European Union Plans to Digitize at Least 6 Million Books.

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Author: McCormack, Eugene

The European Commission announced this month that it planned to make at least six million books, documents, and other cultural works available online by 2010, in the European equivalent of the Google Library Project.

In a news release, the commission, which is the executive body of the European Union, revealed some details of its plan for a European Digital Library, including its intention to help finance the creation of digitization centers across the continent.

The commission will contribute $72-million to the digital library, and expects member states to make up the remaining $250-million to $300-million needed to complete the project.

Early last year, Jean-Noël Jeanneney, president of the National Library of France, warned that Google's plan to archive digitally millions of volumes from five libraries in the United States and Britain would lead to an Anglocentric view of history, unless Europe responded with its own digital-library project.

The commission, though it never described the European plan as a reaction to Google's project, did say that Google's endeavor "certainly triggered a reflection on how to deal with our European cultural heritage in the digital age."

The commission also said the Google project shows that "a European Digital Library cannot become a reality without addressing the issue of intellectual-property-rights protection." The Google Library Project, which was announced in December 2004, has raised concerns among authors and publishers who question whether the endeavor complies with copyright laws.

Allan R. Adler, vice president for legal and governmental affairs at the Association of American Publishers, said he was encouraged that the European Commission was highlighting copyright issues as a concern. But he said he would not be content until he saw details of the European proposal.

"It's the same problem with almost any digital library or digital-preservation program," he said. "The publishing community obviously supports the concepts behind them, but wants to know whether proprietary issues of copyright can be adequately addressed to ensure that these initiatives themselves don't replace the activities of publishers."

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By Eugene McCormack