of the applicant leading the work in this work package.

12 AP 1 – AP m : Applicants numbered 1 to m

PMnm: Person months allocated in WP n for applicant number m

2 The total number of person-months allocated to each work package

10 Relative end date, month 0 marking the start of the project, and all ends dates being relative to this start date.

9 Relative start date for the work in the specific work packages, month 0 marking the start of the project, and all other start dates being relative to this start date.

Work package description

Work package number : 1 Start date: 1 End date: 36

Work package title: Project management and co-ordination

Coordinate EDLocal's activities and track progress to ensure successful delivery of results, while achieving objectives on schedule and within budget.

 Ensure effective operation of the Best Practice Network (BPN) as an organism and the delivery of all results to a high level of quality

 Supervise the project’s management and decision-making procedures

 Manage the contract and assure compliance with the Commission’s reporting requirements

 Provide efficient financial management and timely payment procedures

Task 1 Activity planning and day to day management of the Network and its activities

MDR will enhance communication and information flow among the management team, work package leaders, and network partners by establishing clear distribution and communication mechanisms This approach will include monitoring the progress of key communication streams to effectively address any arising issues.

1.2 MDR, reporting to Sogn og Fjordane, will organise regular Project Management Board Meetings and ensure compliance with agreed decision-making processes.

1.3 MDR, with the support of Sogn og Fjordane will organise kick-off (M1) and mid-term meetings (M19) of the Best Practice Network partners.

Task 2 Management of the grant agreement with the Commission

2.1 MDR, supported by Sogn og Fjordane, will provide periodic management and progress reports to the Commission as required, together with participation in reviews and concertation meetings as requested.

Sogn og Fjordane, with the administrative backing of MDR, will oversee the financial management of the BPN, including the submission of cost claims and the timely disbursement of expenses to partners and participants.

2.3 MDR will compile the Final public report of EDLocal in Month 36

Task 3 Quality Assurance of deliverables

MDR will establish suitable processes for reviewing all project deliverables, which may include internal evaluations with network partners and, when necessary, consultations with external experts.

MDR will maintain regular progress monitoring and follow-up to ensure that all deliverables are completed on schedule Any changes to the timing or nature of these deliverables will be approved by the PMB and communicated to the Commission.

Milestone 1: project-wide kick-off meeting (M2)

Milestone 2: successful first project review (M15)

Milestone 3: successful second project review (M24)

Milestone 4: successful final project review (M36)

Results: Fulfilment of the contractual obligations and objectives of the BPN and delivery of all expected results to a high level of quality

Work package title: Metadata survey and content analysis

EDLocal is focused on advancing the provision of content within the evolving Europeana infrastructure by addressing critical issues such as cross-domain item-level metadata, standardized terminologies, and the development of repositories This includes curating relevant thematic content and providing comprehensive collection descriptions to enhance accessibility and usability for users.

Task 1 Partner survey of metadata and vocabulary usage

MDA will conduct a survey to assess the current use of metadata schemas and vocabularies in local and regional libraries, museums, and archives within the participating areas This initiative will align with the metadata infrastructure guidelines set by Europeana.Net and will also correlate the findings with Europeana’s requirements study, with results expected by Month 4.

1.2 Regional partners will complete and return the survey in relation to all the content providers involved in EDLocal in their region by Month 9

The 1.3 MDA will conduct a comprehensive analysis of survey results and provide recommendations on metadata and terminology, including registration and conversion via SKOS, to enhance planning for both Europeana's central operations and local/regional content contributors This work is expected to be finalized by Month 9.

Task 2 Assessing the EDLocal repositories and aggregations network

2.1 EDL Foundation supported by MDR will plan and instigate work to be conducted by the content coordination partner in each country to establish metadata repositories, by Month 5.

The EDL Foundation, in collaboration with MDR, will evaluate and chart the existing planning and initiatives for metadata repositories across local, regional, and national levels This assessment aims to identify sustainable and cost-effective methods for aggregating metadata into Europeana for each participating region or country, incorporating insights from the partner survey The completion of this work is scheduled for Month 12.

