europeana.gifThis week at the Paris ‘Salon du Livre’ book trade show, Jacques Chirac finally inaugurated Europeana, a prototype of the French effort towards the long time coming, European Digital Library (ELD).

The idea behind ELD, to build a digital collection of freely available (public domain), European scientific and cultural works was provoked by the library shaking Google Print announcements of 2004. The book shelves were still rocking when Jean-Noël Jeanneney the president of the Bibliothèque National de France (BNF) posted his reply in Le Monde ‘When Google defies Europe’. Then in 2005, 23 national European libraries were to join the BNF in orgiastic scanning sessions backed by the French President and the heads of state from Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Hungary, aiming for 2 million documents on line by 2008 and 6 million by 2010.

So how did that ambitious plan end up turning into a French website with access to 12,000 documents? The only other countries involved are Hungary (4,000) and Portugal (1,000)! No EU financing forthcoming , Europeana cost the French State 3,3 millions euros in 2006 (for 12K docs!) and another envolope worth 10 million for 2007. According to the BNF president who retires next month “whatever happens it will be a belle réalisation française” “by next summer there will be 100,000 books available and in 2008 another 100K et ainsi de suite”

Perhaps part of the problem was already anounced in a press release last year, when the European Commission stated that Europe’s collective memory would be “put on the Web via a European Digital Library” using the TEL (The European Library) infrastructure, a platform that provides access to the catalogue of every national library in Europe. Was this seen as Anglo-Saxon blanket tugging by some members of the EU, namely the French? Apparently 19 national libraries have already made their digital collections available through the TEL site.

The 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome was celebrated this week, many a deal has been brokered since: libralisation of movement for massive investment funds etc. etc. – there is even talk of a European army – but a digital book club – now lets not get carried away.

via | nouvelobs