Calimera Guidelines - Consilr

Calimera Guidelines 

Cultural Applications: 

Local Institutions Mediating Electronic Resources 

Good practice 

guidelines 

Calimera Guidelines 1 

The Calimera Project is funded 

under the European 

Commission, 

IST Programme

Introduction 

1. Social inclusion 

Risk factors of social exclusion 

At risk groups 

Use of IST to combat social exclusion 

Mobile services 

Accessibility issues 

2. Cultural identity and cohesion 

Cultural diversity 

Community cohesion 

Content creation 

Cultural community information 

Diverse cultural content 

3. eGovernment and Citizenship 

Process integration 

Service delivery 

Interoperability 

Community information 

Consultation 

Active participation 

Community building 

Promoting access to public services 

4. Learning (formal and informal) 

Children and schools 

- Online services for children 

Adults 

- Basic skills/key competencies 

- Digital literacy 

- Employment-related skills 

Accreditation 

Impact 

e-Learning 

- Virtual Learning Environments 

- Managed Learning Environments 

- Interactive television 

- Mobile learning 


Contents 

Section 1: Social Policy Guidelines 

Calimera Guidelines 2 Contents

5. Social and Economic Development 

Cultural tourism 

Ancestral tourism 

Inward investment 

Information resources 

Information services 

Knowledge management 

Charges and licences 


Staff skills 

Neighbourhood regeneration 

The culture industry 

Publicity, marketing and outreach 

1. Strategic Planning 

Strategic planning 

Cultural strategies 

Project planning 

Business planning 

Section 2: Management Guidelines 

2. Co-operation and partnership 

Strategic partnerships 

Cross-domain partnerships 

Same domain partnerships 

Partnerships with the education sector 

Partnerships with the voluntary sector 

Partnerships with industry and the private sector 

Types of partnership 

Initiating partnerships 

Organisation of partnerships 

Funding for partnerships 

Maintenance of partnerships 

3. Business models 

Funding and financial opportunities 

Free and Open Source Software 

Outsourcing 

Application Service Providers 

Service Level Agreements 

Networking 

Intellectual Property Rights 

Customer Relationship Management 


4. Staffing 

Recruitment 

Skills 

Training 

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) 

Cross-domain issues 

Outsourcing 

5. Performance and evaluation 

Public library statistics 

Museum statistics 

Archive statistics 

Performance measures 

New statistical measures 

Benchmarking (metric and process) 

Measures of value and impact 

Practical Toolkits for measuring value and impact 

Standardised questionnaires 

Standards 

Measuring the use of electronic resources 

New statistical measures for service evaluation 

eMetrics 

6. Legal and rights issues 

Copyright 

Copyright and its effect on access 

Effects of copyright on public lending 

Copyright and technical protection systems 

Enforcement of IPR Directive 

Collective licensing societies 

Databases 

IPR in Metadata 

Copyright, archiving, preservation and conservation 

Guidance on digitisation 

Licensing 

Data Protection and privacy 

Data sharing 

Freedom of Information 

Re-use of public sector information 

e-Commerce 

Accessibility for disabled people 


Section 3: Technical Guidelines 

1. Underlying technologies and infrastructure 

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) 

web services 

Semantic Web 

Semantic Web services 

networks 

Broadband 

fibre optics 

satellite 

wireless 

WiFi 

2. Digitisation 

Planning and workflow 

Financial considerations 

Selection 

Hardware and software 

File formats 

Standards 

IPR 

Design and presentation 

Storage 

3. Digital preservation 

Selection 

Technology preservation 

Technology emulation 

Data migration 

Authenticity 

Storage 

Conservation 

Disaster recovery procedures 

Formats 

Media 

Standards 

Web archiving and domain archiving 

Staffing implications 

Administrative and legal implications 


4. Resource description 


Metadata 

Domain-specific metadata standards 

Collection level descriptions 

Terminology 

Ontologies 

Object identification 

5. Discovery and retrieval 


Search engines 

Lists of recommended sites 

Gateways, hubs and portals 

Cross-searching 

Clumps 

Image retrieval 

Harvesting 

The Semantic Web 

6. Content and context management 

Contextualisation 

CMS (Content Management Systems) 

ERM (Electronic Records Management) 

DAM (Digital Asset Management) 

Collections Management Systems 

Integrated museum, library and archive systems 

GIS (Geographical Information Systems) 

7. Multimedia services 

Infrastructure 

Multimedia formats 

- e-books and e-serials 

- Streaming media 

- Music and sound 

- Digital photography 

- Broadcast material 

- Standards and interoperability 

Geographic Information Systems 

Virtual reality 

Visualisation 

Haptics 

Delivery channels 

- The Internet 

- Digital TV 

- Kiosks 

- Video conferencing 

- Mobile services 

- Tour guides 


8. Interactivity 


Human-computer interaction 

Games technology 


Interaction with users 

Enquiry services 

Interactive displays 

9. Multilingualism 

European languages 

Social inclusion 

Sign languages 

Information retrieval 

Multilingual thesauri 

Multilingual websites 

Scripts 

Fonts and keyboards 

Transliteration, transcription and authority files 

Machine translation 

Voice to voice translation 

10. Personalisation 

User authentication 

Privacy 

Smartcards and swipe cards 

Payment systems 

Personalisation 

Recommender systems 

Personalised information retrieval 

Portals 

Interactive fora and online communities 

Virtual museums, libraries and archives 

Smart labels and tags 

Agent technology 

Mobile access 

Lifelong learning 

Implications for staff roles and training 

11. Accessibility for disabled people 

Disabled people and their needs 

Physical access 

Access to information 

Intellectual access 

Virtual access 

Web accessibility 

Legislation and guidelines 


12. Security 

Network security 

Firewalls 

Antivirus software 


Licences 

DRM (Digital Rights Management) 

Cryptography 

Digital signatures 

Digital watermarks 

Steganography 

Automated Payment Systems 

SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) protocol 

Authenticity and integrity 

Trusted digital repositories 

Domain names 

Information security 

RFID 


INTRODUCTION 

These Guidelines have been compiled by the CALIMERA Co-ordination Action, funded 

under the European Commission’s Information Society Technologies (IST) Sixth 

Framework Programme (FP6). 

Their aim is to provide policy makers and professionals working in cultural 

institutions at the local level (in particular, public libraries, museums and archives) 

with a concise and relevant summary of the state of the art in the use of new 

technologies. The Guidelines are intended to explain in a readable way how these 

technologies can be deployed to develop digital services designed to meet real user 

needs - social, cultural and economic – and to stimulate wider take-up and creativity 

among our professional community .They are also intended to support a clearer 

understanding of the way in which local cultural services can play a key role in the 

fulfilment of major policy goals in Europe, including those of the e-Europe Action 

Plan [1]. 

The Guidelines follow on from those produced by the PULMAN Thematic Network 

under FP5 [2], which were published in 2002/03 and translated into 26 languages. 

The CALIMERA guidelines are organised according to a similar structure. The major 

difference is that the CALIMERA Guidelines not only update the previous version but 

extend their scope to include services offered by archives and museums, in addition 

to those offered by public libraries. Similar plans exist for their translation into 

numerous European languages during the first part of 2005. All versions are made 

available on the CALIMERA website [3]. 

There are 23 separate Guidelines in all. These are structured as three main groups 

covering Social, Management and Technical issues. To ensure ease of use by busy 

decision makers, a Summary of each Guideline is also available in addition to the full 

version. The last part of each Guideline comprises a series of links to innovative 

applications of technology involving or affecting local cultural institutions, designed to 

help users to assess leading developments across Europe from their own perspective. 

The co-ordination of the CALIMERA Guidelines has been undertaken by Essex County 

Council (United Kingdom), a partner in the Co-ordination Action, under the general 

editorship of Julia Harrison. However, contributions have been made from a very 

wide variety of experts from throughout the EU and its neighbouring countries, in the 

form of workshop participation, written submissions and editorial criticism. We would 

like to thank all those who have participated so willingly and productively in the 

compilation of the Guidelines and also those who have engaged with the task of their 

translation. 

During the final period of CALIMERA, which ends in May 2005, a Best Practice Forum 

will be launched via the website, to enable wider discussion of the content of these 

Guidelines. We hope very much that many members of the professional community 

will participate in further development of ideas and identification of good practice. 

Calimera Guidelines 9 Introduction

Finally, I would like to emphasise that the content of the Guidelines is freely available 

for re-publication. All that is required is an acknowledgement of the source and of 

European Commission funding under the IST programme. We would be happy to 

provide publishers with the necessary logos etc on request. 

Robert Davies 

Scientific Co-ordinator 

CALIMERA. 

rob.davies@mdrpartners.com 

REFERENCES 

[1] e-Europe Action Plan 

http://europe.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/action_plan/index_ 

en.htm 

[2] PULMAN Thematic Network http://www.pulmanweb.org 

[3] CALIMERA http://www.calimera.org 

Calimera Guidelines 10 Introduction


Section 1: 

Social policy guidelines 

Calimera Guidelines 11

Issues dealt with in this guideline include: 

Risk factors of social exclusion 

At risk groups 

Use of IST to combat social exclusion 

Mobile services 

Accessibility issues 



SCOPE 

POLICY ISSUES Back to Scope 

Risk factors of social inclusion Back to Scope 

The risk factors which increase the danger of poverty and social exclusion include: 

• long-term dependence on low/inadequate income (over-indebtedness); 

• long-term unemployment; 

• insecure, low paid, low quality employment; 

• low level of education, illiteracy and e-illiteracy; 

• growing up in a vulnerable family; 

• disability; 

• poor health; 

• living in an area of multiple deprivation (crime, drugs, anti-social behaviour); 

• homelessness and precarious housing conditions; 

• immigration, ethnicity, racism and discrimination; 

• discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religion, or any other 

grounds; 

• de-institutionalisation (prisons, institutional care, mental institutions). 

The European Union is committed to making serious inroads into the eradication of 

poverty and social exclusion. The European Council of Lisbon in March 2000 

recognised that the extent of poverty and social exclusion was unacceptable. Building 

a more inclusive European Union was considered an essential element in achieving 

the Union's ten-year strategic goal of sustained economic growth, more and better 

jobs, greater social cohesion and the eradication of poverty. A Community Action 

Programme was launched, and each of the EU Member States was obliged to 

prepare and implement a National Action Plan for social inclusion based on the 

common objectives adopted at the Nice European Council [1]. Some countries also 

have national social inclusion policies. 

The challenge for cultural heritage institutions is to pull together the disparate 

strands of legislation, influential reports and initiatives and integrate them into their 

services. Their policies should take account of the Universal Declaration of Human 

Rights [2], the European Convention on Human Rights [3], the European Union 

Calimera Guidelines 12 Social inclusion

Disability Strategy [4] and the Community Action Programme to Combat Social 

Exclusion 2002-2006 [5]. 

Cultural heritage institutions are ideally situated to contribute significantly to 

community regeneration by taking the initiative to reach out to people at risk of 

social exclusion in their locality and to strengthen the social cohesiveness of their 

area or region. This involves adopting positive measures for social inclusion, adapting 

and extending the range of services provided, forming new links and partnerships 

with the community, and challenging some of their more traditional values and 

practices. Museums, libraries and archives can support learning, crime reduction, 

rural development, economic and cultural regeneration, cultural diversity, creativity, 

re-skilling, eGovernment and democracy, sense of community, citizenship and 

cultural identity, all of which contribute to social inclusion. 

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES Back to Scope 

This guideline is equally applicable to museums, libraries and archives. There is much 

scope for co-operation among all three domains. 

Archives, generated by individuals, families, businesses or institutions, tell the story 

of our past, showing us how we came to be what we are as individuals, as 

communities and as nations. An awareness of history leads to a better understanding 

of ourselves, our communities, and our culturally diverse heritage. Archives offer 

contact with historical events through documents, letters, film, recordings, maps, 

plans, drawings, posters, photographs – the primary sources of history. 

Museums, through thoughtful approaches to collection, display, programming and 

interpretation, can help to engender a sense of belonging for groups which may have 

been marginalised, encourage mutual respect, understanding and tolerance between 

different communities, tackle discrimination and challenge the stereotypes that feed 

intolerance. 

Libraries have historically provided people with informational, educational and 

leisure-related materials and resources. They can now enable people without access 

to computers to use the Internet for information and communication purposes, 

provide homework facilities for children from socially excluded families, make virtual 

services available to housebound and isolated people, and much more. The EU has 

recognised the contribution libraries can make by funding through the European 

Social Fund (ESF), the EQUAL programme [6] which tests new ways of tackling 

discrimination and inequality experienced by people in work and those looking for a 

job. 

Being closer to their communities, local institutions can have a greater impact than 

national institutions, particularly when they encourage individuals and groups to build 

their own collections or community archives, or to participate as volunteers. 

Compared with large national institutions, they can appear less intimidating, and may 

be less constrained by bureaucratic procedures, enabling them to be more 

responsive and flexible. Engagement with cultural heritage institutions can potentially 


impact positively on the lives of people by increasing self-esteem and personal 

confidence, enabling the learning of new skills, and providing opportunities to 

explore a sense of identity and belonging. 

At risk groups Back to Scope 

Some local institutions in Europe already provide services for the following at risk 

groups, although provision is by no means consistent geographically or by service 

type or quality: 

• disabled people (including people who are temporarily disabled through accident 

or illness, those with long-term disabling illnesses such as arthritis, those with 

age-related disabilities, print-disabled people, learning disabled people and people 

with mental health issues); 

• housebound people; 

• older people at risk of social exclusion; 

• children growing up in at risk families; 

• unemployed people; 

• people with drug and alcohol problems; 

• homeless persons; 

• refugees and asylum seekers; 

• immigrants; 

• ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural minorities; 

• people with skills requirements; 

• people who left school early; 

• rural populations; 

• poor people; 

• prisoners. 

Cultural institutions can further help combat social exclusion by: 

• mainstreaming social inclusion as a policy priority within all their services. The 

organisational culture should be one in which social inclusion can flourish; 

• consulting and involving socially excluded groups, both users and non-users, in 

order to ascertain their needs and aspirations, and positively targeting these; 

• locating services wherever there is a demand, but building upon existing facilities 

and services wherever possible; 

• considering the possibilities of co-locating their facilities with other local services; 

• providing mobile services to reach people in all outlying areas, staging exhibitions 

in the community, arranging travelling exhibitions, etc.; 

• adopting more flexible opening hours, not necessarily increased opening hours, 

but tailored to reflect the needs and interests of the community; 

• forming partnerships to develop and deliver services; 

• providing services for people in institutions e.g. residential accommodation, 

hospitals and prisons; 

• ensuring that collections and exhibitions reflect the cultural, linguistic and social 

diversity of their local communities, e.g. libraries should ensure they hold books, 

newspapers etc. in minority languages and alternative formats; 

• tailoring services to meet the needs of specific groups; 

• redefining the role of staff to include a more socially responsive and educational 

role; 


• changing the image of museums, libraries and record offices to make them more 

welcoming to socially excluded groups, without alienating traditional users; 

• ensuring that the diversity of the local population is reflected in the workforce e.g. 

recruiting people from ethnic minorities and disabled people; 

• making full use of IST (Information Society Technologies) to combat social 

exclusion. 

Use of IST to combat social exclusion Back to Scope 

In the modern world it is important for all people to have access to IST facilities, 

which increasingly pervade every aspect of community life. Some level of IST skill is 

required in most jobs, and shopping, banking, and many leisure pursuits involve 

using IST facilities. Local cultural institutions are well placed to narrow the digital 

divide which exists between those who have and those who do not have access to 

technology by providing public access to digitised services. 

With a high percentage of unemployed, low-income or people of low educational 

achievement among their inhabitants, disadvantaged neighbourhoods in both urban 

and rural areas are characterised by low Internet penetration. This has implications 

for the local economy, and for the general quality of life in these areas, making 

public access facilities particularly important. (See the guideline on Social and 

economic development.) 

Museums, libraries and archives traditionally collect, preserve and organise items as 

physical objects. IST enables the creation of digital surrogates which can be 

organised in different ways e.g. by theme. The cultural heritage of a community can 

be recorded as an inter-related collection of books, objects, photographs, 

documents, oral history recordings, film and video footage etc. which can be 

searched by keyword, subject or free text. This can be a socially inclusive way of 

providing services as it enables people to use collections in a way that is relevant to 

their own background and circumstances and so increases their sense of belonging 

within the community. (See also the guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion.) 

Examples of how IST could be used with at risk groups include: 

• IST services can be delivered to people with poor health, either at home or in 

hospital; 

• older people who are no longer educationally or economically active can learn to 

use IST facilities, or can have services delivered to them if they are housebound; 

• children from socially excluded families or living in deprived neighbourhoods can 

use IST facilities for homework purposes; 

• unemployed and unskilled people can use IST facilities to upgrade their skills 

and to find employment; 

• IST services can be used in prisons to help in rehabilitation; 

• IST can make available to homeless people facilities usually only available to 

those with fixed addresses; 

• people whose first language is not the main or official language of their country of 

residence can benefit from online services provided in minority languages; 

• the growing population of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in 

Europe often share other criteria of exclusion such as low-income, language 

barriers, or living in disadvantaged areas. On-line facilities for immigrants, asylum 


seekers and refugees in their native languages can assist them in getting 

accustomed to their new environment; 

• people without personal access to the Internet can use IST facilities to 

keep in touch with relatives and friends, which helps to keep families together 

and keeps people from feeling isolated. They can also use IST facilities for leisure 

purposes such as playing on-line chess, which may seem frivolous but is 

improving their skills as well as quality of life; 

• services can be delivered to disabled people when accessible formats are 

provided. 

Mobile services Back to Scope 

Innovative approaches to service delivery can result in a high-quality service being 

available to everybody, especially where a high proportion of a local or regional 

population lives in rural areas or small towns. Many people who live in rural areas are 

affluent, but distance, geographical isolation, poor access to jobs, transport, services 

and other opportunities compound the problems of at risk groups in rural areas. 

Mobile services can be used to deliver services such as arts activities, exhibitions, 

information campaigns and library services to small communities and schools, and to 

individual homes. Technological developments such as broadband, wireless networks 

and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) open up many more ways of providing 

a service to individuals in their own homes or in community centres such as village 

halls, e.g. 

• computers can be carried on mobile vehicles and used to access catalogues and 

the Internet; 

• computers can be taken into people’s homes or residential establishments; 

• laptops can be lent to individuals or groups; 

• computers, digital cameras, audio equipment etc. can be lent to groups for 

content creation purposes. 

Accessibility issues (see also the guideline on Accessibility for disabled people in 

the Technical guidelines section) Back to Scope 

It has been estimated that people with disabilities represent 10 to 15% of the total 

population of Europe. Disabled people are twice as likely as others to have no 

qualifications; education is not as consistently available, and is often at a lower 

academic standard than for others, while further and higher education, vocational 

training and work experience are sometimes less available to them. They are around 

five times as likely as non-disabled people to be out of work. The identity of disabled 

people has undergone dramatic change over recent decades. The view of disabled 

people as valuable citizens with equal rights, who make their own life decisions and 

choices, continues to gain ground and shows disabled people as part of society and 

influential in its progress. The culture of social inclusion recognises that disabled 

people exist, meets their needs and creates a space where they can contribute. 

The European Union Treaty Article 13, which recognises the need to combat 

discrimination against disabled people, provides stimulus for a campaign for full civil 

rights for disabled people. (See the European Union Disability Strategy [4]. The 

European Disability Forum [7] is campaigning for a disability specific directive 

covering access to all services. Cultural heritage institutions must be aware of and 


comply with European policies, which will influence the development of disability 

rights in all member states. For example, in the UK, the European Employment 

Directive 2000/78/EC [8] will have the effect of extending the Disability 

Discrimination Act 1995 [9] to all employers, regardless of how few employees they 

have, from 2004. 

Accessibility issues for disabled people, i.e. people with physical impairments 

(reduced mobility, reach, balance, stamina and/or height), sensory impairments 

(reduced vision and/or hearing), and ‘print-disabled’ people (people with a visual, 

mental or physical impairment as well as dyslexic persons who encounter difficulties 

reading conventional print) can be categorised in four main areas: 

• physical access (to buildings, service counters, workstations, reading rooms, 

shelves etc); 

• intellectual access (to the content of information carriers, including the availability 

of alternative format materials, adapted workstations and special software); 

• virtual access (to services for those not able to visit the actual building, which can 

include visits to housebound people as well as digital access); 

• and training for staff members in helping disabled people. 

Institutions should make accessibility integral to the values of the organisation. When 

a new service is being planned, or when an existing service is being digitised, then 

accessibility issues should be considered from the start of the planning stage, and 

not added on afterwards. However most institutions will be running existing services 

which they need to bring up to the standards demanded by legislation and 

guidelines. A useful way to start is to carry out an accessibility audit covering all 

aspects - building, furniture, equipment, signage, publicity materials, stock, website 

etc. Audits can be carried out by staff or an outside contractor can be employed to 

do it. Having a professional audit done can often help in cases of dispute or 

compensation demands. 

It is advisable to involve disabled people from the start if possible, and to consult 

them regarding their needs and the suitability of the services provided. 

If finance is an issue, expenditure on alterations and improvements should be 

proportionate to the purpose of the service and how it will be used. In most cases 

institutions are expected to do what is “reasonable” in terms of alteration to buildings 

etc. Managers should check whether any financial help is available from government. 

For example there may be VAT or tax allowances for the purchase of some 

equipment. It may also be possible to get sponsorship from charitable or commercial 

organisations. Budgeting for disability access should be included in core budgets for 

refurbishments, stock acquisition, events, publications and exhibitions. 

Staff training should include disability awareness, and also specific training in the use 

of any special equipment, and in dealing with people with specific types of disability. 

Using technology to provide services to disabled people is dealt with in the guideline 

on Accessibility for disabled people in the Technical guidelines section. 

Conclusion 


Museums, libraries and archives which are run by a local authority can work together 

with other departments on policies to combat social exclusion. (An example of such a 

policy might be to enable disabled people and young children to borrow a computer 

on a long-term basis through the local authority or school.) A common process could 

be adopted by each local authority to develop its policies and services: 

• identify the people who are socially excluded and their geographical distribution 

and engage with them to establish their needs; 

• assess and review current practice; 

• develop a strategy and prioritise resources; 

• develop the services, and train the staff to provide them; 

• implement the services and publicise them; 

• evaluate success, review and improve. 

The outcomes and success of the service should be regularly evaluated against 

predetermined objectives, criteria for success and performance indicators (see also 

the guideline on Performance and evaluation). This will enable institutions to 

demonstrate the difference they make to local people, learn lessons, and make 

further improvements to their service. 

FUTURE AGENDA Back to Scope 

Clearer national and consequently local strategies are now emerging in many 

countries which should help museums, libraries and archives develop the directions 

and partnerships to address effectively the problem of social exclusion. However, 

more concerted and widespread action is still needed. 

National governments need to encourage a holistic approach to social inclusion 

issues and to recognise the unique role which museums, libraries and archives can 

play in the neighbourhood renewal and social inclusion agenda. Museums, libraries 

and archives need to be aware of such agenda and ensure that they are working 

towards meeting any targets or objectives. 

Local governments should support and promote the work of museums, libraries and 

archives, ensure adequate resources, create structures to facilitate partnerships with 

other organisations, and recognise and promote diverse evaluation methodologies. 

Policy makers should work to raise the public profile of the sector so that individuals 

and organisations working with social inclusion and neighbourhood renewal projects 

are aware of the potential and unique value of its contribution. 

Museums, libraries and archives should be advocates for social inclusion, using their 

role in delivering lifelong learning, eGovernment, neighbourhood regeneration, etc. 

as drivers in combating social exclusion. 

Museums, libraries and archives should mainstream social inclusion as a policy 

priority within all their services. The organisational culture should be one in which 

social inclusion can flourish. 


Museums, libraries and archives should consult and involve socially excluded groups, 

both users and non-users, in order to ensure that services are needs-based. 

Policy makers and staff, through contact with community leaders etc., should 

encourage excluded groups to be proactive in ensuring they receive services relevant 

to their needs. 

Policy makers should examine all policies in the light of social inclusion, for example 

registration systems and charging policies could be socially inclusive. 

Training organisations should ensure that their courses and programmes are relevant 

to work for social inclusion. All staff, not only those who work directly on front-line 

services, need continuing education to develop sensitivity to social and cultural 

diversity and to adopt a good level of customer care, and also to take on an 

instructional role with regard to IST. 

Research institutions and research funding bodies need to support detailed research 

into the cultural heritage related needs of excluded groups. They also need to 

undertake detailed statistical monitoring of the use of services by categories of 

excluded people and use effective, comprehensive evaluation methods to measure 

the sector’s impact on social inclusion. 

Telecommunications providers need to provide ICT connections to all communities 

regardless of geographical location, e.g. by broadband, cable or wireless technology. 

Hardware and software developers need to continue to develop new methods of 

providing services using IST, and improve accessible formats and multilingual 

services. 

REFERENCES Back to Scope 

[1] National Action Plans for social inclusion 

(http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2001/jun/napsincl2001_en.ht 

ml) based on the common objectives adopted at the Nice European Council 

(http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-prot/soc-incl/com_obj_en.htm). 

[2] Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html 

[3] European Convention on Human Rights 

http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html 

[4] European Union Disability Strategy 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-prot/disable/strategy_en.htm 

[5] Community Action Programme to Combat Social Exclusion 2002-2006 

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-prot/socincl/ex_prog_en.htm 


[6] Public Libraries and the EQUAL Agenda: Public Libraries: Social Inclusion and 

Lifelong Learning in the United Kingdom, Italy and France by Robert Davies and 

David Fuegi with contributions by Pier Giacomo Sola and Alessandra Tagliavini. 

August 2004. 

http://www.learneast.com/transnational/documents/EQUALcomparativestudyfinalsept.04.pdf 

[7] European Disability Forum http://www.edf-feph.org/ 

[8] European Employment Directive 2000/78/EC 

http://europa.eu.int/eurlex/pri/en/oj/dat/2000/l_303/l_30320001202en00160022.pdf 

[9] Disability Discrimination Act 1995 

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm 

Europe 

LINKS Back to Scope 

Access to Cultural Heritage: Policies of Presentation and Use (ACCU) 

An EU project running for 3 years from Sept. 2004 to promote accessibility to cultural 

heritage. It will promote co-operation between operators in the field of heritage 

management and offer new tools for professionals to use on accessibility issues. 

Cultural institutions from six European countries will participate in the project, led by 

the Finnish National Board of Antiquities (Helsinki, Finland). 

http://www.accessculture.org/ 

EQUAL 

Funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), EQUAL forms part of the European Union 

strategy to create more and better jobs and to make sure that no one is denied 

access to these jobs. Its agenda encompasses three interlocking issues, namely 

social inclusion, lifelong learning and employment. It tests new ways of tackling 

discrimination and inequality experienced by those in work and those looking for a 

job. In addition it has a separate theme which addresses the needs of asylum 

seekers. http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/equal/index_en.html 

Infobus 

The Mobile Information and Communications Centers (MICC) Project, known as 

InfoBus, delivers information resources and empowering tools to disadvantaged 

groups across South Eastern Europe (Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and 

Serbia), giving access to information, education and training, community and 

economic development, and enhanced government-citizen communication. 

http://www.infobus.org/ 

Czech Republic 


Support for social programmes 

• Člověk v tísni - Supports people in need through human rights work, a field social 

work programme, educational projects, etc. http://www.clovekvtisni.cz 

• Nadace rozvoje občanské společnosti (NROS) - The Civil Society Development 

Foundation supports non-profit organisations which provide help to threatened 

and disadvantaged groups, protects human rights and democratic values and 

contributes to mutual communication and tolerance of minorities in society. 

http://nros.cz 

• Open Society Fund in Prague - Supports programmes focusing on the rule of law, 

public administration, human rights, education, equal opportunities, arts and 

culture and other areas. http://osf.cz 

Finland 

Info Bank 

The pages of Info Bank contain important basic information for immigrants on the 

functioning of society and opportunities in Finland. It is available in several 

languages. http://www.caisa.hel.fi/ 

Italy 

ABSIDE (Apprendere in Biblioteca nella Società dell'Informazione per ridurre la 

Discriminazione e l'Emarginazione sociale) 

Funded by the EQUAL Programme, ABSIDE aims to use learning to reduce social 

discrimination and exclusion. It is working to extend the network of learning points 

within public libraries, and to promote the role of the librarian as tutor, advisor and 

guide for people with training needs. http://www.abside.net/ 

Poland 

Ikonka project (Icon Project) 

The aim of this Ministry of Science and Information project is to open Public Internet 

Access Points in local libraries and community centres across Poland, especially in 

small towns and villages. The project is specifically targeted at alleviating problems 

created by the digital divide through the provision of free Internet access and 

computer training. http://www.informatyzacja.gov.pl/en/projekty.html 

Russia 

The Youth of Moscow 

The Centralised Library System of the North-West Administration District of the City 

of Moscow has developed this programme which aims to foster a healthy way of life 

among teenagers and youth, combating drug addiction and alcohol abuse, crime and 

anti-social behaviour. http://www.horoshevo.ru/ 

Spain 

España.es 

Includes the following programmes: 


• Internet in libraries (http://internetenlasbibliotecas.red.es/); 

• Internet in schools (http://internetenlaescuela.red.es/); 

• Internet in rural areas (http://internetrural.red.es/). 

The aim is to develop a wide network of public Internet access points with high 

speed connections. http://www.red.es/Redes-Page-PlantPageStandard_espana.html 

Turkey 

T.C. Başbakanlık Özürlüler İdaresi Başkanlığı (Prime Ministry, Department for the 

Disabled) Portal 

The Department’s web site contains not only all legislative and pratical information 

concerning education and working opportunities, rehabilitation and other services 

available, but also incude links to addresses of NGOs, other governmental offices, 

schools etc. http://www.ozida.gov.tr/tr_files/index.htm 

United Kingdom 

Community Access to Archives Project (CAAP) 

This project is led and funded by The National Archives (TNA), in partnership with 

West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS), Hackney Archives Department (HAD), the 

National Archives of Scotland (NAS), the National Council on Archives (NCA), the 

National Library of Wales (NLW), the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland 

(PRONI), and Commanet. It is developing a “best practice model” to address the 

practicalities of developing community-based online archive projects with the aim of 

encouraging social inclusion by taking archives to new audiences. 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives/caap/ 

LearnEast 

LearnEast is a project supported and funded under the EQUAL Programme which is 

piloting new ways for public libraries to work at community level supporting the 

employment of disadvantaged groups, especially women planning to return to work, 

unemployed and employed persons who want to improve employment skills, ethnic 

minorities, older learners and travellers. It involves public libraries in the East of 

England, and partners in Italy and France. http://www.learneast.com/ 

Mobile Library Traveller Project 

Essex County Council Libraries run a mobile service to travellers which visits six sites 

on a weekly basis. As well as providing books, videos, DVDs and information, the 

travellers are able to use laptops. Gypsies and travellers are also encouraged to use 

the Internet access in static libraries. Essex Libraries also works closely with Cyber 

Pilots (http://www.groundswelluk.net/~fft/cyberpilots/About.htm), a website for all 

Gypsy, Traveller, Show and Fairground children. 

http://www.cilip.org.uk/aboutcilip/medalsandawards/LibrariesChangeLives/lclawinrep 

04.htm 

MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) 

MLA has produced toolkits for cultural heritage institutions which can be used as 

starting points for ensuring that access and inclusion principles are embedded in the 

work of the institution: 


Social Inclusion Toolkit http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/socialinc_tk.doc 

Access for all Toolkit http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/access_mla_tk.pdf 

Scottish Library & Information Council (Slic) 

Slic has published a report entitled Making a difference: libraries, ICT & social 

inclusion, June 2004, which contains descriptions of projects in Scottish public 

libraries. http://www.slainte.org.uk/Files/pdf/pnet/gates/gatesreport04.pdf. One 

example is the Dundee project “Learning Together Through Reminiscence” which 

created a website and published a book based on the memories of times past 

recorded by local people. Many people received computer training as part of the 

project, and a link was made with local schoolchildren to develop an intergenerational 

learning experience. http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/gates/ 

Back to contents 



Cultural identity and cohesion 

SCOPE 

The issues dealt with in this guideline include: 

Cultural diversity 

Community cohesion 


Cultural community information 

Diverse cultural content 


There are a great many definitions of culture. A society or community can be 

identified by its culture, the shared knowledge and traditions which are passed down 

through the generations. In this sense Europe has both one culture and many 

cultures. Each individual needs to have a sense of identity, community and place, of 

belonging to a culture. However, as Ghandi said, No culture can live if it attempts to 

be exclusive. So cultural diversity is linked to social inclusion; community cohesion 

exists in a socially inclusive society in which diverse cultures live together in mutual 

understanding. Romani Prodi, President of the European Commission in February 

2004, described Europe as A Union of diversity where differences are accepted and 

perceived as enriching the whole, He said that Europeans live with multiple 

allegiances – to home town, to own region, to home country, and to the European 

Union. [1] 

The new EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, has 

vowed to be the "commissioner for innovation, inclusion and creativity". “Innovation 

must act as a driving force in the Lisbon process; inclusion will combat the digital 

divide and strengthen European identity and its cultural diversity, by means of media 

pluralism that will provide free expression for creativity”. Mrs Reding added that "the 

new technologies must help ensure a wider distribution of the images, stories, 

histories and identities of the people of Europe" [2]. 

There is also a wider idea that culture is “everything we do” and that there are 

interfaces between culture and knowledge, learning and information for everyday 

life. 

The European Union supports actions designed to stimulate the preservation, 

development and promotion of culture [3], which it defines as “language, literature, 

performing arts, visual arts, architecture, crafts, the cinema and broadcasting” [4]. 

Its cultural policy centres on respect for cultural identity and diversity and its aim is 

to preserve and support this diversity and make it accessible to all. The Council of 

Europe’s Cultural Policy and Action website [5] lists useful publications on subjects 

such as cultural diversity and conflict prevention. 

Calimera Guidelines 24 Cultural identity and cohesion

The EU supports community cohesion through a range of actions, policies, themes, 

programmes and projects including: 

• the Culture 2007 programme (2007-2013) [6]. This is intended to replace 

CULTURE 2000 [7] which ends in 2006. Building on the March 2004 

Communication entitled Making citizenship Work: fostering European culture and 

diversity through programmes for Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Civic 

Participation [8], its general objective is the achievement of a common cultural 

area through cultural co-operation and the development of a European identity 

from the grass roots. It will give cultural operators and citizens more opportunities 

to promote cultural heritage, create networks, to implement projects, to be more 

mobile and to enhance the cultural dialogue within Europe and with other parts of 

the world; 

• the eContentplus programme (2005-2008) [9]. This has been proposed as a 

successor to the eContent programme [10] which ends in 2004. It will encourage 

the combination of information from different systems, irrespective of format, 

language or location. To achieve this, digital content must be better adapted to 

meet the needs of users, and capable of being distributed via different platforms. 

The programme will focus on three types of information: geographical data, 

educational material and cultural content; 

• the Digicult programme [11] which is carrying out research into technologies 

which have the potential to improve the accessibility, visibility and recognition of 

Europe's cultural and scientific resources; 

• the Culture and Society theme [12], which focuses on eGovernment, social 

inclusion, culture and languages; 

• the eInclusion programme [13] which aims to promote eInclusion as a “core 

horizontal building block in the establishment of the Information Society to ensure 

equal access and participation for all in Europe”; 

The EU IST (Information Society Technologies) conference held in November 2004 

included a workshop entitled Interactive Living Heritage, which discussed “the need 

to unlock the creative potential of the European citizen, of the communities of the 

enlarged Europe, and of its diverse cultural organisations, large and small (including, 

but not limited to, libraries, museums and archives)”. [14] 

The Europe and Culture portal [15] gives information about what is happening, fields 

of activity, funding, and links to individual national cultural portals and websites. 

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, UNESCO, 2001 [16], adopted in the 

wake of the events in New York on 11 th September 2001, is relevant to museums, 

libraries and archives as it notes that culture is at the heart of contemporary debates 

about identity, social cohesion, and the development of a knowledge-based 

economy. For a discussion about the role of cultural institutions in preserving cultural 

identity and promoting social cohesion see Cultural diversity: common heritage, 

plural identities, Unesco, 2002 [17]. 

Memory and heritage institutions need to work together to create new resources 

covering local history, cultural events, local cultural content and community 

information. It is important to use standards to avoid problems with interoperability 


(see the guidelines on Digitisation and Digital preservation). Much can be done to coordinate 

activities on a national and regional level as well as at a local level. 

Examples of good practice at national level are the Museums, Libraries and Archives 

Council in the UK and the Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority (see 

Links). 


Cultural diversity Back to Scope 

Cultural diversity is enshrined in the Treaty establishing the European Union [3]. 

“Language, literature, performing arts, visual arts, architecture, crafts, the cinema 

and broadcasting are all part of Europe’s cultural diversity. Although belonging to a 

specific country or region, they represent part of Europe’s cultural heritage. The aim 

of the European Union is double: to preserve and support this diversity and to help 

to make it accessible to others.” [4] Cultural diversity is thought by many to be as 

important to humankind as biodiversity is to nature, and that therefore it must be 

protected against the threat of globalisation – this theory underpins the Universal 

Declaration on Cultural Diversity, UNESCO, 2001 [16]. With new countries joining the 

EU, the total population will approach 500 million by 2007, representing an immense 

richness of cultural diversity. As storehouses of this diverse cultural heritage, 

museums, libraries and archives across Europe have long been involved in a wide 

range of activities designed to support access to culture. There are two strands to 

this: 

• providing access to local cultural resources to a potentially global audience by 

making full use of ICT. This can enable people to learn about other cultures and 

support cultural tourism etc.; 

• providing access to services and resources to a culturally diverse local community 

(see the guideline on Social inclusion). It goes without saying that museums, 

libraries and archives should comply with any laws concerning cultural diversity, 

such as race relations, human rights, equal opportunities or anti-discrimination 

legislation. Cultural heritage organisations will first need to discover through 

community profiling the composition of their target communities, establish what 

barriers exist for particular groups, and identify any gaps in the services provided. 

They should ensure that collections and exhibitions reflect the cultural and social 

diversity of the communities served by, for example: 

° having permanent policies and programmes in place which support cultural 

diversity; 

° providing services which are sensitive to the mores of each sector; 

° providing services, and materials, in all relevant languages (see the guideline 

on Multilingualism); 

° collecting materials relating to the history and culture of all sectors; 

° staging exhibitions and events which celebrate cultural diversity; 

° incorporating cultural diversity into all exhibitions and events wherever 

possible; 

° employing staff from different cultural sectors of the community, and/or 

employing staff with language skills and other cultural knowledge; 

° promoting and marketing services to all sectors; 


° consulting with and making partnerships with all sectors to ensure that 

services are meeting their needs and to measure impact. 

Supporting cultural diversity brings educational, economic and social benefits and 

contributes to agendas on lifelong learning, social inclusion and economic 

regeneration: 

• people can learn about other cultures; 

• people from all cultural backgrounds will be encouraged to use the services, gain 

confidence, learn new skills which might lead to employment or improved job 

prospects, etc.; 

• more people using the service could attract more funding for the organisation; 

• a culturally diverse user base can bring new ideas and innovation into the 

service; 

• a market can be provided for works of minority and specialised interest, 

regardless of economic return. Digitisation and the Internet provide a platform 

for these products; 

• cultural tourism can be fostered (see the guideline on Social and economic 

development). 

Local history, histories of houses, places, migration, indigenous populations, 

displaced groups, etc., and family history, underpin cultural identity and stimulate a 

sense of community. These are key subjects for museums, libraries and archives and 

important areas for co-operation among them. There is a growing interest in family 

history, and the exploration of personal identity. In the case of ethnic minorities this 

can include finding out where their ancestors came from, why they or their ancestors 

moved, etc. Museums, libraries and archives, can provide the resources for this 

research, such as literature, art, music, objects etc. from around the world, records 

of births, marriages, deaths, adoptions, evidence relating to migration, census 

documents, etc. Digitisation makes possible the searching of resources relating to a 

particular culture regardless of whether these are in a museum, library or archive, or 

even if they are in another town or country. 

Community cohesion Back to Scope 

The independent thinktank Demos has published a report “Europe in the creative 

age” in which it puts forward the view that creative people prefer to live in tolerant 

societies, and that tolerant societies therefore attract talented and creative people 

who contribute to technological innovation. [18] 

In 1997 ICOM (the International Council of Museums) published Museums and 

Cultural Diversity: Policy Statement, which recognised the crucial role museums can 

play in promoting and strengthening community cohesion. What it says can be 

applied to the whole cultural heritage sector. [19] It is crucial that cultural diversity 

does not lead to division, but to community cohesion, which requires that there is a 

shared sense of belonging and an understanding and respect for difference, 

linguistic, ethnic, religious and cultural. It is the view of the EU that all Europeans 

must be given the opportunity to develop a sense of identity with Europe and with 

their local community, while at the same time enjoying their own cultural identity. 

Museums, libraries and archives can play a key role in promoting community 

cohesion: 


• they hold the resources from which people can learn about their roots and how 

they interact with others (see the guideline on Learning); 

• they can provide places and activities where people from different backgrounds 

can work and play together (see the guideline on Social inclusion); 

• they can provide access for disabled people (see the guideline on Accessibility for 

disabled people); 

• they can co-operate with other agencies to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour 

(see the guideline on Co-operation and partnership); 

• they can provide information which people need to be active citizens (see the 

guideline on eGovernment and citizenship); 

• they can provide people with opportunities to learn new skills and contribute to 

social and economic development (see the guideline on Social and economic 

development); 

• they can provide access to resources in all relevant languages (see the guideline 

on Multilingualism); 

• they can bring people together in communities of interest, or virtual communities, 

regardless of geography, background or circumstance; 

• they can help people to set up community archives and websites (see content 

creation). Taking part in this type of project can be used to bring divided 

communities together. A good example is the commaNET community archive 

system which has been used in Northern Ireland and Cyprus (see Links). 

Content creation Back to Scope 

Increasingly digitisation is being carried out in locally-based cultural heritage 

institutions, and members of the community are getting involved. People need to feel 

ownership of their local museums, libraries and archives, and one way of inspiring 

this is through content creation. Sharing in content creation can also be used to 

bring divided communities together. Schools, colleges, community groups and 

individuals can put together their own archives containing photographs, film and 

video footage, personal documents, oral history contributions, and ephemera. Good 

examples are the CHIMER and COINE projects (see Links). Such collections can make 

valuable additions to local history resources. Museums, libraries and archives can 

play a key role by helping the creators to implement standards, ensuring quality, 

digitising, indexing and classifying such collections, and making them available to a 

wide audience. 

Although such content creation usually starts with family photographs and personal 

reminiscences, the people involved can develop wider historical interests. This 

provides an opportunity for museums, libraries and archives to contribute to lifelong 

learning by supporting people undertaking background research. People involved 

also learn ICT skills and may improve their skills and confidence generally. 

Sites on which people can tell their own story are becoming very popular. There are 

hundreds of web sites which now invite people to add their own story to an archive. 

Photographs and recordings can also be submitted in some cases. One examples is 

the BBC’s WW2 People's War (see Links). Community archives can be formed around 

any theme - communities of people from the same area, or who share an interest, or 

who lived through a particular experience. Doing something active like contributing 

to an archive fosters a sense of belonging and can be the start of active participation 


in the community. Volunteers are often involved in such projects, helping people to 

write their stories or to put them in the web, recording oral histories, taking 

photographs etc., and this too can be a way of taking an active part in society. 

Cultural heritage institutions can also set up virtual community websites where 

people are drawn together by common interests regardless of geographical or 

cultural barriers. (See Links). 

Cultural community information (see also the guideline on Social and economic 

development) Back to Scope 

Local cultural heritage institutions are in a good position to provide this sort of 

information, which is clearly suitable for digitisation. It may include: 

• local events; 

• local places to visit; 

• local theatres, cinemas, concerts etc.; 

• local voluntary groups including organisations for dramatic and choral societies, 

photography clubs, gardening clubs, etc.; 

• tourist information. 

In large cities, towns and regions, there are often centralised local authority 

departments which sponsor cultural institutions with a strong strategic interest in this 

work. Public libraries are well-placed to demonstrate that they have the skills to lead 

in this area on behalf of the local authority, working in partnership with other 

agencies and local organisations to maintain accurate and up to date information, 

supplied in a form compatible with agreed standards. Many public libraries produce 

community information databases searchable by subject, place and organisation 

name and provide links to other community information pages in the same region. 

Diverse cultural content (see also the guidelines on Multimedia services, 

Digitisation and Digital preservation) Back to Scope 

Cultural diversity includes the entire range of cultural expressions, creations and 

activities of any given group, and music, film, literature and broadcasting are among 

them. The dissemination of audiovisual resources is an effective way of sharing 

cultural identities. Local cultural institutions may organise events to promote diverse 

experiences and points of view and encourage dialogue between groups. They also 

have a duty to reflect diversity in the material they acquire and preserve. 

Music and sound (e.g. folk music, contemporary music, oral history) play a very 

important part in cultural identity. The role of cultural heritage institutions with 

regard to digital music and sound is to provide services such as: 

• information about the music and oral culture of societies; 

• provision of downloadable music and sound (subject to copyright issues); 

• facilities to record and preserve music and sound archives; 

• provision of music and sound to broadcasting organisations; 

• creation of and access to oral history resources and sound archives. 

Visual resources such as film, video and photographs are also important to a 

community’s cultural identity. Nearly 700,000 prints of films are held in various film 

archives throughout the European Union. Considering the fundamental place cinema 

occupies in Europe’s historical and cultural heritage, the conservation of this vast 


collection of films is clearly of vital importance. Programmes such as MEDIA [20], aim 

to assist with this through training and the promotion of film festivals etc. The 

European Commission has also proposed adopting a recommendation of the 

European Parliament and Council on legal deposit of audio-visual materials and state 

funding for film preservation [21]. 

Co-operation with audiovisual concerns such as film producers and television 

companies is desirable so that films and television programmes can be digitised 

and made available over the Internet. Most television is now produced in digital 

format. TV companies such as the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision [22] 

are working on strategies to preserve hundreds of thousands of hours of broadcast 

material in authentic ways. 

Digital cameras have revolutionised the way photographs are taken and used. It is 

now very easy to add photographs to websites etc., but there is a threat from the 

fact that photographs have become ephemeral and disposable. If people were to 

cease to keep for example family photographs in physical form this would be a loss 

to historical archives. Therefore preservation of photographic material should be at 

the core of any digitisation project. The EU funded project SEPIA is researching the 

digitisation, cataloguing and preservation of photographic materials [23]. 

Digitisation has the potential to give very wide access to cultural content and to 

strengthen cultural networking (see the guideline on Digitisation). More and more 

cultural resources in diverse formats are becoming available electronically and online. 

Museums, libraries and archives are digitising their collections at a rapid rate, and are 

also creating cultural content themselves. Museum, archive and library sites include 

those of physical institutions and virtual institutions. There are many projects 

designed to enable everyone to participate more fully in the arts and culture (see 

Links). 

The EU supported a number of projects under the Fifth and Sixth Framework 

Programmes to carry out research into audio-visual resources, films and local history 

projects including BRAVA, CHIMER, CIPHER, COINE, DIAMANT, ECHO, FIRST, 

METAVISION, PRESTO and PRESTOSPACE. Details of these plus a comprehensive list 

of projects can be found on the IST (Information Society Technologies) website [24]. 


Cultural diversity should be part of mainstream activity and integrated into policies, 

planning and budgeting. The UNESCO Public Library Manifesto proclaims “belief in 

the public library as a living force for education, culture and information, and as an 

essential agent for the fostering of peace and spiritual welfare through the minds of 

men and women” [25]. This could apply equally to museums and archives. 

Museums, libraries and archives should pilot the creation of resources relevant to the 

needs of their communities, which in large metropolises can be very diverse. The 

trend is for users to become more and more involved in creating and collecting 

resources, and this should be encouraged as it helps people to learn new skills, 


involves them in the community, and supports e-learning, eGovernment and social 

inclusion agendas. 

Community cohesion is strengthened when people know about each other. 

Museums, libraries and archives are in a strong position to enable people to learn 

about other cultures. 

The generation of content, such as community information, may become more 

sophisticated and involve co-operative projects. Institutions can develop and promote 

tools which help individuals to work together as a group. 

The digitisation of cultural collections will continue until a substantial proportion of 

the cultural heritage of Europe is available in one way or another by digital means. 

Local content will form an increasing part of this picture. Museums, archives, libraries 

of all types, community and voluntary organisations, private and business sectors will 

need to work jointly to ensure that this material is accessible. 

More and more material will be “born digital” and museums, libraries and archives 

will need to develop strategies for dealing with this if it is not to be lost to future 

generations. E-mail has largely replaced letter-writing; digital images have replaced 

photographs, cine-film, and video; broadcasting companies are producing round the 

clock digital television and radio programmes which have replaced tapes and video; 

downloadable music is taking over from records, tapes, CDs and DVDs. It is 

particularly important to ensure that the diverse cultural heritage of communities is 

not lost in an increasingly globalised world. (See the guideline on Digital 

preservation). 

Staff in museums, libraries and archives should be trained in relevant legislation 

regarding human rights, etc., and in how to be sensitive to the cultural diversity of 

the user population. 

Specialist staff, or staff trained in the subject, should be provided for music, film etc. 


[1] Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission: A Union of minorities. 

Seminar on Europe - Against anti-Semitism, for a Union of Diversity. Brussels, 19 

February 2004. 

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/04/85&format 

=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr 

[2] Reding pledges "innovation, inclusion and creativity" in information society. 

http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-130372-16&type=News 

[3] “The Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the member 

states, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time 

bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore” (article 151 of the Treaty 

establishing the European Union) 


http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/treaties/selected/livre234.html 

[4] Activities of the European Union: Culture 

http://europa.eu.int/pol/cult/index_en.htm 

[5] Council of Europe: Cultural policy and action 

http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/culture/ 

[6] Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council 

establishing the Culture 2007 programme (2007-2013). July 2004. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/newprog/com1_en.pdf 

[7] CULTURE 2000 http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/index_en.html 

[8] Making citizenship Work: fostering European culture and diversity through 

programmes for Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Civic Participation 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/comcitizen_en.pdf 

[9] eContentplus programme 2005-2008 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/telearn/econtentplus.htm 

[10] eContent programme 2001-2004 http://www.cordis.lu/econtent/home.html 

[11] Preservation and enhancement of Cultural Heritage / DigiCULT 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/programme.htm 

[12] European Culture and Society in the Digital Age 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/soccul/index_en.htm 

[13] the eInclusion programme http://www.cordis.lu/ist/so/einclusion/home.html 

[14] IST event 2005: Conference workshop details: Interactive Living Heritage. 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/istevent/2004/cf/vieweventdetail.cfm?ses_id 

=373&eventType=session 

[15] Europe and Culture portal http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture//index_en.htm 

[16] The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, UNESCO, 2001 

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php- 

URL_ID=2450&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html 

[17] Cultural diversity: common heritage, plural identities, Unesco, 2002 

http://unescdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001271/127161e.pdf 

[18] Florida, Richard and Tinagli, Irene: Europe in the Creative Age. Demos, 2004. 

http://www.demos.co.uk/catalogue/creativeeurope_page370.aspx 

[19] ICOM: Museums and Cultural Diversity: Policy Statement. 1997. 

http://icom.museum/diversity.html 


[20] MEDIA http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/media/index_en.html 

[21] Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, 

the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on 

the follow-up to the Commission communication on certain legal aspects relating to 

cinematographic and other audiovisual works. Brussels, 16.3.2004 COM(2004) 171 

final. http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/lip/latest/doc/2004/com2004_0171en01.doc 

[22] Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision 

http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/gvnNL/handler.cfm/event/onpage/pageID/8FA 

E9963-0FAB-4112-BF19-325991A23477/collectionid/A1C3C760-1070-49C8-9257- 

A9AF9FB858BB 

[23] SEPIA (Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access) 

http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/sepia/home.html 

[24] IST (Information Society Technologies) 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/projects_all.htm. 

FIRST (Film Conservation and Restoration Strategies) has recently published its final 

report and State of the Art Reports http://www.film-first.org 

[25] UNESCO Public Library Manifesto 

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/libraries/manifestos/libraman.html 

Australia 


State Library of Tasmania 

A culturally rich website with several electronic services, including Tasmania Online 

http://www.tas.gov.au/, which gives access to government, business and community 

websites. http://www.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/ 

Europe 

CHIMER (Children's Heritage Interactive Models for Evolving Repositories) 

This project, funded by the European Commission's Information Society R&D 

programme, is an open international network of children, teachers and museologists 

from across Europe who are developing a multimedia multilingual digital heritage 

archive as a long-term storage medium for European cultural repositories. The 

children learn to use new creative tools, such as PCs, digital cameras, GPS, video 

cameras and web cameras. 

http://www.chimer.org/index.asp and http://dbs.cordis.lu/cordiscgi/srchidadb?ACTION=D&SESSION=153372004-11- 

27&DOC=1&TBL=EN_PROJ&RCN=EP_RCN:61828&CALLER=EISIMPLE_EN_PROJ 

CIPHER (Communities of Interest Promoting Heritage of European Regions) 


Under the Heritage for All theme four cultural heritage forums, defined as online 

spaces where people can participate and learn through accessing and contributing to 

a range of heritage resources organised around a common theme, were set up 

across Europe: 

• Irish Cultural and Natural Heritage (Dublin); 

• Nordic Heritage Through Storytelling and Historical Artefacts (Helsinki); 

• Shared Heritage of Central Europe (Austria/Czech Republic); 

• The Tradition of Technological Innovation in South Central England (UK). 

http://cipherweb.open.ac.uk/d13/ 

COINE (Cultural Objects in Networked Environments) 

Funded by the EU, this project aims to develop a piece of software that will allow 

anybody to tell their own heritage stories digitally, publish their own exhibitions on 

the Internet, or prepare a story to be shared with others. The project involves five 

partners from across Europe (Greece, Poland, Spain, Ireland and the UK) and is led 

by Manchester Metropolitan University working in partnership with the Armitt 

Museum. http://fp.armitt.plus.com/coine_project.htm 

commaNET 

commaNET is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes and supports community 

archives through advice and training, sells the comm@ software and publishes the 

resulting archives on CD-ROM and on the Internet. European funding has enabled 

the project to be developed across Europe. The software is multilingual, i.e. the 

database fields can be translated into other languages (currently Danish, Dutch, 

German and Italian), which enables community archives to be created in one 

language and searched in another. For further information see Listening to the past, 

speaking to the future. MLA, 2004. ISBN 1903743494 

(http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents); and Record makers [by] Simon Parker in The 

Guardian, November 13, 2002. 