MDA will establish a working group comprising content coordinators from six regions that have the most diverse and extensive aggregated content repositories This group will perform a thematic analysis of the content provided by EDLocal, with the completion of this work scheduled for Month 10.

The working group will leverage the content sources outlined in this document to prioritize topics and thematic areas that require a significant volume of digital content, aligning with the emerging strategies of Europeana This work is expected to be completed by Month 12.

Milestone 1: survey and information gathering instruments ready as annexed to D1.2 (M 6)

Milestone 3: completion of analysis and reports on local/regional metadata and content infrastructures (M12)

Result: sufficient data to enable clear alignment of EDLocal infrastructural and technical needs with developments in the overall Europeana environment, including the identification of agreed thematic or similar approaches

D2.2 Pan-European multilingual directory of vocabularies in use with local/regional content

D2.3 Map of existing regional/local repositories and aggregations (including gap analysis)

D2.4 Thematic content analysis for Europeana

Work package title: Content harvesting and aggregation

The EDL Foundation will establish and manage a central environment for harvesting, storing, and maintaining metadata related to EDLocal digital content throughout the project This initiative aims to integrate regional and local content into the main Europeana infrastructure, complementing the existing systems in use.

To enhance content delivery strategies, it is essential to establish at least one stable OAI-PMH compliant repository or a comparable harvestable equivalent in each EDLocal partner country This repository should effectively aggregate the local and regional content outlined in this document and contribute to the formulation of national content delivery strategies.

Task 1 Implementing a central test execution environment

The EDL Foundation will create and launch a central test environment for EDLocal that adheres to Europeana.Net requirements and addresses feedback from the partner survey (D.2.1) This environment will aggregate and index metadata and content sourced from EDLocal repositories, with an initial test version set to be available by Month 12.

The EDL Foundation, collaborating with content coordinators from three countries that have established OAI-PMH repository installations, such as the UK Discover Service, will conduct tests on harvesting EDLocal metadata This initiative aims to identify any initial issues and necessary adjustments in both the central metadata environment and local repositories, with the results expected to be completed by Month 18.

Deliverables List

Deliverable title Delive ry date 2

D6.1 Performance measurement schema and end-user incentive schemes

D3.1 Central parallel test execution environment: demonstrator for first review

D2.2 Pan-European directory of multilingual vocabularies in use with local/regional content

D2.3 Clickable map of existing regional/local repositories

(including gap analysis) on website

D2.4 Thematic content analysis for Europeana M12 R PU

D4.2 Technical support documentation and help desk online

D5.4 Template of conditions for agreement to participate in Europeana

D6.2 Six monthly evaluation and progress reports (V1-6) M12 R PP

D4.1 Four initial multi-regional training workshops: report M16 R PU

1 Deliverable numbers in order of delivery dates: D1 – Dn Deliverable numbers must indicate which workpackage they relate to, e.g D2.1 for the first deliverable from workpackage 2).

2 Month in which the deliverables will be available Month 0 marking the start of the project, and all delivery dates being relative to this start date.

3 Please indicate the nature of the deliverable using one of the following codes:

4 Please indicate the dissemination level using one of the following codes:

D3.3 Technical report on initial harvesting results M21 R PU

D5.6 Register of organisations nominated to conclude agreements with Europeana

D4.3 Second set of multi-regional training workshops: report

D4.4 Regional repositories established in each partner country

D3.4 Central parallel test execution environment with significant indexed content: demonstrator for second review

D4.5 Directory of vocabularies converted through SKOS M29 O PU

D3.5 Report on user and usability testing M32 R PU

D3.6 Integrated prototype service including EDLocal content

D5.7 National meetings: analytic report M36 R PU

D1.11 Periodic progress report Project end

D1.13 Project presentation (results) Project end

Project Management Structure and Responsibilities

EDLocal will be overseen by a skilled project manager (MDR) with a successful history in managing extensive pan-European cultural networking initiatives This management will utilize established methodologies and components, ensuring effective oversight The project manager will report to a Co-ordinator who possesses extensive knowledge and experience in strategic developments related to Europeana at the European level.

