While Google has announced a break in its project to scan 15 million books, France is speeding up its rival venture for a European Digital Library. At its second meeting on 30 August 2005, the Library's Advisory Council set up a number of working groups, which are to deal with issues such as financing, editorial choices, private sector co-operation and choice of a search engine. "We hope to be able to proceed quickly to taking decisions, based on the findings", Culture Minister Pierre Donnedieu said. An interim report is to be presented to President Jacques Chirac, who takes personal interest in the project, by the end of the year. While the Library's Advisory Council is composed of Frenchmen only, France is seeking co-operation from its European partners and from EU institutions, Mr. Donnedieu said. The minister also hopes for co-financing of the project by the EU. The Library project was announced by Mr. Chirac in May, together with the project of a French-German search engine, as "an essential asset for Europe in order to seize its place in the future geography of knowledge". So far, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Spain and Italy have reacted positively to France's invitation to get involved in the project. On several occasions, France has pointed to the growing importance of digital content and to the risk of this domain being dominated by US-based enterprises, such as Google's Google print service.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/31/2005 09:34:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