(http://society.guardian.co.uk/internet/story/0,8150,838615,00.html). 

http://www.commanet.org 

Armenia 

Armenian Genocide Institute-Museum 

Scholarly exposition of historical-documentary materials, archival documents, photos 

on the Armenian Genocide in 1915-1923; guided tours of the Museum in English, 

French, German, Russian and Armenian; accumulation of new data. 

http://www.armenocide.am 

Bulgaria 

Community Development and Participation through the Chitalishte Network 

The goal is to strengthen the community role of the Chitalishta (basic public libraries) 

as traditional cultural and educational centres and offer working models for their 

participation in local community development. http://www.chitalishte.bg 



Chimeru 

School website about the local heritage. 

http://chimer-chanovice.wz.cz/ChimerOf.html 

Místní kultura 

Information on local culture http://mistnikultura.cz 

Městská Knihovna Český Těšín 

Website of the local library in Cesky Tesin in Polish (the largest national minority). 

http://www.knihovna.ctesin.cz 

Denmark 

Kulturnat Danmark 

A portal to Danish culture on the Internet. http://www.kulturnet.dk/index.html 

Finland 

Agricola project 

Archives project promoting the research and teaching of Finnish history. 

http://agricola.utu.fi// 

France 

Médiathèque 

A model multimedia site and gateway to resources which includes recordings, videos, 

musical analysis and audio excerpts. http://mediatheque.ircam.fr/index-e.html 

Ireland 

Ardkeen Online 

Ardkeen Online will make it easy for people with no technical expertise to create 

Internet web pages and become part of their local network. It aims to be a one-stopshop 

for the Ardkeen Community, providing a focal point for local events, community 

groups, information and businesses. http://www.ardkeen.ie/ 

Libraries and Cultural Diversity 

This is a co-operative research project involving Dublin City Public Libraries, 

Waterford City Council Library Service, Meath County Library Service and An 

Chomhairle Leabharlanna. http://www.waterfordcity.ie/library/libraryprojects.htm 

Italy 

Museo diffuso del Mugello, Alto Mugello e Val di Sieve 

This is a broad partnership of numerous public and private institutions and a network 

of small local museums covering art, archaeology, anthropology and natural history 

of the area. 

http://www.cm-mugello.fi.it/musei/04%20museo%20diffuso.htm 


The Netherlands 

Nederlands Platform Ouderen en Europa (Netherlands Platform for Older People in 

Europe) 

Personal memories of older people, together with photos, objects, documents and 

film are thematically scanned and filed and made accessible with the aid of 

multimedia on CD-Rom and the Internet. Uses commanet technology. 

http://www.seniorweb.nl/npoe/projectentooneng.asp?ProjectID=16 

Norway 

Digitalarkivet (The Digital Archive) 

“Digital Inn” is a part of the Digital Archive which enables online creation of new 

content by users (organisations and private individuals). It represents an important 

example of new ways of using the web to publish nationwide datasets, and an 

interesting approach to historical exhibitions based on sources from the archive, thus 

representing new ways of promoting archives and their services. 

http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/ 

Poland 

Culture.pl 

This website is managed by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute (AMI), a government 

cultural institution whose mission is to promote Polish culture throughout the world. 

In particular, the statutory tasks of AMI include compiling and updating an integrated 

system of information about Polish culture and disseminating this information, in 

Polish and other languages, on the Internet. http://www.culture.pl/en/culture 

Russia 

Archival Mosaic of Karelian Culture 

Provides free access to an annotated catalogue of archival document groups on the 

subject of Karelian culture. The project is also available in English. 

http://archives.karelia.ru/nark/projects/mosaic 

Archives of the Russian Federation 

The “Victory” section contains documentary photographs and films made during the 

Great Patriotic War. http://www.rusarchives.ru 

Armenia in Novgorod 

The Novgorod Regional Universal Reference Library developed this project to 

familiarise people with Armenian culture and history and to help to distribute ideas 

of tolerance in the Novgorod region. 

http://www.reglib.natm.ru/reglib/projects/armenian/task.asp 

Biblionight project 

Youth art-carnival “Biblionight” at the Central municipal library of N.A. Nekrasov 

launched this website for the young people of Izhevsk. The project aims to give 

young people opportunities for creative work, create a positive image of young 


people, provide a place for constructive dialogue with young people, and create an 

information network. http://www.biblionight.udm.ru 

The Chuvash Book 

The National Library of the Chuvash Republic has developed and implemented this 

project to provide access to resources and events about the Chuvash people and 

their history, language and culture. http://lib.chuvashia.ru/chuvash book.phtm 

International Action: the Young Generation against the Nuclear Threat 

The Central City Library of Novouralsk has developed this project. It takes place in 

the Information and Educational Centres of cities involved in nuclear production 

activities (Novouralsk (Russia) and Los-Alamos (USA)) and the Central City Library of 

Novouralsk. The aims of the project include: raising awareness among young people 

about the issues of peace, mutual understanding, and non-violence; developing the 

skill of avoiding extremism, nationalism and xenophobia; opening a civil dialogue 

aimed at prevention of international and social conflicts; development of the 

intellectual and creative potential of children and young people; enhancement of 

friendship between children and young people of different countries. 

http://www.municipal-library.novotec.ru/ 

Project KOMart - cultural itineraries of Karelia 

The Cultural Centre of the Karelia Museum Agency have set up this project to 

develop cultural tourism in Karelia both at the national and international levels, 

attract young citizens to the sphere of culture by means of the Internet, and create 

mechanisms for collaboration between local tourism and cultural institutions, massmedia, 

commercial enterprises and public organisations. http://www.adit.ru 

Slovakia 

SK Cinema 

Slovak Cinematography Information System and Slovak Film Database - project of 

the Slovak Film Institute. http://www.sfd.sfu.sk 

Slovenia 

KAMRA 

This portal will provide a single point of access to contents created by archives, 

libraries, museums and other partners at the local level, covering the topic of 

community information. The portal will be innovative by using new systems for 

publishing and description of content and support for user queries. Interoperability 

will be assured by the use of web services based on MS Share Point Portal Server. 

http://www.kamra.si (under construction, available September 2005) 

Spain 

Local writers on the Net 

Online guide to authors from Huelva province. Authors themselves have contributed 

information about their work to the website, which also includes local information 

about books and literature. 


http://www.bibliotecaspublicas.es/huelva/seccont_278.htm 

A bit of our history: the library memory and memory of the community 

Older readers of the State Public Library of Huelva contributed information about the 

different locations this library has had. The website shows old photographs and press 

releases, and also a summary of records and inventory of the library archive. 

http://www.bibliotecaspublicas.es/huelveng/index.htm 

G.I.O. (Genealogía, Informática y Ocio) 

Aims to develop a new role for archives in the information society by offering citizens 

the possibility of tracing local family history using the computerised data contained in 

the civil registers of Torrelavega and parish registers. It will also be possible to 

extract information for demographic studies. Published on CD-ROM and accessible 

through a touch screen system located in the Town Hall, and eventually via the 

Internet. 

Sweden 

SVAR (Svensk Arkivinformation) 

Specialises in family chronicles and courses in genealogy. It provides research 

facilities, produces and distributes microcards and provides scanned and digitised 

records for customers. SVAR also distributes books and other publications via the 

Internet. http://www.svar.ra.se/ 

Turkey 

APİKAM - Ahmet Priştina Kent Arşivi ve Müzesi, İzmir (Ahmet Priştina City Archive 

and Museum, Izmir) 

This recently established institution is under development and aims to have a city 

archive accessible through the Internet. One element of this archive will be oral 

history. Stories are expected to be added to the web site by local people and they 

are encouraged to make oral history contributions. http://www.apikam.org.tr/ 

Ukraine 

Children of Ukraine 

This project enables children to contribute stories, poetry, drawings and pictures for 

presentation on the website. http://www.chl.kiev.ua/ENG/kids_e.htm 

Genealogical Research Online 

Archives service accessible online which enables citizens to search for genealogical 

information, compile a family tree, research the history of relatives' birthplaces, 

produce videos or photographs of places where relatives lived, and translate all the 

researched documents into English. http://www.genealogicaltree.org.ua 


BBC WW2 People's War 


This site is dedicated to capturing personal stories of World War Two in a lasting 

archive. It is an Internet-only project aimed at the generation which lived through 

the Second World War and so encourages them to learn ICT skills as well as 

fostering a sense of history and cultural identity. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2 

Community Access to Archives Project (CAAP) 

This is a pilot project led and funded by The National Archives (TNA), in partnership 

with West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS), Hackney Archives Department (HAD), 

the National Archives of Scotland (NAS), the National Council on Archives (NCA), the 

National Library of Wales (NLW), the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland 

(PRONI), and Commanet. Its aim is to give participants a sense of community pride 

and ownership through involvement in community archive projects. 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives/caap/ 

Get a Life 

This innovative project has been developed by Dumfries and Galloway Libraries, 

Information and Archives in partnership with the dramatist in residence from the 

local Arts Association. Housed on the Council’s intranet, it is an interactive online 

narrative in which young people are able to create their own characters, meet other 

characters and make up their own stories. http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/lia 

Moving Here 

This is a database of digitised photographs, maps, objects, documents and audio 

items from 30 local and national archives, museums and libraries which record and 

illustrate why people came to England over the last 200 years. 

http://www.movinghere.org.uk/. (For a description see DigiCULT Thematic Issue 5: 

Virtual communities and collaboration in the heritage sector. 2004. ISBN 

3902448124. http://www.digicult.info/pages/Themiss.php) 

SALIDAA (South Asian Diaspora Literature and Arts Archive) 

This digital archive aims to showcase the richness and diversity of contemporary 

South Asian literature and arts in England. http://www.salidaa.org.uk/ 

Wiltshire Community History 

This website contains information on 261 Wiltshire communities compiled by 

Wiltshire Libraries & Heritage. Every community page will eventually contain 

administrative information, population, local newspapers, maps, information on 

churches and schools, listed buildings, local authors and literary associations, 

historical information, access to old photographs, a booklist, and links to other sites 

of interest. http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community 

USA 

Images of the Indian Peoples of the Northern Great Plains 

A museum and library collaborative project in Montana, through which Plains Indians 

are discovering more of their own heritage through an online database of tribal 

images from the past. http://libmuse.msu.montana.edu/epubs/nadb/ 

Wisconsin Stories 


Wisconsin Public Television and the Wisconsin State Historical Society have joined 

forces to form the Wisconsin Collections, which combines the archival resources of 

the historical society with the technical expertise of the television company to 

increase the use of in-depth historical information for leisure and educational 

purposes. http://www.wisconsinstories.org/ 




eGovernment and citizenship 


Process integration 



Community information 

Consultation 

Active participation 

Community building 

Promoting access to public services 

SCOPE 


Citizenship of the European Union, enshrined in the Treaty of Rome and further 

established by the Maastricht Treaty [1], is characterised by rights and duties and 

involvement in political life. A website has been set up to give people information 

about their rights and duties [2]. The reality however is that many citizens regard the 

EU, and their own governments, as merely remote political and economic entities. 

One way to encourage active citizenship is to improve access to information and 

services, and this is one of the aims of eGovernment. 

The European Union defines eGovernment as “the use of information and 

communication technologies in public administrations, combined with organisational 

change and new skills, in order to improve public services and strengthen support to 

public policies” [3], and has declared it a priority in the eEurope 2005 Action Plan 

[4]. In September 2003, the Commission adopted a communication on eGovernment 

[5] calling on all administrations to ensure access to public services for all citizens, 

through investment in multi-platform approaches (PC, digital TV, mobile terminals, 

public access points etc). The recent expansion of the EU is an opportunity to boost 

eGovernment across the continent. Erkki Liikanen, former European Commissioner 

for Enterprise and the Information Society, has highlighted the skills and 

commitment to change of the new entrants [6], although the turnout at the 2004 

European Parliament elections was unexpectedly low especially in these countries. 


By their championship of intellectual freedom and the right to access information, 

cultural heritage institutions have a proven role to play in building active citizenship. 

They can do this on two levels: 

Calimera Guidelines 41 eGovernment and citizenship

• as public services they need to offer their own services electronically. (In fact 

public libraries are among the 20 basic services surveyed in the Top of the Web 

survey [7] and are the public e-service with the highest level of online usage.); 

• as information services they can offer information about and access to other 

eGovernment services, local, national and European. Information is a powerful 

democratic tool, but it needs to be organised and managed so that it does not 

overwhelm, and this is the business of libraries and archives in particular. 

Introducing eGovernment involves process integration, (changes in the “back 

office”), improvements in service delivery (changes in the “front office”), and 

interoperability. For museums, libraries and archives this means: 

• for process integration - looking at which of their procedures can be changed 

from offline to online to achieve faster working, less duplication, easier 

performance measurement, financial savings, etc. For example it might be found 

that the same data is being collected and stored in more than one place and data 

sharing could enable the same data to be used for more than one purpose; Back 

to Scope 

• for improvements in service delivery – introducing new ways to access the 

service e.g. Internet, digital TV, mobile terminals, public access points, telephone 

call centres, etc., to complement the more traditional face-to-face interactions at 

enquiry desks, etc. The benefits to be aimed for are those which customers want 

– time saving, no queuing, services available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, 

and services which are easy to use and easy to find without having to know 

specifically which institution or department to contact; Back to Scope 

• for interoperability – enabling systems and institutions to work together for the 

benefit of users: 

° interoperability could lead to making it easier for users interested in a subject 

to find useful information in a variety of museums, libraries and archives 

without needing to know exactly where to look in advance; 

° interoperability can contribute to joined-up government. With interoperability 

between different departments and levels of government, data and systems 

can be shared and one-stop services provided. As Arvo Ott, the Head of the 

Informatics Department at the Estonian Ministry of Economics, has said “this 

will make government more efficient. There will be no need to run around 

town to different public offices. You can do your running around on the Web”; 

° on a Europe-wide level, the European Commission has recently announced the 

final version of the European Interoperability Framework [8], which “provides 

recommendations and defines generic standards with regard to organizational, 

semantic and technical aspects of interoperability, offering a comprehensive 

set of principles for European cooperation in eGovernment." Back to Scope 

eGovernment is made up of three elements: information, consultation and active 

participation. 

Information can be defined as a one-way relationship in which government delivers 

information to citizens. Current trends show that the scope of information has 

increased greatly and that its provision now forms a shared objective for all EU 

countries. The EU provides a great deal of information online, including via portals 

such as the European Youth Portal [9]. All individual member countries also provide 


government information online, but the quantity, quality and range of information 

provided varies [7] and [10]. 

Community information Back to Scope 

The public needs up to date community information in order to be effective and 

responsible citizens. Community information should be relevant to the whole 

community (see the guideline on Social inclusion). This type of information is clearly 

suitable for digitisation, which makes it more easily and widely accessible. 

• Museums build a picture of their local community through artefacts and 

exhibitions. 

• Archives contain official and unofficial records and documents of all kinds, as well 

as photographs and sound and video archives, both historical and contemporary, 

which illustrate and explain the development of the community they serve. 

• Public libraries provide information about the range of organisations which make 

up civil society. 

Digitisation makes it possible for museums, libraries and archives, and also users 

such as community groups etc., to create content which is useful as community 

information (see also the guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion). 

• Museums can create virtual exhibitions and events organised around themes of 

importance and relevance to local communities. 

• Archives can organise access by subject or theme regardless of format. 

• Libraries can build seamless databases of local information searchable by subject, 

place and by organisation name. The type of information could include: 

° local events; 

° local voluntary groups including organisations for various social minorities such 

as older people, children, people who have types of illnesses, charities, 

residents organisations, sports clubs, hobbyists, etc.; 

° self help groups; 

° sexual minorities; 

° political organisations and pressure groups; 

° administrative bodies; 

° political representatives; 

° schools and colleges, private tutors; 

° tourist information; 

° local newspapers; 

° local government information e.g. who does what and at which office; 

° transport information e.g. times of buses and trains; 

° lists of businesses though there is no point in duplicating the yellow pages; 

° links to other community information pages in the same region. 

Access to community information can be presented via a local portal ensuring wider 

and more seamlessly accessible coverage of all aspects of the life of a local 

community. Building and sustaining partnerships with public, voluntary and private 

organisations (such as social services departments, health services, colleges and 

universities, citizen’s advisory bodies, ethnic minority organisations, private sector 

organisations such as IT and local media companies, grant-making organizations) is 

a key part of creating and maintaining such a portal (see the guideline on Cooperation 

and partnership). Local libraries are well placed to create local community 


information portals and to act as mediators and co-ordinators, ensuring standards 

are maintained. 

Consultation Back to Scope 

Consultation is a two-way relationship in which citizens provide feedback on issues 

defined by government. This is on the rise but at a slower rate and large differences 

remain between European countries. The International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC) 

[11] based at Napier University in Scotland is however researching ways of using 

technology for consultation. It has worked on a number of, mainly Scottish, projects, 

including one for the Scottish Executive on “What sort of Scotland do we want to live 

in?” [12] 

Active participation Back to Scope 

Active participation can be defined as a partnership in which citizens actively shape 

policy options, but where government retains the responsibility for final decisions. 

Efforts to engage citizens in policy-making are rare and examples are confined to a 

few countries such as Estonia (see Links). The International Teledemocracy Centre is 

also researching ways of using technology for enabling participation. It has worked 

on a number of projects including the EC funded project, AVANTI (Added Value 

Access to New Technologies and services on the Internet) (see Links), which used 

prototype digital avatars (see also the guideline on Personalisation) to enhance the 

acceptability of eGovernment services to citizens. The Scottish Executive also used 

an animated human character, SEONAID, to engage young people in current affairs 

(see Links). 

Another aspect of participation which governments are encouraging is e-transaction. 

This is where people fill in forms, make payments etc. electronically. The type of 

transactions people may be able to do online include: 

• applying for a passport; 

• registering to vote; 

• licensing a vehicle; 

• booking a driving test; 

• buying a TV licence; 

• completing a tax return; 

• applying for benefits; 

• paying taxes. 

Museums, libraries and archives can help people to familiarise themselves with online 

transactions and build up trust in the process by introducing their own etransactions. 

Many archives for example already enable citizens to order copies of 

genealogical records online, and many libraries make it possible for users to consult 

catalogues, request and renew books, etc. from home or work, and many users find 

this very convenient. 

Personalisation can add value to eGovernment services (see the guideline on 

Personalisation). For example: 

• information from various sources can be brought together and presented in a 

package to meet the user’s needs; 

• government and local government departments could share data about people 

(subject to data protection legislation) so that they do not have to give the same 


information several times to different people, and to enable them to be addressed 

by name; 

• form filling could be simplified if certain standard sections such as name and 

address could be filled in automatically using stored data.; 

• people could collect in one place links to the services they use regularly, together 

with the personal information relevant to those services such as reference 

numbers etc. (a sort of “MyGovernment” or “MyLocalGovernment” similar to 

“MyMuseum” or “MyLearning”); 

• they could register for alerts or reminders to be sent to them about transactions 

or updated information. 

Community building Back to Scope 

Community building plays an important part in encouraging active citizenship (see 

also the guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion). When people join together with 

others with shared interests, identities or histories it can make them feel included 

and can give them the confidence to participate in society and become active 

citizens. 

Promoting access to public services Back to Scope 

Local museums, archives and libraries can assist in promoting access to public 

services by: 

• emphasising the positive role they can play in delivering eGovernment services. 

By aligning with eGovernment agendas they may attract new sources of funding; 

• drawing on their experience of closeness to their users to help to ensure that 

eGovernment projects take into account what people want; 

• demonstrating that new ways of interacting with government are effective and 

lead to change, so that people do not lose interest. 

Museums, libraries and archives each have unique ways in which they can contribute 

to increasing participation in eGovernment, for example: 

• Museums have moved a long way from being places with static exhibitions. When 

they programme displays in thought-provoking ways they can stimulate 

discussion both within the museum and outside via the media. Thus they can 

involve the community, including those sections not traditionally drawn to 

museums. The Animating Democracy Initiative [13] website contains numerous 

examples of innovative ways in which museums have contributed to community 

building and democracy, from linking exhibitions to film shows and lectures to 

organising informal discussion groups in coffee bars. 

• Archives have an important and unique role to play in providing people with 

access to decisions made on their behalf. Archival records are essential to 

understanding the processes of decision-making and governance. This role has 

become increasingly important to public life as new responsibilities for the care of 

archives and current records have emerged. Freedom of information and data 

protection legislation, the demands of electronic records management and 

increasing media scrutiny of government have brought fresh challenges. The 

increasing interest in family and local history has in turn increased interest in 

archives by some previously socially excluded groups. 

• Public libraries have historically been a key institution in civic participation for a 

variety of reasons, but chiefly because they can represent the public face of local 


government. They are sometimes the only civic buildings in local communities, 

especially in rural areas, and they often have opening hours that are more userfriendly 

than government offices, so making services available outside normal 

office hours. They can provide space for people to meet local councillors and 

members of parliament, and provide meeting places for organisations to organise 

their own events, together with support such as access to PCs, photocopiers, 

catering facilities. In addition they have been identified in a recent European 

Commission survey as the most frequently accessed local eGovernment service 

[8]. They can build on this by, for example: 

° being strategically placed in local communities (in libraries, mobile libraries, 

kiosks etc.) to act as access points for eGovernment through Internet provision 

and guidance, ensuring everyone is within easy reach, especially those in rural 

areas or deprived neighbourhoods; 

° providing training and support, face-to-face or on-line, for the public, for 

organisations, and also for public sector staff in the use of technology and the 

Internet etc.; 

° providing communication channels (e.g. e-mail, video-conferencing, chat lines) 

for people to contact government officials etc.; 

° providing e-mail addresses for local government staff; 

° providing a platform for other local government departments to put 

information on the web; 

° being the access points for national government ICT initiatives; 

° providing an online platform for discussion groups and newsgroups; 

° providing facilities for e-transactions – e.g. to pay bills, make appointments, fill 

in forms, make bookings for events, rooms, transport etc.; 

° providing virtual access so that people can access information and services 

from their own homes and places of work etc. 

° providing, or being active in ensuring provision of good delivery channels e.g. 

broadband and wireless networks; 

° being represented on local decision-making bodies dealing with this subject; 

° being knowledgeable about legal aspects such as data protection, privacy, and 

freedom of information. 

° taking a lead in helping local government to set up interactive and 

interoperable eGovernment systems. 


In March 2004 the Commission adopted a Communication entitled Making citizenship 

Work: fostering European culture and diversity through programmes for Youth, 

Culture, Audiovisual and Civic Participation [14], in which it is recognised that the 

recent and future enlargements of the Union, together with demographic changes 

and immigration flows, make it more necessary than ever that Europe’s citizens have 

an opportunity to experience a feeling of belonging to the Union and are able to 

identify with it. Museums, libraries and archives will need to contribute towards 

making this happen. 

People already take part in discussions on the websites of television and radio 

programmes, vote for their favourite contestant in TV reality shows, answer quiz 


questions online, use technology to do hazard perception and theory tests as part of 

their driving tests, etc. They also engage electronically with museums, libraries and 

archives (consulting online library catalogues, reserving and renewing books from 

home, booking tickets for exhibitions, buying goods from museum gift shops, 

ordering photographs from archives, etc). Familiarity with these sorts of activities 

should help to increase participation in eGovernment. The convenience, informality, 

anonymity (where appropriate), speed, and adaptability for people with disabilities, 

should draw in people who have never engaged in a debate about local or national 

issues before. 

Postal voting generally produces a higher turnout, so e-voting might encourage even 

more people to vote. It offers a greater choice of when and where to vote, and 

should make counting faster and more accurate. 

eGovernment should make it easy for people not only to find out about local issues 

(through access to the minutes of council meetings for example), but also to take 

part in decision making through consultation and polling, discussion forums, citizens’ 

panels etc., and to carry out certain transactions with government electronically. 

The EU has set targets for all public services to have broadband connections and this 

will enable all museums, libraries and archives to deliver their own services 

electronically and, as broadband is rolled out to more citizens, to reach larger 

audiences. 

As eGovernment becomes more widespread, people without personal access to the 

Internet will need to be within easy reach of public Internet access points with 

broadband or wireless connections. These could well be in museums, libraries or 

archives, which in most countries have a large number of buildings and mobile 

services. 

For many people access via the Internet might not be possible, for a variety of 

reasons including personal preference. Other delivery channels will therefore be 

needed such as interactive TV. Very few people do not have access to a TV, and 

digital TV is gradually replacing analogue TV. Museums, libraries and archives will 

need to explore using a variety of delivery platforms. 

New technology can be used to add value to traditional services, and allow the 

delivery of entirely new services. Museums, libraries and archives should seize 

opportunities to experiment and take part in research projects. 

To be used, services need to be secure and trusted by the public. Museums, libraries 

and archives are used by a large proportion of the population of most countries and 

are generally seen as trustworthy. By conducting their own transactions electronically 

they can familiarise large numbers of people with e-services, demonstrate the 

benefits, and help to build up trust. 

In future people will expect online access to be personalised and organised according 

to demand profiles, rather than according to service supply structures. Local 

authority run museums, libraries and archives can respond to this agenda by 


assisting in the development of systems for personalised access, and to deliver local 

eGovernment. 


[1] Maastricht Treaty http://www.eurotreaties.com/maastrichtext.html 

[2] Dialogue with Citizens http://europa.eu.int/citizensrights/index_en.cfm 

[3] About eGovernment 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/programmes/egov_rd/about_us/index_en.ht 

m 

[4] eEurope 2005 Action Plan 

http://europe.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/action_plan/index_ 

en.htm 

[5] The Role of eGovernment for Europe's Future 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/egovernment/com 

munication/index_en.htm 

[6] New Member States, future e-government champions? 

http://europa.eu.int/ida/jsps/documents/dsp_showPrinterDocument.jsp?docID=3193 

&lg=en 

[7] Report on quality and usage of public e-services in Europe. Top of The Web, 

November 2003. http://www.topoftheweb.net/en/ 

[8] European Interoperability Framework for Pan-European eGovernment services. 

Version 1.0. November 2004. 

http://europa.eu.int/ida/servlets/Doc?id=18101 

[9] The European Youth Portal http://www.europa.eu.int/youth/index_en.html 

[10] eGovernment Factsheets - eServices for citizens [by country]. 

http://europa.eu.int/ida/en/chapter/422 

[11] The International Teledemocracy Centre http://www.e-consultant.org.uk/ 

[12] What sort of Scotland do we want to live in? 

http://e-consultant.org.uk/sustainability/ 

[13] The Animating Democracy Initiative 

http://www.americansforthearts.org/AnimatingDemocracy/ 


[14] Making citizenship Work: fostering European culture and diversity through 

programmes for Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Civic Participation 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/comcitizen_en.pdf 

Europe 


AVANTI (Added Value Access to New Technologies and services on the Internet) 

This project used prototype digital avatars to promote eGovernment services to 

citizens, targeting the “digitally excluded” in particular. The avatars were animated 

characters designed to guide a person through online transactions and services. Four 

public authorities across Europe were involved; the London Borough of Lewisham 

(England), Kista Borough/City of Stockholm (Sweden), the City of Edinburgh Council 

(Scotland) and Ventspils City Council (Latvia). The Edinburgh project dealt with 

library services. http://www.avantiproject.org/ 

European Interoperability Framework for Pan-European eGovernment Services. 

European Communities, 2004. 

Very important and relevant document. Final European Interoperability Framework 

November 2004. Provides recommendations and defines generic standards regarding 

organisational, semantic and technical aspects of interoperability, and offers a 

comprehensive set of principles for European co-operation in eGovernment. 

http://europa.eu.int/ida/servlets/Doc?id=18101 


Portál Veřejné Správy České Republiky 

Portal of the Czech government. http://portal.gov.cz/wps/portal 

Společná česko-slovenská digitální parlamentní knihovna 

The Parliamentary Library – project of the Common Czech and Slovak Digital 

Parliamentary Library http://www.psp.cz/eknih 

Usti nad Orlici city library 

Website with information for local goverment. 

http://www.knihovna-uo.cz/knihovna/obce.html 

Estonia 

Esileht 

An eGovernment portal providing a single, one-stop umbrella for the many 

government services already online, and for all new services being developed. Its 

features are being extended to provide access to hundreds of national and municipal 

websites and services. http://www.eesti.ee/est 

Täna Otsustan Mina 


An e-democracy website called TOM (Tana Otsustan Mina, or “Today, I'm Deciding”) 

has been running for several years, enabling citizens to comment on draft bills and 

submit their own ideas for legislation. http://tom.riik.ee/ 

Greece 

Ministry of Economy and Finance 

Official site of the General Secretariat for Information Systems of the Ministry of 

Economy and Finance. Gives useful information on the electronic services offered to 

the citizen and corporate entities, and enables online communications on tax, vehicle 

registration, etc. http://www.e-oikonomia.gr/ 

Ireland 

Public Libraries to assist in the delivery of e-Government Services 

Dublin City Public Libraries are carrying out a Research and development project 

(November 2004 - October 2005) aimed at developing a blueprint for assisting the 

delivery of eGovernment Services via Irish public libraries. 

http://www.iol.ie/dublincitylibrary/projects_egovernment.htm 

Italy 

Iperbole, Bologna 

Iperbole, Bologna Civic Network uses the Internet to develop teledemocracy, 

transparency in administration, the right to information, interaction with citizens and 

participation in decision-making. Libraries act as access points to Iberpole. 

http://www.comune.bologna.it/ 

Racine Rete civica dei Comuni e della provincia di Ravenna (Local network of 

Ravenna comuni and Provincia) 

The network , created in 1995, has developed a complete integration of all the public 

information services in the area, and it offers its services to SME. The network has 

integrated both the Libraries and Museum networks 

http://www.racine.ra.it/ 

http://opac.provincia.ra.it/h3/h3/ase 

http://dev.racine.ra.it/sistemamusei/chisiam.htm 

Luxembourg 

eLuxembourg 

Launched by the national library in 2001. 

http://www.eluxembourg.lu/ 

Poland 

“Cities on Internet” Association, Tarnów, Poland 

The core mission of this organisation is to support public administration, both central 

and local, in the process of transformation toward modern eGovernment solutions. 


The “Cities on Internet” Association is co-operating with ELANET, ERIS@ and 

Telecities. http://www.smwi.pl/Ang/index.php 

Poland’s Gate 

This project is a part of the Ministry of Science and Information’s strategy for a 

platform for government services. http://www.informatyzacja.gov.pl 

Slovenia 

Državni portal Republike Slovenije (State Portal of the Republic of Slovenia) 

This portal provides a single access point to many government services online. It 

enables citizens to fill in various forms and make transactions such as licensing a 

vehicle, booking a driving test, completing a tax return, applying for a passport, etc. 

It also provides user-friendly access to visually impaired people, and special access 

for WAP-enabled mobile phones. http://euprava.gov.si/e-uprava/euprava.euprava 

Spain 

TeleCities : Local Citizen Network of Gijón 

Included in an organization of more than 120 European cities promoting the NTIC 

(Technologies de l’information et de la Communication). Its major aim is to foster “e- 

Citizenship for all” at a local level. A large number of Gijón citizens have citizen 

smart-cards which allow them to use many municipal services, including the local 

library network. The whole of the city is cabled with optical fibres. 

http://www.bcn.es/telecities; http://www.ayto-gijon.es 

Turkey 

e-Türkiye (e-Turkey) 

Portal including links to the Turkish legislation web site, government departments’ 

database, news on e-Turkey projects etc. http://www.turkiye.gov.tr/ 


Active Citizenship Centre 

Created by the UK Home Office to promote research that demonstrates the value of 

civil renewal and to inform policymaking in this area. The website contains much 

useful information about the benefits of active citizenship to communities, and aims 

to showcase best practice in this area. http://www.active-citizen.org.uk/ 

SEONAID (Scottish Executive Online News and Information Distributor) 

Avatar used by the Scottish Executive in an experiment (now finished) to help 

motivate a younger, but very e-sophisticated, audience to learn more about the 

business of Government. Created in partnership with Digital Animations Group (DAG) 

(http://www.digital-animations.com/). 

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/News-Extras/44 

(For an account of this experiment see also Emerging technologies for the cultural 

and scientific heritage sector. Digicult Technology Watch Report 2. European 

Commission, 2004. ISBN 92-894-5276-5. pp.75-78. 


http://www.digicult.info/pages/techwatch.php). 

USA 

Government Information Locator Service (GILS) 

Several state libraries, including Washington State Library, have set up a GILS 

service to provide easy and useful access to government information in their states. 

The project has developed standards for interoperability, ease of language and 

innovative use of technology. http://find-it.wa.gov/ 




Learning (formal and informal) 

SCOPE 

This guideline deals with lifelong learning, and covers:- 

Children and schools 

- Online services for children 

Adults 

- Basic skills/key competencies 

- Digital literacy 

- Employment-related skills 

Accreditation 

Impact 

e-Learning 

- Virtual Learning Environments 

- Managed Learning Environments 

- Interactive television 

- Mobile learning 


Lifelong learning is “all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of 

improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal, civic, social and/or 

employment-related perspective”.[1] It may or may not involve obtaining a formal 

qualification. It ranges from pre-school years to post-retirement, from formal 

learning in schools and universities, through vocational training in workplaces, to 

informal learning such as parents learning ICT (Information and Communication 

Technology) skills from their children, and includes “edutainment” such as watching 

television and visiting museums. 

Learning is not confined to institutions such as schools and colleges. New 

technologies can offer all members of society the opportunity to match learning to 

their specific needs and circumstances. For example, the home is becoming more 

important as a learning environment for many people, including disadvantaged 

groups such as the unemployed, people with special needs and those in remote 

locations. 

The European Union is committed to lifelong learning as an integral part of its aim to 

make Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy in the 

world.[2] In July 2004 it published “An integrated action programme in Lifelong 

Learning” [3], and has set up PLOTEUS (Portal on Learning Opportunities throughout 

Europe) and The Learning Citizen to provide information. [4] Many national 

governments also have learning policies and targets, for example on basic skills and 

language learning for all citizens. 

Calimera Guidelines 53 Learning (formal and informal)

Many museums, libraries and archives are proactive learning institutions, using their 

storehouses of learning materials for the benefit of their users. However, all cultural 

heritage institutions need to respond to policies and developments which are acting 

as drivers for change. These include: 

• EU and national targets as already mentioned; 

• government agendas which are increasingly “joined-up” (for example education is 

no longer solely the responsibility of education departments, schools and 

colleges; crime prevention is not only the province of the police); 

• technological developments which are making possible the delivery of education 

through a growing range of interactive and mobile devices; 

• the emergence of a generation of students, and teachers, who expect learning to 

involve technology in an interactive and exciting way; 

• the demise of many old traditional industries and the growth of new knowledgebased 

industries requiring new skills; 

• the need for all active citizens to be digitally literate; 

• the expansion of the EU and the opening up of labour markets across national 

boundaries, increasing the need for language skills etc (see the guideline on 

Multilingualism); 

• the growth in migration and asylum seeking, increasing the need for knowledge 

of world cultures (see the guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion). 


Museums, libraries and archives need to build a learning culture into their policies. 

Making themselves into “learning organisations”, which involves encouraging and 

facilitating the learning and skills development of staff (see the guideline on 

Staffing), will impact on the delivery of services to end users. A learning policy could 

include: 

• providing effective learning opportunities (by consulting teachers, students and 

employers within the community, and by building partnerships with schools, 

colleges etc); 

• creating an environment which is conducive to learning (by providing study 

facilities, education spaces, staff support for learners, IT equipment etc); 

• responding to political initiatives relating to learning, including applying for 

funding; 

• promoting the organisation as a place to learn; 

• evaluating the impact on learning of all services provided. 

For a detailed framework on becoming a learning organisation in its widest sense see 

Inspiring Learning for All. [5] 

Children and schools Back to Scope 

Museums, libraries and archives can contribute to the development of children’s 

intellectual, emotional, social, linguistic and motor skills, help them acquire an 

aesthetic sense, foster an interest in literature, science and the arts and stimulate 

creativity. 


The report What did you learn at the museum today? showed that “through the 

enjoyment, engagement and surprise that pupils experience during their museum 

visit, they are inspired to learn more, to broaden their aspirations and to feel more 

confident about themselves as learners”. [6] 

Inspiring Children: The Impact of the Summer Reading Challenge (held annually in 

UK public libraries) gives evidence that children enjoy reading and want to read 

more, that it broadens their horizons and instils confidence. [7] 

Raising educational standards in schools and beyond contains several examples of 

children using and learning from archives. [8] 

Cross domain projects such as CHIMER show how creative children can be given the 

resources and tools. [9]. 

In many cases museums, public libraries and archives have privileged relationships 

with local education authorities, which presents an opportunity to enhance their role 

in support of the school curriculum. They often have educational departments which 

provide services such as: 

• the lending of books, objects and copies of documents etc. to schools for project 

work; 

• homework clubs; 

• an education room, or even a small area, where classes or groups of children can 

engage in activities like handling objects, making models, cooking, dressing up to 

“live the life” of people from a different time or place, and using technology to do 

research on the local area; 

• an online networked learning environment aimed at children, teachers, parents 

and carers and accessible in schools, homes, clubs, etc.; 

• links to specially designed homework help websites which can be particularly 

useful in remote areas; 

• specially created online learning packages and directories of resources to support 

national and local curricula; 

• support for children who are taught at home, either from choice or necessity, 

who might otherwise feel isolated. [10] 

Support for children’s learning can also be provided in less formal ways, by for 

example: 

• providing safe meeting places. “Safe” in this context should be extended to 

online services (see below); 

• providing opportunities for shared enjoyment between children and adults 

involving for example using computers, games, story-telling, exhibitions, film, 

music and other cultural activities which increase the potential for constructive 

use of leisure time; 

• providing services attractive to client groups associated with children, such as 

parents, grandparents, carers, teachers, childminders and playgroup leaders; 

• ensuring that opening hours are family friendly; 

• having interactive exhibits which are especially attractive to children; 

• organising holiday activities to ensure skills are not lost during time away from 

school. 


Online services for children Back to Scope 

Children enjoy using ICT as is evidenced by the popularity of computer games. When 

ICT is used in teaching they are often more likely to be interested and engaged, 

especially when the systems are interactive and/or enable them to be creative. The 

UK National Archives Learning Curve, an online teaching and learning resource, is 

very popular with both teachers and children.[11] 

The provision of Internet services to children however requires decisions to be made 

regarding filtering, and whether access to services such as chat lines should be 

allowed. Careful consideration must be given to the use of filtering software and/or 

acceptable use policies which require parents or guardians to give permission before 

their children can access the Internet. Filtering or blocking is the process of 

preventing access to sites. For information on European initiatives on filtering, 

particularly on filtering in different languages, see Net Protect, supported by the 

European Safer Internet Action Plan [12]. 

In some legal settings the publicised use of filtering software may create an implied 

contract with users that they, and especially their children, will not be exposed to 

harmful or offensive Internet material. No one is in a position to guarantee this and 

users of terminals on which the software is installed should be made aware of its 

shortcomings. On the other hand, some jurisdictions in Europe, like some in the USA, 

may not permit censorship of the Internet. Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) are a way 

to address these issues: such policies should be made known to both staff and public 

and should be in line with any national policies such as those produced by national 

library associations. In some circumstances, the formal acceptance of AUPs is a 

condition of membership of the institution or of using its facilities. (See Earl issue 

paper: Internet Acceptable Use Policies. [13].) 

Adults Back to Scope 

Education for adults can be formal or informal. Formal education leads to a 

qualification and usually takes place in colleges and universities, but can take the 

form of distance learning linked to a college or university. Cultural institutions often 

work closely with educational institutions to support formal learning by, for example: 

• providing study space with books and IST equipment for distance learners; 

• making their collections available for research purposes; 

• liaising with teachers in order to provide relevant and timely support for course 

work; 

• outreach work, such as providing expert staff to give talks to students; 

• contributing content for the creation of “learning objects” and Virtual Learning 

Environments (see e-Learning below). 

However, museums, libraries and archives are more often associated with informal 

learning. This often begins with someone pursuing an interest. Cultural institutions 

contain resources which can provoke curiosity, stimulate discussion and inspire 

creativity. They can meet the learning needs of many different kinds of learner. 

Ideas for services and activities which stimulate learning could include: 

• theatre, drama and dance workshops; 

• short courses; 


• reader development through book lending, reading groups, author events and 

provision of appropriate literature for beginning readers; 

• web-based book selection tools; 

• book delivery schemes for ethnic minorities who may not find it easy for cultural 

or social reasons to visit a library; 

• reminiscence therapy for older people, including the loan of archival boxes to 

groups, or outreach events such as film shows, to stimulate memories, 

conversation and interaction; 

• art exhibitions; 

• guided tours; 

• handling of objects; 

• using archives to teach interpretation and deduction skills; 

• provision of facilities for people to create and/or add content to community 

websites, including the loan of recording equipment and/or digital cameras to 

local groups to record events. 

The desire to pursue an interest can lead on to the acquisition of basic skills. 

Basic skills and key competencies Back to Scope 

Basic skills are usually understood to mean literacy and numeracy, but the Lisbon 

European Council in 2000 identified five additional areas of basic skills for the 

knowledge-based economy: 

• ICT (Information and Communication Technology) skills, or digital literacy (see 

below); 

• technological culture; 

• foreign languages; 

• entrepreneurship 

• social skills. 

These have developed into three areas of key competencies [14]: 

• personal fulfilment and development throughout life (cultural capital): key 

competences must enable people to pursue individual objectives in life driven by 

personal interests, aspirations and the desire to continue learning throughout life; 

• active citizenship and inclusion (social capital): these key competences should 

allow everybody to participate as an active citizen in society; 

• employability (human capital): the capacity of each and every person to obtain a 

decent job in the labour market. 

Museums, libraries and archives are well placed to contribute towards equipping 

citizens with all these skills and competencies, as well as more advanced skills (see 

the guidelines on Social inclusion, eGovernment, and Social and economic 

development). 

Digital literacy Back to Scope 

The e-learning programme [15] promotes digital literacy as one of the basic skills of 

all Europeans and also addresses the contribution of ICT to learning in general, 

especially for those who, due to their geographical location, socio-economic situation 

or special needs, do not have easy access to traditional education and training. The 

use of ICT provides new learning opportunities, but conversely it can also increase 

the risk of creating a digital divide which can lead to the social exclusion of those 

who, for whatever reason do not have, or do not choose to have, access to ICT. New 


learning environments, often involving a combination of e-learning and traditional 

teaching methods, are needed to combat this. Personalised approaches can be very 

effective (see the guideline on Personalisation). Research shows that museums, 

libraries and archives can be particularly effective in working with communities and 

individuals at risk of exclusion, drawing them back into the learning cycle and 

improving their quality of life. Examples of good practice in this area can be found in 

the Links. One of the goals of the eEurope 2005 action plan [16] is for all museums, 

libraries, archives and similar institutions to be connected to broadband networks so 

that they can play a key role in spreading digital literacy. Many are now providing 

instruction in this area leading to qualifications such as the ECDL (European 

Computer Driving Licence) [17]. 

There is now a need to go beyond ECDL in order to foster the acquisition of related 

skills, e.g. a European Information Literacy driving licence has been mooted. The 

European e-Skills Forum has identified a skills gap and recognised the need for more 

advanced ICT skills including e-business skills. [18]. 

Employment-related skills Back to Scope 

Another aim of the eEurope 2005 action plan [16] is to equip everyone with the key 

skills needed to improve their employability. Many new jobs are being created in the 

IST sector. Cultural Institutions can provide services ranging from information for 

job-seekers (newspapers, commercial information etc.) to online learning centres. 

They can also liaise with local firms to provide specific work-related courses, and can 

provide knowledge management strategies for small firms, voluntary organisations, 

charities etc. LearnEast, funded under the EQUAL programme, "is an innovative and 

stimulating project piloting new ways for public libraries to work at a community level 

supporting employment for disadvantaged groups [19]." The final report [20] was 

published in August 2004 and concludes that most success can be achieved through 

partnership working with formal education providers. 

Accreditation Back to Scope 

Relatively few cultural institutions yet provide structured or accredited learning, e.g. 

involving tutors or mentors. However, accreditation must be considered if museums, 

libraries and archives are to be taken seriously as learning providers. This includes 

accreditation for their own staff for the skills needed to support learners [21], as well 

as accreditation for learning undertaken by users. Certificates of learning enable 

comparability between formal and informal learning, are an incentive for learning, 

and a proof of skills valuable for jobs. This is particularly the case if the qualification 

is widely recognised like the ECDL [17]. Accreditation can also act as a measurement 

of impact. Museums, libraries and archives should explore the creation of formal 

links with accredited educational providers with a view to being able to offer 

certificates of achievement which would have national and international recognition. 

with other learning providers (colleges, universities, distance learning organisations, 

and workplaces) to facilitate accreditation. 

Impact (see also the guideline on Performance and evaluation) Back to Scope 

Accreditation can also act as a measurement of impact [22]. Impact measurement is 

an important tool in finding out if local management is effective in achieving its 

objectives. It can also be used to provide evidence of meeting government and other 


targets, and also to present to funders when necessary. However, many users of 

museums, archives and libraries have unfocused and undeveloped agendas for 

learning and in these cases measurement of impact will usually be a combination of 

statistics and anecdote. Users make their own judgements about the success or 

otherwise of their visit (whether on-site or on-line) and surveys can reveal whether 

they feel that they have increased their knowledge and understanding; improved 

their intellectual, practical or professional skills; or changed their attitudes or values 

as a result of their visit. Statistical evidence can take the form of numbers of people 

reporting that they have moved on to do a formal course, have obtained a job or a 

better job, or have gained a qualification, etc. 

e-Learning Back to Scope 

New technology has increased opportunities for learning and changed the way 

learning is delivered. Most cultural institutions now have websites, many have set up 

virtual reference and enquiry points, and communities of interest are being created 

regardless of geographical location of the members. However, simply displaying 

objects (taking “objects” in its widest meaning to include books, documents, audiovisual 

formats, pictures and any other digitised resource) on a website is only the 

beginning of providing an e-learning experience. An “object” needs additional 

information to enable it to be understood; for example a picture of a household 

appliance becomes more useful if information about what it was used for is added. 

As more museums, libraries and archives are digitising their collections they are 

emerging as storehouses of “digital objects”, or durable digital resources which can 

be combined together to create “learning objects” usable in a wide variety of 

learning scenarios. If these “objects” are to be re-usable in many different 

combinations they need describing using standard metadata schemas. There are 

various schemas and local museums, libraries and archives may need to seek advice 

from regional and/or national agencies or professional associations, or from parallel 

educational agencies, regarding which one to use. They include: 

• IMS Learning Resource Metadata Specification [23]; 

• IEEE Learning Object Metadata Standard [24]; 

• Dublin Core Metadata Initiative [25]; 

• CanCore (Canadian Core Learning Resource) [26]; 

• ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 [27]; 

• SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) [28]; 

• UK LOM Core (UK Learning Object Metadata Core) [29]. 

The use of digital content brings up issues of copyright, authenticity and integrity 

(see the guidelines on Legal and rights issues and Security). These matters could be 

dealt with by incorporating metadata about rights issues into the descriptions. 

Work is ongoing on standards and specifications for LOM (Learning Object 

Metadata). For a description of research in this area see the Digicult Report Learning 

objects from cultural and scientific heritage resources. [30] 

Adults as well as children can be motivated and inspired by using ICT. The European 

Commission set up Netd@ys to raise awareness of new media, sounds and images 

as resources for learning and teaching. Netd@ys provides an open platform for all 

those who are willing to display their experiences of educational and cultural 


networking and who wish to develop international links with the creative use of new 

media in day-to-day learning. [31] 

Virtual Learning Environments Back to Scope 

VLEs manage and deliver “learning objects” and administer communication between 

teachers and students. Their objective is to guide a student through a course of 

study and they are typically made up of elements such as: 

• details of the course/curriculum; 

• details of “learning objects”; 

• guidance, advice; 

• assessment, tests, accreditation; 

• student details, including tracking the student’s progress; 

• teacher details; 

• communication methods, e.g. e-mail, online tutor support, discussion groups, 

peer support, etc. 

There are commercial VLE packages available e.g. Lotus LearningSpace, COSE and 

Learn eXact [32]. At the present time however it is more usual for cultural 

institutions to provide “learning objects” to educational institutions to be used in their 

VLEs. 

Managed Learning Environments Back to Scope 

The term MLE is used to include the whole range of systems and processes of 

relevance to learning within an institution. A VLE may be one of its components, 

along with student record systems, financial systems, etc. 

Interactive television (”T-learning”) Back to Scope 

Broadcasters are discovering the resources held in museums, libraries and archives 

to be a rich source of programming content, and curators should seize opportunities 

to work with them. It may also be an opportunity to make money from the 

collection (see the guideline on Business models). 

Watching a television programme can stimulate visits to a museum, library, archive, 

gallery or heritage site. Often programmes will advertise links to websites, which will 

lead to increased virtual visits, or publish booklets to which the cultural institution 

can contribute, and maybe sell from its gift shop or website. 

Digital television is making more channels available so there is more programming 

time to fill and more choice for viewers. It is also interactive so viewers can take part 

by answering questions etc., and can personalise it for their own learning use. New 

ways of storing content mean that much larger amounts of content can be stored 

than on a video or DVD. Content could be stored locally in the home or remotely and 

accessed through a distribution channel when required. 

The UK Learning and Skills Council is currently (from Sept.2004) conducting a pilot 

project looking at the feasibility of using interactive TV as a way of engaging people 

in learning. The Finnish public service broadcaster YLE’s Teema has a channel with 

cultural and educational programming and interactive services. RTE, the Irish public 

service broadcaster, has plans for an interactive learning channel. In Italy RAI, the 


public service broadcaster, has expanded its video-on-demand schools service via 

digital satellite, and Stream, one of Italy’s commercial operators, has introduced a 

language learning interactive service based on multiple-choice questions. (See 

Links). For a discussion on this subject see Atwere, Daniel and Bates, Peter: 

Interactive TV: a learning platform with potential [33]. See also Bates, Peter: tlearning 

Study: a study into TV-based interactive learning to the home. Final Report. 

pjb Associates, 2003 (This study was carried out with funding from the European 

Community and includes an overview of developments in European countries) [34]. 

Mobile learning (“M-learning”) Back to Scope 

This is learning through a mobile or wireless device. Already many students have 

access to laptops, and nearly all have mobile phones. Mobile phones are very 

prevalent among young people, even those at risk of social exclusion, who have not 

succeeded in the education system, are not currently involved in any education or 

training and may be unemployed, under employed, or even homeless. Soon it will be 

common to own a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) which will allow even greater 

flexibility in terms of where it can be used and how much content it can store. A 

PDA could for example be used on location in a museum, gallery, archive, library, 

field centre or heritage site to link with learning modules created by tutors or by the 

cultural institution. Online seminars and tutorials could be conducted with all 

students and tutor connected. The e-Innovation Centre in Birmingham, UK, held a 

workshop in June 2004 on the potential for handheld computers in universities and 

colleges. [35]. 


The experience gained from projects such as LearnEast [19] needs to be shared 

across domains and countries to enable the development of similar innovative 

approaches. 

The role of museums, libraries and archives in the learning process needs to be 

established and recognised by policy makers, the formal education sector and the 

public. 

Museums, libraries and archives need to raise awareness in the education sector of 

their digital resources. More co-operation is needed between the two sectors. 

Research needs to continue into cross-sectoral standards to co-ordinate cultural 

metadata standards with educational ones. Cultural heritage professionals need to 

continue to be involved with this. 

The creation of reusable “learning objects” will enable resources from any 

organisation regardless of geographical location, domain, size, etc, to be linked 

together for educational purposes. For example information about World War II from 

all over Europe could be brought together, including documents in archives, militaria 

in museums, books in libraries, reminiscences on websites and in sound archives, 

popular music of the time, films, etc. 


The spread of broadband connections, interactive TV and mobile technology is 

opening up learning opportunities. 

Content from TVs, websites etc. can be downloaded onto mobile devices. As the 

capacity of PDAs and mobile phones increases people will be able to learn on the 

move, e.g. on the train. 

Broadcasters and those in mainstream education and training need to work together 

on ways to utilise the range of interactive digital TV technology solutions that are 

starting to emerge. They should aim to move the focus from broadcast/scheduled 

programmes to interactive personalised TV. 

Cultural heritage institutions, as content providers, should aim to produce digital 

content that will work with the full range of digital delivery technologies 

In the future people will be able to access VLEs whenever and wherever they want 

to. Content in cultural institutions will reach wide audiences without wear and tear on 

originals. 

Technology is already enabling museums, libraries and archives to deliver exciting 

informal learning experiences such as personalised guided tours and virtual tours. 

Future developments in this area will be limited only by imagination. 

The challenge facing society now is to bring together teachers, service providers and 

the developers of course content, including cultural heritage institutions, in order to 

make available to everyone relevant, stimulating, affordable and high-quality learning 

services. 


[1] Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality. EC, 2001. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lll/life/communication/com_en.pdf 

[2] Education and training 2010: diverse systems, shared goals. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/2010/et_2010_en.html 

[3] An Integrated Action Programme in Lifelong Learning 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/newprog/index_en.html 

[4] PLOTEUS: a Portal on Learning Opportunities throughout Europe 

http://europa.eu.int/ploteus/portal/about.jsp 

The Learning Citizen http://www.learningcitizen.net/ 

[5] Inspiring learning for all: a vision for accessible learning in museums, archives 

and libraries. MLA, 2004. 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/action/learnacc/00insplearn.asp 


[6] Research Centre for Museums and Galleries: What did you learn at the museum 

today? MLA, 2004. ISBN 190374346X. 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id1185exec.doc 

[7] Inspiring Children: The Impact of the Summer Reading Challenge. The Reading 

Agency. http://www.readingagency.co.uk/ 

[8] Raising educational standards in schools and beyond: the contribution from 

cultural services. Local Government Association, November 2003. 

http://www.renewal.net/Documents/RNET/Research/Raisingeducationalstandards.pdf 

[9] CHIMER http://www.chimer.lt/index.en.htm 

[10] See for example Education Otherwise 

http://www.education-otherwise.org/ 

[11] Learning Curve http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/ 

[12] Net Protect, supported by the European Safer Internet Action Plan 

http://www.net-protect.org/en/default.htm. 

[13] Earl issue paper: Internet Acceptable Use Policies. 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/earl/issuepapers/internet.html. 

[14] The key competencies in a knowledge-based economy: a first step towards 

selection, definition and description. March 2002. 

http://www.cede.it/ri2003/moe/sito/docCD/Altri%20documenti%20Commissione%20 

Europea/key%20competencies_27_03_02_en.doc 

[15] A Programme for the Effective Integration of Information and Communication 

Technologies (ICT) in Education and Training Systems in Europe (2004 – 2006) 

http://elearningeuropa.info/doc.php?lng=l&id=4552&doclng=1 

[16] eEurope 2005 action plan 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/index_en.htm 

[17] European Computer Driving Licence. http://www.ecdl.com/ 

[18] The European e-Skills Forum: e-Skills for Europe: towards 2010 and beyond. 