The management team will oversee the Best Practice Network's activities for the European Commission, with daily communication delegated to the Project Manager Their responsibilities include ensuring effective operation and compliance with project objectives.

 handling all communications with the Commission;

 handling all administrative and financial responsibilities in the project;

 ensuring timely delivery of requests for pre-financing and financial statements, activity reports ;

 convening, chairing, monitoring and providing a secretariat for the Project Management Board;

 ensuring that all project deliverables are available on time;

 creating conditions necessary for successful collaboration;

 ensuring the compatibility of project management tools in use at each of the network members;

The Management Library will be established and maintained to house the latest managerial documents produced by the Project These documents will be accessible to members via a secure, password-protected intranet service on the Network website.

Each network partner member will appoint an Associated Project Manager (APM) for the Project.

The Project Management Board (PMB), led by the Coordinator, serves as the primary authority for the Network, meeting at least biannually to address disputes among members Audio conferencing will facilitate timely decision-making and problem-solving as needed The PMB comprises five experienced members from the network partner group, including the Coordinator from Sogn og Fjordane, EDL Foundation (technology and standards provider), MDR (project manager), ABM-Utvikling, and Asplan Viak (lead technical partner), along with MDA (lead partner for WP3).

Best Practice Network (BPN) Partner Group

The BPN, made up of content providers and coordinators from each member state (excluding Luxembourg) along with two technical support partners, will oversee and validate the outcomes of EDLocal Chaired by the Coordinator, the BPN will convene during the project kick-off and mid-term meetings while also engaging in electronic correspondence to address significant matters.

The PMB is tasked with making all strategic decisions for EDLocal, encompassing overall policy and strategy, with decisions made by majority vote; in case of a tie, the Co-ordinator holds the casting vote Membership termination from the PMB follows the same voting procedure, and additional decision-making processes will be outlined in the Consortium Agreement Should a PMB member be terminated, the remaining members will invite a network member, chosen by majority vote, to fill the vacancy.

A Workpackage leader will be allocated clear responsibility for the work and outcomes of each of the six workpackages All WP leaders will be represented on the PMB.

Project communication mechanisms

In the case of a conflict among partners, the Coordinator and Project Manager will seek to negotiate a resolution within contractual limits and will update the Project Management Board (PMB) and, if necessary, the Project Officer at the Commission If negotiations do not succeed, the issue will be escalated to the PMB, which will make a binding decision based on a simple majority vote, ensuring that all network members adhere to the outcome.

The information originated by the Project may have a specialised or a managerial nature Concerning the specialised issues, information flow will be achieved through:

 meetings of key workpackage participants and activity to be held as necessary for the execution of the workplan;

 news and information posted to the website, a three-monthly newsletter and a news distribution facility (RSS Newsfeed);

 online communication (email, chat, VOIP ) to support collaborative work and resolve problems.

As far as managerial, administrative and financial issues are concerned communication and information flow will be achieved through:

 very regular communication between the Co-coordinator and the Project manager;

 meetings of the Project Management Board;

 distribution of reports by the Project Manager.

The foreseen procedures and tools for EDLocal are:

All formal meetings, including PMB and Network Meetings, will be announced at least two weeks in advance Attendees will receive the agenda, proposed resolutions, decisions, and supporting documentation at least one week prior to the meeting The chair will issue all documents and is responsible for compiling submissions from partners.

 all meetings will be formally minuted and minutes will be issued within 5 working days of the completion of the meeting;

The Project Manager will be responsible for maintaining all document libraries, ensuring the proper management of essential project documentation, including interim reports, pre-financing requests, financial statements, working papers, and deliverables.

