InfoTech

While the Europeana project has been billed as a competitor to Google Book Search, a new report suggests that, to set itself apart as a cultural heritage counterpart, the European digital library will have to step up its digitization efforts and compel greater contributions from partner institutions. The major European effort serves as both an example for and contrast with many comparably sized digital library initiatives in the United States.

On August 28, the Commission of the European Communities released a document entitled “Europeana—Next Steps.” The report considers some of the project's successes, such as the inclusion of 4.6 million documents so far—including books, newspapers, photos, and more—from 29 nations, but focuses mainly on long-term issues of self-sustaining finance and governance, as well as the need for reform of “Europe's too fragmented copyright framework.”

Copyright difficulties

Though there's nothing simple about the U.S. copyright system, the difficulties of rights claims and negotiations are magnified many times over when the copyright statutes of dozens of European nations must be taken into account. In one instance cited by the report, “a French aggregator had to withdraw photographs from Europeana, since it only had the right to disseminate the material on French territory,” a right incompatible with Europeana's goal of giving European works of culture the broadest possible exposure. The report proposes the “creation of registries for orphan works and out of print works” and a copyright cutoff date “that would impose a lower threshold for diligent search for works from before a certain time.”

However, other issues may be more immediate than copyright reform, such as sustainable financing for the project and spotty participation from certain member countries.

Funding and contributions

An FAQ document about the project states that Europe's national libraries have digitized only relatively small portions of their collections—less than 1.5 percent to date. As a result, “the main priority for expanding Europeana is therefore funding digitisation to provide more content.”

Of course, funding only works coupled with member states' willingness to contribute. According to July 2009 totals, France and Germany together account for more than 62 percent of Europeana's 4.6 million items. And even between these two, the distribution is quite uneven, with France contributing three times as much as Germany (47 percent vs. 15.4 percent of the total collection).

Of the remaining 27 member countries, 19 have contributed less than one percent. The issue of contribution also directly impacts both the breadth and depth of the collection; as the report notes, a researcher could currently “find the works of Goethe in French, Polish and Hungarian, but not in German.”

The document also considers the broad outline of how the project may become self-sustaining. Aside from widespread models including private sector sponsorship and codified support from member states and contributing institutions, the report puts forward a few other options.

Perhaps the most intriguing—though untested—suggestion is that a “potential source of income would be payment for the links provided by Europeana to the content of organisations (public and private) that generate income from this content. In other words, there could be a broker fee for the traffic generated to the sites with paid-for content.” (Emphasis in the original.)

Similar ideas have been floated concerning payment models for online journalism and wire services such as the Associated Press. Though these have not yet gained traction, it was recently reported that both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal are considering charging for various levels of access to their sites.

In August, Sony hyped its new wireless ebook reader at an event held at the New York Public Library, though little changed in terms of how library patrons (as opposed to consumers) download content onto their devices. With the latest announcement from OverDrive, however, patrons whose phones have the Windows Mobile operating system can wirelessly download audiobooks, music, and video—though not ebooks—using the new OverDrive Media Console for Windows Mobile.

Instead of employing a desktop Mac or PC as an intermediary for content, patrons connect with their smartphones, as long as they have a card from an OverDrive subscriber library. Audiobooks, music, and videos comprise roughly one-quarter of the more than 300,000 titles in the OverDrive catalog but account for most patron downloads, said David Burleigh, director of marketing. To find local library materials available for checkout, patrons can use OverDrive's Download Library Search from their phones.

The Windows Mobile OverDrive software is compatible with millions of devices worldwide, though the number still pales in comparison to the number of units running leading smartphone operating systems.

According to Gartner research service, Windows Mobile trailed the other major smartphone operating systems with a nine percent worldwide market share as of the second quarter of 2009, following Nokia's Symbian (51 percent), RIM's BlackBerry (18.7 percent), and Apple's iPhone (13.3 percent). According to Burleigh, development is in the works for similar OverDrive Media Console software on BlackBerrys, Google's Android platform, and the iPhone.

An objection from ProQuest was among the slew of last-minute filings to the judge overseeing the Google Book Search settlement (see NewsDesk, p. 13). In the document, the company has raised concerns over the academic dissertations and theses that have historically formed a core part of its business.

The terms of the settlement are overly broad, ProQuest argues, and could potentially include these dissertations and theses under the currently proposed definition of “book.” This would give Google an unfair advantage over material ProQuest claims it has taken pains to collect in full compliance with existing copyright requirements, working directly with copyright holders individually.

ProQuest asserts that “if Google is permitted to leverage Court approval of this Proposed Settlement beyond traditional books to include specialized smaller but invaluable businesses such as dissertations publishing, unintended, unfair and irrevocable damage will be done to the health of many market segments.”

Periodicals are a secondary concern for ProQuest as well, which argues that many periodicals and serials are hardbound by libraries as books for ease of use after a certain period and that these are then scanned by Google without consideration of their content type.

This leads to their inclusion in the Book Search, with removal amounting to an “opt out” option only, which ProQuest finds insufficient.

The OCLC Board of Trustees has appointed a new Record Use Policy Council to rework terms of use governing its WorldCat bibliographic database.

This will be a second attempt at modernizing the usage guidelines for WorldCat records, after OCLC's first try at an overhaul fell flat. Announced in November 2008, the new policy generated enormous controversy, with many complaining that it was too restrictive and that there was insufficient consultation with OCLC constituents during its development.

In May, the Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship called for the formal withdrawal of the proposed Policy on Use and Transfer of WorldCat Records. Recommendations made to OCLC leadership included the creation of this new council, to be charged with the “development of a policy to enable expanding the role and value of WorldCat in the broad information ecosystem.”

As has recently been noted by LJ and others, part of OCLC's aim to expose library data more involves an agreement with the team responsible for the Google Book Search project. OCLC says the review board will submit a new draft policy to its leadership for approval “in midyear 2010.”

Ovid has expanded its publishing agreement with CABI to offer its global customer base more than 420 ebooks in agriculture, food science, environmental science, veterinary science, and related disciplines.

The books will be available on the Books@Ovid platform as part of seven collections, including CABI Books Archive Collection, ABI Agriculture Book Collection, CABI Animal and Veterinary Science Book Collection, and CABI Environmental Science Book Collection. CABI Books Archive Collection, which consists of over 230 books published between 2000 and 2004, is already live on OvidSP and available as a one-time-only purchase, providing users with unlimited, perpetual access. The other six groups are organized with a subject focus and will be available as annual subscriptions.—Michael Rogers