Synthesis Report, September 2004. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/e-skills-forum-2004-09-fsr.pdf 

[19] LearnEast: Public Libraries Supporting Employment 

http://www.learneast.com/ 

[20]Public Libraries and the EQUAL Agenda: public libraries, social inclusion and 

lifelong learning in the United Kingdom, Italy and France. Final Report [by] Rob 

Davies and David Fuegi, MDR Partners. (Italian case study by Pier Giacomo Sola and 

Alessandra Tagliavini, Amitié). August 2004. 


http://www.learneast.com/transnational/documents/EQUALcomparativestudyfinalsept.04.pdf 

[21] See for example the UK Guidance Accreditation Board http://www.gab.org.uk/ 

[22] For a report on a pilot study to measure impact see The generic learning 

outcome system: measuring the outcomes and impact of learning in museums, 

archives and libraries. The Learning Impact Research Project (LIRP): short project 

report. MLA, [2004?]. 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/insplearn_lirp_rep.doc 

[23] IMS Learning Resource Metadata Specification 

http://www.imsproject.org/metadata/ 

[24] IEEE Learning Object Metadata Standard http://Ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/ 

[25] Dublin Core Metadata Initiative http://dublincore.org/groups/education 

[26] CanCore (Canadian Core Learning Resource) http://www.cancore.ca 

[27] ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 http://jtc1sc36.org/ 

[28] SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) 

http://www.adlnet.org/ 

[29] UK LOM Core (UK Learning Object Metadata Core) 

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/profiles/uklomcore 

[30] Learning objects from cultural and scientific heritage resources. Digicult 

Thematic Issue 4. October 2003.ISBN 39024480106. 

http://www.digicult.info/pages/Themiss.php 

[31] Netd@ys http://www.netdayseurope.org/ 

[32] Lotus LearningSpace 

http://www.lotus.com/products/learnspace.nsf/wdocs/homepage; 

COSE http://www.staffs.ac.uk/COSE/: 

Learn eXact http://www.learnexact.com/. 

[33] Atwere, Daniel and Bates, Peter: Interactive TV: a learning platform with 

potential. Learning and Skills Development Agency, 2003. ISBN 1853388351. 

http://www.lsda.org.uk/files/PDF/1443.pdf 

[34] Bates, Peter: t-learning Study: a study into TV-based interactive learning to the 

home. Final Report. pjb Associates, 2003. 

http://www.pjb.co.uk/t-learning/contents.htm.) 

[35] A National Workshop and Tutorial on Handheld Computers in Universities and 

Colleges (11th June 2004). 


http://www.e-innovationcentre.co.uk/events/110604/110604.htm 

International 


Intel Computer Clubhouse Network 

This is an after-school learning environment for young people aged 10-18. The aim 

is for young people from disadvantaged communities to become technology literate. 

Members have access to state of the art computer technology to create animation, 

music, videos, graphic and Web designs, robotic constructions and computer 

programmes. Volunteer mentors come from Intel, the local community, IT facilities 

and colleges to support club members in their work. The first club was created in 

1993 by the MIT Media Lab and the Computer Museum, now part of the Museum of 

Science, Boston, USA. There are now more than 60 Intel Computer Clubhouses in 10 

countries, including Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands. 

http://www.intel.com/education/icc/ 

Europe 

The Learning Citizen 

EC sponsored initiative with the specific objective of facilitating and enhancing 

lifelong learning for all members of society. http://www.learningcitizen.net/ 

m-learning 

This EU IST 5 th framework project was set up to develop and test mobile 

communications systems for the education of young adults, specifically those most at 

risk of social exclusion. The aim of the project is to investigate how the technologies 

popular with these young people might be used to engage them in learning activities, 

start to change their attitudes to learning and thereby contribute to improving their 

skills, opportunities and lives. Trials are taking place in Italy, Sweden and the UK. 

http://www.m-learning.org/index.shtml 

Austria 

ZOOM Kindermuseum 

This is a place of playful inquiry, learning and discovery for children. It gives young 

museum visitors the chance to ZOOM in on new situations and use all their senses to 

grasp the world around them. http://www.kindermuseum.at/ 

Belgium 

Stichting Lezen Vlaanderen (Reading Foundation) 

Collaborates with libraries to promote reading through campaigns and projects e.g. 

”Youth Book Week”, ”Fahrenheit 451”, “Read to others Week”, etc. 

http://www.stichtinglezen.be/ 

Bulgaria 


Kids on the web – project of Dobrich Municipality Library 

The aim is to introduce children to ICT, and to the opportunities of the Internet for 

making contacts and for searching for information. 

http://www.libdgabe.dobrich.net 

Croatia 

Zadar City Library website 

The children’s department website was designed together with children, and because 

of its simple maintenance, its interactive content is fed by children. For example 

children design online quizzes themselves, and winners receive gifts from the library. 

http://www.gkzd.hr 


Karlovy Vary and Plzeň public libraries 

It is possible to get the international certification ECDL (European Computer Driving 

Licennce) in the Educational Centres of the Libraries in Karlovy Vary and Plzeň. 

http://www.knihovna.kvary.cz; http://www.svkpl.cz/ 

Knowledge for everybody (Mudrc pro každého) 

Special websites for children and young adults with information adapted to their 

needs. http://www.knihovna.kvary.cz/Portal/UVOD/MUDRC.HTM 

Memory Institutions in Kromeriz - Competition for Children 

Competition organised by all memory institutions in the town (archive, library, castle 

and museum). Each institution contributes a few questions and the children must 

visit every institution and use their online catalogues etc. to find the answers. 

http://www.knihkm.cz 

Univerzita Volného Času 

University of free time in the Regional Library of Highlands in Havlickuv Brod. 

http://www.kkvysociny.cz/UVC/default.htm 

Finland 

ELEF : North Karelia 

Co-project of three main Joensuu libraries, the polytechnic, the city and the 

university, to help customers and staff learn new skills (e.g. information literacy) and 

the knowledge needed in the information society. 

http://www.ncp.fi/projektit/elef/pohjois-karjala/eng/index.html 

Tiedonhankinnan taidot 

The material on this site, which is part of ELEF Northern Savo, is suitable 

both for private study and for the teaching of information retrieval skills. 

http://www.uku.fi/elef/tiedonhankinta/ 

YLE Teema 


Digital TV channel dedicated exclusively to culture, science and education. 

http://www.yle.fi/teema/ 

France 

CARIBAL-ÉDIST 

Funded by the EQUAL Programme and a partner in the LearnEast Project, this 

project aims to improve lifelong learning opportunities, particularly among older 

workers in Martinique, by training library staff to benefit the communities served. 

http://malavoi.martinique.univ-ag.fr/caribal-edist/index1.php 

Ireland 

LifeSteps 

Public libraries initiative which provides the general public with instructions for using 

the Internet to achieve particular life goals, e.g. shopping, travelling, preparing for a 

driving test, planning for retirement, etc. Backed up by support from library staff and 

the availability of public-access Internet PCs in every library, the project aims to 

encourage the day to day use of the Internet and overcome the digital divide. 

http://www.lifesteps.ie/ 

Italy 

Abside 

Project within the framework of the EQUAL Programme, launched by the European 

Union to facilitate the inclusion of disadvantaged people. The project aims to test 

how new models based on training services offered by libraries can support activities 

targeting discrimination and exclusion problems. The project targets both librarians 

and end-users. http://www.amitie.it/; http://www.britishcouncil.org/tisa_abside.ppt 

Macedonia 

Heritage Education on Web Sites 

This web application arose from a 3-month project of interactive heritage education 

involving the Museum of Macedonia and groups of high-school students from Skopje 

and Norway, within the framework of European Heritage Days 2002. Works created 

by the students were displayed on the site so that they could be seen by many more 

young people in both countries. The web-application was chosen as a completely 

new way for young people to learn about the heritage of another country without 

spending money on travelling and accommodation. http://edkn.com.mk 

Norway 

Terra Buskerud 

This is a web-based tool developed mainly for educational purposes aimed at 

strengthening interaction between schools and the cultural sector. The county is cooperating 

with archives, libraries and museums to develop an extensive database 

about the history of the county of Buskerud. Pupils are also producing content. This 

is a new way of publishing historical content covering a long time span as a 


multimedia presentation. The service also has a version for users with a visual 

disability. It is part of a Scandinavian project, Terra Scaniae, 

(http://www.ts.skane.se/), and there are plans to extend it to the Baltic countries. 

http://www.historieboka.no 

Portugal 

Project BiblioCiência 

To contribute to the fight against low performance levels of Portuguese students in 

science and mathematics, the Department of Libraries and Archives from Lisbon 

Municipality visit schools with a bus equipped with a laboratory. The bus is linked 

with five municipal libraries. Schoolchildren are invited to visit these libraries in order 

to play games about science and do scientific experiments as well as to borrow 

books and other library documents about science. There is also an Internet site to 

which teachers and library staff can upload contents to use during classes and to 

support homework. http://www.bibliociencia.cm-lisboa.pt/ 

Romania 

Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania Cluj-Napoca 

The museum has developed a multimedia CD about Ion Creanga, a famous 

Romanian writer, for use in schools which do not have access otherwise. Because of 

the audio-video features, children with disabilities can use it. Also used in the City 

Prison. 

Russia 

Local Studies School for the Young 

The Central City Children’s Library of Ozyorsk has developed and implemented a local 

studies project, which includes a programme of additional education for 

schoolchildren. The programme contains lesson scenarios, tests and event scenarios. 

http://ch-lib.ozersk.ru/projects/enc/krai/index_kr.html 

Obruch 

The Central Children's Library of Kamensk-Uralsk has developed and implemented 

this programme under which the Infancy Problems Information Centre has been 

established. Targeted at child readers and adults involved in childcare, the 

programme aims to develop a wide range of intellectual, social, ethical and basic life 

skills. http://k-uralsk.ru/bazhov/bazhov2.shtml 

Program of Establishment and Development of a Virtual Children's Centre of the 

Northern Administration District of the City of Moscow on the Basis of Children's 

Library N 149 

The Central Library (the Gorky Library) of the Northern Administration District of 

Moscow has developed and implemented this project, which is aimed at developing 

the intellectual and cultural potential of teenagers. 

http://www.big75.org.ru/v_center.doc 

Slovenia 


Slovene book quiz for children 

Multimedia reading project for elementary schoolchildren. Its theme is traditional (a 

Slovene author and his/her native region), but its form is very modern (an interactive 

literacy project that makes schoolchildren use libraries and look for information 

sources (books, periodicals, audio-visual material, internet pages, etc.). 

http://www.lj-oz.sik.si/kviz/ 

Spain 

Gabinetes Pedagógicos de Bellas Artes of Andalusia 

Museums, libraries and archives have benefited from the work carried out by these 

organisations which work with children and schools to open local memory institutions 

to the community. http://averroes.cec.junta-andalucia.es/gabinetes/ 

Internet para todos 

This is an initiative of the Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio, whose aim is 

to foster Internet literacy in the population at large. A network of centres cooperates 

in the project to provide the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). 

http://www.internetparatodos.es 

TUNE Project (Training of library users in a new Europe) 

This project, developed by the Regional Library of Castile-La Mancha, the Public 

Library of Helsinbörg (Sweden) and the Public Library of Ränders (Denmark), and 

funded by the EU programme Culture 2000, promotes digital literacy for library 

users. http://www.jccm.es/biblioclm/ 

Sweden 

Arkiv och skolungdom i Värmland (Archives and School Children in Värmland) 

School learning package that introduces pupils to archives. 

http://www.ra.se/vla/index.html 

Kunskapskanalen (The Channel of Knowledge) 

An interactive channel established in co-operation with Swedish public libraries 

through the e-service “Ask the library!” 

http://www.kunskapskanalen.se/ 


Ask Chris 

This is an online and interactive source of reading advice. The “Quick Reads” section 

is a unique feature developed in conjunction with Basic Skills tutors in the Adult 

Education Department of Essex County Council to support emergent readers. 

http://www.essexxcc.gov.uk/askchris 

Be Websmart 

This project developed by Dumfries and Galloway Libraries, Information and Archives 

promotes safe and responsible use of the Internet, by demonstrating a creative and 


positive use of Internet resources, in particular chatrooms. It has raised awareness 

of the positive contribution to be made by local libraries in addressing community 

safety issues. http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/lia 

Cambridgeshire Libraries - Ely Learning Centre Courses 

Ely Learning Centre is accredited by the British Computer Society to offer ECDL, and 

by the OCR Examinations Board (University of Cambridge Local Examinations 

Syndicate) to offer New CLAIT and CLAIT Plus, and is one of relatively few public 

library services in the UK offering learning leading to a qualification. 

http://www.camcnty.gov.uk/library/learning/ely/courses.htm 

Curriculum Online 

An online catalogue which gives teachers easy access to a wide range of multimedia 

teaching and learning resources, all linked to the school curriculum in England. 

Museums, libraries and archives are among suppliers of content, and there is a 

special section of the website for them dealing with how to prepare content etc. 

There are also examples of good practice. 

http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/culture 

'Hands-On Learning' with Reading Museum Service 

A service for schools based on the use of real museum objects. It is a collaborative 

project supported by museum curators and devised by teachers and includes 

interactive online services as well as more traditional visits and loans etc. 

http://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/handson/index.htm 

I Can Read You Like A Book 

An online book group hosted by East Lothian Libraries, Scotland, for people who 

don't have the time, opportunity, or confidence to attend a group in their community. 

Members are welcome from anywhere in the world and can post and read messages 

about books on a different theme each month. 

http://www.icanreadyoulikeabook.org.uk/index.html 

KickstartTV 

The Learning and Skills Council is conducting a pilot project looking at the feasibility 

and effectiveness of using interactive digital TV as a way of attracting adults to 

learning. In the pilot phase (6 months from September 2004) it will be aimed at 

improving literacy and numeracy through activities, quizzes and games in subjects 

such as job skills, DIY, gardening, shopping, money matters, health and cookery. 

http://ferl.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=8055 

Metadata for Education Group (MEG) 

MEG is considering the implications for metadata to support Managed or Virtual 

Learning Environments (MLEs, VLEs). http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/education/ 

SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) 

Award winning learning image website with access to quality images, sounds, movies 

and learning resources, including over 300,000 images from museums, galleries and 

archives. The full service is available on subscription to schools, tertiary education, 

libraries, museums, and community and home users. http://www.scran.ac.uk/ 


USA 

Connecticut History Online (CHO) 

Provides information, lessons, activities and other resources to help teachers and 

students use Connecticut History Online as a window to the past and tool for 

discovery and understanding. http://www.cthistoryonline.org/classroom.html 

Lower East Side Tenement Museum 

At this museum new immigrants learn English through the letters and diaries of 

immigrants of an earlier century. http://www.tenement.org/ 




Social and economic development 


Cultural tourism 

Ancestral tourism 

Inward investment 

Information resources 

Information services 

Knowledge management 

Charges and licences 


Staff skills 

Neighbourhood regeneration 

The culture industry 

Publicity, marketing and outreach 

SCOPE 


Amartya Sen, Nobel prize-winning economist, believes that without culture there can 

be no sustainable development. What this means is that culture, through its 

relationship with lifestyle, sense of place, education and social cohesion, is integral to 

the conditions for economic success. 

The European Union recognises that Europe's cultural heritage is a precious asset in 

economic terms and supports a number of projects in this area [1]. Because of their 

experience in the digital world, museums, libraries and archives are key players in 

the rapid progress towards a knowledge-based society driven by digital technologies, 

which is a goal of the European Union [2]. The eEurope 2005 Action Plan [3] 

objective is that Europe should have modern online public services (eGovernment, elearning 

services, e-health services) and a dynamic e-business environment and, as 

an enabler for these, widespread availability of broadband access at competitive 

prices and a secure information infrastructure. The EU is addressing the need for 

policies to bridge the digital divide [4]. Museums, libraries and archives can provide 

direct online access via PCs, they can provide facilities for online learning, their staff 

can provide training, and they can provide access to information to support the 

growth of e-business, which embraces both e-commerce (trading online) and the use 

of ICT to transform traditional business procedures. Museums, libraries and archives 

can help to develop a strong local economy by supporting local business and industry 

in a number of ways, including by 

• attracting tourism and inward investment. Cultural facilities greatly support the 

economy of a region by stimulating tourism and attracting inward investment. 

Museums, libraries and archives can contribute to promoting the region to the 

Calimera Guidelines 72 Social and economic development

est of the world. People anywhere in the world can obtain access to what is local 

information to its originators, so opening up the world to virtual cultural tourism. 

The EU is keen to maintain a diverse cultural heritage. Local history research 

helps to foster a sense of community, and local digitisation projects, which help 

people digitise their own material, or material from the museum, archive or 

library, in new combinations, creating virtual tours around buildings or towns, or 

based on families or themes, add an exciting dimension to this; 

• offering information services. Economic development relies on successful industry, 

business and commerce, and businesses require information and knowledge. 

Information services and knowledge management are core services of museums, 

libraries and archives. Their staff are skilled managers, classifiers, preservers, 

interpreters and distributors of content. ICT has changed these services 

exponentially, both in terms of content and method of delivery. Access can now 

be provided to information from all over the world, at great speed, via 

sophisticated delivery channels. 

Museums, libraries and archives are themselves part of the “culture industry” which 

has both qualitative and quantitative effects on the social and economic conditions of 

communities. The social effects are addressed in the guidelines on Social inclusion 

and Cultural identity and cohesion. The economic effects can be measured by 

quantifying the impact of local cultural heritage institutions in terms of jobs and job 

creation, neighbourhood regeneration and sustainability, inward investment and 

cultural tourism, as well as support for local business and industry [5]. 


Cultural tourism Back to Scope 

Tourism has become a major generator of economic activity as traditional mass 

employment industries downsize. Cultural tourism can be defined as visits by people 

from outside the area attracted by interest in the historic, artistic, scientific, lifestyle 

or heritage attractions of the area. The European City of Culture programme, now 

the European Capital of Culture programme [6], gives European cities an ideal 

opportunity to celebrate their cultural accomplishments, and past Cities of Culture 

have experienced substantial economic and social benefits. 

Museums and galleries in particular can attract huge numbers of people to an area. 

Any economic or cultural use should of course always respect the specific nature of 

the collections and buildings and their safety and care. Small local museums can 

help to sustain a community by attracting enough visitors to support local shops, 

restaurants, hotels and petrol stations. Knowledge-based tourism, where visitors “do 

their homework” before visiting and want to interact with the community and learn 

from their experience at more than a superficial level, is on the increase, driven in 

part by the Internet which enables people to find out much more about a place prior 

to visiting. Museums, libraries and archives can have a big input here through their 

websites. 

Ancestral tourism Back to Scope 


The ancestral tourism market is also growing, fuelled by an interest in family history. 

Archives have a central role to play in the development of this market, attracting 

visitors from all over the world through their websites, and by adding to people’s 

experience the excitement of seeing original documents, maps, etc. Libraries 

contribute to cultural and ancestral tourism through their local studies collections 

which often hold material unique to the area. Community information on library 

websites can be invaluable to tourists preparing for a visit, as people increasingly 

make their own travel and accommodation arrangements. 

Heritage institutions should consider adding extra facilities such as shops and cafes 

as these can bring in much extra income, not only to the institution itself but to the 

neighbourhood as people are encouraged to stay longer and spend more. 

Inward investment Back to Scope 

Tourism is only one of the ways in which cultural heritage institutions can attract 

inward investment. Local people using a museum, library or record office will often 

combine their visit with shopping, banking, and using other services. People from 

outside the area looking to set up a business in the area, and individuals thinking of 

moving into the area, will be attracted by the presence of good local amenities, 

including cultural and leisure facilities as well as shops, schools, housing, and service 

industries. The availability of labour will also be a factor in attracting incoming 

businesses, and as learning organisations museums, libraries and archives provide 

opportunities for people to improve their skills. (See the guideline on Learning.) 

Information resources Back to Scope 

Social and economic development depends on an economically active, socially 

cohesive and well-informed citizenry, who know about their responsibilities and 

rights. Access to excellent sources of information empowers individuals, helping them 

to improve their lives. Museums, libraries and archives are storehouses of 

information resources, much of it eminently suited to digitisation, making searching 

of huge amounts of data easier and quicker (see the guideline on Discovery and 

retrieval). Types of information resources useful in supporting social and economic 

development include: 

• community information – about local organisations, government, and services of 

all kinds. It is now very common for this to be provided on library websites. (See 

the guideline on eGovernment); 

• cultural information – about local events, places to visit, leisure and sporting 

venues etc. This is now also commonly available on websites, as well as in the 

form of leaflets and posters. (See the guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion); 

• business information - the provision of business information is an important way 

in which institutions can support local firms. Although many businesses 

increasingly rely heavily on online sources for information, they can still benefit 

from the professional services provided by libraries in particular. Skilled staff can 

deal with the problems of unskilled searching, information overload, selection of 

relevant, reliable, accurate and up-to-date information, etc. This type of 

information will increasingly be in digital form and may be on subscription- based 

websites or CD-ROM. It includes: 

° directories of companies, both national and international; 

° company reports; 


° collections of statistics both national and international published by official and 

other bodies; 

° technical information including standards; 

° information on patents, manufacturing and trading; 

° information relating to the creditworthiness of companies either locally or 

nationally; 

° national and foreign newspapers; 

° local newspapers and newspaper reports on commercial and business 

subjects; 

° information for those starting up new businesses e.g. trade names, company 

names, grants, registration etc.; 

° information on importing and exporting including customs tariffs; 

° local marketing information; 

° market research reports; 

° local information about the employment situation, skills available, land and 

buildings available, etc.; 

° European and wider international information of use to local businesses 

trading in other countries; 

° national information about government departments, chambers of commerce, 

professional organisations, trade associations, local government organisations 

etc. which may be of use to business; 

° information of relevance to businesses e.g. local events, local voluntary 

groups, political organisations and pressure groups, administrative bodies, 

political representatives, trade unions, employment agencies, tourist 

information, transport information, local government information, local 

businesses; 

• legal information such as: 

° national laws and regulations applicable to the whole country, and applicable 

only to the local area; 

° local byelaws; 

° European directives and regulations; 

° international law such as environmental regulations, human rights 

declarations, race relations legislation, etc.; 

° solicitors and barristers, locally and nationally; 

° the court system locally and nationally; 

° the police service, the prison service, the probation service, the criminal 

injuries service; 

° local legal advice services such as citizens' advice bureaux; 

° welfare benefits and rights; 

° taxation law; 

° employment law, health and safety law, trade union law, etc. 

Information services Back to Scope 

Technology has increased the range of services which museums, libraries and 

archives can offer to the public, the business community and to visitors to the area. 

As centres of knowledge and information they support formal and informal learning, 

help people develop lifestyle and leisure interests, and preserve and promote the 

area’s culture and heritage. Specific services which support economic and social 

development and neighbourhood regeneration might include: 


• specialised research such as literature searches, genealogical research and 

research on the history of buildings etc.; 

• business services such as searches for technical standards, patents or regulations, 

credit checks on companies, EU tenders, in depth reports on the recent history of 

selected companies, and the creation of mailing lists for marketing purposes; 

• opportunities for research leading to innovation which in turn leads to competitive 

advantage; 

• personalised services tailored to the needs of individuals, groups, organisations 

and firms (see the guideline on Personalisation); 

• facilities for local firms, groups or individuals to digitise local materials according 

to agreed standards so adding to the local cultural heritage; 

• training in the use of technology and in finding and evaluating information; 

• the creation, hosting and managing of websites for local firms and community 

groups; 

• computers, not only for Internet searching, but also loaded with office software 

so that people can write letters and reports, do homework, produce publicity 

materials, do accounts, prepare presentations, and design web pages etc.; 

• computers for particular uses e.g. dedicated to websites on particular subjects, or 

with access to subscription databases; 

• special areas for activities for groups, schools, adult education classes, etc.; 

• display areas for local artists, photographers, sculptors, embroiderers etc. to 

display their work; 

• facilities for the performing arts e.g. local dramatic and musical groups, with sets 

of plays and music available for loan to drama groups, orchestras and choirs; 

• assisting with information for publicity and marketing campaigns e.g. a museum 

might provide examples of old machinery, or archives might have photographs of 

old shop fronts or factories; 

• special areas dedicated to, for example, health information, or careers 

information. These areas might be staffed at advertised times by staff from 

another organisation; for example staff from the local careers department might 

be available in the careers section of a library to offer advice and hold interviews, 

or staff from a local college might attend to advise on courses. Careers sections 

can be linked to learning centres; 

• referral to other specialist services such as advice bureaux, chambers of 

commerce, local authority departments. 

Knowledge management Back to Scope 

Knowledge management is the process through which organisations generate value 

from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets, which fall into two categories: 

explicit (broadly, anything which can be documented) and tacit (the knowledge 

contained in people's heads). Skilled and experienced staff are in themselves a 

valuable asset of a heritage institution. However they can also provide a knowledge 

management service to other organisations and businesses, by helping them to 

organise and make the best use of their knowledge-based assets. 

Charging and licences Back to Scope 

In most countries public libraries and archives usually offer a basic level of service 

free of charge. Some local institutions however, especially museums, may make a 


charge, for example for entry, with maybe a higher charge for special exhibitions 

etc. 

Regarding information services, where specialised services are offered, consideration 

may need to be given to one-off charges or an annual subscription for some addedvalue 

services, e.g. where the institution has had to pay database or other fees and 

needs to recover the cost. Requiring companies or individual users to pay an annual 

subscription for 'value-added' services requires a decision on what to include in the 

basic level of service. Because of the expense involved in compiling specialised 

information databases, there are often rules, usually contained in a licence, which 

govern its use in public institutions which go beyond the normal protection granted 

by the copyright laws. The institution will need to decide what conditions of use will 

be acceptable to its users and compatible with its work practices. 

Service delivery Back to Scope 

Technology has revolutionised the way people access services. People now expect 

services to be available whenever and wherever they need them. Communication 

with users will need to be by a variety of methods (e-mail, contact centres, chatlines, 

weblogs, videoconferencing, Internet delivered by broadband, satellite or wireless 

networks, mobile devices, kiosks, digital and interactive TV, as well as traditional 

visits, telephone calls and fax) to meet the needs of all users. Integrated systems 

can now do more than perform traditional housekeeping applications. Through 

resource discovery and guided access methods they can provide access to content. 

Examples of delivery methods include: 

• contact centres - enquiries can be taken by any means - from a web site, by email, 

by telephone or fax, or in person - and dealt with by the most appropriate 

member of staff, which makes efficient use of specialist staff and allows other 

staff to contribute and gain skills and experience. Enquiries can be logged using 

enquiry management software which tracks the progress of each enquiry, and 

allows enquiries to be passed to other staff when someone goes off duty, 

important when an institution is open long hours. Such management software 

also gives valuable information on usage and can monitor the effect of any 

promotional activities and so enable targeting of publicity to audiences who might 

be underusing the system. Call centres are often organised on a local authoritywide 

basis, and libraries in particular are well placed to take the lead in running 

these; 

• "Ask a Librarian" type services - these are now available in many countries, and 

internationally. Libraries throughout the network collaborate to provide the 

service usually on a rota basis. Questions are placed on an enquiry page which is 

automatically routed to one of the participating reference libraries which receives 

it as an e-mail message. Librarians respond by e-mail to the enquirer as soon as 

possible. Enquiry services shared across several countries and time zones are 

particularly useful for smaller institutions as they enable a service to be given 

around the clock including during hours when the local institution is closed, and 

they give access to the expertise of other institutions. This type of shared service 

could be used by museums and archives, but is perhaps not so applicable where 

enquiries tend to be specific to the institution; 

• "Talk-to-a-person" type services - these use chat line technology to allow 

enquirers to talk to a member of staff in real time. Like the “Ask a Librarian” type 


services they can be shared across countries and time zones with similar benefits 

for small institutions; 

• co-browsing techniques - these enable staff to assist in searching databases or 

the Internet; 

• portals which integrate access to a range of different sources and present them 

through subject gateways; 

• websites – most institutions now have a website and these can be used to 

provide a number of services e.g. 

° virtual tours of the institution; 

° pictures of and information about exhibits; 

° access to catalogues (with facilities for placing requests, renewing loans etc.); 

° access to databases such as community information databases; 

° the ability to view, read or listen to digitised materials of all types; 

° links to other relevant web sites; 

° FAQ services; 

° bulletin boards with news of coming events; 

° contact or “ask a question” pages. 

For a guide to digital reference services see Berube, Linda: Digital Reference 

Overview. Networked Services Policy Task Group, February 2003. [7] 

Staff skills (see the guideline on Staffing) Back to Scope 

Skilled and experienced staff are in themselves a valuable asset of a heritage 

institution. The work of a high quality information service in a heritage institution is 

complex and demands considerable expertise on the part of those running it and 

those providing the service directly to users. This expertise requires a combination of 

experience and aptitude. The expertise which these staff build up during the course 

of their work is a valuable resource for the service as a whole. 

Neighbourhood regeneration Back to Scope 

The presence of a cultural heritage institution in a community can contribute to 

neighbourhood regeneration in a number of other ways, such as: 

• direct employment of staff; 

• indirect employment through demand for goods and services, both for staff as 

individuals and for the institution; 

• revenue from fees, charges and commercial activities (museum shops, archive 

publications, in-house cafes, specialist research, booksales, etc.) when re-invested 

in the institution; 

• revenue from e-commerce which draws income from a potentially global audience 

(online sales of tickets for exhibitions, membership subscriptions, goods and 

services); 

• contribution to rent and rates; 

• creation of a market for broadband, and also for ICT equipment and associated 

services; 

• job creation – directly, but also by providing opportunities for learning new skills. 

Social and economic sustainability is dependent on jobs. The information society 

places new and ever-changing requirements on skills and training. Workers must be 

adaptable and able to learn and relearn throughout their working lives. Museums, 

libraries and archives are important providers in the lifelong learning sector, 


providing the stimulation to learn at every level (see the guideline on Learning). They 

need to collaborate and form partnerships with industry and education and training 

organisations to develop the skills needed in the local economy. With specific 

relevance to economic development they can for example provide: 

• access to computers for job related purposes such as looking for vacancies and 

writing CVs and applications; 

• access to computers for educational purposes such as learning computer skills or 

improving basic skills which can lead on to getting a job, or a better job; 

• virtual learning environments, as well as safe physical places to study; 

• access to the materials needed for learning; 

• access to educational and employment related information e.g. about courses at 

colleges etc., careers, qualifications, job opportunities, etc. 

The culture industry Back to Scope 

Museums, libraries and archives are part of the “culture industry”, made up of the 

creative and knowledge industries based on intellectual property, which now 

accounts for more than half of all employment in developed countries. As well as 

being part of this industry they are well placed to support and co-operate with it. The 

broadcast media for example now recognises that historical and heritage 

programmes attract large audiences, and museums, libraries and archives can 

capitalise on this, both by working with programme producers etc., and by attracting 

post-programme visits. In support of economic development they can also make 

links with the tourist and travel industries, and with local entertainment and leisure 

industries. 

Publicity, marketing and outreach Back to Scope 

People, including other organisations and businesses, will not necessarily know the 

range of services the local institution can provide, so marketing will be necessary. 

The institution may need to be particularly pro-active in this regard. Maximum use 

should be made of technology in order to reach as wide an audience possible. 

Marketing methods could include: 

• a well designed and accessible website. As these can be seen anywhere in the 

world the potential for promoting the service and the region is immense. The 

inclusion of contact pages enables users to get in touch with the service directly; 

• a newsletter; 

• mail shots to potential users of the service; 

• the preparation and distribution of leaflets; 

• visits to local companies, schools, colleges, community groups etc. to make sure 

they are aware of the service; 

• speaking to groups of local people and to organisations; 

• outreach activities for highly skilled staff such as training away from the building, 

e.g. on business premises, in colleges, in community centres in rural areas, etc., 

taking part in local festivals and carnivals, organising events and exhibitions in the 

community, etc; 

• active participation of staff/ directors of museums, libraries and archives in public 

debate forums such as newspapers, TV and radio programmes. 



It is estimated that the creative economy is growing at the rate of 5% a year. About 

40% of the increase in productivity in Europe since the mid-1990s has been due to 

the use of information technologies. The ICT sector produces about 8% of GNP. The 

cultural heritage sector needs to position itself to take advantage of this. 

The rapid development of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) will 

open up access to collections and information in new and more interactive ways. 

Museums, libraries and archives need to make use of this trend to encourage use by 

new audiences not traditionally drawn to them. 

Museums, libraries and archives need to be proactive in ensuring that they are 

recognised as access points for knowledge, information and learning, as skilled 

gateways, guides and navigators in the digital environment. They will need to 

develop virtual learning environments to increase their impact in the lifelong learning 

sector. 

New digital online services are already overtaking traditional broadcast media 

because of their interactivity, global reach, accessibility regardless of location, and 

possibilities for do-it-yourself publishing. Museums, libraries and archives will need to 

put forward their storehouses of content to feed this new environment, which will 

stimulate tourism and e-tourism, inspire creativity, and create jobs and wealth. 

Services are now expected to be available round the clock, increasingly provided by 

networks of institutions which can call on the skills and resources of cultural 

institutions around the globe and from the academic, special and research sector as 

well as the public sector (see the guideline on Co-operation and partnership). 

People’s expectations have been raised by banks and retail organisations and they 

will require services and information to be tailored to their requirements (see the 

guideline on Personalisation). 

People's needs for information will grow in order to fulfil their roles as citizens in the 

modern world (see the guideline on eGovernment). Museums, libraries and archives 

need to position themselves in the forefront of information providers. 

Tourism features largely in economic development. Promotion of, and production of, 

cultural information, will increase in importance as long as tourism continues to be a 

growth industry. Museums, libraries and archives will need to use technologies such 

as GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to increase the usefulness of their websites 

to cultural tourism and to exploit mobile technologies. 

Museums, libraries and archives will need to provide services using a variety of 

delivery channels including networks, mobile devices, kiosks, and digital television. 

Increasingly museums, libraries and archives will need to provide services and 

communicate with users by a variety of delivery systems e.g. broadband, wireless, email, 

chatroom-type live conversation, video-conferencing, and call centres. Remote 


access via mobile devices, laptop PCs, etc. may well become the norm, as people on 

the move require information. 


[1] Cultural heritage as a factor in economic development 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/activities/cultural_heritage_dev_en.htm 

[2] Towards a Knowledge-based Europe 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/publications/booklets/move/36/en.pdf 


http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/action_plan/index_ 

en.htm 

[4] Bridging the 'digital divide': EU policies. Nov. 2004. 

http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-132315-16&type=LinksDossier 

[5] South West Museums, Libraries and Archives Council: Making a difference: the 

impact of museums, libraries and archives in the South West, May 2004; and The 

economic contribution of museums, libraries and archives in the South West, April 

2004. http://www.swmlac.org.uk 

[6] European Capitals of Culture 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/other_actions/cap_europ/cap_eu_en.html 

[7] Berube, Linda: Digital Reference Overview. Networked Services Policy Task 

Group, February 2003. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/nsptg/virtual/ 

Croatia 



Collaborative portal for community information. Hot issues are reflected through 

forums and polls. A dynamic, script-driven web application is used to enable local 

community librarians to update the site using simple web-forms and basic computergraphic 

skills. Free and open-source software, PHP and MySQL, is used. 


Pitajte knjižničare – Ask a librarian 

New collaborative reference service offered by 15 public libraries throughout Croatia. 

Inclusion of additional libraries, plus museums and archives, is planned. 

http://jagor.srce.hr/pitajte-knjiznicare 


Information Centre UNESCO 


Electronic information service prepared by the public library (http://www.knihkm.cz) 

in co-operation with the Club UNESCO. http://unesco-ic.cz 

Information for unemployed people 

The website of the Regional Library in Karvina contains information specially for 

unemployed people. 

http://www.rkka.cz/2004/cz.php?stranka=http://192.168.254.2/htm/Czech/sluzby/ne 

zam/registr.html 

Karviná - Informační portál pro každého 

Information portal of the Regional Library providing an information service for 

businesses. http://www.karvina.info 

France 

Guichet du Savoir - Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon 

Online digital reference service where professional librarians aim to answer questions 

on any subject within 72 hours. Also provides an online chat service every 

Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. http://www.guichetdusavoir.org/GdS/ 

Germany 

Online-Auskunft 

The Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin is the first German-language library to use 

QuestionPoint (http://www.questionpoint.org/) for virtual reference. The user can 

choose between several different languages, and questions which cannot be 

answered locally are forwarded to an international network of libraries. The 

application, which runs on the server of OCLC in the United States, provides an 

administrative tool to make e-mail reference and chat reference transparent for both 

the user and the library. Furthermore each library has the possibility of creating 

consortia which correspond to strengths within the library’s own holdings. 

http://www.zlb.de/fragen_sie_uns/ask_a_librarian 

Latvia 

Riga City Libraries 

Seven libraries provide free public access to the Internet. http://www.ltn.lv/~rcb 

Norway 

Lokalhistorisk spørjevev (Answering service about local history and local culture) 

Co-operative project involving an archive, a museum and a library. The service 

focuses on schools as the main user group. Questions and answers are stored in a 

database on the web and can be reused. http://www.sporjeveven.sffarkiv.no 

Spør biblioteket (Ask the Library) 

Web-based reference service where patrons can ask a question and get the answer 

by e-mail. All questions and answers are gathered in a searchable database. There is 

also an SMS reference service and, in co-operation with Bibliotekvakten, a chatbased 

reference service, giving people a choice of different contact methods. 


http://nyhuus.deich.folkebibl.no/deichman/spor.html 

Romania 

“Ask a Librarian” - Project of "Octavian Goga" Cluj County Library 

Innovative information service for Romanian public libraries delivered directly 

through the web site. http://www.bjc.ro/referinta 

Electronic Reference Service/Internet (REI) - Service of “V.A. Urechia” Galati County 

Library 

Through this reference service users have access to the catalogues, the Internet, 

application programmes, and electronic reference documents regardless of format. 

They can also get assistance and guidance from a reference librarian. 

http://www.bvau.ro 

Russia 

Cyber Information Space of the Oryol Rural Toiler 

The Oryol Regional Public Library has developed this project which is setting-up the 

first universal information and communication network in the Oryol region through 

updated computer technologies in work places (through companies) and in 

residential areas (through local offices and Central Libraries). Information services 

will be provided to every worker engaged in the agricultural sector through cooperation 

between the Central Scientific Agricultural Library (CSAL) and the Oryol 

Regional Public Library. http://www.valley.ru/~book/new_page_6.htm 

Information and Legal Centre for Children and Youth 

The Central City Children’s Library of Saint Petersburg has established this project to 

provide free access to legal information for children, parents and teachers through 

the legal databases of the leading legal companies ''Codex'', ''Garant'', ''Consultant+'', 

specialised library stocks, educational legal programmes and specialised Internet 

resources. http://www.pushkinlib.spb.ru/russian/Law.htm 

Public Centres of Legal Information 

The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has developed and implemented 

this programme with the aim of establishing a multi-functional well-balanced system 

of information and legal provision for the population. 230 Russian libraries are 

involved in the project. http://www.rflr.ru/projects/pcpi.htm 

Slovenia 

On-line Reference Service 

ORS is being managed and developed during its project phase (2004-2005) by a 

partnership between the Institute of Information Sciences and 6 libraries using 

QuestionPoint software. It will deliver an enhanced information service by providing 

24/7 access to library and information professionals in Slovenia through chat and email 

technology. 

(Website under construction; available via the Slovene virtual library in 2005) 



Answers Now 

Answers Now is an interactive, online information service provide by a partnership of 

public library services in Somerset (UK), Brisbane (Australia), Christchurch (New 

Zealand) and Richland (South Carolina, USA). Trained librarians are on hand to 

answer quick reference enquiry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

http://www.somerset.gov.uk/somerset/culturecommunity/culturalservice/libraries/inf 

ormation/index.cfm?override=subtopic&infoid=3223 

Best for Business 

Part of Birmingham Central Library’s Business Insight, this portal was rated by the 

Guardian newspaper in its top 10 business information sites for 2003. 

http://www.bestforbusiness.com/ 

(For a detailed description of the services provided see Getting down to business by 

Catherine Prosser in CILIP’s Update, Nov. 2003. 

http://www.cilip.org.uk/publications/updatemagazine/archive/archive2003/november 

/update0311c.htm ). 

Discovery Centres 

Discovery centres being developed in Hampshire (first one due to open in 2005) will 

bring together a modernised library service with associated learning opportunities 

and facilities, including local history zones, museums, art galleries, free internet 

access, cafes and crèches all under one roof. The County Council, in partnership with 

community groups, will also deliver services such as careers advice, support for local 

business, adult learning opportunities, information on local sports groups and access 

to basic skills courses. The centres will be young people-friendly, with an 

entertainment zone and a study area. Technology will play a big part in making 

services accessible. Where limited space prevents the physical presence of some 

facilities, virtual access will be provided via computers. 

http://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/discoverycentres/ 

People’s Network Enquiry Service in England 

Real-time enquiry service being managed and developed during its project phase 

(Nov. 2004 – Nov. 2006) by the East of England partnership, Co-East, in partnership 

with OCLC Pica providing the QuestionPoint software. It will deliver an enhanced 

information service by providing 24/7 access to library and information professionals 

in England through chat and e-mail technology. There are links to similar services in 

other countries to provide a global and multilingual service. 

http://www.ask-a-librarian.org.uk/mla_vrt/policies.html 

Resource Discovery Network 

The RDN is a collaboration of over 70 educational and research organisations, 

including the Natural History Museum, the British Library, the Finnish Forest 

Research Institute and the German National Library of Medicine. It is a gateway to 

Internet resources provided through 8 portals Artifact, EEVL, Gesource, Sosig, Biome, 

Altis, Humbul and PSIgate. http://www.rdn.ac.uk/ 




Section 2: 

Management guidelines 


This guideline covers: 


Cultural strategies 

Project planning 

Business planning 



SCOPE 


The European Union has set out its own strategic plan for culture – the Culture 2007 

programme – setting out its vision and objectives for the years 2007 to 2013 [1]. 

European countries have traditionally undertaken strategic planning for economic 

and social development and regeneration purposes. In the field of culture and 

information, strategic planning is a more recent issue. It is now generally 

acknowledged that culture makes an important contribution to the well-being of 

communities. Cultural plans should therefore be integrated into national and local 

government strategies for the benefit of society. 

Whether or not there is a requirement to produce a strategic plan, it is useful to do 

so for a number of reasons, including: 

• to clarify what the purpose of the institution is; 

• to be clear about future direction; 

• to take control of progress rather than reacting to events; 

• to inspire confidence among stakeholders; 

• to measure achievement; 

• to match resources to aspirations; 

• to ensure government agendas are not overlooked; 

• to ensure external opportunities which are taken up are in line with the purpose 

of the organisation. 


The purpose of planning is to set out objectives and the policies and procedures that 

will enable them to be achieved. Planning may help to determine whether a task 

should even be attempted. To use a very simple analogy, if you try to cross the road 

without looking right and left you may get knocked down. If you look right and left 

first, you may decide it is not even worth trying to cross at this point, and look for a 

crossing or underpass. 

Calimera Guidelines 86 Strategic planning

An organisation without a plan will tend to be reactive, that is it will spend time, 

effort and money reacting to circumstances as they happen. The exercise of planning 

should enable managers to anticipate and be prepared for certain risks and to have 

contingency plans in place. 

There are various types of plans for different situations. Plans which are relevant to 

museums, libraries and archives include strategic plans, project plans, and in some 

cases business plans. 

Strategic planning Back to Scope 

A strategy is a plan that integrates the major goals, policies and actions of an 

organisation or group of organisations. A strategic plan describes what the 

organisation is, what it does, and why it does it, and sets out objectives for future 

development and ways to achieve those objectives. The purpose of producing a 

strategic plan is to ensure that all stakeholders (governing body or local authority, 

staff and users) understand what the organisation is for and what it is trying to 

achieve. A good strategic plan should ensure that the best use is made of resources 

by focusing on key priorities. A process for measuring progress, and for informing 

stakeholders of progress, should be included. 

A strategic plan should cover both short and long term planning. A rolling plan will 

include a long term vision with general aims covering perhaps a three or five year 

term, and specific objectives to be aimed at over a shorter term of perhaps one year. 

After each short term period, the plan should be reviewed, the long term vision 

checked and amended if necessary, and the goals for the next short term set out. 

It is useful to involve stakeholders in the making of a strategic plan. Even in a small 

organisation, one person should not prepare the plan alone. Being involved gives 

people a sense of ownership and helps to ensure success. The draft plan could be 

drawn up by a small team and then put out for consultation by staff, local authority, 

trustees, funders, etc. as relevant, and representatives of users. 

A strategic plan needs to consider: 

• the organisation's mission, vision and values; 

• a description of the current situation of the organisation (its resources (materials, 

money, staff, equipment, technology, infrastructure, etc.); what services it offers; 

the results of market research (performance appraisals, user consultations); its 

strengths and weaknesses (SWOT analysis); etc.); 

• a description of the gap between where the organisation is and where it would 

like to be (according to its mission and vision statements); 

• what strategic goals, or longer term aims, need to be set to work toward the 

mission, i.e. to close the gap between current situation and mission and vision (an 

example for an archive might be make more of the collection accessible through 

cataloguing and digitisation); 

• issues facing the organisation (these could include a demographic description of 

the area served (ethnic make up, age profile, etc.), a geographic description 

(rural, urban areas), a socio-economic analysis of the area, any local or national 

government objectives which impact on it, and any lack of resources, etc.) 


• policies or strategies which will be needed to achieve the goals, taking the issues 

into account. These are the short term objectives which should be specific, 

measurable, achievable, realistic and time-limited. (For example – to digitise 

Second World War papers by 31 st December; or stage an annual programme of at 

least 5 exhibitions); 

• action planning (who will do what and by when); 

• allocation of costs and budgets; 

• performance targets and how they will be measured. 

Any plan should be well documented so that all involved are clearly informed of 

objectives, roles and responsibilities, timescales and deadlines, costs etc. The 

following checklist gives an indication of the sort of documentation which should be 

produced in connection with a strategic plan: 

• introduction – mission and vision statements, current situation etc. 

• statement of long-term objectives 

• issues facing the organisation 

• short/medium term objectives 

• action plan 

• financial plan 

• staffing plan 

• performance targets 

• if this is a part of a rolling strategic plan, a review of the plan and progress for the 

previous year 

• new medium term action plan and targets 

• long term action plan and targets. 

All changes and amendments should be documented and circulated. Minutes of 

meetings held in connection with the plan should be kept. 

A good way of learning how to do a strategic plan is to look at some of the many 

examples of corporate strategic plans on the Internet. (See Links.) 

Cultural strategies Back to Scope 

A cross-domain strategic plan to improve cultural facilities in a town, region or 

country, or even continent, can be described as a cultural strategy. Some countries, 

such as the UK, encourage local authorities to draw up local cultural strategies. In 

producing these strategies they may forge partnerships with services and facilities 

outside the direct public sector, such as local sporting facilities, theatres, galleries, 

heritage sites, etc. The existence of a clear well-documented cultural strategy will 

focus attention on the importance of culture by for example: 

• drawing attention to the cultural needs, demands and aspirations of the 

community; 

• giving cultural activities a higher profile in local government; 

• advertising the sector to the public; 

• encouraging lifelong learning; 

• helping to ensure equity and access for everyone to cultural activities; 

• bringing the sector, its services, resources, as well its needs, to the attention of 

local businesses, and demonstrating the contribution cultural activities make to 

economic and social well-being; 


• promoting the sector to voluntary organisations and encouraging volunteering in 

cultural community events; 

• encouraging partnership and co-operation between cultural services; 

• clarifying priorities among all services with the aim of reconciling competing 

demands; 

• helping to attract outside funding. 

A local cultural strategy should aim to: 

• address the cultural needs, demands and aspirations of the community. This 

should involve consultation with a wide range of organisations and local people 

both users and non-users of services; 

• ensure fair access for all; 

• be developed through a cross-domain and inter-agency approach, involving 

community organisations, the private sector, voluntary groups, etc.; 

• take account of the wider central and regional government agendas for social 

inclusion, lifelong learning, economic development, public health, environmental 

sustainability, etc.; 

• take account of the wider geographical community and the potential impact on 

tourism etc. 

A cultural strategy is a strategic plan (see strategic planning above). The 

documentation should take the form of an action plan containing: 

• priorities for resources and action; 

• defined outcomes; 

• forward planning; 

• mechanisms for implementation; 

• mechanisms for monitoring and review. 

For an example of a cultural strategy see the Eurocities strategic objectives [2]. For 

information about cultural strategies, with some examples, see Policies for Culture: 

participative policy-making in south-east Europe [3]. The Interarts Foundation 

website contains information on the cultural strategies of many European cities and 

regions [4]. 

Project planning Back to Scope 

The first step in any project is to produce a plan. The process itself will raise 

questions (issues and risks) which might not otherwise have been thought of, and 

contingency plans can be put in place to deal with these should they arise. A risk 

assessment should always be carried out. In very simplified form, the plan should 

answer the following questions: 

• What? The plan will need clearly defined objectives. For example, if it is a project 

to digitise a collection, objectives might include: 

° the reasons for digitisation e.g. to preserve originals, to make the resources 

accessible to a wider audience over the Internet; 

° what is to be digitised. Considerations will include whether the resources are 

unique (if not they may already have been digitised by someone else), 

whether the rights to copy can be obtained, who is the target audience for the 

digitised resources (it could be useful to find out if usage will warrant the 

digitisation). 


• Who? What skills and knowledge will be needed? Options include: 

° using existing staff, perhaps with additional training; 

° recruiting specialised staff, perhaps on a short term contract, 

° contracting out all or part of the project. 

• Where? This involves ascertaining whether sufficient space and/or equipment are 

available on site. If it is a digitisation project, considerations could include how far 

possibly fragile documents should be moved, whether special environmental 

conditions are needed, whether the process will disrupt normal services. 

• When? There are two aspects to this: 

° is there a quiet period when the project could be carried out with minimum 

disruption to the service?; 

° how long will the project take to complete? A detailed workflow or timetable 

with milestones and deadlines will be needed. 

• How? This will depend on the project. For example, if the project is to set up a 

community programme involving children in producing a video, or to move the 

contents of a museum to a new building, the methods will be quite different from 

those involved in a digitisation project, but the same principles will apply. 

There are of course a great many issues which will need to be considered and 

included in a plan, such as finance, workflows, equipment, expected outputs and 

outcomes, evaluation, involving and reporting to stakeholders. Once completed, the 

plan should be regarded as a dynamic document. It should be reviewed on a regular 

basis and may need updating as the project goes on. 

Again, documentation is important. All changes and amendments should be 

documented and circulated. Minutes of meetings held in connection with the plan 

should be kept. The following checklist gives an indication of the sort of 

documentation which should be produced at each stage of a project lifecycle. 

Start-up: 

• project brief 

• business case (costs and benefits) 

• project initiation document 

• risk assessment and plan and contingency plan 

• roles and responsibilities 

• stakeholder analysis 

Project phase: 

• project plan (this is the main document containing details of tasks, roles and 

responsibilities, workflow, timetable, milestones, etc. as described above); 

• status reports 

• meeting minutes 

• risk control record 

• issue control record 

• change control - costs, impact etc. if necessary 

Project closure: 

• post project report (objectives achieved, targets met, timescale, costs, lessons 

learned etc.). 

One example of a structured project management method is PRINCE (Projects in 

Controlled Environments), the UK Government standard for IT project management. 


Although originally designed for IT projects, it can be applied to a wide range of 

projects, from a programme of related large projects down to a single small project, 

and comprises the main elements of a project plan, the processes and techniques 

involved, and a set of templates. The latest version is PRINCE2 [5]. 

There are numerous examples of project plans on the Internet, and online tutorials 

[6]. There are also software packages which can be used for project planning, such 

as Microsoft Project [7]. For an overview of software packages, including free open 

source software, see Software Tools for Project Planning [8]. 

Business planning (see also the guideline on Business models) Back to Scope 

A business plan is usually what is required when bidding for funds. It is very similar 

to a strategic plan, but may have to be in a specific format laid down by the 

sponsoring body [9]. 


Increasingly cultural institutions must provide evidence of their value to society, must 

show that they provide value for money, and increasingly must bid for funds for 

specific projects. The ability to produce strategic, project and business plans is 

becoming an essential skill for managers. 


[1] Culture 2007 programme – setting out its vision and objectives for the years 

2007 to 2013. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/newprog/com1_en.pdf 

[2] Eurocities Strategic Objectives: Working towards a better quality of life for all. 

2003. http://www.eurocities.org/masterIndex.html 

[3] Policies for Culture: participative policy-making in south-east Europe. 2003. 

http://www.ecumest.ro/pdf/PfC_May2003_workshop_dossier.pdf 

[4] The Interarts Foundation website contains information on the cultural strategies 

of many European cities and regions http://www.interarts.net 

[5] PRINCE2 http://www.ogc.gov.uk/prince/ 

[6] An example of a free online project planning tutorial can be found on the website 

of the [United States] Institute of Museum and Library Services 

http://e-services.imls.gov/project_planning/ 

[7] Microsoft Project 

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/project/prodinfo/default.mspx 

[8] See JISC infoNet Software Tools for Project Planning 


http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits/project-management/software-tools 

[9] See for example Business plans: helping your application. Heritage Lottery Fund. 

http://www.hlf.org.uk/dimages/Business_plan_for_application03/BusinessPlans.pdf 

Finland 


Library Strategy 2010. 

Policy of the Finnish Ministry of Education for ensuring access to knowledge and 

culture. 2003. ISBN 952-442-188-7. 

http://e.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=13383 

Italy 

Linee di politica bibliotecaria per le autonomie (General policy framework for local 

libraries) 

In January 2004 local authorities signed an agreement defining a common strategic 

plan for public libraries services, and aiming to create a common policy for the 

development of innovative services for citizens. This agreement was presented to the 

national government in order to reach a broader co-ordination policy. 

http://www.comune.firenze.it/sdiaf/associazione/lineeguida_anci.htm 

Spain 

Barcelona 

Library Plan 1998-2010 http://www.bcn.es/biblioteques/ 

Archive Plan 2002-2010 http://www.bcn.es/arxiu/ 

Castilla-La Mancha 

Action Plan for library development (2003-2006): Public libraries in the XXI century, 

launched by the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha. 

http://www.jccm.es/cultura/liarbi/planbibliotecas/index.html 

Catalan Public Reading Map 

Guide to producing a public reading map. http://www.gencat.net/ 

Ministerio de Cultura 

The Integrated Museums Plan aims to ensure the highest quality administration and 

best use of the State's museum network. This Plan is designed to adapt Spanish 

museums to modern trends in demand, the display of exhibits, research and 

educational activities. http://www.mcu.es/museos/intro.jsp 

UK 

Department of Culture, Media and Sport 


Public Library Position Statements. Database of library standards and examples of 

good practice. http://www.libplans.ws/standards/default.asp?keyword=all 

The National Archives 

Corporate Plan 2004-05 to 2006-07 and Business Plan 2004-05. This is a very good 

example of a strategic plan. 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/operate/pdf/corp_plan.doc 




Co-operation and partnership 

SCOPE 


Strategic partnerships 

Cross-domain partnerships 

Same domain partnerships 

Partnerships with the education sector 

Partnerships with the voluntary sector 

Partnerships with industry and the private sector 

Types of partnership 

Initiating partnerships 

Organisation of partnerships 

Funding for partnerships 

Maintenance of partnerships 


The need to consider public needs in a more ‘holistic’ context means that heritage 

institutions need to work together with other local authority departments, the 

educational sector, agencies and local and regional offices of central government, as 

well as with their cultural partners. 