To ensure the effective operation of these libraries, a robust Web server infrastructure will be established for the project intranet Essential functionalities will include Groupware capabilities, such as email communication and document sharing.

 standard techniques such as Critical Path Analysis and Cash Flow Planning Models will be adopted where appropriate;

 co-ordination of knowledge management and other innovation-related activities will be undertaken at workpackage level by the workpackage leaders and at consortium level by MDR.

Risk Analysis and Risk Management

Network partners are highly motivated and recognize the strategic importance of enhancing their content visibility through Europeana, which helps mitigate risks However, it is essential to allocate significant project management resources to effectively monitor and coordinate project activities.

The network will address external project risks, such as technological advancements and regulatory changes, by consistently monitoring developments in Europe Potential risks will be a key focus in every Management Meeting agenda.

Foreseen potential risks to the success of EDLocal mainly concern the following:

Risk description Risk level Procedure to address risk

Misalignment between availability of Medium EDL Foundation membership of consortium infrastructure becomes a serious problem early warning of risk, enabling corrective timetabling by project management over the

3 year project period Mobilisation and adherence to timetable of action of a very large and dispersed network of local/regional content co- coordinator partners is jeopardised

The creation of tailored implementation plans by each regional partner will facilitate a phased timetable that considers their unique starting points and varying capabilities Additionally, project assistance and technical support will be readily available to partners facing challenges.

Local/regional partners encounter difficulties in negotiating agreed metadata aggregation levels and services nationally

Medium Issue will be discussed and resolved via

EDL clustering and concertation environment

Demand to join and contribute content to

Europeana exceeds immediate capacity to plan and manage

Medium Clear and appropriate messages and procedures will be developed for handling any EDLocal ‘waiting list’

Overlap, duplication or conflict is identified with the work of other EDL cluster projects

Active engagement with key players in the Europeana cluster projects and relevant European Commission officers is essential for effective discussion and decision-making Additionally, the workload for necessary regional partners has surpassed initial expectations due to ongoing technical developments within Europeana.

Low Appropriate reallocation and retargeting will be discussed in the project management environment and with the Project Officer

Quality Assurance

The quality methodologies and procedures implemented will align with ISO requirements while allowing for flexibility to meet the unique needs of the eContentPlus project.

 organisation of the working team;

 roles and responsibilities of each participant;

Clearly defined and documented requirement specifications and quality objectives will establish responsibilities and authorities within the project The work programme assigns distinct responsibilities to a single organization for each task, ensuring effective coordination with other participants Comprehensive plans for development, quality assurance, testing, configuration, acceptance, and maintenance will be established and monitored Agreed-upon procedures for acceptance and quality control will be implemented Additionally, suitable tools for planning, monitoring, and progress reporting will be utilized, with a standardized tool selected for reporting purposes.

Establishing efficient dissemination mechanisms for a Best Practice Network is crucial for engaging a vast European audience, which includes hundreds of thousands of institutions accountable to local and regional authorities, central ministries, and various independent governing bodies.

The Network consortium includes many leading local and regional authorities with extensive digitized content and digital library initiatives, significantly enhancing the Europeana service However, this contribution only begins to tap into the vast potential of future content from local and regional sources.

The dissemination role of EDLocal needs to address several issues which are important components in the future success of Europeana, including:

 promoting the widespread awareness and uptake of Europeana standards, tools and agreed infrastructure among local and regional CH institutions and their co-ordinating bodies;

 promoting and negotiating with other regional and national stakeholders appropriate levels of metadata aggregation in each country or region;

 encouraging more rapid digitisation of digital content at local/regional content across Europe

It will also be vital that the results of EDLocal are communicated effectively to other funded projects in the

‘EDL’ cluster in order to enhance co-ordination

The main dissemination mechanisms available to EDLocal are described in WP 5 They include:

MDR will launch the EDLocal dissemination website by M2 at the latest, utilizing an Open Source CMS to provide interactive features and connections to related projects within the EDL cluster, including Europeana.Net Key functionalities of the site will encompass news updates and distribution capabilities.

