Google has caused worldwide consternation amongst authors
and representative groups with its Google Books project, which
is scanning in the contents of entire libraries. It has already
scanned in 10 million books, many of which are still protected by
copyright law.
The EU's digital library project, Europeana, has scanned in 4.6
million items, including maps, photos and films as well as books.
It does not yet, though, normally scan out of print or
orphaned works that are still protected by copyright.
Google has signed a controversial deal in the US with the
Authors' Guild that allows it to scan copyright materials in the
US. It has no such deal in the EU and so does not scan copyrighted
works in Europe.
The Commission wants to hear the views of industry and the
public on how it should operate its €3 million per year Europeana
project.
"Questions the Commission asks include: How can it be ensured
that digitised material can be made available to consumers EU-wide?
Should there be better cooperation with publishers with regard to
in-copyright material? Would it be a good idea to create European
registries for orphan and out-of print works? How should Europeana
be financed in the long term?" said the Commission in a statement
announcing the consultation.
Critics of Google's book-scanning project have argued that it
should be public bodies such as the European Commission that scan,
hold and take charge of books and not a private company.
But Europeana has been hampered by its inability to scan in
copyrighted works. It is estimated that most published work is
still copyright protected and that, for example, 32 of the 40
million books in US libraries are still protected by copyright.
"Europeana … shows that licensing of copyright-protected
material in Europe still takes place under a very fragmented legal
framework," said a Commission statement. "Europeana includes, for
legal reasons, neither out-of print works (some 90% of the books in
Europe's national libraries), nor orphan works (estimated at 10 –
20% of in-copyright collections) which are still in copyright but
where the author cannot be identified."
Commission data shows that 47% of the material on Europeana has
come from France, and another 15% from Germany. The UK and the
Netherlands, at 8% each, are the next biggest contributors.
Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding
said that it was important that individual countries made sure that
their publications were being digitised.
"The digitisation of books is a Herculean task but also opens up
cultural content to millions of citizens in Europe and beyond. This
is why I welcome first efforts made by Member States and their
cultural institutions to fill the shelves of Europe's digital
library,” she said. "However, I find it alarming that only 5% of
all digitised books in the EU are available on Europeana."
"Member States must stop envying progress made in other
continents and finally do their own homework. It also shows that
Europeana alone will not suffice to put Europe on the digital map
of the world. We need to work better together to make Europe's
copyright framework fit for the digital age," she said.
The consultation runs until 15 November.
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