There is increasingly a demand for services which no single institution can provide in 

a given geographical area: partnerships are needed to add cost-effectively to the 

range of services available to the public or to provide a way of maintaining and 

developing services where funds are insufficient. 

The advent of networked services and the nature of digital content in cyberspace is a 

further powerful force in the dissolution of organisational barriers and the need for 

institutions to take an open and innovative approach to co-operation and 

partnership. For example: 

• e-mail etc. has made communication between partners easier and quicker; 

• new technologies have made the sharing of resources easier; 

• portals can give access to the resources of many different organisations; 

• virtual communities of professionals and/or public can be set up and used for a 

variety of collaborative purposes including e-learning strategies, online discussions 

and conferences, and sharing of expertise. 

By entering partnerships, museums, libraries and archives can address political 

agenda, find funding for innovation and development, achieve economies of scale, 

acquire access to skills which traditionally are not to be found among their own staff, 

Calimera Guidelines 94 Co-operation and partnership

and share best practice. The World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA 

General Conference and Council in August 2003 discussed Co-operation among 

archives, libraries and museums in its Genealogy and Local History section [1]. 


A partnership is a means to an end. Partnerships usually come into being because 

participants see them as an effective way of furthering their aims and objectives. 

Partnerships succeed when all participants both benefit and contribute. An effective 

partnership is one which results in clear and measurable benefits to users. 

Potential partners 

Various types of co-operation and partnership are effective in delivering different 

types of objective: 

Strategic partnerships Back to Scope 

Strategic partnerships can be established at national, regional or local levels and can 

provide a platform for creativity and inspiration. 

At national level, strategic partnerships can be designed to carry out important 

national programmes for specific purposes. Examples at this level are the Museums, 

Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) of the UK and the Norwegian Archive, Library 

and Museum Authority (ABM-Utvikling). 

At regional level, strategic partnerships may be formed in order to: 

• establish a development agency for museum, library and archive organisations 

facilitating the sector's development across a region through leadership, 

advocacy, advice, obtaining funding, developing new bids and exemplar projects, 

and service delivery; 

• deliver objectives such as the creation of a regional broadband public information 

network; the development and delivery of electronic content; re-skilling the 

workforce; promoting literature and reader development; and providing 

opportunities for lifelong learning to local and regional communities; 

• represent the interests of the three domains within a regional and strategic 

context, dealing with: government and government agencies; regional political 

and executive bodies; national and regional professional bodies; education 

bodies; economic agencies; local authorities; and the voluntary sector. 

To succeed, regional strategic bodies need to work in partnership with their member 

organisations and other stakeholders, recognising the priorities and needs of 

individual services and local autonomy. 

At local level, museums, libraries and archives are often departments of local 

government and need to work with other departments to provide a seamless joinedup 

service. One example of collaboration could be developing a joint CRM (Customer 

Relations Management) system. Several departments might need data about users 

and a joint CRM can reduce duplication of effort, eliminate contradictory data being 

stored, and enable a personalised face to be presented to users. Subject to data 

protection legislation and privacy considerations (see the guideline on Legal and 


ights issues, section on Data Protection), a CRM can integrate all contacts with the 

organisation from a user by e-mail, telephone, mobile device, post or face-to-face, 

and enable any member of staff dealing with the user to see the complete record of 

the user’s interaction. 

Providing integrated services in line with the joined-up government agenda gives 

museums, libraries and archives the opportunity to work with other local 

organisations. For example, a library service might engage with a health authority or 

social services department to deliver services to people’s homes. 

Cross-domain partnerships Back to Scope 

Museums, libraries and archives have been seen as different kinds of institution with 

different professional practices and organisational cultures. However these 

differences are more administrative than purposive since they all have as their 

mission the collection, preservation and making available of objects, artefacts, 

documents and information. Digitisation is eroding administrative differences, as the 

processes involved in managing digital materials is the same whether they originated 

as books, documents or objects. In fact the term “digital document” is now 

sometimes used to mean “all kinds of other things, like text files, audio files, image 

files, even multimedia presentations and Web pages” [1]. Groups of museums, 

libraries and archives may agree to co-operate for example to give people the 

opportunity to search their holdings simultaneously. People are often not interested 

in where they find their information, whether it is in a book or a leaflet in a library, 

from a description of an artefact in a museum, or from an organisation’s details in an 

archive. The importance of interoperability, and therefore of the use of recognised 

international standards, cannot be over-emphasised if such collaboration is to work. 

A good example is Denmark’s NOKS (see Links). 

Partnerships between institutions in the same domain Back to Scope 

Groups of libraries, museums or archives may agree to co-operate in areas such as 

consortium purchase of resources (particularly electronic resources), digitisation of 

key resources and the provision of access through a common website, gateway, 

portal or retrieval service e.g. by linking their catalogues together. (See Links for 

examples.) 

Partnerships with the education sector Back to Scope 

There is a great deal of synergy to be obtained from partnerships with the education 

sector (see the guideline on Learning). Museums, libraries and archives within the 

local government sector often have close relationships with local schools and 

colleges. They can also build partnerships with universities, adult education 

institutions, training departments in local businesses, independent schools, 

playgroups and nurseries. 

Partnerships with the voluntary sector Back to Scope 

Museums, libraries and archives may benefit from partnerships with the voluntary 

sector and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) through their commitment to and 

understanding of the needs of specific target groups, e.g. children, elderly people, 

disabled people, community groups and ethnic minorities. 


Partnerships with industry and the private sector Back to Scope 

• Many businesses and specialist organisations make their libraries and archives 

available to the public. Because they receive no public funding such resources 

can be at risk if for example a firm closes down. Creating links between these 

types of organisations and public sector organisations could enable these 

resources to be safeguarded. Such partnerships could also lead to these 

collections being digitised to recognised standards and made more widely 

available. 

• Telecommunications providers need to sell services running over the 

infrastructure in which they have invested and which will help them generate the 

revenues they need for a sustainable commercial future. Bandwidth is often 

purchased by local or regional authorities or consortia to deliver a variety of 

services. Content can be seen as a key driver for developing a market for 

broadband, so it is in the interests of the telecommunications companies to 

encourage the digitisation of content by museums, libraries and archives. The 

possibility of joint investment in services by the cultural heritage sector and 

telecommunications organisations, on the basis that risk and income could be 

shared, could be worth exploring. 

Types of partnership Back to Scope 

There are a number of types of and purposes for partnerships: 

• regional or location based, where organisations in a given locality agree to cooperate; 

• subject based, where groups of organisations specialising in a particular subject, 

regardless of location, agree to work together; 

• activity-based, which might include: 

° Service delivery - Heritage institutions might in some circumstances be able 

to deliver services from a joint local or regional centre. Technology enables cooperative 

delivery of online services. 

° Training - for example IT training and management training. The scope may 

include: identifying and implementing opportunities for co-operative ventures 

in staff training and development; discussing common problems and solutions 

and promoting best practice; organising joint training events and mentoring 

activities; identifying opportunities for sharing training resources and the joint 

purchase of training materials; and setting up staff exchanges. (See also the 

guideline on Staffing). 

° IT development partnerships – these can support improvements in the 

range of services offered, for example by sharing electronic resources, 

providing electronic access to catalogues and databases, enabling contribution 

of content etc., so working co-operatively towards the development of the 

virtual museum, library or archive. 

° Purchasing partnerships and consortia – these have become widespread 

and influential, especially for example in the library sector where they are seen 

as an important means of providing better value for money from library 

budgets by achieving discounts through negotiating bulk purchase and 

common licensing arrangements, especially for electronic publications. 

Publishers and suppliers also benefit from consortia through savings in 

marketing, guaranteed market share and exposure for their products. Such 


partnerships are helpful in the development of common collection 

development policies and the avoidance of wasteful fragmentation in 

purchasing policy. Consortia can enter into negotiations with suppliers from a 

position of strength. They may be international in scope (see for example EIFL 

(Electronic Information for Libraries [2])). 

° Preservation partnerships – preservation of unique materials may be done 

co-operatively in order to pool expertise and avoid duplication of effort. A 

preservation programme requires concerned and informed staff, accurate 

data, adequate funding, appropriate standards, preservation policies and 

procedures, and mechanisms for sharing information and access. Co-operative 

disaster planning can also be useful, and can include keeping back-up copies 

of crucial information and resources on each others’ premises and systems. 

(See also the guideline on Digital preservation.) 

° Conservation partnerships – small institutions may not have the resources 

in terms of money, staff expertise and space to carry out conservation on 

delicate objects, documents and books. Sharing resources or setting up 

centres of expertise might be a way forward. 

° Project partnerships are often necessary when applying for external 

funding in a competitive arena e.g. funding for EU research programmes is 

usually dependant on multi-partner project proposals. The CORDIS Partners 

Service [3] was set up to provide help and guidance in finding partners for EU 

projects. 

° Funding partnerships – jointly bidding for and developing Information 

Society projects and services, e.g. to support the lifelong learning or egovernment 

agenda, can sometimes be more successful than a bid from a 

single institution. Small institutions sometimes do not have the staff and 

expertise to put together successful applications. 

° Partnerships for commercial purposes – many institutions have to 

generate some income through paid research services, publishing, sales of 

books, photographs, copies, gifts etc., and through sales of material to the 

media. Small organisations sometimes face barriers to the development of 

such services e.g. lack of staff and time to devote to it, high initial start-up 

costs, lack of incentive if local authority financial regulations mean that income 

earned does not go back to the service. Setting up a partnership to encourage 

innovation and share marketing expertise could help to overcome any 

problems and improve the prospects of sustainability. A shared outlet might 

also be a possibility. 

° Outsourcing partnerships – if it is necessary to outsource work because the 

skills and resources are not available within the institution, local institutions 

might achieve economies of scale if they do this in partnership with others 

engaged in similar projects. 

Initiating partnerships Back to Scope 

Informal contacts and soundings between decision-makers from the prospective 

partners are often a first step, followed by flexible early discussions which seek 

opportunities to complement the objectives of all partners involved. All partners 

should aim to understand the needs and priorities of the other partners, and should 

be able to demonstrate how their own unique contribution can contribute to the 

synergy of the partnership for the benefit of the end-users. The nature of the agreed 


collaboration should be defined in writing, recording goals and each partner's 

responsibilities. Among the issues to be considered are funding, facilities, time, 

personnel, audiences, marketing and the use of media. 

The organisation and structure of co-operation partnerships Back to Scope 

• Mission statement 

Once formalised, a partnership needs a mission statement, for example: 

° “to champion and support the sector's unique role in enhancing the cultural, 

social, educational and economic life of the region"; or 

° “to modernise, revitalise and transform [museums, public libraries or archives] 

and to fully harness their potential for learning, for social inclusion, for 

creativity, and for economic and social regeneration”. 

• Key visible activities 

Among the activities which give life and external visibility to a partnership and 

potentially increase its influence are: 

° a strategic plan setting out a number of strategic objectives; 

° published action plans for specific periods of time; 

° task forces to carry out these action plans; 

° key reports and documents to show the results of these action plans. 

• A partnership should be an accountable organisation. Partnerships may have 

a formal legal status or legal personality such as registered company or registered 

charity. A partnership may often need a corporate identity, including a “brand 

name” and logo etc. A partnership may itself decide to enter other partnerships as 

a corporate body. 

• Partnerships should operate with clear governance rules e.g. for board 

meetings and decision-making. A Board of Directors or similar structure should be 

set up to represent the range of stakeholders involved and may be drawn, for 

example, from local authorities; political bodies or assemblies; the academic 

sector; independent organisations; and professional officers from museums, 

public libraries and archives. The Board may also include observers from national 

and regional agencies and other bodies with an overall interest. (See for example 

the Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority in Links.) 

Funding for partnerships Back to Scope 

Finding can be sought from a variety of approaches, for example: 

• core grants from national or regional funding programmes; 

• member subscriptions; 

• local authority support funds; 

• generated income; 

• project funding from government initiative funds, European Social Funds and the 

RTD (Research and Technological Development) programme e.g. IST 

(Information Society Technologies); 

In some cases, to obtain further funding, the partnership may need to identify its 

own “match funding”. 

Maintenance of successful partnerships Back to Scope 

Several key factors are needed to sustain a successful partnership: 


• the senior management and governing body or local authority of each partner 

organisation should be committed to any partnership arrangement; 

• a named individual of the appropriate status within each organisation should be 

responsible: high profile partnership projects may involve the highest level of 

management of the organisation; 

• good mutual understanding of the partner organisations’ institutional cultures, 

remits and objectives; 

• realistic expectations; 

• an exit strategy – an agreement to leave the partnership in certain circumstances, 

covering apportionment of assets and liabilities. There should be an agreed 

method of winding up the partnership once its work is completed. 


The vision of enabling a user to search for material relating to a specific topic and of 

bringing everything together in an integrated response without the user needing to 

know the source of the information, be it museum, library or archive, depends on 

collaboration among cultural organisations at every level. The development of digital 

technology is making this possible. 

Digital technology is having the effect of making cultural institutions less insular and 

more mutually dependent. New models such as regional cultural service centres may 

emerge to provide innovative applications, solutions and services for local cultural 

institutions for the benefit of the end user. 

The future of partnerships is closely linked to the future of funding. The exigencies of 

funding make partnerships desirable or essential for certain purposes: changes in the 

availability of funding or in the conditions attached to awards of funds affect the 

viability of consortia and partnerships. 

The legal and regulatory framework for partnerships and co-operation within which 

cultural organisations operate needs to develop to take account of the fact that 

government agendas are now delivered in a more “joined-up” way. For example, all 

departments of a local authority are now expected to contribute to e-government 

targets, learning is no longer the sole responsibility of the education department, etc. 

Local services are likely to become increasingly integrated. Also many services which 

were once wholly provided by local authorities may now be provided through 

partnerships with the private and/or voluntary sectors. 

It is now recognised that museums, libraries and archives share many of the same 

aims and objectives and national and regional associations are being formed to 

develop an effective regional infrastructure for the museums, libraries and archives 

sector. 

There are many portals and gateways being set up by regional or domain groups. In 

the future these groups should aim to link together with the aim of providing a 

seamless response listing information sources wherever they may be housed in 

response to a single enquiry from anywhere in the world. 


Technology has made much easier the sharing of resources, for example among the 

members of a professional body, among a group of institutions, or among a group of 

individuals with a common interest. For example peer-to-peer (P2P) networks can 

collect huge amounts of information from widely distributed sources. File sharing 

services such as Foldershare, Groove Networks, Skype, Gnutella and Kazaa enable 

all types of digital objects including film, images and software to be shared [4]. 

The uses for collaborative technologies include online learning, joint exhibitions, 

virtual museums, etc., and providing copyright issues can be resolved, are limited 

only by imagination. 

On a European level, co-operation needs to be cultivated at a strategic level to 

provide a platform for creativity and inspiration, exchange best practice, co-ordinate 

policies on digitisation, multilingualism, access, education, tourism etc. for the benefit 

of all European people, and to promote European culture to the rest of the world. 


[1] The World Library and Information Congress: 69th IFLA General Conference and 

Council, Berlin, August 2003. Genealogy and Local History section. 

http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla69/prog03.htm . Papers: 

• Cooperation and Change: Archives, Libraries and Museums in the United States, 

by Robert Martin (Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington DC, 

USA) 

• If we can do it, so can you: the UK North Yorkshire digitisation project, by 

Elizabeth Anne Melrose (North Yorkshire Country Library, Northallerton, England) 

• Library innovation is hard work: lessons from a Norwegian case study, by Bozena 

Rasmussen (Gjerdrum Public Library, Gjerdrum, Norway) and Tord Høivik (Oslo 

University College, Oslo, Norway) 

[2] EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries http://www.eifl.net/ 

[3] CORDIS Partners Service http://partners-service.cordis.lu/ 

[4] Peer-to-peer (P2P) http://www.openp2p.com/ 

Foldershare http://www.foldershare.com/ 

Groove Networks http://www.groove.net/ 

Skype http://www.skype.com/ 

Gnutella http://www.gnutella.com 

Kazaa http://www.kazaa.com 

International 


Answers Now 

This interactive 24/7 reference service is a partnership of the Brisbane City Council 

Library Service, Queensland, Australia; the Christchurch City Libraries, Christchurch, 


New Zealand; Richland County Public Library, South Carolina, USA; and Somerset 

County Council Libraries, Arts and Information Service, United Kingdom. 

http://vrllive01.lssi.com/wcscgi/CDM.exe/ansnow?SS_COMMAND=CUST_SUP&Category=SOM 

ERSET 

Europe 

AMICITIA (Asset Management Integration of Cultural Heritage in the Interexchange 

between Archives) 

Broadcasting companies and technology partners from across Europe worked 

together on a demonstration project to link digital video archives together by 

establishing a P2P (peer-to-peer) network. A DRM (Digital Rights Management) 

system was developed to deal with rights issues and a CMS (Content Management 

System) to store the various contracts. 

http://www.amicitia-project.de and http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue4/amicitia/ 

eMarCon (Electronic Maritime Cultural Content) 

An EU supported project which created a platform allowing geographically distant 

European museums and their visitors to arrange and subsequently experience 

common virtual exhibitions via the Internet. The partners were 9 institutions from 7 

European countries representing 4 maritime museums and a broad cross-section of 

the academic, regional and informatics/communication technologies organisations in 

Europe. The demonstration exhibitions are tailored for adults, children or experts. 

http://www.emarcon.net/ 

MIRROR 

MIRROR aims to establish a Europe-wide community of practice for natural science 

museums by developing a novel learning methodology and by implementing state-ofthe-art 

tools, techniques and systems. http://www.mirror-project.net 

Armenia 

Academical Scientific Research Computer Network (ASNET-AM) 

Links academic, research, educational and other organisations engaged in scientific 

and educational activity by hosting web resources. 

http://www.sci.am/; http://www.asnet.am/index.php 

Austria 

Bibliotheken Online 

Over 500 Austrian public libraries have pooled their resources to enable the retrieval 

of information on the availability of titles in these libraries via the Internet. 

http://www.bibliotheken.at 

Belgium 

VLACC (Vlaamse Centrale Catalogus Openbare Bibliotheken or the Flemish Union 

Catalog) 


Union catalogue of the holdings of all public libraries in Flanders. VLACC II will be a 

stepping stone towards a Flemish Digital Library which will systematically include all 

holdings, and will integrate day-to-day work saving an estimated 10% of staff time 

on cataloguing back-office tasks. Internet access is through Bibnet. 

http://www.bibliotheek.be 

Bulgaria 

Old Varna Project 

Co-operative project involving Varna Regional Library, Varna State Archive, Varna 

Regional Museum and VASSAN Media for creating a historical chronicle of Varna 

available on the web site of the Regional Library. http://www.libvar.bg 

Cyprus 

University of Cyprus Library 

In addition to links to its own material and databases, also has links to other Cypriot 

libraries and to a Greek library network. It also hosts the catalogues of 7 public 

libraries. http://library.ucy.ac.cy/ 


Archives Direction Division of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic 

Czech archives are represented in ICA, EURBICA and in special commissions and 

they participate in the Blue Shield. In addition international co-operation is organised 

on the basis of bilateral agreements. Archives closely co-operate with domestic 

cultural institutions in the areas of development and research, preparation of 

publications and exhibitions and on preservation of national cultural heritage. 

http://www.mvcr.cz 

Informace pro knihovny - portál Knihovnického institutu Národní knihovny ČR. 

Librarianship Institute Portal of the National Library of the Czech Republic. 

http://knihovnam.nkp.cz 

State Technical Library in Prague 

Provides lists of local library actvities, information about conferences, etc. 

http://www.stk.cz/akce 

Uniform Information Gateway 

UIG provides uniform and easy access to various information sources including full 

texts and document files. http://www.jib.cz/ 

Denmark 

DANPA (Denmark’s national private archives database) 

The database contains search capabilities for approximately 120,000 descriptive 

records from 190 private archive institutions with digital catalogues, including the 

State Archives, the Emigration Archives, the Royal Library, and the Library and 

Archives of the Labour movement. http://www.danpa.dk 


NOKS (Nordjyllands Kulturhistoriske Søgebase. Cultural historical database for 

searching material concerning the North of Jutland) 

Project involving 9 institutions: archives, libraries and museums. Their catalogues 

have been amalgamated giving access to 115,000 items including photographs, 

books, leaflets, newspaper clippings, archives, museum items etc. 

http:// www.noks.dk (For a description of how this was set up see Benefits of 

archives, libraries and museums working together, by Ruth Hedegaard (Vendsyssel 

Historical Museum and Archives, Hjoerring, Denmark), 2003. 

http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla69/papers/051e-Hedegaard.pdf.) 

Estonia 

ELNET - Consortium of Estonian Libraries Network 

Not-for-profit association of libraries, archives and other informational organisations. 

The main areas of its activity are administering and developing the ESTER shared 

catalogue of Estonian libraries, coordinating the acquisition of electronic publications 

for ELNET member libraries and coordinating other joint projects. 

http://www.elnet.ee/ 

Finland 

ELEF (ELECTRONIC LIBRARY OF EASTERN FINLAND) 

ELEF projects are carried out in all the regions of Eastern Finland. The main object of 

these projects is to improve electronic library and information services available on 

the web and to offer better access to these services. 

http://www.ncp.fi/projektit/elef/eng/alku.html 

Elkad-project 

In this co-operative project a documentation system for the digital materials of 

companies is being built, functionality of the system tested, specialists trained and 

long-term preservation of information and its use through the networks enabled. 

http://www.elka.fi/ 

France 

Région Centre Museums 

Represents a network of some 50 museums and gives details of their collections, 

services, exhibitions, virtual exhibitions etc. http://www.musees.regioncentre.fr/ 

Iceland 

SagaNet 

This is a co-operative project involving the Library, Cornell University in the USA and 

the Árni Magnússon Institute. It gives online access to manuscripts and printed 

works on Old Icelandic Literature. http://www.sagnanet.is 

Italy 


Municipality of Florence 

The Municipality of Florence has set up a complete documentation system which 

provides links to 18 municipalities of the wider metropolitan area and to more than 

40 public and academic libraries and libraries run by associations and cultural 

organizations. The system coordinates the funding process and guarantees complete 

management of shared services. 

http://www.comune.firenze.it/comune/biblioteche/biblioteche.htm 

Latvia 

Co-operation of Archives, Museums and Libraries in a Digital Environment 

Special purpose programme set up in 2003 by the Culture Capital Foundation of 

Latvia to survey and evaluate digitisation projects focusing on the use of standards 

and interoperability. http://www.linc.lv 

Norway 

ABM-utvikling (Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority) 

Established January 1, 2003, this institution is the result of a merger between the 

Norwegian Directorate for Public Libraries, the Norwegian Museum Authority, and the 

National Office for Research Documentation, Academic and Special Libraries. Joint 

development in the Archive, Library and Museum sectors, in addition to sector 

specific challenges, are priorities. http://www.abm-utvikling.no/ 

National Museum Reform 

ABM-utvikling is currently administering a five-year reform of the museum domain, 

due to be completed in 2006. The goal is to create a museum domain with fewer and 

stronger units. These units will engage in different national networks, based on the 

various thematic fields they work in. The reform is referred to as a consolidation 

process, and the aim is to create more cohesive units and promote a high degree of 

professional competency and administrative effectiveness. 

http://www.abm-tvikling.no/prosjekter/Interne/Museum/museumsreform/index.html 

Primusbase for Akershus 

A shared online database for all the museums in Akershus County, handling 

information about collections and enabling easy routines for publishing information 

on the web. (Website forthcoming.) 

Russia 

Corporate Library Systems 

In a number of Russian regions work on the establishment of regional corporate nets 

has been set up to integrate the regional library and Russian city information 

resources and optimise user-friendly services. All the projects have local aims and 

objectives, many including digitisation, computerised union cataloguing, etc. The CLS 

can include public libraries, specialised libraries and university libraries. Examples 

include: 

Corporate Library System of the Tver Region http://corbis.library.tver.ru/ 

Corporate System of the Republic of Karelia http://libraries.karelia.ru/system.shtml 


Novgorod Regional Information and Library Network http://library.novgorod.ru/ 

Novosibirsk Regional distributed Corporate Library System (developed under the 

Mega project “Pushkin’s Library” http://pushkin.rstlib.nsc.ru/2002/index.shtml 

Corporate Network of the Uralian Libraries http://consensus.eunnet.net/ 

Corporate System of the Libraries of the Khabarovsk Region 

http://www.fessl.ru/korp/ 

PRIOR NW (E-Development Partnership in the North-West of Russia) 

Part of the Partnerstvo dlya Razvitiya Informatsionnogo Obshestva v Rossii (PRIOR) 

programme, the main goals of PRIOR NW are to facilitate development of an 

Information Society and Knowledge Economy through building a partnership among 

government, business, civil society, the research and education community, donors 

and investors with the aim of making targeted efforts to bridge the digital divide in 

North-West of Russia. http://www.prior.nw.ru/eindex.htm 

Through Joint Efforts to New Round of Development 

Reference libraries in four neighbouring Russian south-western regions are working 

together to strengthen their role in making a modern civic society, developing new 

management approaches to forming library policies, and applying innovative 

techniques to library professional training. 

http://www.scilib.debryansk.ru/undesign/5program/korporat/index.html 

Local Community in the Modern Information Space 

The Bryansk Regional Research Universal Library and Unech Central Library have 

developed and implemented this project which represents a comprehensive library 

programme of providing improved services through development of a new model of 

partnership among the regional library (as the resource centre), the district (town) 

library (as the information intermediary) and the regional population (as the main 

customer of the information services). 

http://www.scilib.debryansk.ru/undesign/5program/unecha/index.html 

Serbia and Montenegro 

Digitisation and central information system for all museums of Montenegro 

Project for creating a wide range of information and documentation systems which 

will connect all museums in Montenegro with the National Museum as its central 

institution. (Website in preparation.) 

Slovenia 

Conference of Slovene public libraries 

The main topic at the 2003 conference was co-operation between libraries, archives 

and museums, and in 2004 co-operation in the digital environment. 

http://www.neumann-haz.hu/db/dia_en.html 

Visiting Art Project 

All three domains took part in this project from Sept. 2003 to March 2004. The goal 

of the project was the compilation of Mapping the Infrastructures of the Museums, 


Archives and Libraries Sector in Slovenia and Hungary. Resource, 2003. ISBN 1- 

903743-36-2. http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id585arep.pdf 

Spain 

State Public Library of Tarragona 

Support and documentation service for the Local Studies Centres, the result of a 

strategic partnership with the Instituto Ramon Muntaner, a foundation for the 

development of local studies in Catalonia. 

http://cultura.gencat.es/bpt/actual/docs/conveni.pdf 

Sweden 

Image Databases and Digitisation - platform for ALM-collaboration 

A joint digitisation project between the Royal Library - National Library of Sweden, 

the Nationalmuseum, the National Heritage Board and the National Archives of 

Sweden. http://abm.kb.se/eng.htm 

Ukraine 

Museum.org.ua 

Gathers countrywide cultural heritage focused on art and history in electronic media. 

Representatives of Ukrainian museums prepare and send e-materials (text, photos, 

video, etc.) to the Ukrainian Intermuseum Centre (UIC). UIC publishes these 

materials free of charge on the project website. 

http://museum.iatp.org.ua/UIC/INDEX.HTM 


Creating Partnerships 

An online resource designed to support creative collaboration between libraries, 

museums and the arts. It draws upon the East Midlands Books Connect project 

http://artsandlibraries.org.uk/bc/, which was designed as a pilot to demonstrate how 

books and reading can inspire new ways of working together, taking into account the 

themes of social inclusion, community cohesion and cultural diversity. 

http://www.artsandlibraries.org.uk/creatingpartnerships/index.html 

Citizenship Past 

A major learning resource being developed by a cross domain consortium consisting 

of the Ford Collection of British Official Publications, the University of Southampton 

Library, the West Yorkshire Archive Service and the Children's Society. 

http://www.citizenshippast.org.uk/about/about.html 

East Midlands Oral History Archive 

This partnership between the Centre for Urban history at the University of Leicester, 

Leicester County Council and Leicester City Museums and Library Services has 

brought together more than 20 collections, and has also generated new oral history 

recordings. http://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/ 


Linking Arms 

This is a partnership of the National Archives, the National Archives of Scotland, the 

National Library of Wales and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland together 

with regional and local organisations and community-based archives to develop an 

archives gateway that will bring together and develop all the existing networked 

information about archives in the UK. 

http://www.ukat.org.uk/news/lcraven20040616.pdf. 

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) 

This is the national development agency working for and on behalf of museums, 

libraries and archives and advising government on policy and priorities for the sector. 

It is represented at regional level by nine Regional Agencies (RAs), one in each 

English region. http://www.mla.gov.uk/ 




Business models 


Funding and financial opportunities 

Free and Open Source Software 

Outsourcing 

Application Service Providers 

Service Level Agreements 

Networking 

Intellectual Property Rights 

Customer Relationship Management 

SCOPE 


Cultural heritage organisations, such as museums, libraries and archives face new 

challenges in a period of reduced public funding and increased importance in 

promoting their usefulness to society. In particular they need to find ways to 

determine and meet the costs of introducing new services. In this context, they are 

increasingly focusing on moving away from a collection- to a user- or visitor-centred 

approach, seeking to develop more effective ways of managing internal resources 

and assets, and of providing better services and value to their public. 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly becoming 

indispensable to cultural heritage institutions. The use of ICT in organisations is 

acknowledged as an important lever for improving the management of resources 

and assets. Information systems can help rationalise and optimise all aspects of the 

relationship between organisations and their internal and external environment, the 

more so as contemporary organisations operate in the context of a networked 

information society. 

Nevertheless, individual museums, archives and libraries have a core mission that 

focuses on the care and utilisation of their collections for the benefit of end users. In 

order to achieve the best use of information technologies, and exploit the 

opportunities provided by the information society, they need to seek effective ways 

of procuring and establishing the necessary technological infrastructure and services. 

Establishing new ways of co-operation and integration within the broader business 

and technical environment (including government, other cultural heritage 

organisations, and technology providers) is essential. The Calimera Project is funded 

under the European 

Such an approach will help cultural heritage organisations to contribute Commission, 

to the 

IST Programme 

objectives of the e-Europe action plan 2005 [1], which supports the use of digital 

technologies, aiming to ensure that everyone in the European Union has access to 

Calimera Guidelines 109 Business models

the new information and communication technologies and exploits them as fully as 

possible. 


Cultural heritage organisations should seek to develop policies that will help them 

establish a competitive information technology infrastructure, They need to look for 

ways to determine and meet the costs of introducing new digitised services, but 

without endangering their core mission which is to serve the public. For a discussion 

of these issues see the NINCH Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation 

and Management of Cultural Heritage Materials [2] and Building and Sustaining 

Digital Collections: Models for Libraries and Museums. Council on Library and 

Information Resources, Washington, D.C., August 2001. ISBN 1-887334-85-8 [3]. 

The growth of ICT has led to the establishment of promising new business models, 

which could, potentially, be of use for the management and distribution of the 

information assets of cultural heritage organisations. This guideline outlines the most 

promising of these models. 

Free and open source models, outsourcing and the related Application Service 

Provider models have already proved to be valuable especially to smaller and local 

museums, libraries and archives, which do not always have the expertise or the 

financial and knowledge resources to develop their own internally managed 

infrastructure and technology projects. In particular, Application Service Providers 

can provide useful applications and services over the Internet, which could facilitate 

the discharge of their mission and provide them with affordable and effective tools 

for standard operating procedures. Networking and intermediaries’ organisations can 

also help memory institutions to promote knowledge and exchange best practice, 

while at the same time retaining control of their assets. However, consideration 

should be given to Intellectual Property Rights and Customer Relationship 

Management. 

Things which can be done in the commercial world may not always be suitable for 

mission-driven organisations. Nevertheless, museums, libraries and archives should 

look at what commercial organisations do and see what can be applied to their own 

situations as mission-driven user-centred public services, in many cases operating 

within a regulatory system. 

The business model chosen should fit with and be part of the strategic or project 

plan (see the guideline on Strategic planning). For example, when planning a 

digitisation project, the business model chosen could be the outsourcing model. 

Many commercial organisations sell services as opposed to products so there are 

similarities. A business model is the mechanism by which a “business” generates 

revenue and profits and covers its costs. A typical, very simplified, business model 

consists of the following elements: 

• how it will select its customers; 

• how it defines and differentiates its product offerings; 


• how it acquires and keeps customers; 

• how it goes to the market (promotion strategy and distribution strategy); 

• how it defines the tasks to be performed; 

• how it configures its resources; 

• how it captures profit. 

Such a model can be adapted for use by a museum, library or archive. Variations of 

all these elements are applicable to all types of business model, but each type of 

business model has a particular focus. When developing a business model the main 

issues to consider include: 

• who are the users e.g. the public, the culture sector, the education sector, the 

government sector, commercial organisations; (important in the CRM model); 

• products to be offered e.g. services, goods for sale; (important in the funding and 

financial opportunities model); 

• marketing of the service; (important in the CRM and funding models); 

• definition of the tasks performed; (important in all models); 

• financial resources e.g. income from public subsidy, grants, etc.; (important in the 

funding and financial opportunities model); 

• other resources e.g. buildings, equipment, staff; (important in the outsourcing, 

ASP, SLA and networking models); 

• costs; (important in the outsourcing, ASP, SLA and networking models); 

• types of income generation to cover costs; (important in the funding and financial 

opportunities model). 

Funding and financial opportunities Back to Scope 

Increasingly cultural heritage institutions are under pressure to make some financial 

return on their investment in digitisation. This is something which most museums, 

libraries and archives are not used to thinking about. Traditionally they have seen 

their resources as assets to be provided free of charge for the public good. Many 

museums and most archives and public libraries are dependent for most of their 

money on statutory funding, and in some countries may be required by law to 

provide certain “core” services free of charge. 

The value of cultural heritage however can be said to be greater than its economic or 

market value; its social and educational benefit to society is also part of its value. It 

is important therefore for policy makers to take a realistic view of the potential 

financial return on investment as it is comparatively rare for cultural institutions to 

make a profit in financial terms. Nevertheless in many cases revenue needs to be 

found to go some way towards covering costs. Marketing opportunities cannot 

therefore be ignored. 

Marketing is essential to attract users and can take many forms such as: 

• financing the website by selling advertising banners etc.; 

• advertising on relevant websites and in newspapers and journals; 

• speaking on the radio or television; 

• attending trade fairs or community events; 

• taking part in national and international promotions e.g. national archives weeks; 

• publishing leaflets; 

• via information aimed at tourists. 


It can be helpful to develop a niche market and target resources towards that. It is 

useful also to have a brand image. 

Ways in which income could be generated might include: 

• for the public: 

° charging for services not considered to be “core” services; 

° charging for copies, photographs, etc.; 

° sale of content online (e.g. by allowing users to browse a catalogue or look at 

thumbnail images, and charging for downloading full text or large images); 

° sale of products (gifts, cards etc.) online, face-to-face in a gift shop and/or 

through commercial outlets and tourist agencies etc. If possible, establish a 

brand and develop unique products related to the resources of the institution; 

° selling refreshments; 

° development and marketing of digital products such as CD-ROMs, videos, 

DVDs, audio media. This might be done through partnership with commercial 

companies or using sponsorship; 

• for the education sector: 

° licensing the online use of digital resources and charging for their use; 

° digitising resources specifically for use as course material; 

° developing subscription-based information services and virtual environments; 

° selling or licensing the rights to use content in “learning objects” (see the 

guideline on Learning); 

° offering training in-house, extra mural or online – fees could be charged 

particularly if accreditation is offered; 

° “selling” educational tours and visits. 

• for the cultural sector: 

° producing and selling copies of art works; 

° “selling” information, content (e.g. video and audio footage) and services (e.g. 

experts to assist with programmes) to broadcast media organisations for use 

in programmes (this is also a form of advertising); 

• for the commercial sector: 

° “selling” value added business information services to firms; 

° “selling” training courses tailored to the needs of local firms. 

To augment core funding, cultural organisations might consider lobbying and 

advocacy at national and local levels, influencing public opinion and forming groups 

of friends, applying for grant funding, outsourcing or joint service delivery with other 

organizations or the private sector, income generation or charging for services. 

For a discussion of ways to raise value from cultural assets see the DigiCULT report: 

Technological landscapes for tomorrow’s cultural economy: Unlocking the value of 

cultural heritage. [4]. 

The last decade has seen the rise of a “bidding culture” in museums, libraries and 

archives in many countries. Governments, the EU and other bodies or foundations 

have chosen to channel funds through competitive tender or submission of a bid. 

Sufficient investment can often be obtained in this way to implement new policies or 

services which might not be affordable from core funding. This competition for 

money has also been seen by governments as leading to a more innovative, 


entrepreneurial, market-oriented culture. Museums, libraries and archives need to 

identify suitable bidding opportunities and prepare effective bids. This requires 

investment in terms of time, money (often matched funding must be found), and 

staff skills. Training may be required to equip staff with the skills necessary to 

prepare successful bids (see the guideline on Staffing). 

Smaller institutions might explore the possibilities of developing partnerships: 

• with other cultural institutions to bid jointly for funding. A consortia might be in a 

better position to present a project likely to impress a funding body; 

• with publishers, broadcasters and other cultural organisations to carry out market 

research, stimulate interest in specific themes, topics and resources e.g. family 

history, and produce and market products and services. 

Free and Open Source Software Back to Scope 

A component of a basic commercial business model is costs. For museums, libraries 

and archives a major cost will be the technology underpinning the service. A model 

that has recently generated a lot of interest, especially in the context of public 

administrations and the not-for-profit sector, is that of free and open source. Free, in 

this context, should be understood in the sense of “free speech” rather than “free 

beer”. Open source software will have a lower initial cost (typically limited to service 

fees for customisation and setup), but will require more specialised technical skills to 

maintain. 

Open Source Software [5] and Free Software (OSS/FS) [6] are two initiatives within 

the field of computer science which have the same aim, namely allowing users the 

freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve software. This does not 

mean that OSS/FS software is necessarily free of charge. OSS/FS advocates refer to 

“distributing free software for a fee'', the point being that no-one has the exclusive 

right to distribute OSS/FS software and no-one can place any restrictions on the reuse 

and modification of such software, and the source code has to be part of the 

distribution. 

The difference between the OSS and FS movements is really one of emphasis. For 

the Open Source movement, the issue of whether software should be open source is 

a practical question; for the Free Software movement it’s an ethical issue, i.e. ‘free’ 

as in ‘freedom’. For practical purposes there’s no real difference between them. For 

an overview see Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study [7]. 

OSS/FS principles are enforced through using special licences such as the GPL 

(General Public Licence) and "copyleft" to allow others to use their work, with the 

understanding that all derivative works created are also made freely available to 

anyone who cares to use them. The most popular OSS/FS licence is the GNU GPL, 

used by more than 75% of OSS/FS software. (GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU's 

Not UNIX”; it is pronounced “guh-noo.”) More information can be found on the Open 

Source License Law Resource Center’s website [8]. For an overview see An overview 

of "Open Source" software licenses [9], and Stallman, Richard: Linux and the GNU 

Project [10]. The Apache Software Foundation produces many open source software 

products [11]. 


When programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of 

software, the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. 

And this can happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of conventional 

software development, seems astonishing. The OSS/FS communities believe that 

this rapid evolutionary process produces better software than the traditional closed 

model. For a detailed discussion of emerging developments in this area see Digicult 

Technology Watch Briefing no. 18: Open Source Software and Standards, July 2004 

[12]. For information specifically for libraries see oss4lib open source systems for 

libraries [13], and for archives see The LEADERS toolkit [14]. 

Open source software has the advantage of interoperability, of not tying the 

organisation to one system, and is generally very robust because the users help to 

develop and maintain it. Typical examples of open source software of potential 

interest to museums, libraries and archives include the Linux operating system [15], 

the Koha library management system [16], the DSpace digital assets management 

system [17], the Greenstone digital library server software [18], and the Zope web 

application server [19]. 

Outsourcing Back to Scope 

An element of a business model is the resources available. Over recent years, 

Information Technology outsourcing has become a successful business model, which 

could resolve issues related to scarce IT skills, hardware and software infrastructure, 

and upfront financial investment. Outsourcing consists of allocating the functions 

related to the procurement and operation of the IT infrastructure and applications 

outside the organisation, as the responsibility of an external provider. Instead of 

maintaining internal specialised technical staff, cultural organisations can allocate the 

development and operation of IT-based services, such as the development of a 

website, to a commercial IT company, benefiting from their technical knowledge and 

expertise. Outsourcing such institutional activities, which have a supportive role, will 

help memory institutions to focus on their core functions of caring for collections and 

providing information and cultural services to their users. As outsourcing does not 

involve hiring personnel and managing projects internally, it may also be a costefficient 

way of engaging in information technology projects and activities, 

minimising initial investment and overall cost. Smaller local institutions might 

consider forming a partnership with other organisations to outsource two or more 

similar projects to the same company, which might lead to a reduction in cost (see 

the guideline on Co-operation and partnership). 

Application Service Providers Back to Scope 

The related Application Service Provider (ASP) model is based on outsourcing IT 

functions to companies which manage and distribute software-based services and 

solutions, offering shared access to software and computer infrastructure services. 

One of the most compelling advantages of using Application Service Providers is they 

can offer services without the costs of an in-house department. In particular, by 

using the ASP model, local museums, libraries and archives are not forced to run 

complex in-house IT systems, a task that most of them would not have the expertise 

or the resources to undertake. Potential areas of application are data acquisition 

storage, manipulation and distribution. 


For example, using the ASP model: 

• a local archive could allocate the task of digitisation of its collections to an 

external organisation, such as a digitisation centre; the archive would have to pay 

a flat fee per item digitised, while the digitisation centre would have the 

responsibility of maintaining the specialised digital imaging infrastructure, 

providing digitised material to the archive, and possibly also keeping safe copies 

of the digital surrogates for long-term preservation purposes; 

• a museum could use the services of an ASP to manage and operate membership 

services; the museum would pay a flat fee related to the size of its mailing list 

plus an additional fee for each mailing or other communication (physical or 

electronic) to its friends, while the ASP would run the information systems, 

network connections and mailing logistics necessary for the service. 

Service Level Agreements Back to Scope 

The related outsourcing and Application Service Provider models operate under 

service contracts. Since the cultural heritage organisation will not have direct control 

over the setup and operation of services provided, it is essential that such services 

have guarantees as to their timeliness and quality. Thus, these models are typically 

regulated by Service Level Agreements (SLAs), specifying in non-ambiguous terms 

the minimum standards required by the cultural heritage organisation and providing 

for financial and other penalties if such standards are not met. 

Networking (see also the guideline on Co-operation and partnership) Back to Scope 

While, in the commercial sector, outsourcing and Application Service Providers are 

typically commercial companies, in the field of cultural heritage they can take 

alternative forms. In fact, digital technologies can support, and even enforce, 

effective co-operation between cultural organisations. For example, networks or 

consortia can take responsibility for functions that will achieve an objective common 

to all the participating organisations but which would not be feasible for a single 

cultural organisation to undertake. 

Actually, networking can be regarded as one of the most promising business models 

for museums, libraries and archives. Networks of distributed content can be created, 

where cultural organisations can exchange information and knowledge on IT use. In 

addition, such networks, or consortia of cultural organisations, could undertake, for 

example, the task of managing the rights and revenues from the use of the 

information assets of the individual organisations; such intermediaries would 

effectively act as ASPs, but their nature and status would make it easier for cultural 

heritage organisations to retain effective control of the assets entrusted to the 

network, and reduce fears that information assets belonging to individual 

organisations would be abused. 

Smaller museums, libraries and archives, which constitute the vast majority of 

European cultural heritage organisations, have a core mission and skill set that often 

does not currently involve technology, or technology-based services. Therefore, 

instead of developing in-house all the elements of a comprehensive infrastructure 

that would allow them to manage and utilise their assets for public benefit, it makes 

sense for such organisations to seek co-operative solutions, drawing from the 

experience of the commercial sector. 


Intellectual Property Rights Back to Scope 

The networking model may allay fears that cultural heritage organisations may 

entertain about abuse of Intellectual Property Rights, and related rights to their 

information assets, as they become available in a digital environment. As assets such 

as written works and digital surrogates of artworks become available through 

electronic networks, it is important not only that unauthorised use is controlled by 

means of technologies such as digital watermarking, but also that the whole lifecycle 

of resource exploitation is managed by digital rights management systems (see the 

guidelines on Security and Legal and rights issues). 

On the other hand, as cultural heritage organisations are typically funded by society 

in order to provide a public service, they should balance considerations for rights 

control with provisions for protecting fair use of their information assets for nonprofit 

or educational purposes; in particular, parallel to the commercial protection 

and exploitation of their resources, they should consider adopting a “some rights 

reserved” policy, such as that provided by Creative Commons licensing [20]. 

Customer Relationship Management Back to Scope 

A component of a basic business model is how to acquire and retain customers. 

Providing a service to end users, both current and future, is the main purpose of a 

cultural heritage institution and the reason for managing the information assets. 

Indeed, building, retaining and growing value-based relationships with the public is 

an essential aspect of the educational and cultural mission of such organisations. 

Variants of Customer Relationship Management systems, typically used in 

commercial marketing and customer support systems, can be valuable in supporting 

the communication between cultural heritage organisations and their friends, visitors 

and readers. 

The purpose of CRM systems is to strengthen the relationships, on the one hand, 

between memory institutions and their users and, on the other, between the 

different departments within each organisation. They provide an holistic approach to 

different needs and purposes, helping institutions to define their objectives in 

accordance with their users’ needs. In the smallest case, CRMs could consist just of 

an automated mailing list support system, or a mail-merge package, allowing 

organisations to inform their audience about important events. Through dedicated 

CRM systems, museums, libraries and archives could target products and services 

more accurately, improve their inter-relationships and foster better communications 

with and understanding of their existing and target “customers”. Cultural heritage 

organisations should consider their needs carefully, and select systems that will help 

them to manage their audiences better. 


Memory institutions will be increasingly faced with challenges making it appropriate 

to adopt solutions such as those illustrated in this guideline. New business models, 

based on knowledge transfer, collaboration and outsourcing, will be extremely 

important in future developments. There will be an increasing need for common 


models for management of technology in local cultural institutions, based on a cooperative 

approach; these could be shared to promote good practice, knowledge and 

create new alliances between cultural heritage institutions. 

Local museums, libraries and archives will need to adopt business models which take 

into account increasing integration within local government environments. 

All the above recommendations should be considered today as alternatives to 

standard practice by cultural heritage organisations, in the context of optimising the 

use of resources and improving public service. All of them are already in use in the 

commercial sector, and, under the considerations noted above, they offer promise in 

the cultural field. Potential future developments include the emergence of specialised 

commercial ASPs in the field of collections management and digital assets 

management systems, an expansion of digitisation and cultural service centres based 

on a networking or consortium model, generally available software tools for cultural 

heritage organisations based on the open source model, and established standards 

and platforms for digital rights protection and management. For a useful discussion 

of the issues to be considered see the briefing paper for the ERPANET seminar on 

Business Models related to Digital Preservation, 20 – 22 Sept. 2004 [21]. 



http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/action_plan/index_ 

en.htm 

[2] The NINCH Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation and 

Management of Cultural Heritage Materials 

http://www.nyu.edu/its/humanities/ninchguide/index.html 

[3] Building and Sustaining Digital Collections: Models for Libraries and Museums. 

Council on Library and Information Resources, Washington, D.C., August 2001. ISBN 

1-887334-85-8. 

http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub100/pub100.pdf 

[4] The DigiCULT Report: Technological landscapes for tomorrow’s cultural economy: 

Unlocking the value of cultural heritage. European Communities, 2002. ISBN 92-828- 

5189-3. http://www.digicult.info/pages/report.php 

[5] The Open Source Definition 

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition_plain.html 

[6] Free Software Definition http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html 

[7] Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Survey and Study 

http://www.infonomics.nl/FLOSS/index.htm 

[8] Open Source License Law Resource Center 


http://www.denniskennedy.com/resources/technology-lawcentral/opensourcelaw.aspx 

[9] An overview of “open source” software licenses: a report of the Software 

Licensing Committee of the American Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section 

http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/opensource.html 

[10] Stallman, Richard: Linux and the GNU Project. Updated 2004. 

http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html 

[11] Apache Software Foundation http://www.apache.org/ 

[12] Digicult Technology Watch Briefing no. 18: Open Source Software and 

Standards, July 2004. 

http://www.digicult.info/downloads/DigiCULT_TWB18_OSS_1_1.pdf 

[13] oss4lib open source systems for libraries http://www.oss4lib.org/ 

[14] The LEADERS toolkit http://sourceforge.net/projects/leaders/ 

[15] Linux operating system http://www.linux.org/ 

[16] Koha library management system http://www.koha.org/ 

[17] DSpace digital assets management system http://www.dspace.org/ 

[18] Greenstone digital library server software http://www.greenstone.org/ 

[19] Zope web application server http://www.zope.org/ 

[20] Creative Commons licensing http://creativecommons.org/ 

[21] ERPANET seminar on Business Models related to Digital Preservation, 

Amsterdam, 20 – 22 Sept. 2004. Briefing paper. 

(Also contains a useful bibliography.) 

http://www.erpanet.org/events/2004/amsterdam/erpaTraining- 

Amsterdam_BriefingPaper.pdf 

International 


The Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) 

The Art Museum Image Consortium (AMICO) is an not-for-profit organisation of 

institutions with collections of art, collaborating to enable educational use of museum 

multimedia. http://www.amico.org 


Europe 

Cultural Heritage in Regional Networks (REGNET) 

REGNET aims to set up a functional network of service centres in Europe to provide 

IT-services dedicated to cultural heritage organisations and to be an enabler of 

eBusiness activities for cultural heritage organisations. http://www.regnet.org 

Open Heritage: Enabling the European Culture Economy 

A European Commission part-funded project, which aims to create an IT 

infrastructure that would improve access to collections held by regional museums 

and develop a “cultural driven” economy for contributing significantly to the local 

economic development. http://www.openheritage.com 

Austria 

Büchereiverband Österreichs (Austrian Library Association) 

This organisation has developed an IT-based service, namely a prototype website for 

libraries, which enables librarians to create their own library website with the help of 

specialised staff of the Büchereiverband via special vocational training courses. This 

makes it unnecessary for libraries hire a commercial company or set up an in-house 

department to produce their own website. http://www.bvoe.at/ 

Hungary 

eVillages 

Using the open source business model it is planned to connect small villages in 

Hungary to the Internet to provide information services and opportunities for 

participation in eGovernment. 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/istevent/2004/cf/document.cfm?doc_id=115 

4 

Municipal WEB portal for libraries in small communities 

New tool to help the integration of small municipal libraries into the modern 

information society. It supports the creation and maintenance of an easy to use, 

home made on-line library catalogue. The portal, besides making accessible 

traditional library functions, aims to satisfy all the information needs that may be 

supported electronically. http://www.kiskonyvtar.hu 

Poland 

SSWIM - The Museum Information Exchange Network 

The defined set of standards may be used in museums in conjunction with SSWIM to 

provide a minimalist programme giving details of items housed in museum collections 

for those museums which do not have their own cataloguing programmes and 

databases. As such, the programme may serve as encouragement for those 

museums looking for the cheapest solution to taking the first step in computerising 

their catalogues. http://www.pma.pl 

Romania 


BiblioPhil - Project of “Petre Dulfu” Maramures County Library 

Integrated library system model, connecting the security systems, home lending, 

virtual library, book circulation, statistics, user management and document 

processing within a single system, which offers transparency for users as well as for 

librarians. http://www.bibliotecamm.ro 


The Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network (SCRAN) 

SCRAN is a searchable online resource base of over one million text and multimedia 

records, an online interactive library with an extensive and diverse collection of 

records relating to culture, history and science. http://www.scran.ac.uk 




Staffing 

SCOPE 


Recruitment 

Skills 

Training 

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) 

Cross-domain issues 

Outsourcing 

POLICY ISSUES Back to scope 

The last few years have seen great changes in the way services are delivered by 

museums, libraries and archives, and it is likely that the next few years will continue 

to provide challenges for staff. 

The biggest factor for change has been technology. Making resources available over 

the Internet, whether they are created by the institution or acquired in some way 

(co-operation, payment/licensing etc.) has implications for what type of staff will be 

required, the training they will need, what services will be provided, and how these 

services will be delivered. Technology continues to develop at a rapid rate which 

necessitates continual retraining. 

Other issues include demographic changes, changes in working patterns, and 

political agendas. 

Museums, libraries and archives must ensure they have the staff with the necessary 

skills to do the job through recruitment, training and development, and the use of 

outsourcing and external consultants. 


Recruitment Back to scope 

The population of Europe is ageing, which means that there is greater competition 

for good young recruits. Museums, libraries and archives, like other employers, need 

to offer attractive working conditions, including: 

• pay and conditions should compare favourably with other sectors requiring similar 

skill levels. This can sometimes be a problem for smaller organisations; 

• career prospects also need to be attractive. Again, this can be a problem for 

smaller organisations, particularly if they have a low turnover of staff; 

• more flexible working patterns may need to be accommodated, e.g. part-time, job 

share, temporary contracts, outsourcing to freelance workers, etc. 

Calimera Guidelines 121 Staffing

Image and outsider perceptions can sometimes deter entrants. There is a need to 

market the positive qualities of working within the sector, such as the range of jobs 

available, skills required and career prospects. 

Equal opportunity agendas mean that the diversity of the population should be 

reflected in the workforce e.g. people from ethnic minorities and disabled people 

should be recruited. 

People may be recruited from all over the EU. The free movement of persons is one 

of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by European Community law and includes 

the right to live and work in another member state. There are three main regulations 

covering the mutual recognition of qualifications within the EU: Directive 89/48/EEC, 

Directive 92/51/EEC and Directive 99/42/EC [1]. The best source of detailed 

information is the professional associations in member states. 