 news of events and activities (also reflecting what is gong on the broader EDL/Europeana environment), including a feed from the eContentplus site;

The project includes an engaging multimedia PowerPoint presentation designed for the general public, highlighting the consortium, project objectives, challenges, and benefits Additionally, it provides various dissemination materials for both partner use and requests from the Commission.

 an EDLocal newsletter produced three times a year in English and translated where appropriate;

 partner contributed ‘case study’ descriptions of their own situation and progress, featuring selected partner ‘blogs’;

 a technical progress ‘chart’ showing what is happening across all participating regions;

 downloadable survey completion forms and guidance in support of WP2;

 downloadable tools and good practice guidance to support partners in carrying out WP3, 4 and 5;

 facilities for enabling new partners to approach EDLocal about joining Europeana and for handling subsequent dialogue and processes in support of WP5;

 a wiki facility to support the sharing of partner experience and knowledge on key topics;

 an online help desk link to the two technical partners (Asplan Viak and EEA);

 a repository/aggregations map of the EU;

In the project's final year, a national meeting will be held in each partner country to engage a diverse array of cultural content providers, focusing on the promotion and discussion of key outcomes.

 the contribution of content/metadata to Europeana, explain the benefits and how this can be done;

 agreements on national or regional level aggregation and/or business models;

EDLocal is committed to actively participating in various conferences, meetings, workshops, trade fairs, and exhibitions as requested by the Commission Additionally, the initiative aims to identify and engage in at least 30 national and European events to effectively disseminate its objectives and outcomes throughout the duration of the project.

Events and Meetings

Formal kick off with the Commission 1 Project co-ordinators,

WP leaders and selected key participants

Project-wide kick-off and activity launch 2 All project partners London, UK

Board Meeting 2 PMB members and any co-opted partners Balestrand, Norway Project Management

6 PMB members and any co-opted partners To be identified

MDR, EDL Foundation, a technical partner and representatives of at least three regional content co-ordinators

(WP4) 8 EDL Foundation, technical partners, other selected participants

9 Asplan Viak and nominated participants from seven countries

Multi-regional 11 EEA and nominated Bratislava, Slovak

Technical review 12 Project co-ordinators,

Clustering/technical concertation meeting 12 Project co-ordinators,

15 EEA and nominated participants from seven countries

Mid-term project meeting 19 All project partners To be identified

Meetings 20-36 Country partner, invited EDLocal experts, national stakeholders

WP leaders and selected key participants location to be identified

Board Meeting 24 PMB members and any co-opted partners To be identified

Board Meeting 30 PMB members and any co-opted partners To be identified

Technical review 36 Project co-ordinators,

Luxembourg or location to be identified

Clustering/technical concertation meeting 36 Project co-ordinators,

Subcontracting

The partners aim to subcontract local technical expertise to support their activities outlined in Work Packages 3 and 4, which include repository installation, configuration, and metadata and vocabulary conversion Consequently, the staffing resources for these partners have been proportionately reduced in line with the subcontracted resources.

1 Sogn og Fjordane (NO) 1 month @ 6,800 = 6,800 EUR

10 Public Library of Veria (GR) 2 months @ 4,000 = 8,000 EUR

11 Bekes County (HU) 1 month @ 4,000 = 4,000 EUR

13 Regione Marche (IT) 4 months @ 7,500 = 30,000 EUR

16 Across Limits (MT) 1 month @ 4,500 = 4,500 EUR

19 Railway Museum Foundation (PT) 2 months @ 4,000 = 8,000 EUR

20 Public Library of Cluj (RO) 1 month @ 2,000 = 2,000 EUR

The total amount involved is 63,300 EUR

Other specific costs

Costs of new partner( s) joining (7)

(1) A national meeting will be organized in each country as part of WP5: costs of venue hire/catering/equipment hire/publicity

(2) MDR will host and develop the website This figure also includes MDR audit costs.

Some smaller partners may need financial assistance to obtain servers and other hardware or software, which will be addressed individually as needed.

