eBooks-On-Demand-Network Opening Publications for European Netizens

Libraries all over Europe face the difficulty of managing tremendous amounts of 20th and 21st century textual materials which have not yet been digitised because of the complex copyright situation. These works cannot be accessed by the general public and are slumbering deep in library stacks, as they are often out-of-print or have never even been in-print at all and reprints or facsimiles are out of sight. The EODOPEN project, as proposed by 15 libraries from 11 European countries, focuses on bringing these digitally-hidden works to the public forefront by digitising and making them available on a pan-European level whilst fully respecting current copyright regimes.To achieve this aim, the project will – by focusing on the “demand side” rather than merely on the “supply side” – directly engage with national, regional, and local communities in the selection of material as well as the digitisation and dissemination process, finally enhancing intercultural dialogue with the help of the digitised objects. In addition, alternative delivery formats, in particular for mobile devices, as well as for blind or visually impaired users, will allow reaching a broader audience for digitised content. Furthermore, hands-on-workshops, guidelines and special tools made available to all European libraries shall build confidence amongst library staff in dealing adequately with rights clearance, and therefore contribute to the objective of reinforcing the ability of library staff to operate transnationally. Finally, the digitised items will be made available to the broad European public on the project participants’ well established digital libraries as well as a common portal developed during the project lifetime, ensuring transnational circulation and access to cultural works in the aftermath of the project. Creativity across Europe will be sparked as new readers and content creators discover works previously unavailable to them.