The European Parliament will debate a report, drafted by German MEP Helga Trüpel, that calls on member states to provide more books, maps, film clips and photographs for the Europeana online library portal. While asking for more and better content on Europeana, the report emphasises the need to respect intellectual property rights. It also wants better promotion of the library among the broadest possible public. Additionally, the Trüpel report urges the Commission and member states to take all necessary steps to avoid a knowledge gap between Europe and the US and to ensure full access for Europeans to their own cultural heritage.
The debate will cover issues such as handling web copyright rules across various EU countries; payment for items that are still under copyright; and a minimum standard for content. The Parliament's legal committee has also called on the Commission to submit a legislative proposal on the digitisation of ‘orphan works’ (whose ownership is unclear). This is expected to put an end to the current legal uncertainty for the remuneration of rights holders.
Launched in November 2008, Europeana is a multi-lingual online collection of millions of digitised books, journals, films, maps, photographs and music from European museums, libraries, archives and multimedia collections. It is accessible to every citizen with an Internet connection. It also preserves the items for future generations. Europeana's collection has doubled since its launch and there are now more than 6 million items. The aim is to have 10 million digitised objects by the end of 2010.
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