(4) Hardware for EDL Foundation to accommodate EDLocal

(5) Reserve for travel and/or extra meetings, workshops, consensus building and awareness raising events

(7) Luxembourg has indicated that it intends to join early in the project (61.943 EUR):

Participant Short Name Total Costs Community

First instalment Second instalment Third instalment

Maximum Community contribution 4.300.000 1.376.000 1.376.000 688.000 to the following schedule:

- Second instalment as of month 12

- Third instalment as of month 24

Consortium description

1 Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality, NO (Co-ordinator)

Financial co-ordinator; co-ordinator of content provision and dissemination for Norway.

Sogn og Fjordane boasts a rich array of folk and thematic museums that maintain a joint georeferenced database of digital collections The region features thirty distinct digital collections of books within its libraries With a long history of data collection, the county archive houses an extensive range of digital resources, including a cultural encyclopedia, audio and multimedia collections, geographical names, mountain pastures, municipal and private archives, public protocols, databases of private organizations, historical photographs with name indices, land registers, court protocols, probate records, censuses, church records, and migration collections.

The County Archive has actively engaged in various international R&D projects focused on cultural heritage, beginning with the FP4 project TITAN in 1997, which introduced GIS technology The IST project Odin Mobile enabled exploration of mobile technologies, while the Interreg IIIB project GeoShare helped consolidate knowledge from earlier initiatives Additionally, SFCM served as the country coordinator for the CALIMERA project, funded under IST FP6, and participated in other Interreg IIIb and IIIc projects, including Nave Nortrail and KNOT.

Sogn og Fjordane is at the forefront of technological innovation in Norway, enhancing access to cultural institutions In March 2005, the region was designated as a national testbed for a three-year project aimed at improving information accessibility within the cultural sector By May 2007, a dedicated R&D department was established to focus on developing and improving services offered by cultural heritage institutions through new technology This initiative is being implemented in collaboration with The Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum.

Authority (ABM-utvikling) and other relevant ongoing projects

Snorre D ỉverbứ is the Director of the County Archive of Sogn og Fjordane He has University Degree

With a Master's Degree in History, Geography, and Nordic Languages, he has held various roles within the Archive, including project coordinator for initiatives focused on digitizing historical sources and enhancing accessibility standards He maintains extensive connections with archival institutions across Norway Additionally, Iystein Åsnes holds a Master's Degree in Ethnomusicology and serves as the Coordinator for the Archive, Library, and related projects.

Museum Development Department in Sogn og Fjordane County He has recently been working with standards and routines related to the process of digitizing historical audio and video media objects.

Oddvar Natvik holds a Master’s Degree in history and has extensive experience in publishing, design, user interfaces, and Internet publishing He has worked in the information department at the County Authority and currently serves as co-editor for Cultur-net Sogn og Fjordane.

2 Stichting European Digital Library (EDL Foundation), NL

EDL Foundation will provide the lead for EDLocal on all major infrastructural, standards and technical best practice issues

The Stichting European Digital Library (EDL Foundation) is a Dutch cross-domain organization dedicated to enhancing collaboration among museums, archives, libraries, and audiovisual institutions Its primary goal is to facilitate the development and sustainability of a unified digital portal, while also offering a legal framework for EU-funded projects to integrate their research and content into the European Digital Library.

The current Board of Participants, comprising pan-European associations from four sectors, plays a crucial role in representing and mobilizing members for EU-funded projects aimed at establishing a European Digital Library This Board includes organizations such as EURBICA, FIAT, ACE, EMF, ICOM Europe, CENL, CERL, LIBER, MICHAEL, and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek An Executive Committee has been elected by the Board to oversee decision-making and manage the legal and financial operations of the Foundation.

