Steps Taken Toward Creation of European Digital Library

IFACCA/Artshub, 11 July 2005,France

The French Minister for Culture and Communication, M. Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, has established a "pilot committee aimed at the creation of a European digital library.” The initiative, sanctioned by the President of the France during the European Culture Conference last May, has been followed by five other European Countries (Germany, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Poland). The project aims to encourage the digitization that is already underway in many European libraries in order to establish a network that will constitute a European digital library. The French President established the interdepartmental pilot committee to conduct a feasibility study and work through some of the details regarding the implementation of the proposed European digital library project. The mission of the committee will be to study the possibilities of the digitization of national cultural heritage and to coordinate and direct the actions necessary for the establishment of the library. In particular, it will develop a scientific and industrial preliminary report containing recommendations that are likely to be proposed to other European partners and to be based on collaborations between the public and private sectors. This interdepartmental committee will be overseen by Mnsr Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Minister of Culture and Communication, and includes representatives from the Ministry of Industrial Relations, Ministry of European Business, Ministry for Higher Education, and other public bodies such as the French National Library and the French Audio Visual Institute. For further information (in French), CLICK HERE

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