Advertising in professional journals, newspapers etc. is still the most usual way of 

recruitment, but increasingly employers are advertising on websites and mailing lists 

directed at specific professions. Obtaining new recruits via training schools is also 

very common. 

Skills Back to scope 

Various factors are affecting the range and type of skills required in the cultural 

heritage sector, including: 

• technology – this continues to develop rapidly necessitating continual retraining; 

• user expectations – these are getting more demanding, driven largely by the 

commercial sector; 

• political agendas – including social inclusion, cultural identity and diversity, 

community cohesion, lifelong learning and economic development; 

• changing work patterns – it is anticipated that people will change jobs and 

careers more than once during their working life, requiring retraining and the 

acquisition of new skills. 

Skills required include: 

• Technical skills 

On a basic level staff should be able to use everything which is available for 

visitors, including PCs, printers, fax machines, microform readers, photocopiers, 

audio and video equipment, interactive exhibits, etc. More advanced ICT skills are 

also required. There is still a need for staff to carry out expert searching for 

information, Staff are now needed who can design and set up websites, or 

produce a digital video of an object. People are required who can understand the 

whole process of digitisation and who know how to store, retrieve and manipulate 

digital resources. Staff are also needed with the skills to deal with non-ICT 

technology, such as environmental monitoring equipment in museums and 

archives. 

• People skills 


On the whole the cultural heritage sector has a good record in the area of 

customer care. However, users are tending to become more demanding. They 

expect services to be delivered quickly, and to be available whenever and 

wherever they want them. This is leading to more services being delivered 

electronically, and to service points being open in the evenings, at weekends and 

on bank holidays. Flexible staff with good people skills are therefore needed. 

• Pedagogical skills 

The lifelong learning agenda is changing the role of staff. At a basic level they are 

now expected to be able to show people how to use PCs etc. Increasingly they 

are teaching people on a one-to-one basis, in groups, and outside the premises in 

educational institutions, workplaces and community centres etc. Subjects covered 

are not only ICT related, but related to the organisation’s specialisms. Teaching 

skills are also needed to train other staff. 

• “Political” skills 

Staff need to be politically aware in order to meet international and national 

targets and objectives. In addition, “joined-up” government means that they are 

likely to have to work with a range of different government and/or local 

government departments. For example, an archivist might need to provide details 

of school visits to an education department, evidence of engagement with elderly 

people to a social services department, details of special events to a tourist or 

leisure department, numbers of website hits to an ICT department, and usage 

statistics to a national or local department collecting performance figures. 

Negotiating and lobbying skills are also required to ensure funding, staffing levels 

etc. are adequate, and partnership skills are needed to work with other sectors. 

• Marketing and promotional skills 

Museums, libraries and archives cannot sit and wait for people to come through 

their doors; they must promote their services in a world where there are many 

competitors for people’s time and attention. This involves market research and 

outreach work. For example, staff might visit schools, residential homes or 

travellers’ sites, appear on TV or radio, attend exhibitions or business fairs, give 

talks to clubs, organise events, set up special interest groups, etc. They can also 

use their websites for promotion to audiences worldwide and encourage virtual 

communities of interest. 

It is also important to promote the contribution museums, libraries and archives 

can make to agendas such as lifelong learning, social inclusion, etc. They need to 

market their services and resources to the formal education sector, to 

broadcasters, to social service departments, to tourist offices, to the voluntary 

sector, and to local businesses. 

• Financial skills 

There has been a shift towards a bidding culture, so the skills needed to prepare 

and submit a successful bid for project funding will be useful. Smaller 

organisations may find these through partnership schemes (see the guideline on 

Co-operation and partnership). In some cases institutions might be required to 


aise additional income through sales of goods and catering etc. Of course the 

skills to administer the general budget will be needed. 

• Legal skills 

A knowledge of rights issues, copyright law, data protection, freedom of 

information, and general security issues is very important. (See the guideline on 

Legal and rights issues.) 

• Specialist skills 

Domain specific professional skills are of course important, such as curatorial and 

conservational skills, record keeping, information skills, metadata and terminology 

skills, bibliographic skills, etc. In the digital era some of these skills might be 

used in different settings. For example, metadata is being recognised as a core 

skill for library professionals arising from cataloguing, indexing and library 

management practice. Information handling and management skills used by 

archivists and librarians are needed in areas such as web content management, 

knowledge management and records management. Conservation and curatorial 

skills are required in any digitisation project to ensure the safety of original 

objects and documents. 

• Project management skills 

Project management is nowadays very important as many improvements and 

developments such as digitisation projects are carried out with project funding 

rather than from the general budget. Project management skills include for 

example: 

° leadership; 

° people management (customers, suppliers, managers and colleagues); 

° communication (verbal and written); 

° negotiating; 

° planning; 

° contract management; 

° problem solving; 

° creative thinking. 

• Leadership skills 

In some countries a lack of leadership skills in the cultural sector has been 

identified. 

• Other skills 

Other skills needed include communication skills, administrative skills, statistical 

skills, research skills, and time management. 

Training Back to scope 

• Initial professional training 

The Bologna Process [2] is presently the major process of higher education 

reform in Europe. It is driven by the participating countries but also involves the 

European Commission, the European University Association (EUA), the Council of 

Europe, ESIB (National Unions of Students in Europe) and EURASHE (European 

Association of Institutions in Higher Education). The Bologna Declaration [3] was 


signed in 1999 by 29 countries. An important goal of the Process is to move 

higher education in Europe towards a more transparent and mutually recognized 

system. 

Initial professional training generally takes place in universities. Changes are 

taking place in the content of courses as a result of the changing roles of 

museums, libraries and archives and of the increasing use of technology. 

However, more work could be done to close the gap between teachers and 

employers, perhaps by offering more work placements linked to courses and more 

on-the-job training. 

• Continuing Professional Training (CPD) Back to scope 

It is estimated that within ten years 80% of a person’s skills will be out-of-date. 

CPD is therefore desirable, and may even become a requirement of retaining 

one’s professional qualifications. CPD can take many forms including for example: 

° taking time off to study full-time at a university; 

° studying part-time in one’s own time; 

° following an e-learning course; 

° attending short courses/workshops run by professional organisations or 

commercial trainers; 

° in-house training from another member of staff; 

° mentoring by another member of staff from one’s own or another institution; 

° coaching; 

° learning on the job; 

° job rotation. 

CPD implies some logic to what is learned, a plan, rather than just attending a 

course “because it is there” or “because one is sent”. It is useful for each member 

of staff to have a personal training plan regularly discussed and reviewed with 

their manager or team leader. 

As part of CALIMERA Workpackage 4, a review of training modalities available to 

local cultural institutions was carried out. Responses indicated that all domains in 

member states include technological topics and legal issues in their professional 

courses. Pedagogical skills and financial skills are given a lower priority. 

Responses also indicated a need for more training in these same areas i.e. 

technology and legal issues, with a view to implementing technology and 

improving the ability to discuss needs and negotiate with technology suppliers. 

Training is sometimes not given the priority it should be for reasons such as: 

• Lack of time – it is often difficult for smaller institutions to release staff for 

training; 

• Lack of money – this too can be a problem for smaller organisations. It can be 

exacerbated when training budgets are controlled centrally by a governing body 

or local authority and where managers must make a case for funds; 

• The culture of the organisation might not encourage training. Sometimes staff 

become set in their ways and do not want to move from the “comfort zone” of 

their own particular specialism. Involving such staff in training others might 

encourage them to see the value of updating skills. Staff should be made aware 


of factors such as government agenda which are necessitating changes in the 

way people work, or of cases where funding is linked to the achievement of 

objectives which require them to gain and use new skills. 

Professions other than museum curators, librarians and archivists are now employed 

in the cultural heritage sector, including educationalists and ICT professionals. Their 

skills must also be kept up to date. Other staff such as para-professionals, assistants, 

auxiliary workers, drivers, cleaners, volunteers, all bring skills to the job, and have 

training needs. All staff should be given the opportunity to gain new skills and 

qualifications. In some countries courses leading to qualifications are available for 

non-graduates. Developing and supporting staff that do not have a professional 

qualification, is an important way of increasing the pool of people able and willing to 

enter professional training. 

Cross-domain issues Back to scope 

Many skills required in the cultural heritage sector are transferable. Skills such as 

communication, team working, financial management, customer care, administration, 

marketing, project management, knowledge management, pedagogic skills and ICT 

skills are in demand outside the sector altogether, and are equally required in 

museums, libraries and archives. 

All three domains have many common aims and objectives and are sometimes 

linked together locally, regionally and even nationally as in Norway and the UK (see 

the guideline on Co-operation and partnership). Smaller institutions may share a 

building, and may organise joint events or collaborative projects. 

It is useful therefore if staff have an understanding of the work of the other domains, 

and can even work in more than one domain. Cross-domain training may be useful in 

this respect. Job exchanges and secondments could be arranged between the 

domains and can benefit both the secondee and the institution. This is often easier 

to arrange where a local authority runs the local museum, public library and archive 

services. Cross-domain networks could be set up to share best practice and to offer 

advice and support regarding professional development. This sort of arrangement 

could be very useful for staff in small institutions, and particularly for those working 

in single-staffed institutions, as well as for freelance workers. 

Outsourcing and use of external consultants Back to scope 

Sometimes skills are needed for short-term project work which fall outside the core/ 

traditional competences of museums, archives and libraries and cannot be met inhouse. 

In these cases one way of acquiring the skills is to employ outside contractors 

or external consultants. 

FUTURE AGENDA Back to scope 

Digital culture has acted as stimulant to employment growth in the past, and is likely 

to do so in the future given the demand for creativity and content in the wider 

cultural sector, including areas such as TV, publishing, and the music industry as well 

as museums, libraries and archives. The culture industry as a whole is characterised 


y a high share of freelancers and very small companies which do not fit easily into 

previously typical patterns of full-time professions. There are also a large number of 

volunteers employed, particularly in museums. Consequently it is difficult to quantify 

the size of the workforce. However, the study Exploitation and development of the 

job potential in the cultural sector in the age of digitalisation [4] estimated a growth 

in the multimedia and software industries from 12 million in 2001 to 22 million in 

2011. Furthermore this study anticipated a demand for workers in the content and 

creativity sub-sectors (Web design, advertising, publishing, media, education, 

entertainment, etc.). Workers with transferable skills should benefit from this 

potential growth. 

It is anticipated that in future staff will change jobs and careers more than once 

during their working life, and will need to broaden their experience and skills base in 

order to achieve their potential. They will become multi-skilled, and their working 

patterns will be more flexible. 

Working in another country also increases people’s experience and skills. With the 

expansion of the EU and the mutual recognition of qualifications this should become 

easier to arrange. 

Movement between the domains may become more common as the sector shares 

many characteristics and challenges e.g. social inclusion programmes, lifelong 

learning initiatives, information society targets, economic regeneration, financial 

pressures, changes in ways of working caused by digitisation and technology in 

general. 

More collaboration is required between training organisations and employers to 

ensure new recruits are equipped with the relevant range of skills. 

Leadership has been identified in some countries a major capacity lack in the 

museums, libraries and archives sector. Ways need to be found to encourage 

high calibre recruits to work in the sector, and more initiatives such as the Clore 

Leadership Programme in the UK (see Links) are needed to give staff the 

development opportunities needed. 

REFERENCES Back to scope 

[1] EU Directives 89/48/EEC, 92/51/EEC and 99/42/EC. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/qualifications/general-system_en.htm 

[2] The Bologna Process http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Cooperation/education/Higher_education/Activities/Bologna_Process/default.asp 

[3] The Bologna Declaration http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Cooperation/education/Higher_education/Activities/Bologna_Process/Bologna_Declarati 

on.asp 


[4] Exploitation and development of the job potential in the cultural sector in the age 

of digitalisation. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/sources_info/studies_evaluation/exploit_empl 

oi_en.html 

Bulgaria 

LINKS Back to scope 

The Center for Continuing Education for Librarians 

Joint project of the Bulgarian Library Association (ULISO) and the Library and 

Information School at Sofia University. Sponsored and supported by the Open 

Society Institute, Regional Library Program, Budapest, and the Open Society 

Foundation, Sofia. http://www.lib.bg/Cntr-for%20cont.ed.htm 


www.dobrovolnik.cz 

Voluntary activities in the Czech Republic. http://www.dobrovolnik.cz 

Denmark 

Skjoldenæsholm Tram Museum 

Many museums rely on volunteers. This is an example of a museum which is run 

entirely on a voluntary basis by members of the Danish Tramway Historical Society. 

http://www.sporvejsmuseet.dk/ 

Ireland 

A Training Strategy for the Irish Museum Sector 

Training for museum staff is linked to the introduction of an accreditation scheme for 

museums. http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/publications/museums3/training.html 

Poland 

Bibweb project 

This distance Internet training tool helps library staff (and other professions) to 

acquire and develop competencies in offering new innovative services to users. 

http://www.bibweb.pl 

Russia 

MR-Prof (Russian museums for professionals) 

The Russian Institute of Cultural Research (Russian Museum Encyclopaedia Section) 

(http://www.evarussia.ru/eva2001/catalog_eng/prod_121.html) and the Russian 

Cultural Heritage Network (http://www.rchn.org.ru/defengl.htm) have opened this 

joint information project linking materials, technologies and users of the “Museums 

of Russia” Internet-portal (http://www.museum.ru). Content is regularly added by 

museum experts and practitioners. The purpose of the project is to transform the 

Internet into a high-grade working tool for museum specialists. 


Verchnevolzhje Resource Centre on regional museums information 

Based on the Rybinsk Museum-Reserve database (http://rmuseum.orbis.spb.ru), this 

is a consultation centre for the training of museum workers on effective methods of 

creating and using museum information systems. 

Slovakia 

InfoLib 

Slovak portal of librarianship and information science theory and practice - project of 

the Slovak Librarians’ Association. http://www.infolib.sk 

Sweden 

BIBSAM - the Royal Library´s Department for National Co-ordination and 

Development 

BIBSAM arranges seminars and conferences for library staff in order to highlight 

issues of current interest to library staff and to raise the level of competence. Quite 

often lecturers and speakers are brought in from countries outside Sweden. 

http://www.kb.se/BIBSAM/english/courseconf/first.htm 

Turkey 

Turkish Archives Site 

Contains useful information and links to archival sites, mailing lists, organisations etc. 

for archivists and records managers working in, or interested in, Turkey. 

http://www.archimac.org/index.spml 

UK 

Clore Leadership Programme 

Initiative of the Clore Duffield Foundation which aims to help to train and develop a 

new generation of leaders for the cultural sector. http://www.cloreleadership.org/ 

Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) 

Government initiative to bring together employers, trade unions and professional 

bodies to address issues such as reducing skills gaps and improving productivity and 

performance. There are several SSCs, but two of particular relevance are the 

Creative and Cultural Skills Sector Council (for the arts, museums and galleries, 

heritage, crafts and design http://www.cciskills.org.uk/) and the Lifelong Learning 

Skills Sector Council (for community-based learning and development, further and 

higher education, library and information services and work-based learning 

http://www.ssda.org.uk/ssda/Default.aspx?page=1203). 

Volunteering England 

Published “Get it Right from the Start: volunteer policies – the key to diverse 

volunteer involvement” covering recruitment, training, diversity, health and safety, 

etc. http://www.volunteering.org.uk/centre/docs/Policies%20Booklet.pdf 




Performance and evaluation 

SCOPE 

The issues dealt with in this guideline include: 

Public library statistics 

Museum statistics 

Archive statistics 


New statistical measures 

Benchmarking (metric and process) 

Measures of value and impact 

Practical Toolkits for measuring value and impact 


Standards 

Measuring the use of electronic resources 

New statistical measures for service evaluation 

eMetrics 

POLICY ISSUES Back to scope 

EU Involvement 

The European Union has no legal basis for involvement in museums, libraries or 

archives as such and touches on them only to the extent that they can demonstrate 

relevance to policy initiatives for which it does have a legal mandate. Examples 

include: 

• e-Europe; 

• employment; 

• culture; 

• research; 

• international co-operation; 

• trade (e.g. intellectual property rights); 

• social development; 

• structural development. 

Measuring the impact of museums, libraries and archives in these areas is a 

challenge. 

Performance measures are of potential interest to many stakeholders: 

• government, whose policy it may be to collect performance data as it is in the UK 

(see Links) and in the USA; 

• policy makers and funders, who want to know whether services are effective in 

reaching their objectives; 

• service managers, who want to make the best possible use of the resources 

allocated to them for the benefit of their users; 

Calimera Guidelines 130 Performance and evaluation

• the public, both as customer and supporter, who want to know that the service 

will be there when they want to use it; 

• advocates of public libraries, museums or archives; 

• researchers acting on behalf of any or none of these groups. 

The issue can be addressed at three levels: local, national/regional and international. 

The key questions driving the agenda for performance measurement internationally 

are: 

• What are museums/public libraries/archives for? 

• Who controls the agenda? Is it a national, regional or local matter? 

• Should museums/public libraries/archives be a broad service, catering for the 

whole community, or do they need to sharpen their marketing to demonstrate 

their value to and impact on specific client groups? 

• Modernisation brings in issues concerning the Internet and electronic information 

and links the cultural heritage agenda to such issues as e-government, social 

inclusion, freedom of information, employment, education and economic wellbeing. 

• The modernisation agenda confronts archives (more than libraries or museums) 

with the issues of dealing with “born digital” materials and of meeting users’ 

expectations of accessing material remotely via the Internet. 

• What is a good service and how much should it cost? 

• If a good public service now is different from the previous concept of a good 

public service, then new measures are called for. The development of Internetbased 

services makes this inevitable. 

• If there is increased competition for public funds, so museums, libraries and 

archives need arguments to win their share. Sometimes the argument is purely 

political. Sometimes it is rational and evidence-based, which is where 

performance indicators fit. They should provide the language for rational debate. 

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES Back to scope 

External observers are often surprised by the amount of work which has been done 

to develop performance indicators for libraries - there are even official International 

Standards on the subject. Performance indicators and statistics for archives and 

museums have not received as much international attention and are not so well 

developed. (See specific sections on each below). 

Public library statistics Back to scope 

Statistics are valuable for improving standards or gaining financial support. Public 

libraries in Europe mostly have good statistics (see Links) but issues for all three 

sectors include: 

• timeliness (they are often published “late”); 

• completeness (they may not be grossed up, making time trends impossible); 

• international standardisation (they may not respect international standard 

definitions); 

• presentation and access (they may be poorly presented and hard to find); 


• fitness for purpose (they may not cover topics needed by stakeholders – 

electronic services is a current issue). 

A large collection of library-related statistics is maintained by LibEcon (see Links. See 

also the bibliography.) 

Museum statistics Back to scope 

Whilst there has been a good deal of work on public library statistics and basic 

comparable data is readily available, the same is not true of local museums or 

archives. A basic difficulty is a failure to agree on an international classification of 

museums acceptable to all. This means that such data as is collected is not 

internationally comparable. Even ICOM’s basic definition of a museum is currently 

under review. [1]. 

The nearest equivalent to an international standard for museum statistics is the 

UNESCO questionnaire which asks about numbers of museums, types, visits, staff 

numbers, income and expenditure and aims to get contextual data for grossing up. 

The last UNESCO survey of museums was in 1995 and it encountered significant 

difficulties. 

EUROSTAT looked into the question of cultural statistics in Europe in depth in the 

LEG (Leading Experts Group) Report. [2] Amongst other things, the report examined 

museum statistics and the extent of their standardisation in a pilot group of 5 

countries and reached the following conclusion: 

“Most countries use the UNESCO or ICOM definition of museums. If the UNESCO 

definition is considered to be an adequate yardstick, the total number of museums 

may be regarded as a statistic, which is available and comparable. On the other 

hand, the number of admissions gives only a partial idea of total attendance in the 

five countries in question. Admission figures generally apply to only a portion of the 

museum world (State museums, major museums) and often leave out the smaller 

museums. The figures are similarly incomplete as regards breakdown by status 

(public museums, private museums) or by type of collection. In most cases, they 

cover a part only of public museums. Lastly, statistics on museum staff and takings 

are not available in all countries.” 

The LEG was pointing out that in most countries there are huge numbers of private 

museums, often not documented at all, and that provincial public museums are not 

consistently reported. In addition, the LEG does not regard the UNESCO breakdown 

of museum types as helpful: 

“The definitions and classifications proposed by the Task Force, while based largely 

on those of UNESCO, derive from a stricter approach to what constitutes a museum. 

They exclude, for example, institutions which display living creatures, nature reserves 

and science centres.” 

The proposed classification breaks down museums by: 

• Nature of collection : the proposal is to simplify the UNESCO classification by 

reducing its nine headings to three. The reason for this choice is that museum 

collections are generally poly-thematic. Distinction by single theme does not 


seem necessary for European comparisons, although it can be of interest in 

national statistics. It should also be mentioned that museums of modern art are 

classified under the heading "Art, archaeology and history museums". 

• Administrative status: the proposal is to distinguish public from private museums. 

Public museums are broken down into “national museums administered or owned 

by the State and other public museums administered or owned by local 

authorities (province, region, commune).” 

Whilst Eurostat has continued with its generic approach to cultural statistics, the 

European museums world has maintained a sectoral focus on museums in general. 

The European Group on Museum Statistics (EGMUS) was recently formed by merging 

the Eurostat Museum Working Group (a group specifically studying one cultural 

sector (the museums)) and the annual Conference on Museum Statistics convened 

since 1995 by the Institut für Museumskunde (IfM) of the Staatliche Museen zu 

Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SMB). They have recently published (dated 

December 2003) “A Guide to Museum Statistics in Europe.” [3] This publication 

presents reports from 21 European countries on their museum-related statistics and 

on related questions (definition of "museum"; museum related law(s); compilers and 

sources of the statistics; collection types presented; ownership types presented). The 

publication also contains first comparative tables elaborated by EGMUS and reports 

on the Berlin conferences and some EUROSTAT (Statistical Office of the European 

Communities) activities. Some general topics resulting from the data and the reports 

are discussed. It deserves to be widely read though the data collected cannot simply 

be placed side by side, without many comments, into a single table because of the 

usual standardisation problems. 

This report also acknowledges a need for performance indicators, but does not 

recommend any specific indicators for use by practitioners or funders. 

Archive statistics Back to scope 

There is little evidence of work at an international level on archive statistics and the 

sector has problems similar to those besetting the museum sector. UNESCO last did 

a survey of archive statistics in 1988 after a few years’ experimentation starting in 

1984 using a statistical model developed with help from the International Council on 

Archives. There is no international standard for archival statistics, so the UNESCO 

questionnaire is the nearest thing. 

The LEG report [2] investigated the state of the art of archives statistics in Europe to 

a limited extent. Because Eurostat is addressing the whole field of cultural statistics, 

which is a complex and difficult area, it has needed to prioritise its work and so far 

has not specifically addressed the archives domain in depth. 

Two international surveys on statistics of national archives are listed in the 

references section [4]. There appears to be no comparable international work on 

local archives. The value of both these studies for local archives is perhaps mainly 

that: 

• they provide some information on archive law; 

• they indicate whether national archives supervise local archives; 

• Ogawa [4] provides an approach to the issues around archiving of “born digital” 


and of digitising older material; 

• both questionnaires can be regarded as pilots for future work in the field. 

Performance measures Back to scope 

Performance measures help managers to condense statistical data into meaningful 

indicators of actual performance – the term ‘indicator’ may be preferred as it 

correctly suggests that judgement is needed in interpreting the results. However, to 

be useful indicators must be robust and meaningful. They must be related exactly to 

the service’s objectives. If used to compare one service with another, great care is 

needed to ensure comparability. Finally, the effort expended to collect datasets for 

the calculation of performance measures must be in proportion to the likely benefits 

from improved decision-making. 

There is an ample literature on library performance indicators. In the UK, the Public 

Services Quality Group [5] is working on performance indicators for archives and the 

Society of Archivists published a guideline on the topic in 1993 (Measuring 

Performance by Patricia Methven et al. 1993. ISBN 0 902886 45 2. [6]). In the USA 

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (the Results Act) requires 

each agency to develop and publish an annual Performance Report. The National 

Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) reports [7] are on the web. Some of 

their indicators could be applied to local archives. 

New statistical measures and other tools for evaluating electronic 

services (see also the section on measuring the use of electronic resources below) 

Back to scope 

Work has taken place, in Europe and elsewhere, to develop indicators for the 

provision of IT-based services in libraries. Some of these measures are relatively 

crude but may nevertheless be useful: examples would be the number of publiclyaccessible 

PCs installed in public library branches and hits on public-facing web sites. 

Some of these indicators could easily be adapted for use in archives and museums. 

More sophisticated approaches (for libraries) have been explored in a number of 

projects, mostly with an academic library focus. The EC Telematics Programme 

EQUINOX Project [8] was designed to cover all library sectors. In the USA, the main 

work has been undertaken by McClure and Bertot. [9] 

Benchmarking (metric and process) Back to scope 

Benchmarking essentially means comparison with a view to improvement. Types of 

benchmarking include: 

• metric (statistical comparison using either existing published statistics or figures 

collected specially for the purpose); 

• process (where services investigate how other comparable services achieve their 

results). 

Benchmarks can be set against other museums/public libraries/archives or other 

kinds of organisations for generic functions such as purchasing or personnel 

management. 

There are examples of public library benchmarking at national level in the UK and in 

Germany (see Links) Both models could easily be adapted for use in other countries. 


The American Association of Museums operates a system of peer review [10]. The 

(UK) South Eastern Museums service developed a prototype automated 

benchmarking site. [11] 

Measures of value and impact Back to scope 

Measuring value and impact is extremely complex. The issue is best considered as 

part of a continuum of possible measures: 

Input > Process > Output > Outcome > Impact. 

• Inputs include all the resources that the organisation uses in order to produce 

whatever service or product it wants to sell (using ‘sell’ in a wide-ranging sense). 

They include finance, buildings, raw materials, machinery, staff, and increasingly 

recognised as an important input, information. Measurement usually consists of 

counting, though increasingly emphasis is shifting to measures of quality. It 

cannot be assumed, however, that a better-resourced institution is necessarily a 

better one. 

• Processes are whatever is done to inputs to create something new. When we 

measure processes it is usually to see how well they are working. So a library may 

measure processing times for new books as a way of seeing if the process of 

making stock available quickly is working as well as it should. 

• Outputs are the things that the organisation produces. Examples are ‘book 

issues’, ‘reference questions answered’, visits to an exhibition and ‘seats occupied 

by readers’. Very often measurement consists of counting the number of outputs 

produced. However, the quality of provision will be as important as quantity. 

• Outcomes are the short to medium term results of applying outputs. The 

number of borrowed books actually read might be an example of an outcome of 

book issuing. 

• Impact is the effect of the outcomes on the environment – again, using that 

term very broadly to include people and society at large – and is usually longterm. 

An example here might be the growth in literacy as a result of reading 

library books. 

• The main difficulty in measuring impact is that very many different factors 

contribute, so isolating one (such as the library contribution) is very difficult. 

Usually the best way forward is to ask customers for their views and/or to 

observe their behaviour. 

The case for outcome based evaluation in libraries and museums is made by IMLS 

(Institute for Museum and Library Services): Perspectives on Outcome Based 

Evaluation for Libraries and Museums. [12]. 

Practical Toolkits for measuring value and impact Back to scope 

At least two toolkits are available on the web: 

• Inspiring Learning for All is a UK toolkit focused on learning outcomes. [13] . It 

is designed to describe what an accessible and inclusive museum, archive or 

library which stimulates and supports learning looks like. It allows you to find out 

what the people that use your services learn, assess how well you are achieving 

best practice in supporting learning and improve what you do. 


• The Outcomes Toolkit [14] is an American toolkit for public libraries (but with 

methods which could also be applied to museums and archives) which allows 

services to actually carry out outcome-based evaluation. 

• VITAL: The Value and Impact of IT Access in Libraries [15] 

addressed the question ‘What is the value and impact of the provision of end-user 

access to IT-based services in public libraries?’ The main focus of the Project was 

not just on gathering data on what the answers might be now, but on developing 

transferable methodologies which libraries can use to assess the value and impact 

of their own services. The Project Final Report and Workbook are available from 

the website. 

• LONGITUDE II: Library Networking Impact Toolkit for a User-Driven Environment 

[16] is a toolkit of longitudinal survey methodologies which aims to contribute to 

an understanding of user needs and behaviour, with a particular focus on public 

libraries and the UK People’s Network. The emphasis is on qualitative approaches 

which illuminate the quantitative data which is more readily available. 

Standardised questionnaires for end-users Back to scope 

Questionnaires are a market-research tool of great potential value to public services. 

They may be regarded as relatively high cost and there are skills in question 

selection, selection of samples and processing which small organisations may find 

challenging. By using a standardised questionnaire, costs are reduced and value 

added. 

A range of standardised questionnaires in use nationally for public libraries in the UK 

is PLUS (Public Library User Surveys) [17]. Not only do libraries save effort by using 

the same tool, they put the results into a common database to allow inter-library 

comparisons and time series (benchmarking). Results are accepted as performance 

indicators for the UK Public Library Standards. There are now four questionnaires 

covering basic library use, use by children, views of non-users and use of electronic 

services. 

PLUS is now working with the Public Services Quality Group of the (UK) National 

Council on Archives (PSQG) on a survey of visitors to archives. The 2002 PSQG 

survey (of visitors to UK archives) is available on the web both through PLUS and 

through the National Archives site. [18]. 

Eurostat has inserted questions relevant to the cultural heritage sector in to the 

Eurobarometer survey including questions on museum and library use. [19] 

Standards Back to scope 

There are two relevant international standards for libraries [20]: 

• ISO 2789:2003 Information and documentation – International library statistics. 

This covers how to count libraries, librarians, books, cassettes, discs, etc. for 

inclusion in statistics related to library provision ; 

• ISO 11620:1998 Information and documentation - Library performance indicators. 

This specifies a set of 29 indicators grouped in the following areas: a) user 

satisfaction; b) public services; and c) technical services. 


Both have recently been revised or extended. They are both valuable but they are 

not well enough known and not strong on electronic measures or value and impact. 

(But see ISO/AWI TR 19934 - Information and documentation -- Statistics for the use 

of electronic library services (under development), and ISO TR 20983:2003 - 

Information and documentation: Performance indicators for electronic library 

services (recently published).) 

Some elements of these standards could be applied to museums or archives. 

Measuring the use of electronic resources Back to scope 

The use of licensed electronic information resources will continue to expand and in 

some cases become the sole or dominant means of access to content. The electronic 

environment, as manifested by the World Wide Web, provides an opportunity to 

improve the measurement of the use of these resources. 

There are lots of tools available to analyse web usage. A typical example is Analog. 

[21]. The site also provides online tutorials. It is recommended that those 

contemplating using statistics from web servers and the like should familiarise 

themselves with some of the issues concerning interpretation of such data e.g. The 

Value of Web Statistics by James Robertson, 28 August 2001 [22] and Why Web 

statistics are (worse than) meaningless. [23] 

The COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of networked Electronic Resources) Project is 

an international initiative working on developing a code of practice designed to serve 

librarians, publishers and intermediaries by facilitating the recording and exchange of 

online usage statistics [24]. 

New statistical measures and other tools for evaluating electronic services 

Back to scope 

• Developing National Data Collection Models for Public Library Network Statistics 

and Performance Measures [25]. This study (2000-01) addressed ways to design 

and implement a national data collection, analysis, and reporting system for 

public library network statistics and performance measures that is both accurate 

and reports data in a timely fashion. It built upon previous work (see next item) 

that produced a core set of network statistics and performance measures for 

public libraries (see below). The project directors are J.C. Bertot and C.R. 

McClure. 

• Developing National Library Network Statistics & Performance Measures [26]. This 

study developed a core set of national statistics and performance measures that 

librarians, researchers and policy makers can use to describe public library and 

library based state-wide network use of the Internet and Web based services and 

resources. 

Measures for Electronic Resources (E-metrics) Back to scope 

The E-metrics project [27] aims to explore the feasibility of collecting data on the 

usage of electronic resources. 

Urban Libraries Council (USA) [28] Impacts of the Internet on Public Library Use. The 


esearch study consisted of a national random telephone survey of 3,097 adults 

conducted during the spring of 2000. It was conducted in either English or Spanish. 

It is possible for libraries to compare themselves with other peer libraries, using the 

Public Library Peer Comparison Tool [29] or the Academic Libraries version. [30]. 

FUTURE AGENDA Back to scope 

There are a number of problems in this field which need to be addressed: 

• to have maximum impact, standards need to be understood and applied at 

national level; 

• the cost of data collection and analysis is higher than some services feel they can 

afford; 

• the topics are considered “difficult” and are not widely understood; 

• good practice is slow to travel and catch on (between countries and between 

sectors or domains); 

• measuring activity in networked environments is particularly difficult, yet this will 

be absolutely key to future use of both statistics and performance measures; 

• structures for dealing with these issues can be weak at national level. At 

international level they are very weak. 

In many places there is little awareness of best practice in this field. European 

research efforts are disparate and tend to be short-lived (e.g. the EC EQUINOX 

initiative to develop electronic library performance measures was funded for two 

years only – by contrast the USA has funded longitudinal research). To make a real 

difference it will be necessary not only to publicise best practice better but to develop 

tools and methodologies which can be applied internationally on a voluntary basis. 

REFERENCES Back to scope 

[1] ICOM’s basic definition of a museum - currently under review. 

http://icom.museum/definition.html. 

[2] European Commission, 2000, Cultural Statistics in the EU: Final Report of the 

LEG, Eurostat Working Paper, European Commission. 

http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/unesco/documents/FINALREP.DOC. 

[3] European Group of Museum Statistics (EGMUS): A Guide to Museum Statistics in 

Europe. 2003. (At time of writing (August 2004) not available on the web.) 

[4] Position and resources - international fact finding survey on national/federal 

archives by Chiyoko Ogawa (paper given at International Conference of the Round 

Table on Archives (CITRA) in Marseille, 13-16 November, 2002) 

http://www.ica.org/new/citra.php?pcitraprogramid=15&plangue=eng 

Les archives nationals et fédérales: systèmes, problèmes et perspectives by Paula 

Carucci in Proceedings of the 26 th International Conference of the Round Table on 


Archives, Madrid 1989. Published by the International Council on Archives, Rome 

1991. Pages 25-95. (not on the web). 

[5] Public Services Quality Group 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives/psqg/parties.htm 

[6] Methven, Patricia et al: Measuring Performance. Society of Archivists, 1993. 

ISBN 0 902886 45 2. 

[7] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Reports. 

http://www.archives.gov/about_us/strategic_planning_and_reporting/annual_perfor 

mance_reports.html 

[8] EC Telematics Programme EQUINOX Project http://equinox.dcu.ie/ 

[9] Bertot, J.C., McClure, C.R., and Ryan, J., Statistics and Performance Measures for 

Public Library Networked Services. Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2001. 

ISBN: 0-8389-0796-2. (Introduces the issues related to new electronic service 

performance measurement.) (Description and contents list only available on the web 

http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog2&_pn=product_detail&_op 

=797 

McClure, Charles R. and Bertot, John C.: Developing National Data Collection Models 

for Public Library Network Statistics and Performance Measures. 2001. 

http://www.ii.fsu.edu/getAbstract.cfm?pageID=9&abstractID=3&projectID=8 

Developing National Library Network Statistics & Performance Measures 

http://www.albany.edu/~imlsstat/ 

[10] The American Association of Museums. Peer review. 

http://www.aam-us.org/programs/peer_reviewer/index.cfm. 

[11] The (UK) South Eastern Museums Service. Benchmarking Support. 

http://www.museums.bedfordshire.gov.uk/bestvalue/benchmark/info3.html 

[12] IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services): Perspectives on Outcome 

Based Evaluation for Libraries and Museums. 

http://www.imls.gov/pubs/pdf/pubobe.pdf 

[13] Inspiring Learning for All 

http://www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/default.aspx?flash=true 

[14] The Outcomes Toolkit 

http://ibec.ischool.washington.edu/ibecCat.aspx?subCat=Outcome%20Toolkit&cat=T 

ools%20and%20Resources 

[15] VITAL: The Value and Impact of IT Access in Libraries 

http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/cerlim/projects/vital.htm 

[16] LONGITUDE II: Library Networking Impact Toolkit for a User-Driven 

Environment http://www.cerlim.ac.uk/projects/longitude/index.php 


[17] PLUS (Public Library User Surveys) 

http://www.ipf.co.uk/plus/eplus/default.htm 

[18] The 2002 PSQG (Public Services Quality Group) survey of visitors to UK archives 

is available on the web both through PLUS 

(http://www.ipf.co.uk/plus/psqg/default.htm) and through the National Archives site 

(http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives/psqg/survey.htm). 

[19] Eurostat has inserted questions relevant to the cultural heritage sector in to the 

Eurobarometer survey, including questions on museum and library use. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/public_opinion/standard_en.htm 

[20] Quality - Statistics and performance evaluation: Standards/projects 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueListPage.CatalogueList?COMMID=1792&scopelis 

t=ALL 

[21] Analog. http://www.analog.cx/ 

[22] Robertson, James: The Value of Web Statistics. 28 August 2001. 

http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/webstats/index.html 

[23] “Why Web statistics are (worse than) meaningless”. 

http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/webstats/ 

[24] COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of networked Electronic Resources) 

http://www.projectcounter.org/ 

[25] McClure, Charles R. and Bertot, John C.: Developing National Data Collection 

Models for Public Library Network Statistics and Performance Measures. 2001. 

http://www.ii.fsu.edu/getAbstract.cfm?pageID=9&abstractID=3&projectID=8 

[26] Developing National Library Network Statistics & Performance Measures 

http://www.albany.edu/~imlsstat/ 

[27] The E-metrics project http://www.arl.org/stats/newmeas/emetrics/ 

[28] Urban Libraries Council (USA) http://www.urbanlibraries.org/index.html 

[29] National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Library Statistics Program. 

Compare public libraries. 

http://www.nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/publicpeer/ 

[30] National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Library Statistics Program. 

Compare academic libraries. 

http://www.nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/academic.asp. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY Back to scope 


(This section contains works not specifically mentioned in the text.) 

Fuegi, D. Who Needs Statistics? : A note on the Libecon Project, Cultivate 

Interactive, issue 9, 7 February 2003. 

http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue9/libecon/ 

Moore, N. Measuring the Performance of Public Libraries: a Draft Manual. Paris, 

General Information Programme and UNISIST, UNESCO, January 1989. (This is a 

commendably comprehensive work; its language is straightforward and clear.) 

Ward, Suzanne; Sumsion, John; Fuegi, David; Bloor, Ian. Library Performance 

Indicators and Library Management Tools. Luxembourg, European Commission DG- 

XIII-E3, 1995. (Final report of the PROLIB Project, otherwise known as "The Toolbox 

Study". A "ground clearing" study aimed 

(1) to survey the state of library performance measurement across Europe, 

(2) to recommend priorities for further development, and 

(3) to produce a toolbox of performance measures and indicators applicable and 

important for all types of library in Europe. 

Van House, Nancy A; Lynch, Mary Jo; McClure, Charles R; Zweizig, Douglas L; 

Rodger, Eleanor Jo. Output Measures for Public Libraries: A Manual of Standardized 

Procedures. Second edition. Chicago, America Library Association, 1987. (A classic 

and formative text which has served to introduce sampling measurements of output 

to library managers worldwide.) 

Van House, Nancy A; Weil, Beth T; McClure, Charles R. Measuring Academic Library 

Performance: A Practical Approach. Chicago, American Library Association, 1990. 

(Following the manual for public libraries one year later, this is also a classic and 

formative text which has served to introduce sampling measurements of output to 

library managers worldwide.) 

LINKS Back to scope 

Introduction 

This section aims to represent good practice and includes material which is: 

• accessible linguistically and via the web; 

• established and usable (not small scale pilots). 

At the same time we have included: 

• some projects which are we consider to have strong potential to be influential; 

• material in languages other than English if the service/activity has significant 

potential. 

We have emphasised European material but included important material whatever its 

origin. For example, Joe Ryan’s library statistics site 

http://web.syr.edu/~jryan/infopro/stats.html is American but excellent for library 

statistical information and measures. It includes links, an extensive bibliography and 


sources in academic, museum, and school library statistics, as well as a number of 

links to European library statistics sources. 

International 

The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) 

For a good recent overview of problems in the area of international cultural statistics, 

including a bibliography see: Madden, Christopher: Making Cross-country 

Comparisons of Cultural Statistics: Problems and Solutions. June 2004. 

http://www.ifacca.org/files/1Background.pdf 

Statistical Indicators for Arts Policy: Discussion Paper (July 2004) identifies current 

work and global resources on cultural indicators, explores a number of analytical and 

coordination issues and makes suggestions for future directions. 

http://www.ifacca.org/FILES/StatisticalIndicatorsArtsPolicy.pdf 

International statistical surveys of national archives include: 

• Position and resources: international fact finding survey on national/federal 

archives by Chiyoko Ogawa (paper given at International Conference of the 

Round Table on Archives (CITRA) in Marseille, 13-16 Nov. 2002) 

http://www.ica.org/new/citra.php?pcitraprogramid=15&plangue=eng 

• Les archives nationals et fédérales: systèmes, problèmes et perspectives by Paula 

Carucci in Proceedings of the 26 th International Conference of the Round Table on 

Archives, Madrid 1989. Published by the International Council on Archives, Rome 

1991. Pages 25-95. (not on the web). 

Unesco Institute for Statistics 

The UIS Culture and Communication Programme is currently under review and has 

temporarily suspended all data collections pending the outcome of this process. They 

expect to launch a new data collection soon. 

http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev_en.php?ID=3754_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC 

Europe 

LIBECON 

The site for European library statistics for all library sectors, including public libraries. 

http://www.libecon.org 

EQUINOX 

This was a project funded under the Telematics for Libraries Programme of the 

European Commission. It addressed the need of all libraries to develop and use 

methods for measuring performance in the new networked, electronic environment, 

alongside traditional performance measurement, and to operate these methods 

within a framework of quality management. The project devised a set of 

performance indicators for electronic library services. http://equinox.dcu.ie/ 

CAMILE Concerted Action on Management Information for Libraries in Europe 

This was a concerted action supported by the Telematics for Libraries sector of the 

Telematics Applications Programme of the European Commission. It was designed to 

disseminate and promote the common results of four EC supported projects DECIDE, 


DECIMAL, EQLIPSE and MINSTREL. Each of these research projects aimed to 

develop models and tools to support decision-making in libraries throughout Europe 

and provide unique insights into the issues and challenges which librarians in Europe 

have to meet in the current environment. http://www.staff.dmu.ac.uk/ 


Archives Direction Division of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic 

Historically official statistics on archives have not been kept. From 2004 archives are 

included in the project EUROSTAT “Finances in Culture”, guaranteed by the Czech 

Statistical Office. Internal statistics can be obtained from the annual reports of 

individual archives, the records of which are held by the Archives Direction Division, 

and from the results of a general inventory carried out in 2001-2003. 

http://www.mvcr.cz 

The National Information and Consulting Centre for Culture - statistics 

http://ipos-mk.cz/st_statistika.asp 

Denmark 

Danish National Library Authority 

This site makes available (up to date, free of charge, without registration and 

without cookies) a summary of the national public library statistics The site is 

presented in English. A model for all. http://www.bs.dk/index.ihtml 

Estonia 

Library statistics 

Estonia has been gathering library statistics since 1970, but the LibEcon project 

provided new guidelines for developing and standardising, and the facility for 

comparison with other European countries was found to be especially useful. 

http://www.nlib.ee/inglise/lib/libstat.html 

Estonian Public Library statistics 

Analyses are published every year. http://nlib.ee/rkogud/rstat.html 

Financial benchmarking 

The development of ancillary activities, such as statistical benchmarking, 

demonstrates a growing awareness of gaining more value from the statistical 

archives. A fully working prototype financial benchmarking tool has been developed 

for individual libraries in Estonia which can be adapted for use in other countries. 

http://www.libecon.org/millenniumstudy/default.asp 

Finland 

Statistics of Public Libraries in Finland 

Database in three languages (Finnish, Swedish and English) maintained by the 

Ministry of Education. http://tilastot.kirjastot.fi/ 


The National Board of Antiquities 

Museum statistics - the National Board of Antiquities compiles annual statistics on 

professionally-run museums with full-time staff. 

http://www.nba.fi/en/statistics 

Germany 

Bertelsmann Foundation 

In 1999, the Foundation established a public libraries benchmarking exercise. It will 

soon be enlarged to include research libraries. http://www.bix-bibliotheksindex.de/ 

Bertelsmann Stiftung Bix 

Benchmarking (metric and process). http://www.stiftung.bertelsmann.de/ 

German Library Statistics 

There is a nationwide scheme for measuring the performance of all types of German 

libraries. This statistical scheme is relatively old and has been criticised as being 

ineffective and old-fashioned, but no other nationwide alternative has been accepted. 

http://www.bibliotheksstatistik.de/ 

Norway 

ABM-utvikling 

Statistikk - Statistics for public and research libraries and museums. New system for 

submitting and processing data implemented December 2004. Data for archives to 

be implemented in next phase. (Norwegian only.) 

http://www.abm-utvikling.no/prosjekter/Interne/ABM/Statistikk/index.html 

Kvalitets- og Resultat-indikatorer for Bibliotek - Proposal on performance indicators 

for Norwegian libraries. 2004. (Norwegian only.) 

http://www.abm-utvikling.no/faghjornet/dokumenter/kvalitetsindikatorer.pdf 

Poland 

Statistical data connected to public libraries and museums are available at 

http://www.stat.gov.pl 

Statistical data connected to Polish archives are available at 

http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/?CIDA=152 

The National Library in Warsaw prepares a publication, Public Libraries in Figures, 

available online at http://www.bn.org.pl/BPL_2002/BPL_2002_cover_eng.htm 

Spain 

Estadística de bibliotecas públicas españolas 

On the Subdirectorate General of Library Co-ordination website is the Estadística de 

bibliotecas públicas españolas, a general compilation providing data collected by the 

Autonomous Regions based on one single questionnaire, following the standard ISO 

2789 "Information and documentation - International library statistics". Other 

statistical sources are the national library statistics which are compiled every two 


years by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), within its Estadísticas de 

bibliotecas. http://www.mcu.es/bibliotecas/jsp/marcosAncho.jsp?id=40 

Estadística de Museos y Colecciones en España 

The statistics on museums and collections in Spain are collected by the Statistical 

Office and the General Subdirectorate of State Museums from the Ministry of Culture 

in collaboration with the Autonomous Regions and the Ministry of Defence. In 

addition, there is the Spanish Museums and Collections Directory on the Net, which 

offers statistics related to 2000. 

http://www.mcu.es/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=42&area=estadisticas 

Instituto Nacional de Estadística (National Statistics Institute) 

Archive statistics are collected by the Archive Information and Documentation Centre 

(CIDA), a department belonging to the General Subdirectorate of State Archives from 

the Ministry of Culture, and are published by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística 

(National Statistics Institute). 

http://www.ine.es/inebase/cgi/um?M=/t12/a111/a1998/&O=pcaxis&N=&L=1 

Programa de Análisis de Bibliotecas (PAB) 

The Bertelsmann Foundation in Spain is co-ordinating and financing this Library 

Analysis Programme on library management and performance measurement. The 

aim of the project is to develop an evaluation methodology to facilitate decisions 

about the services. http://www.fundacionbertelsmann.es/pab/ 

Travesía, Subdirectorate General of Library Co-ordination 

This site makes available a summary of the national public library statistics compiled 

in the paper "Las bibliotecas públicas en España, una realidad abierta". 

http://travesia.mcu.es/estadisticas1.asp 


Government 

In the UK the government requires local authorities (who run public libraries, public 

record offices and many museums) to measure their performance. 

• Best Value – each authority must aim to meet targets for individual services, 

including cultural services. Targets include numbers of visits to public libraries, the 

percentage of public library users who found the book/information they wanted, 

numbers of visits/usages to museums (usages includes visits to websites and 

numbers of pupils visiting museums in organised school groups), the percentage 

of residents satisfied with local authority cultural services including libraries, 

museums and arts activities and venues, etc. Under Best Value the authority 

assesses the quality, cost and performance of their services by using prescribed 

methodology, also known as the 4C's: Consulting with service users and nonusers, 

Comparing performance with others providing the same or similar services, 

Challenging why and how the service is provided and Competing by assessing the 

competitiveness of the service against other means of provision. 

• Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) – where Best Value looks at 

individual services, CPA looks at the overall capacity of the authority to improve. A 

judgement is made, by the Audit Commission, on the Council's performance and 


the authority is classed into one of five categories, excellent, good, fair, weak or 

poor. http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/ 

The Accreditation Scheme for Museums in the United Kingdom: Accreditation 

Standard 

MLA's Accreditation Scheme, launched in November 2004, sets nationally agreed 

standards for UK museums. 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/accreditation_standard.pdf 

Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) 

On this site the UK public library statistics and the UK local archive statistics can be 

accessed and downloaded, but only by subscribers. 

http://www.cipfastats.net/ 

Cultural Trends 

Cultural Trends has been providing in-depth analysis of cultural sector statistics since 

1989. It focuses on key trends within the fields of material culture, media, 

performing arts and the historic environment, and includes coverage of issues which 

impact on the sector as a whole such as the Internet, poverty and access to the arts, 

and funding. This journal contains a comprehensive article on the state of archive 

statistics in the UK. Other countries may recognise some of the difficulties described. 

(Chris Pickford: Archives: a Statistical Overview in Cultural Trends no.48, 2002. 

pp.4-36.) (Online access is only available on subscription.) 

Department for Culture, Media and Sport 

Public Library Service Standards 

http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/ew4ob736q3yuydouvxx4whrlypftajwunbi4c7 

bi64ah6rahyrpi5csbym23xwsqyuhlc3c4qdeyr3eqmeaccrjh6qd/PUBLICLIBRARYSERVIC 

ESTANDARDSFINAL1OCTOBER.pdf 

These new standards were issued in October 2004 to replace the standards which 

have been in use since 2001 (i.e. Comprehensive, Efficient and Modern Public 

Libraries – Standards and Assessment 

http://www.culture.gov.uk/PDF/libraries_pls_assess.pdf). 

Both are worth reading. 

IPF Public Library Benchmarking Club 

Benchmarking (metric and process). http://www.ipf.co.uk/benchmarking 

Inspiring Learning for All 

Describes what an accessible and inclusive museum, archive or library which 

stimulates and supports learning looks like. It allows you to find out what the people 

that use your services learn, assess how well you are achieving best practice in 

supporting learning, and improve what you do. 

http://www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/default.aspx?flash=true 

Learning Impact Research Project (LIRP) 

Research commissioned by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to develop a 

scheme for finding evidence of the outcomes and impact of learning in museums, 

archives and libraries. http://www.mla.gov.uk/action/learnacc/lirp.asp 


The Library & Information Statistics Unit 

LISU publishes compilations of statistical information about libraries and for 

librarians. LISU Annual Library Statistics features trend analysis of UK public and 

academic libraries. A summary of the issue for 2003 covering 1992-2002 is available 

online. The LIST is an annual sampler of UK library statistics from all sectors (public, 

academic, special, national and school libraries) and is available free online for the 

following years: 1997 – 2004. 

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/dils/lisu/index.html 

MIEL: Management Information for the Electronic Library 

Reviewed current trends in library development and the related literature and 

proposed performance indicators for the electronic, networked library. One chapter 

usefully summarises previous texts and manuals. Largely academic library-based. 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/dlis/models/studies/ 


These matrices are the results of a comparative review of a number of key 

documents on performance indicators for libraries. The review was commissioned by 

the DECIDE project and carried out by John Sumsion. 

http://www.staff.dmu.ac.uk/~camile/matrices/intro.htm#top 

The People’s Network 

This project connected all UK public libraries to the Internet. The project was 

managed as a partnership between the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and 

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (now MLA). The website 

is used to publicise outcomes by the use of case studies etc. See also The evaluation 

of public library online services: measuring impact [by] Peter Brophy, available on 

the website. http://www.mla.gov.uk/action/pn/impact.asp 

SEAX 

SEAX keeps statistics of all users in the Essex Record Office. It can distinguish 

between users at different branches, so allowing electronic ordering at all branches 

and alerting members of the public to the location of documents not held in the main 

office. It records all the visits made by each member of the public and using this 

staff can return to the orders and productions for any day to see what documents 

have been ordered. http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/ 


• PLUS (Public Library User Survey). http://www.ipf.co.uk/plus/ 

• PLUS (archives) - the latest published results (2002) of a user survey of UK 

archives covering 12000 responses nationally. 

http://www.ipf.co.uk/plus/psqg/default.htm and 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives/psqg/survey.htm 

Society of Archivists 

Best Practice guidelines: No. 1: Measuring Performance by Patricia Methven et al, 

1993. ISBN 0 902886 45 2. Not available online – for details see 

http://www.archives.org.uk/content.asp?id=290 


Visitors to Museums and Galleries 2004 

Comprehensive survey of museum satisfaction rates and visitor numbers in Britain, 

undertaken by MORI on behalf of MLA. 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/mori_visitors_v2.doc 

What did you learn at the museum today? The evaluation of the impact of the 

Renaissance in the Regions Education Programme in the three Phase 1 Hubs 

(August, September and October 2003). July – February 2004. 

Funded by MLA, this is an innovative research study and is the first national largescale 

study to focus on the learning outcomes of school visits to museums in three 

regions of England using the concept of the Generic Learning Outcomes. 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id1185exec.pdf 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id1185repa.pdf 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id1185repb.pdf 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id1185repc.pdf 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/documents/id1185repd.pdf 

USA 

There are a number of exemplary US sites covering public libraries and other sectors. 

ARL Statistics site 

An interactive site, where you can select variables, rank libraries, produce ratios and 

indicators, and also present data graphically. Raw data can be downloaded in ASCII 

format. http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/newarl/ 

(For a description see the article Interactive Peer Group Comparisons through the 

Web http://www.arl.org/newsltr/197/peergroup.html.) 

Institute of Museum and Library Services 

Important site with some relevant surveys and reports. 

http://www.imls.gov/about/index.htm 

International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) 

Guidelines for Statistical Measures of Usage of Web-Based Indexed, Abstracted, and 

Full Text Resources (November 1998). 

http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/webstats.html 

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) 

Library statistics program: public libraries. 

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/Public.asp 

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) 

Statistics and surveys. http://www.nclis.gov/statsurv/statsurv.html 

Outcomes Toolkit 

Allows local services to get involved practically in outcome-based evaluation. 

http://ibec.ischool.washington.edu/ibecCat.aspx?subCat=Outcome%20Toolkit&cat=T 

ools%20and%20Resources 




Legal and rights issues 

SCOPE 


Copyright 

Copyright and its effect on access 

Effects of copyright on public lending 

Copyright and technical protection systems 

Enforcement of IPR Directive 

Collective licensing societies 

Databases 

IPR in Metadata 

Copyright, archiving, preservation and conservation 

Guidance on digitisation 

Licensing 

Data Protection and privacy 

Data sharing 

Freedom of Information 

Re-use of public sector information 

e-Commerce 


Legal issues relating to security and authenticity are dealt with in the guideline on 

Security. Neither of these guidelines constitute or are intended to replace legal 

advice. Such advice should be sought when and where necessary. 