Jill Cousins is the Programme Director for The European Library and The European Digital Library, having successfully transitioned from the TEL project to establish The European Library Her achievements have garnered strategic support from the European Union for the development of the European Digital Library With a robust background in web publishing, she has held key roles, including European Business Development Director at VNU, and has applied her commercial publishing insights to the academic sector at Blackwell Publishing and other UK publishers Before her publishing career, Jill operated as a researcher and founded a company that provided business information to large corporations, which is now part of Thomson Financial Following the sale of her company, she served as Marketing Director for Online Information Passionate about usability and user-driven design, Jill has actively contributed to international publishing initiatives like CrossRef and COUNTER, advocating for open standards in the industry.

Catherine Lupovici has many years of experience in digital libraries, being Director of the Digital Library

Catherine, who previously worked at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), played a key role in developing web archiving services, a trusted digital repository, and contributed to the vision of a European Digital Library through the Europeana prototype and the Gallica online digital library After earning her master's in librarianship, she served as the Director of the Académie nationale de Médecine Library for five years Subsequently, she managed the French Academic libraries cooperative network, focusing on cooperative acquisition policies and union catalogues within the Ministry of Education Library office Later, at Jouve SA, a French printing company specializing in data capture and electronic publishing, Catherine led several European Research and Development projects that connected libraries, publishers, and research laboratories in information technologies.

Olaf D Janssen serves as a project and account manager for The European Library (TEL), which is a collaborative platform uniting the 48 national libraries across Europe Since 2004, he has been responsible for coordinating the technical aspects of this joint web service.

The project’s editorial development is led by an experienced professional who previously served as editor in chief at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the Royal Library of The Netherlands, overseeing Gabriel, the predecessor of TEL He has also contributed to various EU-funded initiatives aimed at enhancing and expanding The European Library.

Between 2005 and 2007, the TEL-ME-MOR project incorporated the bibliographic catalogues and digital collections from the 10 New EU Member States into the TEL framework Following this, the EDL project (2006-2008) expanded to include the national libraries of 9 additional EU and EFTA Member States, marking a significant step towards the establishment of Europeana, Europe's digital library, museum, and archive Currently, the project manager is overseeing two European initiatives, including TELplus (2007-2009), which aims to enhance TEL by adding 22 million pages of multilingual full-text content and addressing usability and semantic interoperability challenges, while also integrating the national collections of Bulgaria and Romania.

The FUMAGABA project, funded by the Swiss Development Agency from 2008 to 2009, aimed to integrate the national library collections of ten Eastern European countries Olaf has actively shared insights through presentations and lectures throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States.

3 MDR Partners, UK (Project Manager)

EDLocal dissemination work It will lead WP 1 and 5.

Since its establishment in 2000, MDR has played a pivotal role in enhancing the digital presence of Europe's local cultural institutions As the scientific coordinator and project manager for significant networking and best practice initiatives under the IST framework, MDR has collaborated with partners from both member and candidate countries Notable projects include CALIMERA under FP6 and PULMAN and PULMAN-XT under FP5 Additionally, MDR leads the ePSIplus Thematic Network within the eContentplus program, which promotes the reuse of Public Sector Information in line with European legislation These initiatives have resulted in the development of comprehensive web dissemination and content management tools, along with the organization of impactful conferences and dissemination activities, all managed by MDR.

MDR has been a key participant in the SEAX-DAMAS project, aimed at improving access to digital content from local and municipal archives Beyond the cultural heritage sector, MDR has contributed to various research initiatives, including the DIP Integrated Project, which focuses on advancing Semantic Web and Web Service technologies to create a new infrastructure for Semantic Web Services Collaborating with Essex County Council in the UK, MDR developed an Emergency Planning prototype utilizing Semantic Web Services, which was recognized as a finalist in the Semantic Web Challenge at ISCW 2006 Additionally, MDR is involved in eMapps.com, a technology-enhanced learning project that addresses the needs of schools and informal sectors like libraries and museums, facilitating access to cultural content through games-based learning.

Định dạng
Số trang	122
Dung lượng	1,83 MB

Tiêu đề	Description of Work
Trường học	European Digital Library
Chuyên ngành	eContentplus
Thể loại	Best Practice Networks
Năm xuất bản	2008