The new renaissance : report of the 'Comité des Sages' on bringing Europe's cultural heritage online

... Digitising Our Cultural Heritage Is A Gigantic Task That Requires Large Investments. According To A Study, In Total Some €100bn Will Be Necessary Over Time To Bring Our Complete Heritage Online. This Type Of Effort Needs Time And The Investment Will Need To Be Carefully Planned And Co-ordinated In Order To Get The Best Results. We Think That The Benefits Are Worth The Effort. These Benefits Are In The First Place Related To The Wider Access To And Democratisation Of Culture And Knowledge, As Well As The Benefits For The Educational System - Both Schools And Universities. Other Major Benefits Lie In The Economic Sphere And Concern The Development Of New Technologies And Services For Digitisation, For Digital Preservation And For Interacting In Innovative Ways With The Cultural Material. The Digitised Material Can In Itself Be A Driver Of Innovation And Be At The Basis Of New Services In Sectors Such As Tourism And Learning. We Make Our Recommendations With These Potential Benefits In Mind And With The Aim To Promote An Environment That Will Help To: - Share Our Rich And Diverse Common Heritage - Link The Past With The Present - Preserve This Heritage For Future Generations - Protect The Interests Of European Creators - Nurture Creativity, Including Creative Efforts By Non-professionals - Contribute To Education, And - Spur Innovation And Entrepreneurship. The Recommendations Concern All The Areas Identified By The Terms Of Reference For Our Work, And Address Situations Where We Think That A Stimulus Is Necessary Or Barriers Need To Be Removed ...-- Summary. The report of the Comité des Sages (high-level reflection group) on Digitisation of Europe's cultural heritage was delivered today to Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, and Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner responsible for Education and Culture. The report urges EU Member States to step up their efforts to put online the collections held in all their libraries, archives and museums. It stresses the benefits of making Europe's culture and knowledge more easily accessible. It also points to the potential economic benefits of digitisation, including through public-private partnerships, for the development of innovative services in sectors like tourism, research and education. The report endorses the Digital Agenda's objective of strengthening Europe's digital library Europeana and suggests solutions for making works covered by copyright available online. The Comité des Sages on Digitisation comprises Maurice Lévy, Elisabeth Niggemann and Jacques de Decker (see IP/10/456). The report's recommendations will feed into the Commission's broader strategy, under the Digital Agenda for Europe, to help cultural institutions make the transition towards the digital age Foreword......Page 5 Executive Summary......Page 8 1 The Mission......Page 13 2 The Vision......Page 14 3 The Process......Page 16 4 Access and use models for digitised public domain material......Page 18 5 Digitisation and online accessibility of in-copyright material......Page 22 6 Europeana......Page 28 7 Sustainability of Europe’s cultural heritage online......Page 32 8 Funding digitisation and Europeana, costs and opportunities......Page 38 9 Public-private partnerships for digitisation opportunities, challenges and pitfalls......Page 45 10 Conclusion......Page 50 Annexes......Page 53 Annex 1 Terms of reference of the comité des sages on bringing Europe’scultural heritage online......Page 55 Annex 2 Overview of the results of the online consultation......Page 61 Annex 3 Summary Record of the public hearing of the Comité des Sages onbringing Europe’s cultural heritage online......Page 85 Annex 4 Results of the cap gemini technical audit of Europeana......Page 105 Annex 5 Report of the study into the cost of digitisation by the UK Collections Trust......Page 111