The EU has adopted a large number of Directives designed to encourage the 

development of an information society. In addition, it has published discussion 

documents and has organised a number of conferences and hearings of relevance. 

Many of these EU initiatives have significance for museums, libraries and archives. 

This guideline is intended for policy makers in museums, libraries and archives in 

order to ascertain the relevant issues and encourage best practice. It is also intended 

for specialist associations representing professionals from these bodies in order for 

them to give guidance to their members and to have evidence when lobbying 

governments for appropriate changes. It can also be used as a reminder to 

governments and funding bodies that legal issues, especially copyright and the 

importance of clearing rights, must not be forgotten when planning or providing 

funding for national digitisation projects. 


Calimera Guidelines 149 Legal and rights issues

Copyright Back to Scope 

Copyright is a complex subject, and its specifics will vary among countries in Europe 

as well as among categories of works protected by copyright and within the 

categories of works themselves. There are several issues to be aware of when using 

copyright protected works and it is essential that librarians, archivists and museum 

professionals avail themselves of as much knowledge of their own copyright laws as 

possible and those that apply to the specific works that they deal with. These are 

outlined in this guideline together with some points to consider when planning the 

digitisation of collections, online or as digital networks. Some of the issues 

highlighted within the guidelines may be adapted to be included within copyright 

policies and within strategic planning. 

What is copyright? Back to Scope 

Copyright, or authors’ right (droit d’auteur), is an exclusive property right offered to 

the creators of material expressions of works of the mind to permit or prevent 

copying of certain specified categories of subject matter. The duration of this right 

normally lasts for a fixed period of time (usually their lifetime plus a number of 

years). National copyright laws are based on the principles contained in international 

treaties and conventions. The treaty which forms the basis of the current 

international copyright law is the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and 

Artistic Works [1]. The Berne Convention has been revised several times since its 

inception and there have been several other treaties covering other works. Two more 

treaties were adopted in 1996 bringing copyright protection into the digital age i.e. 

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Copyright Treaty (WCT) [2] and the 

WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) [3]. As well as strengthening 

the rights of performers and record producers, there were new rights added. In the 

Copyright Treaty (WCT) a new Right of Communication to the Public, also called the 

Internet Right, was added. 

What are the rights? Back to Scope 

Creators are given a set of exclusive rights to exploit (sell, assign, license) how they 

wish: reproduction right, publication right, adaptation right, rental and public lending 

rights, public performance rights, broadcasting and making available on public 

networks rights. In most countries, such as the UK, these rights are granted 

automatically upon the creation of the work, whilst other jurisdictions, may require 

registration. The USA for example has a voluntary registration system; copyright 

exists from the moment the work is created, but registration is recommended 

because it is necessary if an author wishes to bring a lawsuit for infringement of 

copyright.[4] 

Attached to copyright are moral rights, notably the right to be identified as the 

author of a work and the right not to have a work treated in a derogatory manner. 

The importance and role of these will vary between European states. The collections 

in Europe’s museums, libraries and archives whether in print, analogue or digital 

form (including databases, intranets, software, born digital content and websites), 

are all protected by copyright law. 


Differences in legal traditions Back to Scope 

Countries on the European mainland follow civil law, whereas the UK and the 

Republic of Ireland along with other English speaking nations (USA, Australia, South 

Africa etc.) follow common law. Under civil law, authors have an inalienable right to 

their intellectual property; in other words, it is part of their civil rights. Under 

common law, copyright is not an absolute right: it is granted only by law. This is an 

important distinction and is a reason why harmonisation of copyright across EU 

Member States can be difficult. UK and Ireland fair dealing and the American fair use 

are examples of differences. The civil law countries do not have such concepts. 

EU harmonisation Back to Scope 

Since 1988, the European Commission, with the single market in mind, has followed 

a programme of harmonisation of copyright laws across the EU with the result that 

although copyright laws of Member States are not identical, they are very similar. 

The differences usually lie with the exceptions and limitations (see below). Each 

nation has its own traditions when allowing copying and use. However, following 

implementation at the end of 2002 of the EU Directive 2001/29/EC of the European 

Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain 

aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society [5], they have been 

constrained by the proscribed limits on exceptions. The effects of the exception 

curtailing copying to “non-commercial” research has recently become effective in a 

number of European states. Professionals working in museums, libraries and archives 

need to be aware of the effect of such a provision upon their own activities and 

those of others provided within their professional service capacity, such as relevant 

licensing schemes. 

In 2004, the European Commission launched a consultation on working paper SEC 

(2004) 995 (19/7/04) [6] reviewing EU legislation in the field of copyright and related 

rights. The response of EBLIDA (the European Bureau of Library, Information and 

Documentation Associations), which lobbies on behalf of archives and libraries, is 

available on their website. [7] 

Copyright and its effect on access: the exceptions and limitations Back to scope 

Copyrights are not absolute rights and most countries in the world recognise the 

need to limit the exclusive rights given to authors in certain specific circumstances. 

These limitations and exceptions ensure that access to information to further the 

public interest in research, education and other important policy goals are not 

subject to unnecessary copyright restrictions. Professionals working within museums, 

libraries and archives worldwide believe that certain exceptions are essential to 

ensure equal unhindered access to information and cultural heritage. Without such 

exceptions, copyright would be a monopoly. 

When a work ceases to be protected it enters the public domain, an area where, 

generally speaking, contents are free from property rights, or are treated as such. 

Digitisation makes it possible for information to be shared widely, easily and 

quickly, which can be of great benefit in the world of scientific research for example, 

Digitisation of government information can facilitate its wide and speedy distribution 

contributing to eGovernment agendas. However, this cannot take place if the 

material is protected without permission from the rights owners. Consequently there 


is much concern over the trend in recent years for countries to extend the term of 

protection so reducing the material (books, music, films etc.) in the public domain 

(the EU Copyright Directive [5] extended it to life plus 70 years – the term already in 

use in Germany but an extension for other countries). The EU Database Directive 

[15] also put constraints on the public domain by protecting databases. This also has 

an impact on creativity as much new work is based on earlier works, or uses some 

earlier work in some way. Extensions to the term of protection are usually made to 

enable rights holders to benefit from royalties etc., and it is arguable that research 

and cannot continue unless there is some financial income from publishing. This 

applies also in the world of popular music for example. (Much has been written on 

this subject. See for example IFLA Position Paper on Copyright in the Digital 

Environment, and Public domain, from Wikipedia. [8]) 

Only balanced copyright laws will promote the advancement of society as a whole by 

giving strong and effective protection to authors and rights holders as well as 

providing reasonable access to users in order to encourage creativity, innovation, 

research, education and learning. 

The effects of copyright on public lending Back to Scope 

Non-commercial public lending is not an activity that has traditionally been controlled 

by copyright law. Public lending has always been essential to give access to cultural 

and educational materials and should be available to all. Information packaged in all 

formats has and will become part of the lending stock. However, following the EU 

Directive on Rental and Lending, Europe’s libraries are governed by lending 

regulations. (See Council Directive 92/100/EEC on Rental and Lending Right and on 

Certain Rights related to Copyright in the field of Intellectual Property [9].) These 

stipulate that material lent by public libraries has to be authorised or licensed. This 

means that for some materials, authors may demand some remuneration. This will 

also apply to museums and archives if they lend material. 

Copyright and technical protection systems Back to Scope 

Rights holders have been concerned that, in the digital environment, their works 

were not fully protected by law. As a result, publishers may use technological 

protection measures such as digital rights management (DRM) systems to automate 

the process of licensing works and of ensuring that the licence terms are complied 

with. Article 6 of EU Copyright Directive [5] makes it a criminal offence to 

circumvent or avoid such technological protection measures. 

However, this has caused concern to those who wish to copy a work under a lawful 

exception. DRMs are meant to protect against copyright infringement, but can go 

further and restrict legitimate access. For example, if an exception is given to allow a 

visually impaired person to reformat a work in order to read it, this will be impossible 

if the work is protected by a DRM which prevents copying and reformatting without 

authorisation. The exception therefore becomes worthless. In the worst case, DRM, 

together with restrictive licences, can prevent any copies at all being made for any 

purposes. This has been addressed in the Directive by allowing Governments to 

intervene if complaints are made to them, but there is concern that this will not work 

sufficiently well in practice. For example it certainly will not work quickly enough to 

enable someone wanting information to obtain it in time to meet their needs. Some 


user groups are calling for circumvention of technical measures to be allowed in 

special cases e.g. for legal or voluntary deposit, preservation and archiving, in order 

to safeguard the availability of material for future generations. Librarians, archivists, 

museum professionals and other user groups will need to monitor developments in 

this area. 

It is also a criminal offence to interfere with digital/electronic rights management 

information (information provided by the copyright owner which identifies the work, 

the author or any other rights holder, or information about the terms and conditions 

of use of the work), to remove such data or to retransmit a work without it. 

These new offences relating to technological protection measures and digital rights 

management information work both ways however, and give museums, archives and 

libraries powers to protect their own digitised collections or other material that they 

have produced in electronic form. 

Enforcement of IPR Directive Back to Scope 

On 29 April 2004, the Council of Ministers and European Parliament adopted 

Directive 2004/48/EC [10] on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, 

covering copyright and related rights, trademarks, designs, patents, geographical 

indications, etc. Its purpose is to impose sanctions against counterfeiting and piracy. 

However, it applies to all infringements, unintentional and minor as well as deliberate 

and serious, and is not limited to infringements for commercial use only. The 

European Court of Justice is examining the possibility of introducing criminal 

sanctions in the near future. There is much concern about the possibility that people 

such as students, researchers, teachers, and library, archive and museum staff, 

might be vulnerable to the risk of prosecution resulting from minor infringing acts 

made in good faith for no commercial use. Again, museums, libraries and archives 

need to keep a close watching brief on developments in this area. 

Regulation of collective licensing societies Back to Scope 

Collective licensing societies are set up by copyright owners to license certain uses of 

their works on their behalf. For example, collective administration bodies exist for 

licensing, and/or distributing royalties from certain uses of music and sound 

recordings, printed material, artistic works and characters, broadcast material and TV 

listings. Collective licensing can benefit users when it offers a blanket licence 

covering the use of all the repertoire of the collecting society, so eliminating the need 

to negotiate a large number of individual licences. However, collecting societies can 

effectively be in a monopoly position for some uses of copyright material. 

The activities of collecting societies are increasingly coming under scrutiny by the 

European Commission, in particular their categorisation as monopolies that need to 

be regulated within the EC Communication: The Management of Copyright and 

Related Rights in the Internal Market, EC (COM (2004) 261 (Final) [11]. The 

Communication also concluded that interoperability and acceptance by all 

stakeholders, including consumers, of Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems 

should be a pre-condition for their emergence. Lastly, the Communication sets out 

several options for improving the situation regarding the development of Communitywide 

licensing for the exploitation of rights. The Communication is based on the 


conclusions of the consultation carried out on these issues, which took place against 

the backdrop of the emerging Information Society. The Commission subsequently 

launched a further consultation exercise (which ended on 21 June 2004). 

The Database Directive Back to Scope 

The European Council Directive No 96/9/EC on Legal Protection of Databases [15] 

regulates the use of and provides for the protection of databases. The selection or 

the arrangement of the content of a database is protected by copyright. The 

protection of the investment in creating a database is protected by a sui generis 

right. A database is described in the Directive as "a collection of independent works, 

data, or materials arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually 

accessible by electronic or other means." Databases may include any type of 

information, such as text, sound, images, numbers, facts, or data. Electronic and 

print databases are covered. Catalogues such as library catalogues are databases 

under this definition, as are collections of metadata (see IPR in metadata). Database 

makers can prevent unauthorized copying for 15 years from the date of completing 

the database or making it available to the public. Substantial changes to the 

database will cause a new 15-year period to run. It is left to Member States to 

provide for exceptions to this right, such as exceptions for teaching or noncommercial 

research, etc., but there are restrictions - users can extract a substantial 

part of a non-electronic database for private purposes, but may not extract a 

substantial part of an electronic database for private purposes. This Directive is 

currently under review with the aim of addressing the issue of exceptions [6]. 

IPR in metadata Back to Scope 

In principle, metadata is protected in the EU, under database right and/or copyright. 

Under the database Directive [15], any collection of metadata qualifies as a 

database. The protection accorded to that database depends on whether there is 

intellectual or creative effort in the database. There is a strong argument that if an 

indexer used skill and expertise to apply metadata tags to a document, then the 

metadata tags should be protected by copyright. Even if a Court were to decide they 

did not qualify for such protection, because of the human and financial investment in 

such tagging, they would without doubt enjoy database right. 

IPR in metadata becomes a particular issue when there is a joint project for adding 

metadata to a collection. The ownership of such a jointly developed collection rests 

with the various partner institutions. This means that no one institution can exploit 

the materials without the agreement of all the other partners. In such cases, it is 

best to agree a partnership agreement before the co-operative work starts. 

In the case of most local institutions, it is unlikely that the metadata will be 

sufficiently valuable or important to justify an active policy of policing the Internet, 

which a number of commercial services offer to do for a fee, but it must then be 

recognised that by placing the metadata in some public domain, the organisation 

risks third parties making use of such metadata for its own ends. However, only if 

the metadata collection is very important and valuable will such a policy be 

warranted. 


Another aspect to this issue concerns ownership of the copyright in a work to which 

metadata is to be added in order to describe it so that it can be retrieved. When 

seeking permission from a copyright owner to digitise a work, permission to 

add/incorporate metadata should be sought at the same time. 

Copyright, archiving, preservation and conservation Back to Scope 

Copying in order to archive, preserve or conserve a work in a collection is considered 

to be an important role of many museums, libraries and archives. It is essential, as 

well as being in the public interest, that these bodies are given an exception to copy 

in order to preserve/conserve the original and to be able to make this copy available 

for consultation and other uses in the same way as the original format. In the EU 

Copyright Directive [5], EU Member States were given the option of being allowed to 

archive and preserve specific works and make them available subject to strict 

conditions. However, many countries chose not to incorporate these non-mandatory 

provisions within their national legislation and so authorisation has to be sought for 

these purposes. (See articles 5.2.(c) and 5.3(n) of the EU Copyright Directive [5].) 

This continues to hinder national objectives to preserve cultural heritage as such 

clearance is administratively burdensome and costly. 

Guidance on planning the creation of digital material (see also the guideline 

on Digitisation) Back to Scope 

Successful digitisation projects depend on the content being accessible to the public. 

Inevitably, there will be both born digital content (such as databases, web content 

etc.) and many non-digital works in collections across Europe which will be 

considered ideal for inclusion. Professionals working in museums, libraries and 

archives need to be aware of the copyright legislation in their country as well as 

relevant International Directives and Treaties. They need to take responsibility for 

making sure that their activities and those of their users are compliant with national 

and international copyright legislation. 

• It is important to note that although museums, libraries or archives may be the 

sole owners of the physical work, they may not necessarily own the rights. 

Whether there will in the future be an exception for digitising in-print works in 

order to make them available to users on a public access network, only time will 

tell. However, the EU Copyright Directive [5] includes some qualified exceptions 

for reproduction by museums, libraries and archives (see articles 5.2(c) and 

5.3(n). 

• The copyright in protected works needs to be cleared prior to digitisation and 

making available on networks, public facing websites or internally. Cultural 

heritage practitioners will, therefore, have to be prepared to negotiate with 

whoever holds the rights for authorisation. This could be the publisher, a 

collecting society, a licensing agency, or maybe even the original creator or the 

author’s estate if the author is dead. 

• There will often be a need to negotiate to purchase access to existing works in 

digital form. Knowledge of contract and copyright law is therefore desirable if 

both parties are to negotiate on an equal footing. 

• There are many pitfalls which may be encountered when dealing with contracts 

and licensing which could put the organisation at risk of expensive litigation so it 

is essential that negotiators familiarise themselves with proposed terms as well as 


costs. (See Digital copyright : law and practice by Simon Stokes [12] and the 

section on Licensing below.) 

Before considering digitisation, museums, libraries and archives should ideally: 

• Be aware of current and any forthcoming copyright legislation and seek legal 

advice. (General information on copyright and related rights may be found on the 

WIPO [13] web site and details of national copyright legislation covering most 

nations may be found on the UNESCO web site [14]. (See also the EU Copyright 

Directive.[5]) 

• Devise a copyright policy outlining aims and objectives of the service. What uses 

are allowed should flow from these aims. E.g. establish who will have access and 

for what purposes, decide about network security and how copying and use will 

be controlled. Will there be a technical protection system or will access be 

monitored by identification, registration and password controls? Will remote 

access be offered to protected works? 

• Decide on content to include and identify who owns the copyright in protected 

works. Those works where the copyright is not owned by the organisation will 

have to be cleared for inclusion. Some works could already be published in 

electronic form and so a licence will be needed from the publisher to provide 

linked access. 

• Estimate how long in advance rights will take to be cleared and be prepared to 

put aside staff time to carry this out. Be aware that identifying and tracing rights 

holders can prove one of the most time consuming elements of any digitisation 

project. 

• Put aside sufficient funds to clear copyright, particularly in cases where creators 

and other rights holders are represented by collecting societies. Budgets should 

also take into consideration the costs in employing extra staff or replacing the 

duties of existing staff in dealing with rights clearances. 

• Establish clearance mechanisms and negotiate licences as necessary. If possible 

involve legal advisers. 

• Consider negotiating access to existing electronic works via a consortium (see 

also the guideline on Co-operation and partnership). Professionals working in 

libraries and archives in particular, can be in a better position to improve deals 

with publishers if they pool information and knowledge and form consortia. (See 

the section on Licensing below.) 

• Be aware that one of the main problems will be to overcome the resistance of 

rights holders to allow print and artistic works to be digitised. They will have to be 

convinced that their works will not be abused or misused and that they will not 

lose out financially. An author or a publisher will be reluctant to give carte 

blanche permission for a work to be electronically available without some 

guarantee that it will not be misused, or sent around the network where (they 

fear that) it could be accessed by countries with inadequate copyright protection. 

Therefore, careful consideration has to be given to such concerns before 

considering network uses. For example, if remote access by users is to be given 

to the website, consideration has to be given on how will this be controlled. A 

good example is SCRAN. (See under Links – UK, and also the TECUP project 

under Links - European.) 

• Be aware of contractual limitations and library liability. Contracts may forbid 

certain uses or require the use of certain measures to restrict or control access to 


third parties. In the case of museums, it is essential that they have the proper 

authority to legally bind themselves, particularly if they are granting licences 

themselves. 

• The copyright in a developed website should ideally be owned outright by the 

museum, library or archive to which it belongs. So, if the site is being developed 

by some other person or organisation, it is extremely important that all the 

relevant authorisations (assignments or licences of copyright works) are obtained 

from the developer before the site goes live. The organisation is then free to 

exploit its copyrights as it wishes. Any digitised collection will also be a database 

and will be protected by copyright and database right, and will also be owned by 

the library, archive or museum. (See IPR in metadata below). This is regardless of 

the rights in the contents which are protected in their own right and may or may 

not belong to the organisation. (See European Council Directive No 96/9/EC on 

Legal Protection of Databases [15].) 

• Make suitable provisions for the management of rights associated with licences 

that have been granted. In particular, consider the use of Digital Rights 

Management (DRM) solutions to record rights holders’ details, duration of licences 

and any special clauses within the licences. (For more information about relevant 

fields, see the European Museums’ Information Institute website [16] and search 

for “legal requirements”.) 

• Make sure that adequate provisions are made for staff training in alerting them to 

policy issues and pitfalls regarding copyright. Ensure that staff are aware of the 

risks of not clearing rights as well as the damage to any organisation if intellectual 

property assets are inadvertently given away. 

• The Frankfurt Group (see Links - Europe) has published a statement on 

retrodigitisation (digitisation of content originally published in print, such as back 

runs of journals) by publishers and libraries. 

Licensing Back to Scope 

Access to and use of electronic information is usually governed by a contractual 

agreement, otherwise known as a licence, which is binding upon both parties. This 

has become the preferred business method of copyright owners for content in digital 

form. A licence does not confer ownership rights. It merely specifies the conditions 

upon which databases and other copyright works can be used and exploited, and by 

whom. 

The contract would normally stipulate where a case is to be heard should a dispute 

arise. But where this is not the case, then the law must decide (see Council 

regulation 44/2001 of 22nd December 2000 on jurisdiction and enforcement of 

judgments in civil and commercial matters [17]). 

The EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC [5] encourages the use of licences. In recital 

30 it says: “The rights referred to in this Directive may be transferred, assigned or 

subject to the granting of contractual licences, without prejudice to the relevant 

national legislation on copyright and related rights”. This last point is important; 

licences should not override copyright law. 

Licences set out who is entitled to access the work, at what price and on which 

terms. These terms address questions such as whether a user is entitled to make any 


copies of the work, for how long a user is entitled to access the work; or whether 

they can make any changes to it. Museums, libraries and archives enter into licence 

agreements in order to make available digital content to their users (electronic 

document delivery). They should negotiate the best possible deal to suit the needs of 

those users. This is not simply a question of price, but also of ensuring that the 

contract includes definitions of “authorised users”, “authorised uses” and “site” which 

best fit with the needs of the institution. It is not only necessary for the staff to 

respect the licence terms, but they also need to communicate those terms to their 

users. 

Contracts will normally include provisions where the museum/library/archive 

undertakes that neither it nor its users will infringe copyright or any other proprietary 

rights. The licensee also undertakes that it will use or allow its users to use the 

licensed materials in accordance with the terms and conditions as laid down in the 

licence. Staff working in museums, libraries and archives should uphold the moral 

and legal rights of the creators and distributors of intellectual property; however, 

when signing a licence agreement, they should not sign up to a contract clause 

which places an unreasonable responsibility on their organisation for acts that are 

outside their direct control. 

Consortia licensing is being seen by many to be the answer to the might of 

publishers and other rights holders. In some countries it may be possible to persuade 

governments to fund such consortia deals. Many national consortia groups have 

joined forces to share licensing information and to produce a set of licensing 

principles. (See ICOLC statement [18] and IFLA Licensing Principles [19].) Publishers 

are becoming used to dealing with consortia but they are wary of requests for 

“model licences”. Nevertheless such model licences do exist. (See LIBLICENSE 

under Links – USA, and also NESLI, under Links - UK.) 

The EBLIDA publication “Licensing digital resources: how to avoid the legal pitfalls” 

by Emanuella Giavarra [20] is a useful guide to good practice for those who are 

required to negotiate licences for electronic products. 

Creative Commons 

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organisation which offers a way for creators of 

digital content (music, photographs, film, writing, educational materials) to make 

their work available under a licence (see Licensing). They retain copyright but allow 

others to use their work under certain conditions. For example, the licence could 

allow people to copy, distribute, display, and perform the copyrighted work providing 

they give credit to the author/creator. The idea is to allow creators to choose to 

make their work available under less restrictive conditions than would be allowed 

under full copyright law. Creative Commons was founded in 2001 in the USA and has 

since set up an international offshoot, iCommons, which has negotiated country 

specific licences with the jurisdictions of several countries including, in Europe, 

Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Licences are in the process of 

development in Belgium, Croatia, France, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the UK. For 

more information, and to see the licence(s) applicable to specific countries, see the 

Creative Commons website [21]. (See also the appendix to the guideline on 


Digitisation for a chart showing how the Creative Commons licence could be applied 

in conjunction with the publication on the internet of low-resolution images.) 

Data Protection and privacy Back to Scope 

According to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and 

Fundamental Freedoms [22] “everyone has the right to respect for his private and 

family life, his home and his correspondence”. In order to allow for the free 

movement of data whilst at the same time ensuring protection of personal privacy, 

the European Union has harmonised the laws of member states through a number of 

directives and regulations [23]: 

• Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing 

of personal data and on the free movement of such data; 

• Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the 

protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector; 

• Regulation (EC) 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the 

processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the 

free movement of such data. 

Information relating to individuals – known as “personal data” – is collected and 

used in many areas of everyday life, such as when someone registers for a library 

card. 

If institutions collect in any form, or use, transmit, share access to, record, alter or 

otherwise deal with any personal data on or off the web there is an obligation to 

process that data fairly and in a secure manner. The responsibility for data security 

includes where the data has been put into the hands of third party companies, and 

therefore contracts with third parties should explicitly state that they are required to 

store and transmit the data securely and in accordance with the relevant legislation. 

Under European law, people must process data according to eight general principles: 

• fairly and lawfully; 

• for limited purposes; 

• data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive; 

• data must be accurate; 

• data must not be kept for longer than is necessary; 

• data must be processed in line with the data subject’s rights; 

• data must be kept secure; 

• data must not be transferred to countries without adequate protection. 

There are very stringent rules which apply to the processing of “sensitive data”, 

i.e. data relating to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical 

beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning health or sexual preference. Such 

data can only be processed under very specific circumstances. These include where 

the data subject has given their explicit consent to process the sensitive data. 

It is important to be clear and transparent about any personal data that is being 

collected, and what will be done with that data. It is advisable therefore to have a 

privacy statement which sets out: 

• why you are collecting this personal information; 


• what you intend to do with the information you collect; 

• what options users have when it comes to your making use of their data; 

• an explanation of who may have access to the data; 

• how long you intend to hold the data on your system(s); 

• whether you use cookies/beacons to track user activity; 

• whether you process the data globally. 

At any point where personal data is collected, the privacy statement should be 

available for people to consult. The OECD have a privacy policy generator tool [24] 

which can help anyone drafting a privacy statement. There are numerous examples 

of privacy statements on the www, including for example Europe Direct, the 

University of Leicester and Russian Archives Online [25]. 

National laws guarantee a series of rights for individuals. These include: 

• the right to be informed when data was processed; 

• the reason for this processing; 

• the right to access the data; 

• the right to have the data amended or deleted if necessary. 

All requests by data subjects wishing to access their personal details should be dealt 

with promptly; and any personal information relating to a third party individual 

should not be disclosed without the consent of the third party. 

(For further information see the Europa data protection website [26] and the 

websites of the national data protection commissioners [27].) 

Data sharing Back to Scope 

Data sharing here refers to the sharing of data by the public sector across traditional 

organisational boundaries, e.g. across all departments of a local authority or between 

a local authority and national agencies. For example the departments of a local 

authority could share data about an individual with the aim of providing a more 

personalised service to that individual. This would seem to be in accordance with 

government agendas to deliver more integrated “joined-up” services. However it can 

come into conflict with an individual’s right to privacy. A balance must be achieved 

between efficiency, the wider public interest (for example where a crime could be 

prevented if information were shared) and the public’s expectation of privacy. Data 

sharing must comply with data protection, human rights and freedom of information 

legislation. (See the section on data protection and privacy.) 

Freedom of information Back to Scope 

According to the United Nations General Assembly of 1946 "Freedom of Information 

is a fundamental human right and is the touchstone for all freedoms to which the 

United Nations is consecrated". [28] Details of relevant legislation in the EU member 

states can be found in Freedom of information and access to government records 

around the world by David Banisar, Privacy International, Updated May 12, 2004 [29] 

and Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey by Toby Mendel, UNESCO, 

2003. [30] 

At a European level, the Amsterdam Treaty [31] introduced a new Article 255. Under 

this article, on 30 May 2001, the Council and the European Parliament adopted 


egulation 1049/2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and 

Commission documents [32]. 

Staff working in museums, libraries and archives provide the essential link between 

users and the information they require. They should demonstrate a commitment to 

the defence and advancement of access to information, whilst recognising the need 

to balance the promotion of public access to official information with the protection 

of personal information. 

Where a citizen seeking access to official information does not adequately describe 

the information that they require, staff at the public authority should provide advice 

and assistance to enable the requester to clarify their request. Staff must fulfil their 

role with impartiality, and avoid any inappropriate bias. The aim of providing 

assistance is to clarify the nature of the information sought, not to determine the 

aims or motivation of the applicant. 

The process of providing information, and the standards and procedures governing 

that process should be made as clear and open as possible. Information should be 

provided promptly, and in any event must comply with the statutory time limit. 

Where a request for access to information is refused, the relevant exemption should 

be cited, and the reasons for refusing the request should be explained. 

Requesters should be given details of the authority's complaints/appeals procedure, 

and staff should deal promptly and fairly with complaints and keep users informed 

about progress in the handling of their complaints. 

Staff in museums, libraries and archives must show appropriate concern for the 

preservation and conservation of materials as required. They should follow the 

agreed records retention schedule for their authority. 

Good practice on the handling of requests for information and on the management of 

records in the UK is set out in the Lord Chancellor's codes of practice. [33] 

The re-use of public sector information Back to Scope 

The public sector collects and produces vast amounts of information, much of which 

is of interest to individuals and businesses, and which can be the raw material for 

value-added information services produced by the content industries. Examples 

include geographic information, business information and statistics. This information 

resource has considerable social and economic potential, for example, geographic 

data could be used by private companies to develop new added-value services and 

products useful for the tourist industry. 

The EU recognises that re-use of this information could generate wealth and jobs for 

Europe. The European Directive 2003/98/EC on the Re-use of Public Sector 

Information [34], which must be implemented by member states by 1 st July 2005, 

establishes a minimum set of rules governing the re-use of public sector information 

for commercial purposes with the aim of stimulating the European information 

industry so it can compete more effectively in the global marketplace. In the 

Directive, “re-use” is defined as any use “for commercial or non-commercial purposes 


other than the initial purpose within the public task for which the documents were 

produced”. 

Together, the legislation on Freedom of Information (which confers a right of access 

to information) and Public Sector Information (which imposes an obligation to make 

many public materials re-usable and available – wherever possible in electronic form) 

will lead to greater transparency of government, subject to data protection 

legislation. The PSI Directive [34] specifically does not apply to : 

• “documents held by educational and research establishments, such as schools, 

universities, archives, libraries and research facilities including, where relevant, 

organisations established for the transfer of research results; 

• documents held by cultural establishments, such as museums, libraries, archives, 

orchestras, operas, ballets and theatres.” 

However, in so far as museums, libraries and archives provide public sector 

information to the public they will be affected by this legislation, which applies “when 

public sector bodies license, sell, disseminate, exchange or give out information”. 

(For information on Public Sector Information - access and re-use, including practices 

in member states, see Europa: Public Sector Information: Access and Re-use [35]. ) 

e-Commerce Back to Scope 

eGovernment agendas are aiming to provide most public services electronically, 

which includes via telephone, television, mobile technologies and the Internet. If 

goods or services are bought or sold over the Internet then institutions must comply 

with EU Directive 2000/31/EC (The E-commerce Directive) [36] and EU Directive 

97/7/EC (The Distance Selling Directive) [37]. 

The e-Commerce Directive [36] states that member states shall ensure that their 

legal systems allow contracts to be concluded by electronic means. The Directive also 

limits the liability of Internet Service Providers (ISP) under certain circumstances 

where the ISP acts as a mere carrier and has no control over the contents of 

messages sent (this covers liability for defamation etc.). This Directive is applicable 

to all kinds of e-commerce, and is therefore relevant wherever museums, libraries 

and archives undertake commercial activities with third parties electronically. This 

would include, for example, the provision of electronic document delivery services 

and the receipt of or order for documents or other materials by e-mail. The ISP rules 

will be of significance to those institutions which host their own Web pages. 

The Distance Selling Directive [37] applies if the institution sells goods or services by 

the Internet, digital television, mail order (including catalogue shopping), phone or 

fax, and so would apply to goods from a museum gift shop or photographs from an 

archive etc. if sold in this way. 

Security is one of the biggest fears for all kinds of e-commerce. Directive 1999/93/EC 

(The Electronic Signatures Directive) [38] was introduced to facilitate the use of esignatures 

and to contribute to their legal recognition. Under the Directive, 

electronic signatures have the same legal validity as traditional hand-written 

signatures across the Member States. The Directive sets certain minimum 

authentication standards before e-signatures have to be accepted in law. These are 

that the signature is: 


• uniquely linked to the signatory; 

• capable of identifying the signatory; 

• created by a means that the signatory can maintain under his/her sole control; 

• linked to the data to which it relates in such a way that any subsequent change of 

that data is detectable. 

In practice, this can only be achieved using Public Key Cryptography (see the 

guideline on Security). 

Accessibility for disabled people Back to Scope 

The EU is committed to providing services which are accessible to all and do not 

discriminate against disabled people. Many member states have introduced their own 

national legislation regarding access, e.g. the Disability Discrimination Act in the UK 

which makes it unlawful to provide a service of a lower standard to a disabled 

person. For details of legislation in member states see the appendix to the guideline 

on Accessibility for disabled people. 

The provisions of the EU Directive 2001/29/EC [5] allow an important exception for 

visually impaired people, so recognising that there may be situations where they 

require copies of works. Certain national states, such as the UK, have already 

incorporated this exception within their legislation and established licensing schemes 

for the provision of multiple accessible copies of works in any format for use by 

visually impaired persons, whilst following notable restrictions on multiple copying. 

[39] 


Museums, libraries and archives should maintain a watching brief on international 

and national copyright legislation in order to lobby for adequate access to 

information for all citizens and to give guidance on best practice. 

Professionals working in European contexts also need to be aware of other issues 

and topics which are loosely linked to copyright and IPR and be prepared to respond 

to any consultation (Green papers) or Directives launched by the EU. 

• Museums, libraries and archives should be prepared to gather evidence where 

copyright restrictions become a barrier to their services and report their findings 

to their national associations and institutions. EU directives are reviewed and (in 

theory) can be changed if there is good reason. For example, for EU Directives 

affecting copyright currently under review see SEC (2004) 995 (19.7.2004) 

Commission Staff Working Paper on the review of the EC legal framework in the 

field of copyright and related rights [6]). 

• Initiatives, where professionals working within the cultural heritage sector and 

rights holders get together to resolve contentious issues, such as ECUP, TECUP 

and the Frankfurt Group, should be encouraged. (See Links - European.) 

• Policy makers in museums, libraries and archives should support and liaise with 

International and European organisations such as EBLIDA (European Bureau of 

Library, Information and Documentation Association). (See Links - European) 

which was established in 1992 as a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella 

organisation representing libraries on a European level and which campaigns to 

ensure that copyright legislation does not adversely affect the goals of a 


European Information Society. EBLIDA has a well established Copyright Expert 

Group consisting of representatives from most of the EU Member States. 

It is increasingly essential and within the public’s interest in gaining access to 

content, that libraries, archives and in particular museums are granted more 

extensive exceptions to reproduce material without the requirement to clear rights 

with rights holders. It is also important to ensure that an appropriate balance is 

achieved between the rights of rights holders and those of content users. 

Museums, libraries and archives need to address how they manage their rights. This 

can prove valuable both to record rights granted to them by third parties, as well as 

ensuring that intellectual property in their own content is sufficiently recorded. 

Technological developments in the field of Digital Rights Management (DRM) 

solutions can be monitored to realise the possible benefits. 

Museums, libraries and archives also need to consider the benefits of exploiting their 

own intellectual property as an alternative revenue stream. They need to look to 

advances in technology, such as DRM solutions, micro-payments and licensing 

arrangements for the most appropriate solutions. (See also the guideline on Business 

models.) 

Digital records management is a key technology underpinning eGovernment. Aspects 

of digital records management should be built into both record-generating and 

record-keeping systems so that electronic records can be managed consistently 

within the appropriate regulatory frameworks. 

Increasingly, museums, libraries and archives should seek out blanket and farreaching 

umbrella digitisation licences as a means to address the granular and 

monopolist approach taken by rights holders in their licensing activities. They need to 

be aware of alternative forms of licensing e.g. Creative Commons which might prove 

advantageous both towards their use of others’ content, as well as making their own 

content available. 

In view of the differences that presently exist at the national level regarding the law 

applicable to copyright contracts, the question of whether some form of 

harmonisation at the European level is called for will need to be addressed. 

The technical issues of interoperability will also need to be addressed. COM DOC 

(2004) 261 [11] on the management of copyright and related rights in the internal 

market states that “the establishment of a global and interoperable technical 

infrastructure on DRM systems based on consensus among the stakeholders appears 

to be a necessary corollary to the existing legal framework and a prerequisite for the 

effective distribution and access to protected content in the Internal Market”. 

With regard to data protection, it is very important to get the right balance between 

complete openness and the need for some intrusion into personal privacy in the light 

of terrorism, fraud, and other criminal activity. This needs to be monitored on an 

ongoing basis to see whether initiatives at a local, national, regional, and 

international level in areas such as electronic government, protecting the security of 


citizens, and combating terrorism are balanced by adequate protections for the 

privacy of individuals, including their right for example to use the Internet for 

legitimate purposes in cultural heritage institutions. 

One difficulty which needs to be properly addressed is ensuring that public 

authorities do not hide behind data protection and privacy rules as an excuse for 

withholding information. Also, data protection laws may need to be adapted in order 

to ensure that they are robust enough to cope with technological advances. 

Concerning freedom of information, there is a continuing need for citizens to be 

made more aware of their right of access to information. Public authorities need to 

find ways of making it as easy as possible for citizens to ask for official information. 

At an EU level, for example, there have been calls for a common "portal" for 

accessing information from the institutions from a single website, and for the setting 

up of an inter-institutional helpdesk. The European Union has powers to set the pace 

on freedom of information, and could produce legislation enforcing FOI on all 

member states, and thus creating a more harmonised approach. 

There will be an increasingly urgent need to combat spam through legal, technical, 

social and educational measures. As far as legal measures are concerned, it is not 

enough to regulate in this field at either a European or a national level, when the 

problem of unsolicited commercial email is an international one. 


[1] Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 

http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/. 

[2] WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Copyright Treaty (WCT) 

http://www.wipo.int/clea/docs/en/wo/wo033en.htm 

[3] WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) Performances and Phonograms 

Treaty (WPPT) 

http://www.wipo.int/clea/docs/en/wo/wo034en.htm. 

[4] United States Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov/ 

[5] EU Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 

May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in 

the information society 

http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg 

=EN&numdoc=32001L0029&model=guichett 

[6] European Commission staff working paper on the review of the EC legal 

framework in the field of copyright and related rights SEC (2004) 995 (19/7/04) 

http://www4.europarl.eu.int/registre/recherche/ResultatsAbreges.cfm?relation=REFS 

OURCE&typerelation=SEC(2004)995 


[7] EBLIDA (the European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation 

Associations): Response to the European Commission staff working paper on the 

review of the EC legal framework in the field of copyright and related rights SEC 

(2004) 995 of 19 July 2004. 

http://www.eblida.org/position/Copyright_Response_CommissionReview_October04. 

htm 

[8] IFLA Position Paper on Copyright in the Digital Environment. 

http://www.ifla.org/III/clm/p1/pos-dig.htm; 

Public domain, from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain 

[9] Council Directive 92/100/EEC on Rental and Lending Right and on Certain Rights 

related to Copyright in the field of Intellectual Property. 

http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ecommerce/legal/documents/392L0100/392L0100_EN.doc 

[10] Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 

2004 on the enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights 


[11] EC Communication (COM (2004) 261 (Final): The Management of Copyright and 

Related Rights in the Internal Market. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/copyright/management/management_en 

.htm 

[12] Stokes, Simon: Digital copyright : law and practice. London: Butterworths, 2002. 

ISBN 0406947023 (pbk.) 

[13] WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) 

http://www.wipo.int/ 

[14] UNESCO: Collection of national copyright laws 

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php- 


[15] European Council Directive No 96/9/EC on Legal Protection of Databases 

http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg 

=en&numdoc=31996L0009&model=guichett 

[16] European Museums’ Information Institute 

http:www.emii-dcf.org 

[17] Council regulation 44/2001 of 22nd December 2000 on jurisdiction and 

enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters http://europa.eu.int/eurlex/pri/en/oj/dat/2001/l_012/l_01220010116en00010023.pdf 

[18] International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC): Statement of Current 

Perspective and Preferred Practices for the Selection and Purchase of Electronic 

Information. 1998. 


http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html 

[19] IFLA Licensing principles. 2001. 

http://www.ifla.org/V/ebpb/copy.htm 

[20] Giavarra, Emanuella: Licensing Digital Resources: How to avoid the legal pitfalls. 

2nd ed. 2001. http://www.eblida.org/ecup/publica/ 

[21] Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/ 

[22] European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental 

Freedoms 

http://www.pfc.org.uk/legal/echrtext.htm 

[23] Europa data protection legislative documents 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/privacy/law_en.htm 

[24] OECD Privacy Statement Generator 

http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,2340,en_2649_34255_28863271_1_1_1_1,00. 

html 

[25] Europe Direct http://europa.eu.int/europedirect/privacy_en.htm 

University of Leicester http://www.le.ac.uk/li/libservices/dataprot.html 

Russian Archives Online http://www.russianarchives.com/rao/privacy.html 

[26] Europa data protection website 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/privacy/index_en.htm 

[27] National Data Protection Commissioners 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/privacy/links_en.htm 

[28] United Nations. Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly during its First 

Session, 1946. Resolution 59(1). 

http://ods-ddsny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/033/10/IMG/NR003310.pdf?OpenElement 

[29] Banisar, David: Freedom of information and access to government records 

around the world. Privacy International, Updated May 12, 2004. 

http://www.freedominfo.org/survey.htm 

[30] Mendel, Toby: Freedom of information: a comparative legal survey. 

UNESCO, 2003. 

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php- 


[31] The Amsterdam Treaty. http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/a18000.htm 


[32] Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 

30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and 

Commission documents. 

http://www.iue.it/ECArchives/pdf/1049EN.pdf 

[33] Lord Chancellor's Code Of Practice on the discharge of public authorities 

functions under Part I of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 

http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/codepafunc.htm 

and, Lord Chancellor's Code of Practice on the Management of Records issued under 

section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 

http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/codemanrec.htm 

[34] European Directive 2003/98/EC on the Re-use of Public Sector Information 


[35] Europa. Public Sector Information: Access and Re-use. 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/psi/index_en.htm 

[36] EU Directive 2000/31/EC (The E-commerce Directive) http://europa.eu.int/eurlex/pri/en/oj/dat/2000/l_178/l_17820000717en00010016.pdf 

[37] EU Directive 97/7/EC (The Distance Selling Directive) 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/cons_int/safe_shop/dist_sell/index_en.htm 

[38] Directive 1999/93/EC (The Electronic Signatures Directive) 


[39] Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. Visually Impaired Persons Guidelines. 

http://www.cla.co.uk/directive/vip.html 

International 


Museums Computer Network - Copyright and Intellectual Property Law Resources 

Comprehensive links to sites related to copyright across the globe, including for 

example Canada, Japan and Australia. http://www.mcn.edu/resources/copyright.htm 

UNESCO 

Information on copyright activities including copyright conventions and access links 

to copyright laws of UNESCO members. http://www.unesco.org/culture/copyright 

World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) 

General information available on all aspects of intellectual property plus texts and 

signatories to the Berne and other intellectual copyright conventions. 

http://www.wipo.int 


Europe 

Council of Europe/EBLIDA 

Guidelines on library legislation and policy in Europe. 

http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Cooperation/Culture/Resources/Reference_texts/Guidelines/ecubook_R3.asp 

EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations) 

EBLIDA lobbies on behalf of archives and libraries. http://www.eblida.org/ 

EDRI (European Digital Rights) 

An international non-profit association which campaigns to defend civil rights in the 

information society. Some examples of regulations and developments that concern 

EDRI are data retention requirements, spam, telecommunications interception, 

copyright and fair use restrictions, the cyber-crime treaty, rating, filtering and 

blocking of Internet content and notice-and-takedown procedures of websites. 

http://www.edri.org/ 

EMII-DCF (European Museums Information Institute Disseminated Content 

Framework) 

For the promotion and exchange of best practice and effective use of standards in 

information management. http://emii-dcf.org 

EUROPA Intellectual Property News 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/news/index.htm 

European Archival Network 

Primary site for all European referenced archives. http://www.european-archival.net/ 

European Copyright User Platform (ECUP) 

Copyright Focal Point. http://www.eblida.org/ecup/ 

TECUP (Testbed implementation of the ECUP framework) 

The intention of the TECUP project was to analyse practical mechanisms for the 

distribution, archiving and use of electronic products from different types of content 

owners and involving different types of libraries. 

http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/tecup/ 

(See especially: TECUP Memorandum of understanding 2001 (TECUP project report 

D6.4). http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/tecup/mou.pdf; and, 

Dreier, Thomas: Towards Consensus on the Electronic Use of Publications in Libraries 

– strategy issues and recommendations. 2001 (TECUP project report D6.6). 

http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/tecup/towacons.pdf 

The Frankfurt Group 

Consensus Forum for Academic and Research Information. This is a follow-up to the 

TECUP project. It has published, for example, proposals on retrodigitsation 

(digitisation of content originally published in print, such as back runs of journals) by 

publishers and libraries. http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/frankfurtgroup/ 


France 

Convention d'utilisation de supports de données numériques 

Example of convention signed with editors to facilitate the loan and usage of digitised 

documents in libraries. http://www.addnb.org/fr/docs/convent2.htm 

Lithuania 

MUSICALIA 

This the Lithuanian website of the EUREKA (http://www.eureka.be) project 

“Endangered Cultural Heritage: Tools for Preservation, Investigation and Copyright 

Clearance” (http://212.34.140.167/ech/ech.php). It gives access to the digital 

archive of the multimedia musical heritage items stored at the Library of the 

Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. It aims to develop a new generation of tools for 

creating a one-stop marketing and management environment for multimedia 

products and copyright trading capable of operating on a European basis. 

http://www.musicalia.lt/ 

Spain 

La Federación Española de Sociedades de Archivística, Biblioteconomía, 

Documentación y Museística (FESABID) 

The Guadalajara State Public Library and the Intellectual Property Rights and 

Libraries Work Group of FESABID have had a very important role in a national 

campaign started to raise awareness within the public at large of the need to exempt 

public libraries from a possible charge for public lending. The argument for this 

exemption is based on the shortages that Spanish public libraries still experience. 

Their levels of book-reading rates are among the lowest in the EU, and to impose a 

charge of this kind would mean reducing the funds available for the library sector 

even more. http://www.maratondeloscuentos.org/librolibre/jornadaslibrolibre.htm; 

http://www.bib.uab.es/project/cas/piadr0.htm 


LACA (Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance) 

Represents the major professional librarianship, archivist and information science 

organisations in the UK, and is working with the Museums Copyright Group to extend 

its work to the museums domain. http://www.cilip.org.uk/committees/laca/laca.html. 

Museums Copyright Group 

Group of museum professionals with an interest in all aspects of the relationship 

between museums and copyright, particularly in the areas of lobbying, licensing and 

digitisation. http://www.mda.org.uk/mcopyg/ 

NESLI (National Electronic Site Licensing Initiative) 

A programme to deliver a national electronic journal service to the UK higher 

education and research community. NESLI encourages the widespread acceptance by 

publishers of a standard Model Site Licence. http://www.nesli2.ac.uk/index.htm 


PA/JISC guidelines 

The result of an agreement between the UK higher education sector and publishers 

on what it is acceptable to copy electronically without having to obtain clearance (i.e. 

what can be defined as fair dealing). 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/pa/clearance/study.doc 

SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network) 

Project to create “a networked multimedia resource base for teaching and 

celebration of human history and material culture in Scotland”. Users have to be 

licensed and agree to strict conditions of use. http://www.scran.ac.uk 

UKOLN 

Centre of expertise in digital information management, providing advice and services 

to library, information, education and cultural heritage communities. 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ 

United States 

Coalition for Networked Information (CNI) 

Organisation dedicated to supporting networked information technology for the 

advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual 

productivity. Includes a draft for negotiating networked information contracts and 

licences from the project “Rights for Electronic Access to and Delivery of 

Information”. http://www.cni.org/ 

Legal insight 

Legal website which features interviews with legal experts and includes a 

comprehensive section on intellectual property, music and copyright, rights and 

ownership options in technology development agreements and software 

infringement. http://www.legalinsight.net 

LIBLICENSE 

This project, funded by the U.S. Council on Library and Information Resources 

(CLIR), was established in 1996 to inform and educate members of the information 

supply chain about how to effectively negotiate contracts for electronic information 

resources. The website contains a model licence, licensing terms and descriptions, 

national site licence initiatives and a mailing list. 

http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml 




Section 3: 

Technical guidelines 



Underlying technologies and infrastructure 

SCOPE 

The cultural heritage sector aims to provide services which have a measurable social, 

economic and educational impact on their communities. This guideline describes the 

key technologies which underlie these services: 

- XML (eXtensible Markup Language) 

- web services 

- Semantic Web 

- Semantic Web services 

- networks 

- Broadband 

- fibre optics 

- satellite 

- wireless 

- WiFi 


Technology has already transformed the way museums, libraries and archives deliver 

services, and has made possible new services unimagined only a few years ago. 

Users are becoming used to the electronic delivery of services, for example in the 

retail and banking sectors. The focus of the EU’s IST 6 th Framework Programme is 

“on the future generation of technologies in which computers and networks will be 

integrated into the everyday environment” [1]. Cultural heritage institutions can play 

a major part in making this happen. 

Delivering services electronically has implications for the general infrastructure 

consisting of buildings, furniture and equipment. Space must be found for 

computers, interactive displays and activities. Different types of furniture are 

required. Communications technology connections must be installed. On the other 

hand many users will access services remotely and for them physical space, furniture 

and equipment will be less important. 

This guideline however focuses on the technological infrastructure, where policy 

issues for museums, libraries and archives include finding ways to keep up with 

increasingly sophisticated new technologies which quickly become obsolescent, 

selecting those technologies most relevant to their domains, satisfying the 

demanding expectations of users, and meeting European and national targets for eaccessibility. 


Calimera Guidelines 173 Underlying technologies

Technologies and standards are still emerging and will continue to change and 

develop over time. Museums, libraries and archives need to be aware of the current 

state of the art so as to avoid the adoption of inappropriate or obsolescent 

technology and standards. 

Museums, libraries and archives need an understanding of these issues in order to 

plan and prioritise their work and particularly when they are procuring new systems 

or commissioning development work from outside consultants or contractors. 

XML – eXtensible Markup Language Back to Scope 

XML is a mechanism or “metalanguage” for creating special-purpose mark up 

languages. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured text and 

information between computers across the Internet. XML is formally defined as a 

recommendation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). An understanding of 

mark up helps to understand XML. A mark up language is a set of rules for encoding 

or tagging structures in a document. The name is derived from the traditional 

publishing practice of "marking up" a manuscript, that is, adding printer's instructions 

in the margins of a paper manuscript, as used, for example, by the publishing 

industry to communicate printed works among authors, editors and printers. The 

XML specification defines a standard way to describe mark up. 

The focus of XML is on the content of the document rather than the format or layout, 

i.e. the emphasis is on identifying a piece of text as a name and laying down rules 

for how a name should be structured rather than that the name should be bold, 

underlined or indented, since these are merely visual devices and do not represent 

the characteristics of a name, such as first name, last name, title etc. 

XML documents can be made to conform to rule sets which are expressed as 

Document Type Definitions (DTDs) or Schemas. So a DTD or Schema might lay down 

the characteristics of a name and how it is to be encoded. Once a DTD or Schema 

(such as MARC-XML [2] or EAD (Encoded Archival Description) [3]) has been defined 

and published, any XML document may be associated with it. This mechanism allows 

XML documents to be validated and processed consistently by software applications, 

for a wide variety of purposes, e.g. search and retrieval, data exchange. 

Finally XML is expressed in Unicode [4] which makes it language and computer 

independent. 

For an introduction to the subject see A Gentle Introduction to XML by C M Sperberg- 

McQueen and Lou Burnard [5] on the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) website. The TEI 

is an international and interdisciplinary standard that helps libraries, museums, 

archives, publishers, and individuals represent all kinds of literary and linguistic texts 

for online research and teaching, using an encoding scheme that is maximally 

expressive and minimally obsolescent [6]. (See also the 10 point summary produced 

by W3C [7].) More detailed information can be found on the websites of W3C [8], 

Wikipedia [9] and XML.COM [10]. There is a great deal of research and development 

activity focused around XML. A good source of current information on query facilities 

and specifications, including tools such as xpath, is the webpage of the W3C XML 

Query Group [11]. 


Web Services Back to Scope 

Web Services evolved in response to the need for large organisations to enable a 

diverse range of software applications written in different languages and running on 

different hardware systems to share and exchange data. However outside the 

organisation the Internet is a similar mix of applications and environments. The 

cultural heritage sector is a good example – in order to discover resources on the 

Internet a searcher needs a facility that will enable him/her to get the results of a 

single search from a range of systems held in different databases with different data 

structures, search conventions and presentation facilities. 

So what exactly are Web Services? A service is a piece of program code – usually 

written in Java, C#, or other object-oriented programming language – which 

specifies the means by which objects or classes of objects can be accessed and/or 

manipulated. Web Services use XML to describe services through the Web Services 

Description Language (WSDL) [12] and through the Simple Object Access Protocol 

(SOAP) [13] to pass messages between services and the client applications which 

use (consume) them. SOAP messages are mostly accessed using TCP/IP based 

protocols, e.g. HTTP, SMTP, FTP over Internet / Networks. Universal Description, 

Discovery and Integration (UDDI) [14] and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol 

(LDAP) [15] are directory services which enable available services to be discovered. 

Web services are language and hardware platform independent. 

More detailed information can be found on the websites of W3C [16], OASIS 

(Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) [17], 

Wikipedia [18], and WS-I (Web Services Interoperability Organization) [19]. OASIS 

also provides a current awareness service [20]. 

For examples outside the cultural heritage sector and some fun with Web Services 

try Xmethods, a directory of simple services with demonstration capabilities [21]. 

Web services technology is developing rapidly. See for example WS-Security [22]. 

Semantic Web Back to Scope 

The Semantic Web is a vision described in a Scientific American magazine cover story 

in May 2001 [23], in which Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the World Wide Web 

Consortium (W3C), says “The Semantic Web is a web of data, in some ways like a 

global database”. This builds on the idea that “a goal of the WWW is that it should 

be useful not only for human-human communication, but also that machines would 

be able to participate and help”. Important concepts, technologies, protocols and 

standards for developing the Semantic Web include XML, RDF and unique 

identification. A good source of current information, and news about research and 

developments, is the W3C Semantic Web webpages [24]. In the European context, 

the 6th framework programme has demonstrated the EU’s commitment to this 

technology area and the first European Semantic Web Symposium was held at 

Heraklion, Greece, in May 2004 [25]. 

RDF (Resource Description Framework) 


RDF enables the encoding, exchange and re-use of structured metadata, using XML 

as an interchange syntax. In this way it supports the integration of a variety of 

applications from library catalogues and world-wide directories; to syndication and 

aggregation of news, software, and content; to personal collections of music, photos, 

and events. 

RDF allows statements to be made about a resource as a set of properties that 

conform to a named schema. Statements are recorded in rdf:Description XML 

elements. 

The reason it is so powerful is that it imposes structural constraints which support 

the consistent and unambiguous encoding and exchange of standardized metadata 

and this provides for the interchangeability of separate packages of metadata 

defined by different resource description communities. In addition RDF provides a 

means for publishing both human-readable and machine-processable vocabularies 

designed to encourage the re-use and extension of metadata semantics among 

disparate information. Descriptions of RDF sometimes use libraries as an analogy. 

For information see the W3C RDF webpages [26]. 

The Web Ontology Language (OWL) [27] builds on RDF and RDF Schema to add a 

richer vocabulary to describe properties and classes. OWL facilitates the creation of 

definitions of basic concepts and their relationships that can be processed by 

machine. OWL is derived from DAML+Oil [28], the latest release of the DAML 

language, which provided a rich set of constructs with which to create ontologies and 

to markup information so that it is machine readable and understandable. 

Semantic Web Services Back to Scope 

Web services are sites that do not merely provide static information but allow some 

action, such as the sale of a product. Semantic Web services aim to enable users to 

locate and use such services automatically. WSMO (Web Service Modeling Ontology) 

[29] defines ontologies for describing the various aspects of a Web Service. OWL-S 

[30] (formerly DAML-S [31]) is an ontology of services that aim to make this 

possible. The importance of ontologies to Semantic Web services has prompted the 

development of schema extensions to existing Web standard languages: XML has 

been extended to give XML-Schema (XMLS) [32], while RDF has been extended to 

give RDF-Schema (RDFS) [33]. 

Ontologies 

Ontologies are crucial to the development of intelligent web services by helping 

machines to communicate more effectively. An ontology may be described as a 

formal description of objects and their inter-relationships. In the context of the 

Semantic Web, the aim is to enable machines to speak to machines with limited or 

no human intervention (see Wonderweb [34]). There are progressively more 

semantically rich approaches to modelling ontologies, including: 

• term lists with undefined relationships; 

• classification schemes; 

• thesauri with inheritance and association relations; 

• topic maps [35], a new ISO standard for a system describing knowledge 

structures and associating them with information resources. They should provide 


powerful ways of navigating large and interconnected corpora. Instead of 

replicating the features of a book-index the topic map generalises them, 

extending them in many directions at once. 

Ontologies are of growing importance in knowledge management systems and in the 

development of Semantic Web services. They have applications in knowledge 

management systems such as e.g. in e-commerce for the description of products and 

services (see the guideline on Social and economic development), and the 

description and organisation of digitised museum collections. 

Projects may wish to explore the potential for semantic interoperability offered by 

established ontologies such as the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) [36] or 

the ABC Ontology/Model [37]. The CRM provides a common and extensible semantic 

framework that any cultural heritage information can be mapped to, and can provide 

a model for mediating between different sources of information. The ABC Ontology, 

developed for the Harmony Project, is a top-level ontology intended to facilitate 

interoperability between metadata schemas within the digital library domain. 

Networks Back to Scope 

Any two or more computers connected together makes a network. A network allows 

computers to share files, printers, scanners, and Internet connections. There are two 

main types of networks: Wireless and Ethernet (or “wired”). Both types have two 

main components: a base station (also known as a gateway or router), and a 

network adapter for each computer on the network. In a wired network, Ethernet 

cables connect each computer’s network adapter to the base station, or router. In a 

wireless network, radio waves are used to communicate between each networked 

computer’s wireless adapter and the Wireless Base Station. Depending on the range 

covered, a network can be a PAN (Personal Area Network), a LAN (Local Area 

Network), or a WAN (Wide Area Network). Wireless technology enables global 

networking. 

Filesharing networks allow users to request and distribute electronic files through 

their computers, often acting as both a client and a server on the network. Computer 

and handheld operating systems can integrate Peer-to-Peer (P2P) [38] capabilities to 

harness the file sharing, distribution and communication aspects of the technology. 

File sharing services such as Foldershare [39], Groove Networks [40], Skype [41], 

Gnutella [42] and Kazaa [43] enable all types of digital objects including film, images 

and software to be shared. 

Broadband Back to Scope 

Broadband is a type of data transmission in which a single medium (wire) can carry 

several channels at once, so users can use the telephone and surf the web at the 

same time. It has sufficient bandwidth to support sophisticated multi-media 

applications. A typical speed for a dial-up modem is 56 kilobits per second; a 

broadband connection can be up to 1,000 times faster. Most larger organisations will 

use ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) modems, or T1 or T3 connections 

(high-capacity, always-on network connections that directly connect a local area 

network (LAN) to the Internet, usually through a telephone company). Digital 

Subscriber Lines (DSL) and digital cable connections can be used by small institutions 


or in homes. DSL is a relatively inexpensive always-on connection to the Internet 

which uses a phone line without interrupting the phone service. Speeds are about 

1.5 megabits per second. Digital cable connections are also always-on and are 

transmitted over copper or fibre optic cables at speeds up to 1 megabit per second. 

Fibre optics Back to Scope 

Optical fibres are glass fibres which are used to carry signals in the form of pulses of 

light over distances of up to 50 kilometres. The signals may be coded voice 

communications or computer data. As they use much less energy than copper cable 

and can support a much higher bandwidth, they can carry more channels of 

information over longer distances. Optical fibre cables are very light and thin and so 

easier to install in cabling ducts. It is difficult to tap information from them, and they 

are immune from interference from radio signals etc. and from fire. Optical fibres are 

coming into common use in Local Area Networks, cable TV, CCTV (Closed Circuit TV), 

etc. 

Satellite Back to Scope 

Satellite Internet access may be worth considering for systems serving largely rural 

communities. It uses a satellite dish for two-way (upload and download) data 

communications. Upload speed is about one-tenth of the 500 kilobits per second 

download speed. Cable and DSL have higher download speeds, but satellite systems 

are about 10 times faster than a normal modem. Two-way satellite Internet uses 

Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting technology, which means up to 5,000 channels of 

communication can simultaneously be served by a single satellite which sends data 

from one point to many points, simultaneously, in compressed format. Compression 

reduces the size of the data and the bandwidth. Dial-up land-based terrestrial 

systems have bandwidth limitations that prevent multicasting of this magnitude. 

Satellite Internet represents the best opportunity for remote areas to gain access to 

worldwide communications. It is not subject to local control over access or content. 

It has the ability to reach people no other communications medium can at a practical 

cost. 

Wireless Back to Scope 

Wireless technologies enable connectivity without the restrictions of wires and 

cables. There are several kinds of wireless networks covering ranges from the size of 

a desk top to whole continents: 

• Local wireless (or PAN - Personal Area Network) for use within an office or room. 

Allows connectivity between cordless mice, keyboards, laptops and printers etc. 

using radio or infrared technologies. 

• Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) for connecting typically 10 to 15 users over 

a range of about 100m indoors or 300m outdoors. Could be useful in a museum, 

library or archive with several rooms or floors, or at an outside heritage site. Most 

WLANs are built to WiFi standards (see below). 

• Wireless Wide Area Network (wWAN) e.g. mobile phone network for connecting 

worldwide. 

For an overview see Wireless networks by Deborah Liddle and Stuart Smitton [44]. 


Wireless standards/protocols include: 

• GSM (Groupe Spécial Mobile - Global Systems for Mobile Communications) [45], 

the dominant second-generation (2G) digital mobile phone standard for Europe. It 

uses a land-based network of masts and stores information on SIM cards; 

• Bluetooth [46], a short range radio technology with a range of about 10 metres 

which can support labelling devices and barcode scanners etc.; 

• WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) [47], designed to connect mobile phones etc. 

to the Internet. Users view web pages written in WML (Wireless Mark-up 

Language) [48]; 

• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) [49], a 2.5G technology (i.e. it is more 

advanced than standard 2G digital technology, but does not meet the 

requirements of a full-fledged 3G technology) that allows information to be sent 

and received across a mobile telephone network. It has a faster transfer rate than 

WAP and a higher success rate for connection. 

• Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) [50], one of the thirdgeneration 

(3G) mobile phone technologies. Transmission speed can be up to 2 

megabits per second per mobile user and global roaming is possible. 

WiFi Back to Scope 

WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) is a technology for transferring network data between 

computers without the need for cabling. 

A WiFi access point (sometimes called a ‘hotspot) will ‘broadcast’ a wireless signal 

that can be received by a wireless-enabled device. This can be a laptop, a Personal 

Digital Assistant (PDA), a 3G mobile telephone or any other device capable of 

receiving a wireless signal. 

The major development in WiFi has been the proliferation of WiFi hotspots. WiFi 

hotspots are aimed primarily at people on the move who wish to get access to the 

Internet or other secure networks via the Internet. Typical locations for hotspots are 

fast food restaurants, coffee houses, railway stations, hotels and libraries. However, 

supercharged hotspots are now being developed which cover whole city centres. 

Some WiFi hotspots are available free of charge but most require a payment based 

on a specific period of time (e.g. per 30 minutes). 

The WiFi hotspot enables the user to simply switch on (for instance) their laptop and 

begin to surf the Internet without having to physically connect or ‘plug in’ to the host 

network. This has obvious benefits for the person who is away from the office and 

needs to check e-mail, the researcher who stores data on his/her own laptop, or 

anyone that just needs a convenient site to browse the Internet. 

WiFi is convenient for the host organisation because it offers a relatively cheap way 

of providing a public Internet access facility. If a network is already in place, the WiFi 

kit to extend the reach of the network (usually about 100 metres) is fairly 

inexpensive. Building a WiFi hotspot from scratch will require the installation of a 

dedicated (for instance ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) feed from an 

Internet Service Provider. 


Technical standards for WiFi have been developed by the Institute for Electrical and 

Electronic Engineers (IEEE) [51]. The standard usually associated with WiFi hotspots 

is 802.11b but the 802.11 standard has a number of variants for different types of 

wireless applications. The UK Department of Trade and Industry has published a 

useful short factsheet on WiFi [52]. Other sources of information include WiFi 

Networking News [53], an online newsletter reporting on developments regarding 

standards etc., and the WiFi Alliance [54], a not-for-profit international association 

formed in 1999 to certify interoperability of wireless products based on IEEE 802.11 

specification. The website contains a guide to creating a wireless network, and lists 

WiFi hotspots worldwide. 


The Semantic Web has a long way to go before the dream of Tim Berners-Lee is 

realised. It will be built in parts, by people with varied interests. The real power of 

the Semantic Web will be realised when people create many programs that collect 

web content from diverse sources, process the information and exchange the results 

with other programs. In its envisaged next step, the Semantic Web will break out of 

the virtual realm and extend into the physical world. The vision of the web-enabled 

microwave oven consulting the frozen-food manufacturer's website for the best 

cooking instructions can be extended to the services provided by museums, libraries 

and archives. The virtual picture frame might for example, consult the local museum 

or art gallery for an ideal picture to display, and the local virtual public library for an 

ideal e-book biography to download to accompany it, in response to a simple voice 

request. In this environment, the imagination of cultural heritage people should be 

encouraged to run wild! The EU IST FP6 is funding new projects in this area [55]. 

In the future, ontologies may be used to support content-based access and to 

provide users with much more sophisticated searching and browsing capabilities as 

well as support from intelligent agents. 

In the future it is envisaged that directories of Web Services will be available on the 

Internet for client programs to seek out and consume. There are however issues of 

maintenance, persistence, quality, control, security and IPR to be resolved before 

such a vision is universal. In the meantime closed communities are implementing 

their own controlled libraries of services. 

In the next few years web services may be developed which can be understood and 

used automatically by the computing devices of users. External Application Services 

Providers (ASPs) for cultural heritage organisations may also provide such services. 

The concept of web services is currently being developed under the banner of ecommerce. 

However, there do appear to be potential applications for public sector 

service providers. For example, search interfaces could be accessed or provided as 

web services by public libraries or by Application Service Providers on their behalf. 

The overwhelming need to develop plug-in modes of technology transfer from 

industry to local cultural heritage institutions is a key element for the future. 


The flexibility of XML is one of the principle reasons for its popularity. But it is also 

one of its potential weaknesses. New XML-based languages, schemas etc. are 

defined every day. The long term value of XML will depend to a significant extent on 

user communities agreeing to focus on adapting and developing a few core 

standards rather than on proliferation. 

The popularity of mobile phones illustrates how people now require access to 

services while on the move. WiFi technology is likely to develop to meet growing 

demand. Public libraries are ideal places for WiFi hotspots, given their synonymity 

with information; indeed some are already and the number is likely to grow. WiFi 

hotspots have traditionally covered a small area such as a café, but a more powerful 

version is now being developed which will cover much larger areas with fewer base 

stations, and this may supersede the need for individual hotspots. Also mobile 

phones are being made with WiFi technology allowing much faster Internet access, 

and computers are being built with WiFi chips and access cards as standard features. 

This is an interesting development which, over time, may well change the Internet 

delivery infrastructure to wireless, particularly in large cities and other highly 

populated areas. 

Wi-Fi is revolutionizing the way museums and exhibitions use technology to serve 

their visitors. Many museums are replacing their existing audio head set devices with 

interactive, context-aware, location based tours powered by Wi-Fi handsets. 

Technologies are developing rapidly and delivery channels are getting increasingly 

smaller and more portable. Keeping up with developments will be important for 

museums, libraries and archives, and will pose challenges in terms of finance, 

infrastructure, staff skills and user expectations. Staff and policy makers need to use 

communications form professional associations, mailing lists, newsletters and other 

current awareness techniques to keep up-to-date. Projects such as DigiCULT [56], 

which monitors and assesses existing and emerging technologies specifically for the 

benefit of the cultural heritage sector and which publishes newsletters and 

technology watch reports, are invaluable. 

[1] EU IST 6 th Framework Programme 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/index_en.html 


[2] MARC 21 XML Schema - The Library of Congress' Network Development and 

MARC Standards Office is developing a framework for working with MARC data in a 

XML environment. This framework is intended to be flexible and extensible to allow 

users to work with MARC data in ways specific to their needs. The framework itself 

includes many components such as schemas, stylesheets, and software tools. 

http://www.loc.gov/standards/marcxml/ 

[3] EAD (Encoded Archival Description) http://www.loc.gov/ead/ 

[4] Unicode http://www.unicode.org/ 


[5] Sperberg-McQueen, C. M. and Burnard, Lou: A Gentle Introduction to XML. TEI 

Consortium, 2004. http://www.tei-c.org/P4X/SG.html 

[6] Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) - The TEI is an international and interdisciplinary 

standard that helps libraries, museums, archives, publishers, and individuals 

represent all kinds of literary and linguistic texts for online research and teaching, 

using an encoding scheme that is maximally expressive and minimally obsolescent. 

http://www.tei-c.org 

[7] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C): XML in 10 points 

http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points. 

[8] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - XML site http://www.w3.org/XML 

[9] Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xml 

[10] XML.COM – a site covering all aspects of XML 

http://www.xml.com/pub/a/98/10/guide1.html#AEN58 

[11] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XML Query Group 

http://www.w3.org/XML/Query 

[12] Web Services Description Language (WSDL) http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl 

[13] Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) http://www.w3.org/TR/soap12-part1/ 

[14] Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) http://www.uddi.org/ 

[15] Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) http://www.openldap.org/ 

[16] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – The major source of Web standards 

http://www.w3c.org/2002/ws/ 

[17] OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) 

- a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence and 

adoption of e-business standards. http://www.oasis-open.org/who/ 

[18] Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_services 

[19] Web Services Interoperability Organization (WS-I) http://www.ws-i.org. See 

also http://xml.coverpages.org/ws-i.html 

[20] OASIS provides Cover Pages as a current awareness service 

http://xml.coverpages.org/ 

[21] Xmethods http://www.xmethods.net/ 

[22] Web services technology is developing rapidly. See for example WS-Security 


http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-secure/ 

[23] Berners-Lee, Tim; Hendler, James and Lassila Ora: The Semantic Web. 

Scientific American, May 2001. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D2-1C70- 

84A9809EC588EF21&catID=2 

[24] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - Semantic Web webpages 

http://www.w3c.org/2001/sw/ 

[25] European Semantic Web Symposium, Heraklion, Greece, May 2004. 

http://www.esws2004.org/ 

[26] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) RDF webpages 

http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-primer-20040210/ 

[27] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web-Ontology (WebOnt) Working Group: 

[Web Ontology Language (OWL)] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/WebOnt/ 

OWL Web Ontology Language Overview http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-features/ 

[28] DAML+OIL http://www.daml.org/about.html 

[29] WSMO (Web Service Modeling Ontology) http://www.wsmo.org/ 

[30] OWL-S http://www.w3.org/Submission/2004/SUBM-OWL-S-20041122/ 

[31] DAML-S http://www.daml.org/services/ 

[32] XML-Schema (XMLS) http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema 

[33] RDF-Schema (RDFS) http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/ 

[34] Wonderweb http://wonderweb.man.ac.uk/ 

[35] Pepper, Steve: The TAO of Topic Maps: finding the way in the age of infoglut. 

Paper presented at XML Europe 2000, Graphics Communications Association. 

http://www.gca.org/papers/xmleurope2000/papers/s11-01.html 

[36] CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/ 

[37] The ABC Ontology and Model 

http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk/Articles/v02/i02/Lagoze/ 

[38] Peer-to-Peer (P2P) http://www.openp2p.com/ 

[39] Foldershare http://www.foldershare.com/ 

[40] Groove Networks http://www.groove.net/ 


[41] Skype http://www.skype.com/ 

[42] Gnutella http://www.gnutella.com 

[43] Kazaa http://www.kazaa.com 

[44] Liddle, Deborah and Smitton, Stuart: Wireless networks. An issue paper from 

the Networked Services Policy Taskgroup. 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/earl/issuepapers/wireless.html 

[45] GSM (Groupe Spécial Mobile - Global Systems for Mobile Communications) 

http://www.gsmworld.com/index.shtml 

[46] Bluetooth http://www.bluetooth.com/ 

[47] WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/99helsinki/finland/wap.html 

[48] WAP Wireless Markup Language Specification (WML) 

http://xml.coverpages.org/wap-wml.html 

[49] GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) 

http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/gprs/intro.shtml 

[50] Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) 

http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/umts/ 

[51] IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Standards Association 

http://standards.ieee.org/ 

[52] UK Department of Trade and Industry: WiFi factsheet. 

http://www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/assets/wifi.pdf 

[53] WiFi Networking News http://www.wifinetnews.com/ 

[54] WiFi Alliance http://www.wi-fi.org/ 

[55] EU IST projects helping to weave the Semantic Web [61]. 

http://istresults.cordis.lu//index.cfm?section=news&tpl=news&ID=65260 

[56] DigiCULT project http://www.digicult.info/pages/index.php 



The National Archives (formerly the State Central Archives) 

Czech archives use the following technologies in connection with the Internet: XML, 

web services, Broadband, fibre optic, satellite, wireless, WiFi, a Networks. 


http://www.nacr.cz 

System Kramerius 

This system has a user and administrator interface. It is formed by database 

PostgreSQL, file system, disc field, server and a back-up system, and is based on 

open source on GNU GPL licence which will enable all other institutions to use it 

without any fee. The system is based on standard XML. http://kramerius.nkp.cz/ 

Finland 

Mantsala 

The town of Mantsala has an 11 square kilometre WiFi network available to the 

public and to schools. 

http://www.80211gnews.com/publications/page354-880326.asp 

MuseumFinland - Finnish Museums on the Semantic Web 

A portal which provides the end user with a semantic seamless view of distributed 

cultural collections. By using semantic web techniques, it is possible to make 

collections semantically interoperable and provide museum visitors with intelligent 

content-based search and browsing services to the global collection base. 

http://museosuomi.cs.helsinki.fi; http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/group/seco/museums/ 

Hungary 

CodeXML 

CodeXML is a frame system developed by Scriptum Inc. with stable database 

background, designed to store, manage and query objects and descriptive 

information belonging to the objects. http://codex.scriptum.hu 


HotSpot Amsterdam 

In August 2004 HotSpot Amsterdam launched a wireless computer network with a 

supercharged version of WiFi technology which will cover the whole city with 125 

antennae. http://www.hotspotamsterdam.com/ . (For an article about this see 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=6104054.) 

Norway 

Digital Repository of the National Library of Norway (NLN) 

The NLN has developed a generalised input/output service for the Digital Repository 

based on open standards (SOAP communication protocol via HTTP, Software in Java, 

based on the SOAP-Library Apache Axis, Linux-server, Tomcat application server, 

Oracle database). (Still under development so no website.) 

Kulturnett Norge / Culture Net Norway 

The official gateway to Norwegian culture on the web, Kulturnett Norge represents a 

new form of portal using Topic Maps and XML to distribute information to personal 

devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. For more information about Topic Maps 


see http://www.ontopia.net (in English). The Topic Maps ISO standard, ISO 13250, 

can be found at http://www.isotopicmaps.org/m4tm/. 

http://www.kulturnett.no; http://www.culturenet.no 

Russia 

ARBICON 

This project links libraries from 54 regions and creates an “umbrella” for local library 

systems on a regional basis. System solutions are based on open standards: Z39.50, 

ISO ILL, LDAP. http://www.arbicon.ru 


AIM 25, Archives in London and the M25 area. 

A major open archive initiative to provide electronic access to collection level 

descriptions of the archives of over fifty higher education institutions and learned 

societies within the greater London area. http://www.aim25.ac.uk/ 

Bristol StreetNet 

Started in autumn 2004, this is an outdoor wireless access zone with wireless 

hotspots installed inside street furniture such as lamp posts. 

http://www.cityspace.com/press/level2/releases/040722-PR-Bristol.asp 

Cornucopia 

A database of collection descriptions funded by MLA in England which utilises Web 

Services to enable concurrent searching across multiple targets. 

http://www.cornucopia.org.uk/search 

Natural History Museum 

The Natural History Museum’s collections and research Data Locator uses ontologies 

to find information about organisms and material held on the museum’s online 

databases. http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/locator/index.dsml 

OSS Watch 

A web-based clearing-house for up to date information, advice and guidance about 

free and open source software. It develops best-practice guidelines, investigative 

reports, and briefing materials for strategic IT decision-makers, software developers, 

and end-users. http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/ 

The People’s Network 

The remit of the People’s Network was to provide all UK public libraries with a 

broadband connection. This has not been possible in some rural areas, so 10 rural 

public libraries are now using WiFi as a pilot. This makes it possible for people to use 

their own WiFi-enabled devices in the library so increasing the usefulness for small 

businesses etc. where security is an issue. (See Potts, David: Libraries Go Wireless 

extending broadband to rural communities. 15 July 2004. 

http://www.peoplesnetwork.gov.uk/news/article.asp?id=333) 




Planning and workflow 

Financial considerations 

Selection 

Hardware and software 

File formats 

Standards 

IPR 

Design and presentation 

Storage 


Digitisation 

SCOPE 


The European Union has declared that “Digitisation is an essential first step to 

generating digital content that will underpin a fully digital Europe. It is a vital activity 

in preserving Europe’s collective cultural heritage, providing access for the citizen to 

that heritage, to enhancing education and tourism, and to the development of 

eContent industries.” It is committed to co-ordinating national digitisation 

programmes, and published the Lund Principles [1] which led to the Lund Action Plan 

[2] . 

The Minerva Project [3] was set up in 2002 to promote a shared methodology for the 

digitisation of cultural material and to facilitate the adoption of the Lund Action Plan. 

The benefits of digitisation include wider and easier access, the conservation of 

originals, the possibilities of adding value to images and collections, and 

opportunities for income generation (see the guideline on Business models). 

Digitisation can also publicise materials and attract greater numbers of visitors and 

users. 

Digitisation is the process of creating digital files by converting analogue materials. 

The resulting digital copy, or digital surrogate, is then classed as digital material and 

is subject to the same broad challenges involved in preserving access to it, as "born 

digital" material (material created in digital format which has no analogue 

equivalent). The quality of the file, the format used to store it, its description, its 

intended use, its long-term preservation, the method of delivery to end users, and 

protection from infringement of intellectual property rights, are just some of the 

things which must be considered. Furthermore for each type of material that is 

Calimera Guidelines 187 Digitisation

digitised specific factors must be taken into consideration to make sure that the 

digital output can be used to its full potential now and in the future. 

Staffing implications need to be considered. The importance of professional curatorial 

skills in ensuring original materials are not damaged during a digitisation project 

cannot be overemphasised. A digitisation project might provide a good opportunity to 

carry out any necessary conservation work. Protection such as gloves and masks 

might be needed. Staff will need training in the technical aspects of digitisation; even 

if the actual work is outsourced they will need to understand the procedures. Staff 

will also need training in the use of the end product, and in helping users. They will 

need new skills to work in the digital environment, as enquiries will increasingly be 

received electronically and new groups of users who have historically not used 

traditional services may now require a service. The skills needed will include 

technical, design, marketing, and instructional skills. 

Digitisation projects create opportunities for partnership working with other cultural 

heritage institutions and with commercial organisations (see the guideline on Cooperation 

and partnership). These can include bringing together resources to create 

new virtual collections, sharing expertise and/or equipment, and working with 

software developers and suppliers. Collaboration with educational organisations 

and/or community groups can also result in the creation of “born digital” resources. 


The Minerva Project has produced a Good Practice Handbook [4] and technical 

guidelines [5] which set out practical guidelines for a digitisation project. 

Digitisation is the process of creating digital files by converting analogue materials. 

The resulting digital copy, or digital surrogate, can then be classed as digital material 

and is subject to the same broad challenges involved in preserving access to it, as 

"born digital" materials. 

Planning and workflow Back to Scope 

It is important to plan the project carefully and thoroughly (see the guidelines on 

Strategic planning and Business models). The plan should include: 

• the reason(s) for digitisation, e.g. to provide access to underused holdings, to 

protect fragile items from the wear and tear of handling, to create a virtual 

collection, to target a specific group of users, to contribute to a regional, national 

or international network; 

• what is to be digitised. This will be largely determined by the reason(s) for 

digitisation and whether permission to digitise can be obtained from the rights 

holders (see selection below); 

• who will carry out the work. This could be in-house staff, specialist staff on a 

temporary contract, staff from a partner organisation, or a commercial contractor. 

Staff involved may need protection such as gloves, masks, etc. Curator staff 

familiar with the materials should always be used for any moving and handling 

especially of fragile items. (This might also be an opportunity to carry out any 

conservation work.); 


• where the work will be done. In most cases it will be preferable to do the work 

on site to avoid risks such as loss or damage to originals, transport costs etc. 

Ideally a dedicated space should be made available taking into account lighting 

conditions, temperature, humidity, etc., especially when fragile originals are being 

digitised ; 

• when it will be done. Consideration should be given to known busy times, staff 

holidays, special exhibitions or other events or projects. A timetable should be 

drawn up with milestones indicated; 

• how it will be done. This part of the plan should include workflow details as it is 

essential to keep track of the material being digitised, and of progress. A system 

of listing, signing and dating all movements would be useful. Files should be 

named during the digitisation process; 

• a preservation strategy. This needs to be in place from the planning stage to 

ensure sustainability and long-term usability of the collection. Preservation will 

depend upon documenting all of the technological procedures that led to the 

creation of the digital object, and much critical information can be captured only 

at the point of creation (see the guideline on Digital preservation); 

• other considerations needed at the planning stage include legal issues such as 

IPR (Intellectual Property Rights), choice of digital formats, hardware, software, 

delivery methods or output formats and of course costs. 

Financial considerations Back to Scope 

Digitisation can be costly and local institutions may need to seek ways to augment 

their core funding by for example: 

• lobbying and advocacy at national and local levels; 

• influencing public opinion and forming groups of friends; 

• applying for grant funding for a specific digitisation project. The last few years 

have seen the rise of a bidding culture in museums, libraries and archives in many 

countries. Governments, the EU, charitable trusts and other bodies or foundations 

have chosen to channel funds through competitive tender or submission of a bid. 

National professional associations should be able to advise on sources of funding. 

The Europa website contains a guide to EU funding opportunities [6]; 

• partnership with other institutions to outsource the work involved (see the 

guideline on Co-operation and partnership); 

• some form of income generation. Some countries will be restricted by statute as 

to whether or not they are allowed to raise income or make any charges for 

services, including added value services. (See also the guideline on Business 

models.) 

The amount and type of material to be digitised may be dependent on the funds 

available and decisions may have to be taken on what should have priority. This 

could be based on the aims of the project (preservation or increased access) rarity or 

value of the originals, the condition of the originals, the potential usage etc. 

Comparatively low cost options may be adequate for some purposes. For example 

digital cameras, scanners etc. intended for the domestic market may produce results 

of sufficient quality for small community projects. 

Selection Back to Scope 


Selection criteria will, as stated above, be largely determined by the aims of the 

project, but may also include for example: 

• legal issues such as whether it is possible to obtain permission to copy if needed 

(see the section on IPR below and also the guideline on Legal and rights issues); 

• the target audience; 

• the importance of the items in the cultural heritage of the community, region, 

country, Europe or the world; 

• the rarity of the items; 

• the condition of the items and the need for preservation of the originals by 

making digital versions available as an alternative; 

• links to other projects; 

• financial issues such as the need to raise income by charging for use or the sale 

of CD-ROMS, value for money, and costs. 

Hardware and software Back to Scope 

These should be chosen at the planning stage, taking into account reliability, costs, 

ease of use, staff training needs, maintenance costs, space available, possibilities of 

renting, etc. Equipment should enable recording and storing to be carried out at the 

highest possible resolution because a lower resolution image, or smaller file, can be 

extracted from a higher quality, higher resolution image, but never the other way 

round. The storage implications should also be taken into consideration, as higher 

resolution images create larger files and require more storage space. 

The equipment must be suitable for the material to be digitised. The following points 

need to be taken into consideration: 

Scanners 

• flatbed scanners should only be used for unbound printed material or documents; 

• bound items will require a book cradle or digital camera; 

• the scanners should ideally be at least as large as the largest item to be scanned 

to avoid folding and “mosaicing”. 

3D scanning devices 

• these may be used for museum objects or historic buildings. 

Digital cameras 

• cameras may be used for museum objects or for bound books etc.; 

• cameras may be used to record events, buildings, sites and landscapes; 

• to get good picture quality the number of pixels, the bit-depth, and the optical 

lens quality are important; 

• a stand for holding the material to be photographed will be useful; 

• a tripod will be needed for the camera; 

• supplementary lighting will in most cases be needed; 

• filters will be required to reduce colour distortion. 

Video cameras 

• equipment will be needed for capturing digital output from conventional film and 

video; 


• video recording equipment is used for capturing moving images and as such will 

be required for content creation projects resulting in “born digital” material; 

• it is also a powerful tool for presenting a continuous view of all sides of an object, 

or for showing a three-dimensional space; 

• the availability of comparatively cheap digital video camera equipment makes this 

sort of presentation possible for smaller institutions, mainly museums or galleries, 

which cannot afford the equipment to create full virtual reality content. 

Audio recording equipment 

• equipment will be needed which can produce digital output from analogue media; 

• it is also used for capturing sound (speech, music etc.) and as such will be 

required for content creation projects resulting in “born digital” material; 

Software Back to Scope 

Software may be required to process the digital output e.g. correcting the colour of 

digital images, cropping the edges or compressing the file for web delivery. Such 

software should be capable of; 

• opening very large files; 

• modifying resolution and colour depth; 

• saving different versions in different file sizes; 

• copying part of an image and saving it as another file; 

• exporting images in different file formats. 

Selection of suitable software must take into account the material being digitised, for 

example if documents contain handwritten material then an OCR (optical character 

recognition) package will be required. 

The TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images) website contains advice on all 

aspects of digitisation, including hardware and software. [7] 

File formats Back to Scope 

The image or output produced by the digitisation process will be held in a particular 

file format. It is advisable to keep master copies and delivery copies in different 

formats. 

It is preferable to use open standard formats when creating digitised resources to 

ensure that resources are reusable and can be created, modified and delivered by a 

variety of software applications. This will increase interoperability and therefore 

access, will reduce dependency on one supplier, and will help to guard against 

obsolescence. Master copies should be in a format which supports large, high quality 

images (e.g. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) for photographic images). 

For delivering resources it is preferable to use more than one format in different 

sizes and resolutions, bearing in mind that users will have different types of 

hardware and software and different levels of bandwidth. Delivery copies will usually 

be in smaller files suitable for transmitting over the Internet (e.g. JPEG, PNG 

(Portable Network Graphics) or GIF (Graphical Interchange Format) for still images). 

For more details see Standards below. 


Standards Back to Scope 

Standards are very important as failure to use standard file formats and storage 

media can: 

• be a major obstacle to international exchange of image files and the creation of 

networked resources; 

• lead to obsolescence (compliance with standards is a reasonable indicator of 

future support of a format or medium). 

Different standards exist for different types of digital formats, and for capture and 

storage and delivery. 

• Text capture and storage - There are standards for: 

° character encoding (see Jukka Korpela: A tutorial on character code issues 

[8]); 

° document formats (see AHDS Guide to good practice: creating and 

documenting electronic texts [9]). 

• Text delivery - Again, for guidance on character encoding see Jukka Korpela’s 

article [8]. For document formats the latest versions of XHTML or HTML are 

advisable, though proprietary formats such as PDF (Portable Document Format), 

RTF (Rich Text Format) or Microsoft Word may be appropriate as alternatives. 

See: 

° HTML 4.01 HyperText Markup Language [10]; 

° XHTML 1.0 Extensible HyperText Markup Language [11]; 

° Portable Document Format (PDF) [12]. 

• Still image capture and storage – Still images are raster (for photographs), 

vector (for geometric objects or shapes) or graphic non-vector (for line drawings). 

For advice see TASI: Advice: Creating digital images [13]. 

° When creating raster images the spatial resolution (pixels per inch) and colour 

resolution (bit depth) must be considered, and the highest affordable is 

preferable. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) [14] is the most common. 

° For vector images an open format such as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics [15] 

should be used. The proprietary format Macromedia Flash [16] may be 

appropriate in some cases. 

° PNG (Portable Network Graphics) [17] is the most common format for graphic 

non-vector images. 

• Still image delivery 

° Photographic images delivered via the internet must be in JPEG (Joint 

Photographic Expert Group) format [18] or JPEG/SPIFF (JPEG Still Picture 

Interchange File Format) [19]. More information is available about JPEG [20] 

and about JPEG 2000 [21] and there is an ISO standard [22]. 

° Vector images should be delivered using: 

– GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) [23]; 

– PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format [24]; 

– or, SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format [25]. 

• Video image capture and storage – Video should be stored using the 

uncompressed raw AVI (Audio Video Interleave) format [26], but an MPEG 

(Moving Pictures Expert Group) format [27] can be used, or even Microsoft WMF 

(Windows Media Format), Microsoft ASF (Advanced Systems Format) or Apple 


Quicktime (details available on proprietary web pages [28]). Standards are 

available on the MPEG website [29]. 

• Video delivery – It must be remembered that access to video is affected by 

bandwidth so it is advisable to provide more than one file format or streaming 

quality. 

° Video intended for downloading should be in MPEG-1 format [30] , or 

Microsoft WMF (Windows Media Video), AVI (Audio Video Interleave) or Apple 

Quicktime (details available on proprietary web pages [28]). 

° Video for streaming should be in Microsoft ASF (Advanced Streaming Format), 

WMF or Apple Quicktime (details available on proprietary web pages [28]). 

• Audio capture and storage – Audio can be stored either in: 

° uncompressed formats such as Microsoft WAV (wave) or Apple AIFF (Audio 

Image File Format) (details on proprietary web pages [28]); 

° or in compressed formats such as MP3 [31], Microsoft WMA (Windows Media 

Audio) format [28], Real Audio [32] or Sun AU [33]. 

The Audio Engineering Society (AES) [34] and the International Association of 

Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) [35] make recommendations which should 

be considered. 

• Audio delivery – As with video, access is affected by bandwidth so a range of 

files or streams of different quality should ideally be provided. The 

recommendations of the AES [34] and IASA [35] should be followed. 

• 3D capture and storage – Digitisation of three-dimensional material is 

particularly important for museums. Digital video is a low-cost alternative to the 

creation of true 3D models, but is of course more limited in the range of 

interactive possibilities. For a discussion of 3D technologies see the websites of 

the Web 3D Consortium [36] or 3dsite, inc. [37]. 

• 3D delivery – VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) and X3D [38] are the 

main standards used for virtual tours and 3D models. An alternative is shockwave 

3D [39]. This allows content to be viewable by anybody with the latest version of 

the free shockwave viewer plug-in, but as yet it does not have the capabilities of 

VRML. 

IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) (see also the guideline on Legal and rights issues). 

The importance of this issue cannot be over-emphasised, since if the right to 

copy cannot be obtained, digitisation of the item cannot go ahead. Back to Scope 

There are two aspects to this: 

• Establishing copyright. Does the institution hold the rights to make digital copies? 

It will be necessary to secure the rights to the material, especially if it is intended 

to publish on the web, and this can potentially be a long drawn out and costly 

process. It is a factor in the selection process, and must be considered from the 

planning stage onwards. 

• Security copyright. What rights to the digitised images does the institution intend 

to impose? Will all images be made freely available, or will thumbnails be 

displayed on the web and a charge made for higher definition copies? This must 

be considered in the planning stage. Income generation can be a factor with 

policy makers and funding bodies. The copyright of material placed on the 

internet can be protected by technical means such as: 


• visible watermarks; 

• invisible digital watermarks [40]; 

• encryption of images; 

• restriction of publication to low-resolution images; 

• restriction of publication to small parts of an image only; 

• restriction of display to registered authorised users. 

All these methods have pros and cons and must be considered in relation to the 

aims and objectives of the project and the institution. 

The website of the University of New York, Buffalo, contains links to many useful 

pages [41] and for advice see the TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images) 

copyright page. [42]. 

In addition, organisations may wish to encourage the re-use of their content, 

particularly in the context of promoting teaching and learning. This can be achieved 

by the use of a Creative Commons licence [43] (see the guideline on Legal and rights 

issues). Creative Commons licence explicitly state the ways in which digital items 

may be re-used, and the chart in the Appendix demonstrates how this could be 

applied in conjunction with the publication on the internet of low-resolution images. 

Design and presentation (see also the guidelines on Interactivity and Multimedia 

services). Back to Scope 

Many digitisation projects in the cultural area will lead to the creation of web sites 

[44] although some will be for in-house use only. 

Examples of in-house use include:- 

• interactive displays in museums; 

• digital display of fragile documents or books in archives and libraries; 

• digital display of objects in museums either to protect fragile items from exposure 

to light or to display an object form multiple angles; 

• catalogues, indexes and guides for use by visitors to the institution, including 

audio guides; 

• digitisation in order to improve accessibility for disabled people (see the guideline 

on Accessibility for disabled people). 

For publication on the web the following points should be borne in mind: 

• ease of navigation e.g. links to the front page, site map or table of contents 

available on every page; 

• accessibility by disabled people (see the guideline on Accessibility for disabled 

people); 

• very careful use of animations, pop-ups, Flash etc, with possibilities for bypassing 

these; 

• multilingual access (see the guideline on Multilingualism). 

Preparation for publication on the internet involves processing the master files to fit 

the operational requirements of the internet, which usually means reducing the file 

size and quality to enable short download times. Where larger images are published, 

this should be via a link from the web page, with a warning that download time may 

be slow. 


Image processing and audio and video editing software is readily available on hire or 

supplied with hardware. Viewers for 3D and virtual reality materials are not so 

widely available, although PCs with a focus on games will often have hardware 

accelerators and increased graphics memory which can improve the situation. 

Other delivery systems include CD and DVD. 

Storage (see also the guideline on Digital preservation) Back to Scope 

CDs and DVDs can also be used to store digital collections. Digital material will be 

held on server machines, and these must be backed up, ideally onto at least two 

types of media separately stored. CD-Rs were until recently a common back-up 

media, but have now been replaced by DVDs which can store larger files. Digital 

Linear Tape is however still in use, so the two types could be DLT and DVD. 

However, there is an increasing trend to store data on mobile hard drive units, and 

to transfer it to new servers over time, so reducing the risks of media obsolescence. 


Digitisation enables museums, libraries and archives to reach out to new users, and 

to serve traditional users in new ways. Digitisation can transform the way in which 

collections are used and also the way institutions themselves are organised. Digital 

technology offers new ways of fulfilling core missions such as education, research, 

and cultural enrichment. Museums, libraries and archives should consider creating 

new business models to ensure sustainability without conflicting with core missions 

and objectives (see the guideline on Business models). 

In the future there should be widespread adoption of technical standards leading to 

interoperability between collections. 

Policy makers need to work towards the reconciliation of rights issues in order to 

enable straightforward access to digital resources. 

At present media is likely to become obsolescent within about 5 years, so institutions 

need to have rigorous back-up and migration policies in place. 

The increasing trend to store data “on the internet” on large server machines and as 

data on mobile hard drive units facilitates the migration of data from medium to 

medium. Once servers are backed up and migrated to new servers over time, the 

dependence on removable media as back up storage will decrease. In the longer 

term it is hoped that media will be developed which is suitable for more permanent 

preservation of digital collections. 

Collaboration among institutions could lead to the development of community 

repositories, and, linked to that, collaboration in the preservation of digital objects. 

[45] 


Increasingly material will be created in digital form. Institutions will need to have 

policies in place to ensure that “born digital” material is preserved and made 

accessible (see the guidelines on Resource Description and Digital preservation). 

In future new search methods should enable users to search for any digital object or 

image, view it and download it, without needing to know where the original is held or 

having to make adjustments on their PCs. (See the guideline on Discovery and 

retrieval.) 

For a vision of the future see The Digicult Report: Technical Landscapes for 

tomorrow’s cultural economy: unlocking the value of cultural heritage European 

Commission, 2002. ISBN 9282862658. [46] 


[1] Lund Principles http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/lund_principles.htm 

[2] Lund Action Plan 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/digicult/lund_ap_browse.htm 

[3] Minerva Project http://www.minervaeurope.org/ 

[4] Good Practices Handbook, edited by the Minerva Working Group 6. Version 1.3. 3 

March 2004. 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/structure/workinggroups/goodpract/document/goodp 

ractices1_3.htm 

[5] Minerva Technical Guidelines for Digital Cultural Content Creation Programmes. 

Version 1.0. 8 April 2004. 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/technicalguidelines.htm 

[6] Europa: Grants and loans http://europa.eu.int/grants/ 

[7] TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images): Image Capture: Hardware and 

Software http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/creating/hwandsw.html 

[8] Jukka Korpela: A tutorial on character code issues. 

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/chars.html 

[9] AHDS Guide to good practice: creating and documenting electronic texts. 

http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/documents/creating/ 

[10] HTML 4.01 HyperText Markup Language http://www.w3.org/TR/html401 

[11] XHTML 1.0 Extensible HyperText Markup Language 

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/ 


[12] Portable Document Format (PDF) 

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html 

[13] TASI: Advice: Creating digital images 

http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/creating/creating.html 

[14] TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/com16/tifffx/docs/tiff6.pdf 

[15] SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG 

[16] Macromedia Flash http://www.macromedia.com 

[17] PNG (Portable Network Graphics) http://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/ 

[18] JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) format 

http://www.w3.org/Graphics/JPEG 

[19] JPEG/SPIFF (JPEG Still Picture Interchange File Format) 

http://www.jpeg.org/public/spiff.pdf 

[20] More information on JPEG is available at http://www.jpeg.org or 

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/ 

[21] The JPEG 2000 standard can be found at 

http://www.jpeg.org/jpeg2000/index.html 

[22] ISO/IEC 15444 

[23] GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) 

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/gif/ 

[24] PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-pngmulti.html 

[25] SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format (as of May 2004 specification still in draft 

format at http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/ ) 

[26] AVI (Audio Video Interleave) format 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=kb;en-us;Q316992 

[27] MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) format 

http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/ 

[28] Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/ ; Apple http://www.apple.com/ 

[29] MPEG standards http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards.htm 


[30] MPEG-1 format http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpeg-1/mpeg- 

1.htm 

[31] MP3 format http://www.mp3-tech.org 

[32] Real Audio http://www.real.com 

[33] Sun AU http://www.sun.com/ 

[34] Audio Engineering Society (AES) http://www.aes.org/ 

[35] International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) 

http://www.iasa-web.org/ 

[36] Web 3D Consortium http://www.web3d.org 

[37] 3dsite, inc http://www.3dsite.com 

[38] VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) and X3D http://www.web3d.org 

[39] shockwave 3D http://www.macromedia.com 

[40] For an overview of watermarking see 

http://www.webreference.com/content/watermarks/ 

[41] The website of the University of New York, Buffalo, 

http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/cts/preservation/digires.html 

[42] TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images) copyright page 

http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/managing/copyright.html 

[43] Creative Commons http://www.creativecommons.org 

[44] There are literally thousands of websites dealing with the design and creation of 

web sites including: 

http://www.essdack.org/webdesign/ 

http://www.htmlgoodies.com 

http://www.iasl-slo.org/creatingweb.html 

[45] See the Digital Preservation Coalition website at 

http://www.dpconline.org/text/index.html. 

[46] The Digicult Report: Technical Landscapes for tomorrow’s cultural economy: 

unlocking the value of cultural heritage. European Commission, 2002. Full report 

ISBN 92-828-5189-3. Executive summary ISBN 92-828-6265-8. 

http://www.digicult.info/pages/report.php 



International 

Google digitisation project 

The collections of five of the world's important academic institutions are to be 

digitised by Google. Scanned pages from books in the public domain will then be 

made available for search and reading online. The libraries that have teamed up with 

Google are Oxford University Library, the libraries at Michigan, Harvard, and Stanford 

universities in the U.S.A., and the New York Public Library. 

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1403143,00.html 

Armenia 

Digital Library of Classical Armenian Literature from the Vth to the XVIIIth Centuries 

This project digitises various types of Armenian literature: legal, economic, 

geographical, historical, philosophical, theological, medical etc., and is working on a 

database of museum objects to create a virtual version of the museum with its threedimensional 

classification. http://www.digilib.am 

Bulgaria 

Old Varna Project 

Aims to preserve Varna history in photos and text for future generations, and 

popularise it among Varna citizens. Exhibition pieces and photos are collected, 

restored by special technology, and saved on “talking” CDs and on the web. CDs are 

available in English. Website is in Bulgarian only. http://www.libvar.bg/old-varna/ 

Euxinograd Palace Project 

Photos of the palace, the park and archived documents are being collected, digitised 

and systematically arranged in six main topics. 3-D simulations of the Palace halls or 

a simulated trip in the park are planned at the next stage of the project. Available 

only in Bulgarian on CD-ROM. Web version planned. 

Croatia 

Digital collection “Silvije Strahimir Kranjcevic” 

Collection of digitised materials (full text poetry collection, manuscripts, family 

history, family archive, correspondence, photographs) referring to this famous 

Croatian 19th century poet. Includes a detailed inventory and database of all items 

to facilitate further research. Available online and on CD-ROM. 

http://www.sskranjcevic.hr 


Archbishop chateau and gardens in Kroměříž 

Example of book digitisation in a local institution http://digi.azz.cz 

Also digitised coin collection http://coins.azz.cz 

Database of seals in Czech archives 


Project of the Archives Direction Division of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech 

Republic and AiP Beroun s.r.o. http://database.aipberoun.cz/pecete 

Digitisation of regional documents (DRD) 

The aim is to digitise regional sources from archives such as newspapers and 

periodicals, club and parish chronicles, family and personal chronicles, plus significant 

documents form the District Archive and other collections. 

http://www.soka-cr.cz; http://www.knihovna-cr.cz 

Memoria Project 

Provides access to the full set of digitised documents and the detailed descriptions of 

historical documents, and also to bibliographical data from a range of sources in the 

Memoria database. The project accepts data of all kinds. http://www.memoria.cz 

France 

Valenciennes library 

Provides access to digitised microfilm of old manuscripts. 

http://www.ville-valenciennes.fr/bib/fondsvirtuels/microfilms/accueil.asp 

Iceland 

Maps of Iceland on the Internet 

All antique maps of Iceland (older than 1900) that are in the collection of the 

National and University Library of Iceland and the Central Bank of Iceland have been 

converted to a digital format and are accessible on the Internet. 

http://www.bok.hi.is/kort 

Ireland 

Ask About Ireland 

This is the pilot portal site for access to local cultural content in libraries, museums 

and archives in Ireland. Several pilot digitisation projects are available from here, 

including the Waterford Museum of Treasures (3D objects), the Cork Archives 

Institute, the Waterford City Library (Optical Character Recognition) and Mayo 

County Library (audio and video material). 

http://www.askaboutireland.com/bestpractice.html 

Luxembourg 

Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg 

The national library is carrying out a major digitsation project. http://www.bnl.lu/ 

Poland 

Cieszyńska Biblioteka Wirtualna (CBW) / Cieszyn Virtual Library (CVL) 

Internet access to digitised library materials connected to Śląsk Cieszyński 

(multicultural region on the border between Poland and the Czech Republic). 

http://www.ata.com.pl/kcc/biblioteka/ 


Treasures of Polish Archives 

Digital pictures supplemented with archival description, note on context and 

bibliographical notes. Documents are scanned or a photo made by digital camera 

(resolution up to 600 dpi), saved in “tiff” format and presented on the Internet in 

“jpg” format. http://www.poland.pl/articles/?c=421 

Romania 

Digitization of Dobrudjean old press (DPDV) - Project of “Ioan N. Roman” Constanta 

County Library 

Digitisation of Dobrudjean old press (1889-1940) which was on microfilm and in 

printed format. http://www.biblioteca.ct.ro 

Monuments From the Open-Air Museums In Romania 

Electronic forms of monuments of folk architecture preserved in Romanian museums 

or “in situ”. http://www.cimec.ro/aer/aeretn.htm 

Russia 

Pushkin Museum collections 

Various collections at the Pushkin Museum and other places digitised using the highly 

precise EPOS system and “flying lens" scanning technology which does not damage 

originals. http://www.eposgroup.ru 

Memory of Karelia 

The National Library of the Republic of Karelia has developed and implemented this 

project as part of the Federal program “Memory of Russia”. The goal is to conserve 

rare and unique book stocks covering local studies while at the same time providing 

wide access to them through the Internet. Digitisation will also enable additional 

possibilities of work with rare publications (context search, document spelling-based 

description search, import of texts in different formats, etc.). 

http://library.karelia.ru/rus/prog/pamyat2002.shtml 


Digitization of handwritten and early printed fragments from the Library of the 

Franciscan monastery of Santa Clara at Kotor; 

CD-ROM “Archives, libraries and monuments of Kotor” 

These projects of the Centre for the Preservation and Presentation of Kotor's 

Documentary Heritage “Notar” are related to the preservation, appraisal, description 

and presentation of historic collections. 

http://www.cdknotar.cg.yu; http://www.matf.bg.ac.yu/iak 

National Center for Digitization (NCD) 

This is a consortium consisting of leading cultural and research institutions involved 

in digitisation, including the Mathematical Institute SANU and the Mathematical 

Faculty Belgrade (which provide technical support), the National Library of Serbia, 

the National Museum Belgrade, the Archaeological Institute Belgrade, the Archive of 

Republic Serbia, the Serbian Institute for Monument Protection, and the Yugoslav 


Film Archive. Collaboration with other cultural and research institutions from Serbia 

and Montenegro, as well as with the similar projects from abroad, is being set up. 

Several projects are in progress. http://www.ncd.matf.bg.ac.yu 

Slovakia 

CEMUZ - Central Register of Museum Objects in Slovakia 

In 2002 the Slovak National Museum set up the CEMUZ Project to digitise museum 

objects (estimated total 8 million), and build a database to be used as a part of the 

Register of Culture and to form part of joint portal and of the state information 

system. http://www.cemuz.sk 

Spain 

Archivo De La Ciudad 

Online access to digital images of the Arganda Archives collection, mainly for 

educational purposes. The website of this local archive is one of the best examples of 

the use of the new technologies in Spain. http://www.ayto-arganda.es/archivo 

Digitisation of Historic Newspapers in Spanish Public Libraries 

The digitisation is being done using up-to-the-minute technology. The resulting 

database will include bibliographical descriptions of the original items (according to 

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative) and metadata of file structures (according to 

Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard). http://www.digibis.com/prensahis 

Documentos Virtuales del Archivo Histórico de Sueca. 

All documents from 1264 to 1954 are being digitised and will be accessible on the 

Web. http://sapiens.ya.com/webarchivo/ 

Patrimonio.es (2004-2008) 

Digitisation Programme of the Spanish Cultural, Scientific and Natural Heritage whose 

aim is preservation, cataloguing and dissemination. It includes a list of several 

initiatives for digitisation in the cultural heritage sector. http://patrimonio.red.es/ 

Virtual Library of Andalusia 

Digitised documents can be accessed via the virtual library catalogue which allows 

searching by authors, titles or subjects, or by subdivisions, such as Map Library, 

Graphic Library, Andalusian Reference Library, Newspaper Library, Film Library, etc. 

Includes additional cultural and learning resources aimed at school children such as: 

“Today in the history of Andalusia” and “Study and learn with the Virtual Library of 

Andalusía”. http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/bibliotecavirtualandalucia/ 

Virtual Library of the Spanish Bibliographical Heritage 

Prototype for the Virtual Library of the Spanish Bibliographical Heritage, developed 

by the Sub directorate General for Library Co-ordination. 

http://www.digibis.com/digibib 

Sweden 


Digitaliseringsprojekt inom arkiv, bibliotek och museer 

Joint digitisation project. 

http://www.kultur.nu/rapporter/digitaliseringsprojekt.html 

Turkey 

Akdas – Atatürk Kitaplığı Dijital Arşiv Sistemi (Atatürk Library Digitized Archive 

System, Istanbul Greater City Municipality) 

Works from the Ottoman Empire period such as journals and newspapers, 

manuscripts, books, postcards, maps etc. have been digitised and the project is in 

progress of adopting new technologies to speed up digitisation. Works digitised are 

put into service immediately for in-house use. 

http://www.ibb.gov.tr/minisite/kutuphaneler/ 


APPENDIX Back to Scope 

Creative Commons [43] licence explicitly state the ways in which digital items may be 

re-used, and this chart (produced by Minerva [3]) demonstrates how this could be 

applied in conjunction with the publication on the internet of low-resolution images. 

Image Technical Typical uses Licence 

Type informati conditions 

on 

Thumbnail • JPG educational: • Attribution 

• 72 dpi inclusion in a • Non-commercial, 

• bit depth of 24 

montage 

• No derivative works 

bit colour or 8-bit 

commercial: [optional] 

greyscale 

none 

• 120 pixels for the 

longest 

dimension 

Low • JPG educational: • Attribution 

resolution 

• 150 dpi 

use in a • Non-commercial 

• bit depth of 24bit 

colour or 8-bit 

presentation 

or essay 

• No derivate works 

[optional] 

greyscale 

commercial: 

High 

resolution 

• maximum of 600 

pixels for the 

longest 

dimension 

• TIFF 

image 

selection and 

initial layout, 

potential for 

licensing for 

use on 

websites and 

in 

presentations 

educational: 

• 600 dpi 

viewing 

• bit depth of 24bit 

colour or 8-bit 

details, 

archival copy 

greyscale commercial: 

multimedia 

production, 

print 

reproduction, 

broadcasting 

• Copyright 




Digital preservation 

This guideline deals with: 

Selection 

Technology preservation 

Technology emulation 

Data migration 

Authenticity 

Storage 

Conservation 

Disaster recovery procedures 

Formats 

Media 

Standards 

Web archiving and domain archiving 

Staffing implications 

Administrative and legal implications 

SCOPE 


‘The volume of information is growing at an unprecedented pace. We already 

produce more information per year than we did in the whole period since we 

descended from the trees. A lot of this information is digital only, meaning it has no 

physical representation. That makes it much more volatile. An XML-document for 

instance is created while you view it. So how do you keep it?’ (Ulrich Kampffmeyer, 

director of PROJECT CONSULT, Germany) [1]. 

The EU recognises that long-term access to digital as well as analogue resources is 

crucial to delivering the objective of making Europe “the most competitive and 

dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world” [2]. ERPANET (Electronic Resource 

Preservation and Access Network) was set up to address digital preservation issues 

[3]. 

Digital materials, whether “born digital” or converted to digital form, are at risk from 

technology obsolescence and physical deterioration. The objective of preserving 

resources is to ensure that they remain accessible for current and future generations. 

In the case of digital resources additional considerations (as compared with the 

preservation of traditional analogue materials) include: 

• technological obsolescence, generally regarded as the greatest technical threat to 

ensuring continued access. The speed of changes in technology means that the 

Calimera Guidelines 205 Digital preservation

timeframe during which action must be taken is measured in a few years, perhaps 

only 2 to 5, as opposed to decades or even centuries for traditional materials; 

• the fragility of some storage media used for digital resources. These can 

deteriorate quickly although externally no damage may be visible; 

• the ease with which changes can be made. This means that there can be 

challenges associated with ensuring continued authenticity; 

• the dynamic nature of some “born digital” materials. This means that they are 

intended to be continually updated. This use of technology is very effective for 

providing up-to-date reference information, maps, etc., but poses challenges in 

terms of the ability to compare data at different points in time; 

• the lifecycle of a website. The average lifespan of a website is estimated to be 

about 44 days. This is similar to the problem of ephemera in the analogue world. 

Ways need to be found to collect and preserve important websites and selected 

examples of all other websites; 

• the question of originals. With digitised materials, care must be taken to preserve 

analogue originals. However, with “born digital” materials there is no analogue 

equivalent to fall back on – once they are lost they are gone forever. For 

example, the first telegram ever sent, in 1844, has been preserved in analogue 

format and has been digitised; the first e-mail, sent in 1971, has been lost. 

Preservation issues must be considered an integral part of the digital creation 

process, whether making a digital copy of an analogue item or creating a “born 

digital” item. It is essential to document and record all the technological procedures 

that led to the creation of the digital object, and much critical information can be 

captured only at the point of creation. The costs and implications of not having a 

preservation strategy can be high. Retrospective preservation, if possible at all, is 

likely to be expensive. Although techniques such as digital archaeology (rescuing 

digital resources which have become inaccessible) exist, they are not always 

successful. Loss of access to the growing body of material only available in digital 

form could have serious implications for future generations. Precautions can be taken 

which will reduce the danger of loss such as: 

• storage in a stable controlled environment; 

• implementing regular refreshment cycles; 

• making preservation copies (subject to licensing/copyright permission); 

• establishing appropriate handling procedures; 

• using standard storage formats and media. 

As well as a technical strategy, an organisational strategy is useful in order to ensure 

budgets, staff and time are available for what should be an ongoing procedure. 

ERPANET has published a useful policy tool [4]. 

Some institutions, especially smaller ones, might consider contracting out either the 

whole preservation process, or the storage of digital materials, to a third party. This 

too will require careful planning. For guidance on the issues which need to be 

considered see Simpson, Duncan: Contracting out for digital preservation services: 

information leaflet and checklist. Digital Preservation Coalition, October 2004. [5] 



How to provide for long-term access should be considered from the planning stage 

when resources are being digitised (see the guideline on Digitisation), or from the 

creation stage in the case of “born digital” resources. It is useful to have a “lifecycle” 

strategy which takes into account data creation, access policies and 

preservation procedures, and which is in place and ready to be applied before any 

images are captured. 

Selection Back to Scope 

A key initial decision which needs to be made concerns selection, i.e. which 

resources justify preservation. Not all resources can be or need to be preserved for 

ever; some will not need to be preserved at all, some for a defined period of time, 

and some indefinitely. With traditional collections, lack of selection for preservation 

may not necessarily mean that the item will be lost, but in the digital environment it 

almost certainly will be, so such decisions are crucial. In the case of “born digital” 

materials it is advisable wherever possible to involve the creators in the selection 

decision. In cases where there are multiple versions, a decision must be made as to 

which version is the best one for preservation, or whether more than one should be 

selected. Sampling dynamic resources as opposed to attempting to save every 

change, may be the most practical option. Making such decisions as early as possible 

helps to target resources towards preserving the most valuable assets. 

Once the selection of material has been made, an appropriate technical strategy 

must be chosen, e.g. technology preservation, technology emulation, or data 

migration. 

Technology preservation Back to Scope 

This is a very high risk strategy. It involves preserving the original software (and 

possibly hardware) that was used to create and access the information. It also 

involves preserving and maintaining both the original operating system and hardware 

on which to run the resource, and continuing to train staff so that they have the 

skills needed to keep the systems running. Long-term costs are impossible to 

estimate. It is likely to be too expensive and impractical for individual institutions 

(except very large ones with very important collections), although co-operation with 

other institutions to keep a “pool” of such equipment could be considered. The 

disadvantages to this strategy include obsolescence, software and hardware 

eventually wearing out, technical support disappearing over time, and the “pool” 

equipment being in a location at some distance from the digital material making 

access for local users difficult. Technology preservation is not really an option for 

small local institutions. 

Technology emulation Back to Scope 

This involves developing techniques for imitating obsolete systems on future 

generations of computers. At the present time this tends to be expensive and 

technically complex. Also it will have to be re-done each time a new technological 

platform appears. It can thus only be regarded as a solution for long-term 

preservation of perhaps globally important material held in large national institutions 

where emulation can take place on a more-or-less continual basis. An additional 


consideration is that software copyright issues may need to be addressed (see the 

guideline on Legal and rights issues). 

Data migration Back to Scope 

This involves copying the data from one hardware/software generation to a newer 

one, thus keeping it stored in an up-to-date form that continually keeps pace with 

changes in technology. This is perhaps the simplest and most commonly used 

method, despite the possibility of data being lost or changed in the migration 

process. It preserves the intellectual content of the original data but may lose 

original features and appearance. If these are important then technology 

preservation or emulation may have to be used. The capture of metadata is a critical 

part of a migration strategy in order to ensure continued use of the resource if any 

change in, or loss of, functionality occurs, as it probably will over successive 

migrations. In this case preservation metadata - describing the software, hardware 

and management requirements of the digital material - will provide essential 

information. 

Data refreshing is associated with migration. It is the process of copying data from 

one set or copy of the digital media to another of the same kind and helps to keep 

the data in good condition until it is migrated to a new media. 

Consideration might also be given to copying data to an older generation of media, 

namely analogue format. With resources which are digitised from analogue originals 

it is of course sensible to preserve the originals. It is also possible to preserve “born 

digital” resources in an analogue format such as permanent paper, preservation 

microfilm or nickel disk, but this is only suitable in a limited number of cases such as 

a print-out of a digital document. It is inappropriate for increasingly complex 

websites etc., where loss of functionality would diminish the usefulness of the 

resource. 

Another possibility which might be considered is preserving screen shots of systems, 

virtual exhibitions or creative works (particularly those which are “born digital”). This 

provides a record of the system in the form of a digital image file which is likely to be 

suitable for long-term preservation. 

Authenticity (see also the guideline on Security) Back to Scope 

The choice of preservation strategy will be influenced by how authentic the 

preserved item needs to be. There is no universally accepted definition of 

authenticity, but it broadly means that the preserved copy should be as much like 

the original as possible, and the connections between documents and objects should 

be preserved to assist with interpretation. With analogue records, it is possible for 

example to trace how decisions were reached by examining the relationships 

between documents; historians are concerned that, with the proliferation of records 

only available in digital format, this ability might be lost to future generations. 

In the analogue world, the preserved item usually is the original, although copies 

may be made for use in order to prevent damage from handling etc. In the digital 

world the preserved item will be a copy of some sort since there is no physical 

artefact. As it is dependent on technology for access, over time this copy will be 


subject to many changes in order to ensure that it is still accessible on new 

technologies. It is therefore crucial that metadata is preserved with it to define its 

authenticity, and ideally this should be created simultaneously with the information. 

For discussions on the challenges posed by authenticity and preservation see 

Integrity and authenticity of digital cultural heritage objects. Digicult Thematic Issue 

1, August 2002. [6] 

Storage (see also the guideline on Digitisation) Back to Scope 

Strategies for both online and offline storage will be needed. Delivery files in 

continual use will need to be stored online, on servers. Master files are best stored 

offline since they are less frequently accessed. Storage of the original analogue 

objects or source texts is also important and links need to be made to these. 

• Online storage – it is easy to allow storage space to become cluttered with several 

versions of documents and other unnecessary resources. It would be useful to 

have a plan which: 

° clarifies which resources need to be accessible online, nearline and offline; 

° sets times for removing certain categories of material from online storage; 

° sets times for reviewing online storage. 

• Offline storage must take into account the problem of media degradation. 

However, despite its fragility as compared for example with paper, most storage 

media will outlive the hardware and software needed to use it. Over the last 30 

years storage media has moved from punch cards to DVDs via cassettes, floppy 

disks and CD-ROMs, but the technology to retrieve data stored on the early media 

is difficult to find. Storage cannot therefore be a once-for-all task but must be 

part of an ongoing regime. Points to consider include: 

° environmental conditions – good environmental conditions will increase the 

longevity of digital storage media and help prevent damage to data. Large 

fluctuations in temperature and humidity are generally thought to be more 

damaging than constant levels, even when these are slightly less than ideal. 

BS 4783 Storage, transportation and maintenance of media for use in data 

processing and information storage [7] contains guidance; 

° archival media – it is advisable to select the best quality archival media 

affordable. A variety of digital storage media is available, including CD-R, DVD 

R, DAT (Digital Audio Tape) and DLT (Digital Linear Tape). Digital images 

should be preserved on Write Once Read Many (WORM) drives which enable 

the files to be viewed frequently without being overwritten. TASI (Technical 

Advisory Service for Images) gives advice on CD-R and DVD-R [8]. The 

Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) gives advice on 

standards for archival media [9]; 

° archival copies – at least two archival copies should always be made and 

stored in different locations. If possible multiple copies should be made on 

different storage media. Copies made using different software, and/or 

comparable software purchased from different suppliers, will help to protect 

data against corruption from malfunctioning software or viruses; 

° media refreshing – it is useful to have a plan for refreshing or transferring 

archive copies to new media at specified times, e.g. 

− within the minimum time specified by the supplier for the media's viability; 

− when new storage devices are installed; 


− when a quality control check discloses significant temporary or read 

"errors" in a data resource; 

° quality control – consider having a quality control procedure involving: 

− checking all media periodically for readability; 

− using bit/byte or other checksum comparisons with originals to ensure the 

authenticity and integrity of items after media refreshing; 

− recording all actions taken. 

Conservation Back to Scope 

In the analogue world, preservation is the term used for activities which generally 

ensure the safekeeping and survival of resources (careful handling, secure packaging 

during transport, controlled environment etc.), and conservation is that particular 

aspect of those activities which involve some kind of active intervention with the 

object, i.e. repair or restoration. In the field of digital resources, the term 

preservation is more often used, although active conservation measures might be 

needed at times; some damaged media can be repaired for example. 

Disaster recovery procedures and risk management Back to Scope 

It is always sensible to have a plan in case of disasters. It should include such 

considerations as: 

• creating archive copies of all important digital resources as soon as they are 

acquired or created; 

• using standard storage media and formats; 

• storing archive copies on and off site - in areas in danger of natural disasters such 

as flooding, off site copies should be at a safe distance away; 

• ensuring that all staff are trained in what to do in the event of a disaster; 

• having a risk management policy. ERPANET has published a risk communication 

toolkit. [10] 

Formats Back to Scope 

The requirements of a file format for archiving are broadly the same as for creation 

(see the guideline on Digitisation). It is preferable: 

• to use an open standard file format rather than a proprietary format to guard 

against obsolescence; 

• to use a file format that can support the embedding of metadata; 

• not to use any compression to guard against losing data - a lossless format such 

as TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) [11] is preferable, but if there is real 

pressure on space, the PNG (Portable Network Graphic) file format [12] can 

provide an alternative lossless format. 

The same general rules apply to the preservation of audiovisual formats (see also the 

guideline on Multimedia services), but digital broadcasting media present enormous 

challenges. Most television is now produced in digital format. It is imperative to 

involve the programme makers and journalists who create the programmes in the 

preservation strategy. TV companies such as the Netherlands Institute for Sound and 

Vision [13] are working on strategies to preserve hundreds of thousands of hours of 

broadcast material in authentic ways. 

ERPANET suggests the following file formats for preservation [14]: 


• Text documents: plain ASCII [15], PDF [16], XML [17], TIFF [11]; 

• Image documents: TIFF [11], JPEG2000 [18]; 

• Audiovisual documents: WAV [19], BWF [20], MPEG [21]. 

Because of the number and variety of formats available, information about them is 

being collected in file format registries such as the UK National Archives’ PRONOM 

[22]. Local institutions may need to seek advice from regional or national 

professional associations as to which one is suitable for their requirements. 

Media (see also storage) Back to Scope 

As already mentioned, it is advisable to select the best quality archival media 

affordable. A variety of digital storage media is available, including CD-R, DVD-R, 

DAT (Digital Audio Tape) and DLT (Digital Linear Tape). Digital images should be 

preserved on Write Once Read Many (WORM) drives which enable the files to be 

viewed frequently without being overwritten. TASI (Technical Advisory Service for 

Images) gives advice [8]. 

Standards (see also the guideline on Digitisation) Back to Scope 

It is advisable to adhere to open standards when archiving digital resources. As these 

are not tied to specific hardware/software they help to guard against the dangers of 

technological obsolescence. There are standards for the different aspects of storing 

digital information. Some examples include: 

• interoperability standards - these allow communication between different 

systems. Examples include ISO 23950:1998 Information and documentation - 

Information retrieval (Z39.50) - Application service definition and protocol 

specification [23] and the CIMI (Consortium for the Computer Interchange of 

Museum Information) Profile: Z39.50 Application Profile for Cultural Heritage 

Information [24]; 

• resource encoding standards (see also the guidelines on Resource description and 

Discovery and retrieval) - these define formats for different types of digital 

information. Adherence to this type of standard allows data compatibility across a 

wide range of systems. Examples include standards for: 

• page description formats e.g. PostScript [25], Portable Document Format 

(PDF) [16]; 

• graphics formats e.g. Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) [11], Graphics 

Interchange Format (GIF) [26]; 

• structured information formats e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language 

(SGML) [27], Extensible Markup Language (XML) [17]; 

• moving images and audio formats e.g. WAV [19], Broadcast Wave Format 

(BWF) [20], MPEG [21]; 

• resource identification standards (see also the guidelines on Resource description 

and Discovery and retrieval) – these provide a way of uniquely identifying digital 

resources in order to ensure long-term and reliable access to resources while they 

are available over the Internet even when their location changes. URLs (Uniform 

Resource Locators) can change. Examples of permanent identifiers include URNs 

(Universal Resource Names) [28], DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) [29], PURLs 

(Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) [30], Handles [31] and ARKs (Archival 

Resource Keys) [32]; 


• resource description standards (see also the guideline on Discovery and retrieval) 

– these can facilitate effective resource discovery. Examples include AACR2 [33] 

and Dublin Core [34]. There are also a group of standards which relate to 

metadata syntax, such as MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloguing) [35] and the 

EAD (Encoded Archival Description) [36]. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) 

[37] is currently involved in developing the Resource Description Framework 

(RDF) [38] which will provide the infrastructure to support the coexistence of 

many different metadata sets, or "schemas", of which the Dublin Core will be one 

example; 

• data archiving standards – these provide for the long-term preservation of and 

access to digital information. The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) 

Reference Model (ISO 14721:2003 Space data and information transfer systems 

- Open archival information system -- Reference model) is an example. [39]; 

• records management standards – these provide guidance on how to implement 

records management strategies, procedures and practices. The main examples 

are ISO 15489 Information and documentation -- Records management [40] and 

ISO/TS 23081-1:2004 Information and documentation - Records management 

processes - Metadata for records -- Part 1: Principles [41]. 

It is also advisable to adhere to standard formats and media. Simply using standard 

file formats and standard media will go a long way towards ensuring the safety of a 

digital collection. The Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) [42] and the 

Digital Preservation Coalition [43] both give valuable advice on both topics, and see 

also the guideline on Digitisation. The Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der 

Informationstechnik (BSI) gives advice on standards for archival media [9]. 

Various projects are working on standards for digital archiving including: 

InterPARES [44], Project Prism [45], DAVID [46] and VERS [47]. 

In 2003 the International Internet Preservation Consortium [48] was set up by the 

national libraries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, 

Norway, Sweden, the UK and the USA, with the aim of preserving Internet content 

for future generations. In order to do this it aims to develop common tools, 

techniques and standards, and working groups have been set up to work on these. 

Web archiving and domain archiving Back to Scope 

The ever-expanding size of the World Wide Web and its dynamic and ephemeral 

nature pose special challenges for projects aiming to capture, store and make it 

accessible for the long term. Several countries, including Canada, Denmark, New 

Zealand, Norway, South Africa and the UK have enacted legislation to extend legal 

deposit to digital publications. Some national libraries, including Austria, the Czech 

Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, 

Sweden and the UK, are beginning to build national web archives using a variety of 

approaches, e.g. 

• selective archiving of static web resources, i.e. resources that do not change or 

contain inter-active or dynamic elements are archived on a selective basis. 

Denmark, Canada and Japan are the principal exponents of this approach; 

• selective archiving of static and dynamic web resources. Australia is one country 

archiving in this way; 


• whole of domain harvesting, i.e. attempting to harvest automatically the entire 

web domain of a country using harvesting robots and a minimum of human 

intervention. Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway are pursuing this approach; 

• a combination of the selective and whole of domain approaches. The Bibliothèque 

Nationale de France is attempting to program a robot to archive both 

automatically and selectively those resources likely to be of research value; 

• archiving based on collaborative agreements with commercial publishers. The 

National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) has developed 

technical infrastructure and organisational relationships with commercial 

publishers, including Elsevier Science and Blackwell Publishing, to archive, 

preserve and provide limited access to the whole digital output of the publishers 

concerned. The Bibliothèque Nationale has also recognised the need to work with 

publishers for deposit of the ‘deep web’, which is out of reach of crawlers, and 

includes a large amount of rich web content. 

Much web archiving activity is still at the experimental stage. A list of organisations 

which have conducted pilot projects and experiments is included on the Austrian On- 

Line Archive’s website [49]. The USA’s Internet Archive [see Links] website and the 

National Library of Australia’s website [50] also contain information about other 

projects. A recent project started in June 2004 is the UK Web Archiving Consortium 

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ (see Links) which is working on a project to develop 

a test-bed for selective archiving of UK websites using PANDAS (PANDORA Digital 

Archiving System) developed by PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked 

Documentary Resources of Australia) (see Links). For a detailed feasibility study see 

Day, Michael: Collecting and preserving the World Wide Web. 2003. [51] 

Staffing implications Back to Scope 

Because of the rapid changes in technology staff skills will need to be continually 

updated and a certain amount of learning by doing will often be the most practical 

approach when new software and hardware is acquired. Staff may need to work with 

personnel from other departments such as corporate IT departments. Collaboration 

with other institutions, including secondments, might be a good way of sharing skills. 

Administrative and legal implications Back to Scope 

Digital records and documents require management in the same way as analogue 

resources to ensure they are put into the correct level of storage at specified times 

and can be retrieved on demand. An electronic records management system is 

advisable (see the guideline on Content and context management). 

Many countries have Freedom of Information legislation giving people the right to 

see information from any date, making it even more necessary to have good records 

management practices and procedures in place. Public bodies may be statutorily 

obliged to publish certain classes of information, but individual requests for other 

information will need to be dealt with usually within a short time period (20 days in 

the UK.) In the light of this legislation, digital preservation is very important and 

must be managed carefully to ensure that any disposal or alteration of records is 

within the law. (See the guideline on Legal and rights issues.) 


Rights issues will need to be addressed before copies for preservation can be made 

(see the guideline on Legal and rights issues). 


More and more information, including government information and academic 

research, is being created in digital format. Unless significant effort is put into 

preserving and securing long-term access to these digital resources much of our 

heritage and intellectual assets from the late 20th century onwards will be lost. 

International and national strategies and funding are needed to address this issue. 

Also, unless there is confidence that preservation strategies will work, then growth in 

digital services could slow down, and all the economic, social and educational 

benefits be lost. 

Governments need to establish national strategies linking legislation and funding to 

enable deposit libraries and national archives to collect digital resources as well as 

traditional material. 

Copyright and licensing laws need to allow for preservation copies to be made. 

No matter how carefully digital material is stored, changes in technology can render 

it useless. Research into preservation strategies must keep pace with the rapid 

change in technology. Ideally preservation considerations should run in parallel to 

the creation of new media and formats. 

Museums, libraries and archives need to allocate budgets and apply their expertise to 

the preservation of digital resources just as they would with regard to traditional 

materials. However, they need to get involved at a much earlier stage in the process. 

Conservation of analogue resources can usually be dealt with long after their 

creation, but this does not apply to digital resources. Collaboration with inventors 

and writers is needed to ensure the brief time slot when action can be taken is not 

missed. 

Research such as that on Persistent Object Preservation (a technique to ensure 

electronic records remain accessible by making them self-describing in a way that is 

independent of specific hardware and software which is being worked on by the US 

National Archives and Records Administration’s Electronic Records Archives (ERA) 

program) may eventually come up with a system which will last for hundreds of 

years [52]. 

International standards and specifications, predefined structures, metadata and 

interchangeable formats are needed to ensure interoperability and long-term use. 


[1] Only co-operation can prevent us from drowning. Interview with Ulrich 

Kampffmeyer, PROJECT CONSULT, Germany by Joost van Kasteren in Integrity and 


authenticity of digital cultural heritage objects. Digicult Thematic Issue 1, August 

2002, p.20. 

http://www.digicult.info/downloads/thematic_issue_1_final.pdf 

[2] Lisbon European Council 23 and 24 March 2000 

http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/00100-r1.en0.htm 

[3] Ross, Seamus: The Role of ERPANET in Supporting Digital Curation and 

Preservation in Europe in D-Lib Magazine, vol. 10.no. 7/8, July/August 2004. 

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july04/ross/07ross.html#3 

[4] ERPANET Digital Preservation Policy Tool. 2003. 

http://www.erpanet.org/guidance/docs/ERPANETPolicyTool.pdf 

[5] For guidance on the issues which need to be considered if contracting out the 

preservation process see Simpson, Duncan: Contracting out for digital preservation 

services: information leaflet and checklist. Digital Preservation Coalition, October 

2004. 

http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/guides/index.html#outsourcing 

[6] Integrity and authenticity of digital cultural heritage objects. Digicult Thematic 

Issue 1, August 2002. 

http://www.digicult.info/downloads/thematic_issue_1_final.pdf 

[7] BS 4783, parts 1 - 8: Storage, transportation and maintenance of media for use 

in data processing and information storage. British Standards institution, 1988-94. 

http://bsonline.techindex.co.uk/BSI2/Dir1/SitePage.asp?LS=&PgID=0080&LR=&LD= 

&Src=&Dest=&Last=&SessID=L7DJXCTA2DNQ9P5136AP3DQLQB1587G2&MSCSID= 

&ErrID=&SessStat=&Parent=&Child=&PCount=0&LogStat=&URLData=&SEARCH_ID 

=MMKD47V26JXN9HPLP0494ULBXK6GC735&SEARCH_TYPE=SRCH_TYP_QCK 

[8] TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images): Using CD-R and DVD-R for Digital 

Preservation http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/delivering/cdr-dvdr.html 

[9] Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik: S 4.169 Use of appropriate 

archival media. October 2003. 

http://www.bsi.de/gshb/english/s/s04169.html 

[10] ERPANET Risk Communication Tool. 2003. 

http://www.erpanet.org/guidance/docs/ERPANETRiskTool.pdf 

[11] TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) 

http://www.itu.int/itudoc/itu-t/com16/tiff-fx/docs/tiff6.pdf 

[12] PNG (Portable Network Graphics) http://www.w3.org/TR/PNG/ 





A9AF9FB858BB 

[14] ERPANET: File Formats for Preservation, Austrian National Library, Vienna, 10 

11 May 2004. Briefing Paper 

http://www.erpanet.org/events/2004/vienna/erpaTrainingWien_BriefingPaper_v02.p 

df 

[15] ASCII http://www.asciitable.com/ 

[16] Adobe Portable Document Format 

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html 

[17] Extensible Markup Language (XML) http://www.w3.org/XML/ 

[18] JPEG 2000 http://www.jpeg.org/jpeg2000/ 

[19] WAV information available on Microsoft website 

http://www.microsoft.com 

[20] BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) http://www.sr.se/utveckling/tu/bwf/ 

[21] MPEG http://www.sr.se/utveckling/tu/bwf/ 

[22] The National Archives. PRONOM http://www.records.pro.gov.uk/pronom 

[23] ISO 23950:1998 Information and documentation -- Information retrieval 

(Z39.50) - Application service definition and protocol specification 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=27446 

[24] The CIMI Profile: Z39.50 Application Profile for Cultural Heritage Information. 

Release 1.0, March 1, 1998 

http://www.cimi.org/old_site/downloads/ProfileFinalMar98/cimiprofile1.htm#Forewar 

d 

[25] Adobe PostScript 3 

http://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/main.html 

[26] GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) 

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/gif/ 

[27] ISO 8879:1986 Information processing -- Text and office systems -- Standard 

Generalized Markup Language (SGML) 


[28] URNs (Universal Resource Names) http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1737.txt 

[29] DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) http://www.doi.org/hb.html 


[30] PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) http://purl.oclc.org/ 

[31] Handles http://www.handle.net/introduction.html 

[32] ARKs (Archival Resource Keys) http://www.cdlib.org/inside/diglib/ark/ 

[33] Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules http://www.aacr2.org/ 

[34] Dublin Core Metadata Initiative http://dublincore.org/ 

[35] MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloguing) 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/index.html 


[37] World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) http://www.w3.org/ 

[38] Resource Description Framework (RDF) http://www.w3.org/RDF/ 

[39] ISO Archiving Standards – Overview 

http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ 

ISO 14721:2003 Space data and information transfer systems -- Open archival 

information system -- Reference model 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=24683& 

ICS1=49&ICS2=140&ICS3 

For a review of the model see Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and 

Responsibilities. An RLG-OCLC Report. RLG, May 2002. 

http://www.rlg.org/longterm/repositories.pdf 

[40] ISO 15489 Information and documentation -- Records management 


ICS1=1&ICS2=140&ICS3=20 

and 


ICS1=1&ICS2=140&ICS3=20 

[41] ISO/TS 23081-1:2004 Information and documentation - Records management 

processes - Metadata for records -- Part 1: Principles 


ICS1=1&ICS2=140&ICS3=20 

[42] The Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) 

http://www.tasi.ac.uk/index.html 

[43] Digital Preservation Coalition http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/ 

[44] InterPARES (The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in 

Electronic Systems) http://www.interpares.org 


[45] Cornell University Project Prism: Information integrity in distributed digital 

libraries http://www.prism.cornell.edu/Default.htm 

[46] DAVID (Digitale Archivering in Vlaamse Instellingen en Diensten) 

http://www.antwerpen.be/david/website/nl/index2.htm 

[47] VERS (Victoria Electronic Recordkeeping System) 

http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/vers/standards/pros9907/99-7-2s2.htm 

[48] International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC) 

http://netpreserve.org/about/mission.php 

[49] Austrian On-line Archive: Web Archiving – Bibliography 

http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~aola/links/WebArchiving.html 

[50] National Library of Australia http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/92.html 

[51] Day, Michael: Collecting and preserving the World Wide Web. 2003. 

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/archiving_feasibility.pdf 

[52] Building the archives of the future: advances in preserving electronic records at 

the National Archives and Records Administration [by] Kenneth Thibodeau in D-Lib 

Magazine, February 2001, Volume 7 Number 2. 

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february01/thibodeau/02thibodeau.html 

International 


International Internet Preservation Consortium 

The national libraries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, 

Norway, Sweden, the British Library (UK), the Library of Congress (USA) and the 

Internet Archive (USA) are collaborating to find ways of collecting and preserving 

global Internet. They are doing research into challenging problems such as Deep 

Web searching, e.g. Internet newspapers, streaming media, documents from web 

cameras, interactive media and e-materials of all types stored in databases. 

http://netpreserve.org/about/mission.php 

SEPIA (Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access) 

This EU-funded project is doing research focusing on the digital preservation of 

photographic materials. 

http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/sepia/workinggroups/wp4/digitisation.html 

Armenia 

Gladzor Management University 


Conservation and preservation of digital content, including systems to provide long 

term preservation (archival storage), support user queries, and publish content in 

new ways e.g. on demand, tailored for individual users or groups, and creation of CD 

series. http://www.gladzor.am 

Australia 

PANDORA (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of 

Australia). 

A selective archive, developed at the National Library of Australia, publicly available 

free of charge via the Web. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/index.html/ 

Austria 

Austrian On-Line Archive (AOLA) 

Project initiated by the Austrian National Library (OeNB) and the Department of 

Software Technology (IFS) at the Technical University of Vienna to build an archive 

of the Austrian Webspace. Documents will be harvested at certain time intervals to 

produce snapshots of the Austrian Webspace. http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~aola/ 

Croatia 

Digital Local History Collection at Slavonski Brod City Library 

This was a pilot project whose main aim was to contribute to the preservation of the 

local history collection at Slavonski Brod City Library. It uses Greenstone Digital 

Library Software (http://www.greenstone.org), an open-source software. 

http://www.gksb.hr/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?a=p&p=about&c=brod&l=hr&w=iso- 

8859-2 

Teuta 

Several integrated cultural heritage databases containing an inventory of 

monuments, historic buildings and sites in Croatia, provided with appropriate 

documentation and digital collections of images so as to enable full protection and 

preservation. Interoperability has been ensured by the application of international 

standards and guidelines. Currently its primary users are cultural heritage 

professionals but soon it will be available on the Internet for the public. It will also be 

integrated with the BREUH database (Croatian Restoration Record of Works of Art 

and Monuments), maintained by the Croatian Restoration Institute (http://www.h-rz.hr/). 


National Archives (formerly the State Central Archives) 

Research into storage, processing and access to digitised documents is carried out by 

specialists of the Archives Direction Division of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech 

Republic and by the Czech Technical University in Prague (Faculty of Electrical 

Engineering). A working place for statewide activity will be built up at the National 

Archives. http://www.mvcr.cz/archivy; http://www.nacr.cz 


Slovacke muzeum, Uherske Hradiste 

Every object is described and photographed before and after conservation to 

establish a digital photo archive, and has a memo card and a digital card on 

computer with the photo, which is very useful for research workers. 

http://www.slovackemuzeum.cz 

WebArchiv 

Project conducted by the National Library of the Czech Republic in cooperation with 

Masaryk University in Brno, and with financial support from the Ministry of Culture, to 

catalogue online publications and integrate these records into the Czech National 

Bibliography database, and to store the publications in a deposit system in order to 

ensure long-term access. http://www.webarchiv.cz/index-e.html 

Denmark 

Netarchive.dk 

This collaborative pilot project involving the Royal Library, the State and University 

Library and the Centre for Internet Research is now in its second phase. Three 

methods of harvesting material have been trialled: automatic "snapshot" harvesting, 

"selective" harvesting, and "event-based" harvesting. 

http://www.netarchive.dk/index-en.htm 

Finland 

SÄHKE-project 

Focuses on the long-term preservation of material produced by records management 

systems. http://www.narc.fi/sahke/ 

Germany 

DEPOSIT.DDB.DE 

Die Deutsche Bibliothek (DDB) stores online publications and digitised publications on 

this archive server, which is part of the deposit system for long-term availability of 

digital publications. http://deposit.ddb.de/index_e.htm 

Macedonia 

MAIIS - Macedonian Archival Integrated Information Systems 

One part of the digitisation programme is concerned with conservation. The system 

for automatic regulation of the atmosphere consists of 3 subsystems: heating and 

cooling, drying and humidifying of the air and a complex system for automatic 

regulation of the atmosphere. http://www.arhiv.gov.mk 


Archipol project 

Involves the archiving of web sites produced by political parties in the Netherlands 

and aims to make the digital archive available on-line. 

http://www.archipol.nl/project/ 


e-Depot 

Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) has developed e-Depot 

to archive publications by Dutch publishers and is carrying out research into methods 

to ensure long-term access. 

http://www.kb.nl/kb/resources/frameset_kb.html?/kb/pr/pers/pers2002/elsevieren.html 

New Zealand 

National Library of New Zealand Digital Repository. 

The New Zealand National Library Act 2003 extends legal deposit provisions to cover 

electronic material. The digital repository of the National Library will collect and 

preserve digital objects both online and offline, including websites, published works, 

images, and material on CDs, floppy disks etc. http://www.natlib.govt.nz/ 

Norway 

Digitalt radioarkiv (Digital Radio Archive) 

Collaborative effort between the National Library of Norway and the Norwegian 

Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) to digitise the historical radio archive of NRK with 

the aim of long-term preservation. http://www.nb.no/html/radioarkiv_nordland.html 

Digital Repository of the National Library of Norway 

The NLN holds a large collection of digital documents, both digitised and born-digital, 

for which it has a responsibility for long-term preservation. In order to maintain the 

digital collection over time the NLN has established the Digital Repository (DR). The 

core of the DR is a disk and tape-storing system, which has a capacity of 100 TB. 

The NLN has developed a generalised input/output service for the DR. All objects are 

identified by a URN (Uniform Resource Locator) and must have metadata for search, 

retrieval and preservation purposes. Formats are chosen to facilitate long-term 

preservation. (Still under development so no website yet.) 

Paradigma Project 

Project of the National Library of Norway to investigate ways of collecting and 

preserving Norway's digital cultural heritage for future generations. 

http://www.nb.no/paradigma/eng_index.html 

Russia 

Project for Conservation of Unique Photo Documents and Broader Access to Original 

Sources of CSACPPD in St. Petersburg 

Project to preserve photographic resources in the Central State Archive of Cinema, 

Photographic, and Phonographic Documents. http://www.photoarchive.spb.ru 

Serbia 

Realisation of multimedia databases for Historical Museum of Serbia – IMUS 


Multimedia database (digital images, animations, videos and sound clips) is mainly 

targeted to museum experts and associates with the aim of providing complex 

information about conservation and restoration procedures. 

http://www.nasasrbija.co.yu/esnaf/esnaf_3.htm 

Sweden 

Kulturarw3 

A project of the Royal Library (the National Library of Sweden), the Swedish Web 

Archive of electronic documents covers periodicals, electronic magazines and 

newspapers, static documents such as texts in electronic archives and dynamic 

documents with links. http://www.kb.se/kw3/ENG/Default.htm 


Arts and Humanities Data Service 

This centre for digital archiving for the arts and humanities in UK higher and further 

education has developed advice and guidance on preservation issues. 

http://ahds.ac.uk 

UK Web Archiving Consortium 

Six UK institutions are collaborating on a project to develop a test-bed for selective 

archiving of UK websites. http://www.webarchive.org.uk/ 

USA 

Internet Archive 

The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural 

artefacts in digital form. http://www.archive.org/about/about.php 

Minerva (Mapping the Internet Electronic Resources Virtual Archive) 

Library of Congress project focusing on the harvesting of topic-based public Web 

content. http://www.loc.gov/minerva/ 

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) 

The Library of Congress is leading this cross-sector co-operative online archiving 

venture which will co-ordinate existing digital archiving research programmes across 

the public and private sectors in the United States to minimise replication, allocate 

responsibilities and share knowledge and experience. 

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ 




Resource description 



Metadata 

Domain-specific metadata standards 

Collection level descriptions 

Terminology 

Ontologies 

Object identification 

SCOPE 

Note: It is anticipated that institutions will be approaching resource description from 

different starting positions and that many, if not most, may need to adopt a staged 

approach to implementation. It is also anticipated that these guidelines may be used 

to support procurement – either of integrated management systems or to aid the 

appointment of contractors or consultants. Some of the technologies involved in 

resource description are described in the guideline on Underlying technologies and 

infrastructure. 


Libraries have long operated in a networked information environment, and 

increasingly archives and museums do too. The advent of the Internet means that 

even the smallest museum, branch library or branch of a record office can now have 

access to an ever increasing amount of distributed digital information available over 

the web. The knowledge society, lifelong learning and the growing impetus towards 

interaction with central government by electronic means make easy access to 

information of increasing importance for all citizens. 

Many institutions are also creating new digital content themselves, be it their own 

web pages or new multimedia content, sometimes funded by specific digitisation 

programmes (see the guideline on Digitisation). They need to understand how to 

describe this new content such that it is both easily retrieved by users and 

interoperable with other digital content. 

The technologies and standards in this area are still emerging and will continue to 

change and develop over time. Institutions need to be aware of the current state of 

the art so as to avoid the adoption of inappropriate or obsolescent technology and 

standards. 

Institutions need an understanding of these issues in order to plan and prioritise their 

Calimera Guidelines 223 Resource description

work and particularly when they are procuring new systems or commissioning 

development work from outside consultants/contractors. 


Many of the technologies used in resource description are described in the guideline 

on Underlying technologies and infrastructure. 

Interoperability Back to Scope 

In relation to digital content interoperability means that it should be as widely 

reusable, portable across different networks, systems and organisations, and as long 

lasting as possible. The key to achieving this is through standards - codified rules and 

guidelines for the creation, description and management of digital resources (see 

Reinventing the Wheel in D-Lib Magazine, Jan 2002, for more information [1]). It is 

important to use standards for description purposes so that users can more easily 

search and retrieve information from different sources - across different catalogues, 

across different domains (museums, libraries and archives), across different resource 

types (books, documents, museum artefacts, audio-visual media), via different 

delivery channels (PCs, interactive TV, mobile phones, handheld devices), and in 

different languages. (See the guideline on Discovery and retrieval.) 

Metadata Back to Scope 

Metadata has sometimes been defined as “structured data about data”, but the term 

is now often used to refer to machine-processable data that describes resources of 

many types and that is used to support a range of different operations. 

Cultural heritage and information professionals have been creating metadata for as 

long as they have been managing collections. A library catalogue record, for 

example, is metadata which describes a particular book, so the metadata elements 

associated with a book might include: author, title, publisher, date, ISBN, 

classification number etc. Those associated with an object in a museum might 

include the object name, brief physical description, acquisition method, date, location 

etc. Those associated with an archival document might include reference code, title, 

creator, date, etc. , and of a radio programme might include title, description of 

content, creator, broadcaster, language, date, and so on. Libraries, museums and 

archives all have catalogues, but these can be structurally different, because the 

nature and significance of the relationships between the resources described is 

different. e.g. in a library catalogue, the title level record is usually the main one, 

with linked records for copies of the title in the library’s branches; an archive 

catalogue rarely describes multiple copies of items, and is concerned with different 

types of relationships between resources (e.g. a box may be recorded at one level, 

and the contents of the box individually described and linked back to the box record 

in a hierarchical structure); a museum catalogue may describe individual or multipart 

objects, but the data recorded is usually very different from the data in library and 

archive catalogues. 

Increasingly such metadata are being incorporated into digital systems, so metadata 

associated with a webpage might include title, creator, subject, description etc. 


Metadata has come to the fore as a means of improving the efficiency and 

effectiveness of finding digital resources on the Web by adopting a consistent 

structure for describing websites and other digital resources. There is a helpful 

introduction, with examples, on the TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images) 

website [2]. 

Metadata is sometimes classified according to the functions it is intended to support. 

In practice, individual metadata schemas often support multiple functions and 

overlap the categories below: 

• Descriptive metadata – to describe resources and facilitate retrieval. It may be 

necessary for cultural institutions to create metadata describing several classes of 

resource, including: 

° the physical objects that have been digitised; 

° the digital objects created during the digitisation process and stored as “digital 

masters”; 

° the digital objects derived from these “digital masters” for networked delivery 

to users; 

° new resources created using these digital objects; 

° collections of any of the above. 

There are a number of different types of descriptive metadata of which Marc and 

Dublin Core are perhaps the most well known: 

° Marc, or Machine Readable Cataloguing [3], is a bibliographic metadata 

schema, managed by the Library of Congress. The current version is MARC 21; 

° The Dublin Core Metadata Element Set [4] is a simple metadata standard 

designed to support resource discovery. Historically, it was described as 

applicable to the description of “document like objects”, but its use has been 

extended to include other classes of resource. For guidance on Dublin Core 

see Using Dublin Core by Diane Hillmann [5]. See also Online Archive of 

California Best Practice Guidelines for Digital Objects (OAC BPG DO), Version 

1.1. [6]. 

• Preservation Metadata (see also the guideline on Digital preservation) – to 

support preservation and archiving activities. In June 2003, OCLC (Online 

Computer Library Center) and RLG (Research Libraries Group) convened a 

Working Group, Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS), to 

focus on the practical aspects of implementing preservation metadata in digital 

preservation systems [7]. Most projects use: 

° the RLG set of 16 basic metadata elements to support preservation [8]; 

° the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information Service (OAIS), a highlevel 

framework which describes the functions involved in the preservation 

process and the information required to support those functions [9]. 

° For guidance on preservation metadata see Implementing Metadata in Digital 

Preservation Systems by Brian F. Lavoie [10]; and Preservation Metadata by 

Michael Day [11]. 

• Administrative Metadata – to manage the digital resource and provide 

information about its creation and any constraints governing its use. This might 

include: 


° technical metadata describing technical characteristics including 

hardware/software used in its creation, formats, standards etc. (See for 

example the NISO (National Information Standards Organization [of the 

USA](: Data Dictionary - Technical Metadata for Digital Still Images [12]); 

° source metadata describing the original object from which the digital object 

was produced; 

° digital provenance metadata describing the history of the operations 

performed on a digital object since it was created or digitised; 

° rights metadata describing intellectual property rights in a resource and any 

use restrictions or licensing agreements. (See the Indecs Project for instance 

[13].) 

• Structural Metadata – to describe the logical or physical relationships between 

the parts of a compound object. For example a physical book is one object 

consisting of a sequence of pages. A digitised book may consist of one digital 

image per page making the digitised book a compound object, and clearly 

information about the sequence of pages is essential for use: 

° the Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) [14] provides an 

encoding format for descriptive, administrative and structural metadata, and is 

designed to support both the management of digital objects and the delivery 

and exchange of digital objects across systems; 

° the IMS Content Packaging Specification [15] describes a means of describing 

the structure and organising of composite learning resources. 

• Other categories of metadata include: 

° Education Metadata - to help with the resource retrieval tasks of educational 

institutions and managed or virtual learning environments e.g. students 

records and descriptions of courses. The primary standard for describing 

learning resources is the IEEE Learning Object Metadata standard [16]. See 

the IMS website [17] and the CETIS website [18] for more information; 

° Geospatial Metadata for use with digital maps and Geographical Information 

Systems. ISO 19115:2003 [19] standard for geographic information metadata 

was released in January 2003. 

Domain-specific metadata standards Back to Scope 

These have been developed to cater for the specific requirements of particular areas, 

for example: 

• Archives commonly use ISAD(G) (the General International Standard Archival 

Description) [20] for the metadata describing archive materials and ISAAR (CPF) 

(International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons 

and Families), 2nd ed. 2004 [21], for metadata describing the context of the 

creation of those materials. To render such descriptions electronically there are 

the Document Type Definitions (DTDs) EAD (Encoded Archival Description) [22], 

which is now being used widely all over Europe, and EAC (Encoded Archival 

Context) [23], which is still in development http://www.library.yale.edu/eac/. The 

EAD help pages [24] include links to further information. 

• Museums – the International Committee for Documentation of the International 

Council of Museums (ICOM-CIDOC) [25] produces information on standards and 

metadata for museums, including links to, for example, the CIDOC-CRM 


(Conceptual Reference Model), the model of choice for many museums. The 

museum community has created SPECTRUM [26] and CDWA (Categories for the 

Description of Works of Art) standards [27]. SPECTRUM is not available free of 

charge on the Internet, but the UK mda (Museums Documentation Association) 

website contains some useful factsheets summarising chapters from SPECTRUM 

[28]. 

• Libraries – IFLA has produced a comprehensive index on metadata resources for 

digital libraries [29]. 

• Government – GILS or Government Information Locator Service/Global 

Information Locator [30] is used for government information although recently 

many governments seem to be moving to Dublin Core in preference. The Dublin 

Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) has established a Government Working Group 

[31]. Many governments, e.g. Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, New 

Zealand and the UK, have produced guidelines which may be mandatory on 

public sector organisations. (See the e-gif (Electronic Government Interoperability 

Framework [32] and e-gms (Electronic Government Metadata Standard) [33] 

produced by the e-Government Unit in the UK [34] ). The first version of the egms 

was based on simple Dublin Core whilst the second and third moved to 

qualified Dublin Core with some additional document management elements. 

Cultural institutions should be aware of the requirements of community-/domainspecific 

metadata standards. The metadata schema(s) that are adopted should be 

fully documented for all projects. This documentation should include detailed 

cataloguing guidelines listing the metadata elements and describing how those 

elements are to be used to describe the types of resource created and managed by 

the project. Such guidelines are necessary even when a standard metadata schema 

is used in order to explain how that schema is to be applied in the specific context of 

the project. 

To support the discovery of their resources by a wide range of other applications and 

services, cultural institutions should be able to generate a metadata description for 

each item using the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) [35] in its 

simple/unqualified form. The DCMES defines fifteen elements to support simple 

cross-domain resource discovery: Title, Creator, Subject, Description, Publisher, 

Contributor, Date, Type, Format, Identifier, Source, Language, Relation, Coverage 

and Rights. This is the minimum requirement, in practice simple DC metadata will 

probably be a subset of a richer set of metadata. 

To support discovery within the cultural heritage sector, projects should also consider 

providing a metadata description for each item conforming to the DC.Culture schema 

[36]. Projects should show awareness of any additional requirements for descriptive 

metadata, and may need to capture and store additional descriptive metadata to 

meet those requirements. 

Collection Level Descriptions (CLDs) Back to Scope 

In collaborative projects it may also be appropriate to consider the use of collection 

level description metadata to describe the holdings of participating organisations 

(scope, level, depth, language etc.). For guidance see, for example, the UKOLN 

Collection Description Focus [37] for information on the use of CLDs in the UK, and 


Minerva: Deliverable D3.1: Inventories, discovery of digitised content & multilingual 

issues: Report analysing existing content [38]. 

Collection level description need not be limited to collaborative projects however. The 

description of aggregations of items may be useful in many different contexts. Even 

within the resources of a single institution or project, it may turn out to be useful. 

(See the approach to resource discovery described in the JISC Information 

Environment Architecture Functional Model [39].) A digital resource is created not in 

isolation but as part of a digital collection, and should be considered within the 

context of that collection and the development of the collection. Indeed, collections 

themselves are seen as components around which many different types of digital 

services might be constructed. 

Collections should be described so that a user can discover the important 

characteristics of the collection and so that collections can be integrated into the 

wider body of existing digital collections and into digital services operating across 

these collections. 

Museums, libraries and archives should be aware of initiatives to enhance the 

disclosure and discovery of collections, such as programme-, community-, sector- or 

domain-wide, national, or international inventories of digitisation activities and of 

digital cultural content, and should be prepared to contribute metadata to such 

services where appropriate. 

In describing collections it is usually necessary to map to an appropriate metadata 

schema. Good examples are: 

• the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) Collection Description schema 

[40]; 

• the collection-level description schema defined by Minerva D3.2 [41]; 

• the emerging Dublin Core Collection Description Application Profile [42]. 

Terminology Back to Scope 

If users are to be able to carry out useful searches across distributed data sets then 

the producers of those data sets need to be entering values into the metadata 

elements in a consistent way. 

Recognised multilingual terminological sources should be used to provide values for 

metadata elements where possible. Only if no standard terminology is available, 

should local terminologies be considered. Where local terminologies are deployed, 

information about the terminology and its constituent terms and their meaning must 

be made publicly available. 

The use of a terminology in metadata records, either standard or project-specific, 

must be indicated unambiguously in the metadata records. 

Collection-level metadata records could make use of the terminologies recommended 

for use with the Minerva collection-level description schema [41]. 

Controlled vocabularies, thesauri and authority files 


To ensure consistency it is best to adopt and use identifiable encoding schemes or 

controlled vocabularies for indexing. A good example is the Library of Congress 

Subject Headings [43]. 

A thesaurus is a controlled vocabulary where the terms are arranged in hierarchies 

which show relationships such as broader or narrower terms, equivalence or part 

equivalence, and where terms are designated preferred terms or non-preferred terms 

(for synonym control). They also typically include scope notes and other useful 

information. 

There are two ISO standards for thesauri: ISO 2788, 1986 Guide to establishment 

and development of monolingual thesauri [44], and ISO 5964, 1985 Guide to the 

establishment and development of multi-lingual thesauri [45]. Work is underway to 

revise both these standards. A new standard, BS 8723: Structured vocabularies for 

information retrieval - guide, is planned (see the guideline on Multilingualism.) 

The Getty Museum site makes available a number of thesauri including: The Getty 

Art and Architecture Thesaurus [46] and the Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names 

[47]. 

An example of an authority file is ISAAR (CPF) International Standard Archival 

Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2 nd edition, 2004 [21] 

published by the International Council on Archives. 

Traugott Koch has compiled a good list of controlled vocabularies, thesauri and 

classification schemes [48]. TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images) Controlling 

your language - links to metadata vocabularies [49] provides links to more than 60 

vocabulary sources. 

Ontologies Back to Scope 

An ontology may be described as a formal description of objects and their interrelationships. 

(See the guideline on Underlying technologies and infrastructure, 

where the Semantic Web and RDF are also covered.) 

Object identification Back to Scope 

The primary reason why people assign unique identifiers to resources is so that they, 

and others, can refer to the resources unambiguously. So they need to be able to 

rely on their identifiers being unique (i.e. the same identifier is not assigned to 

another resource) and persistent (i.e. it continues to identify this resource – how 

long it should continue may be dependent on the context and the nature of the 

resource). It may also be a requirement that the identifier can be used to access the 

resource i.e. the identifier can be “resolved” by means of a service to a current 

location of the resource. 

Examples of unique persistent identifiers include: 

• DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) [50]; 

• URNs (Universal Resource Names) [51]; 

• PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) [52]; 

• Handles [53]; 


• ARKs (Archival Resource Keys) [54]. 

Paul Miller has written an easy to understand article explaining about unique 

identifiers (Miller, Paul: I am a name and a number. Ariadne, issue 24, 21 st June 

2000 [55]. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) published International 

Guidelines for Museum Object Information : the CIDOC Information Categories [56] 

in 1995. (See also the guideline on Digital preservation.) 


In the future people will be surrounded by intelligent, responsive and reliable 

machines capable of reacting to them as individuals. The range of technologies 

described in this guideline exist now but their mature interaction is still only 

imaginable. It will affect homes, schools, hotels, cars, aircraft – in short every aspect 

of life. Its effects on cultural institutions will be very far-reaching. 

As the power of computing systems grows, more information can be stored, e.g. the 

metadata to describe several million objects. This will enable huge collaborative 

catalogues to be made available. 

It will also be possible to store more complex descriptions to accommodate for 

example the 2 nd edition of the Museum Documentation Association Spectrum 

standard for museum data which lists hundreds of fields. Metadata in the cultural 

sector is likely to develop from static structured catalogue data to complex free-text 

descriptions including interpretations or responses to objects. 


[1] Gill, Tony and Miller, Paul: Re-inventing the Wheel? Standards, Interoperability 

and Digital Cultural Content . D-Lib Magazine, Volume 8 Number 1, January 2002. 

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january02/gill/01gill.html 

[2] TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images): Metadata and Digital Images. 

2002-2004. 

http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/delivering/metadata.html 

[3] Machine Readable Cataloguing (MARC): MARC 21 

http://www.loc.gov/marc/ 

[4] Dublin Core Metadata Element Set, Version 1.1 

http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/ 

[5] Hillman, Diane: Using Dublin Core. 2003. 

http://dublincore.org/documents/usageguide/ 

[6] Online Archive of California Best Practice Guidelines for Digital Objects (OAC BPG 

DO), Version 1.0, prepared and maintained by the Online Archive of California 

Working Group, January 2004. 


http://www.cdlib.org/inside/projects/oac/bpgdo/ 

[7] PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) 

http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/pmwg/ 

[8] RLG set of 16 basic metadata elements to support preservation; 

http://www.rlg.org/preserv/presmeta.html 

[9] Reference Model for an Open Archival Information Service (OAIS) 

http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ 

[10] Lavoie, Brian F.: Implementing Metadata in Digital Preservation Systems: the 

PREMIS Activity in D-Lib Magazine, April 2004, Volume 10 Number 4. ISSN 1082 

9873. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april04/lavoie/04lavoie.html 

[11] Day, Michael: Preservation Metadata. Prepublication draft of chapter published 

in: G. E. Gorman and Daniel G. Dorner (eds.), Metadata applications and 

management, International Yearbook of Library and Information Management, 2003 

2004, London: Facet Publishing, 2004, pp. 253-273. ISBN 1-85604-474-2 (Facet 

Publishing); ISBN 0-8108-4980-1 (Scarecrow Press). 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/publications/iylim-2003/ 

[12] NISO Z39.87-2002 AIIM 20-2002 Data Dictionary -- Technical Metadata for 

Digital Still Images 

http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/Z39_87_trial_use.pdf 

[13] Indecs Project http://www.indecs.org/ 

[14] Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS) 

http://www.loc.gov/standards/mets/ 

[15] IMS Content Packaging Specification 

http://www.imsproject.org/content/packaging/ 

[16] IEEE Learning Object Metadata standard 

http://ltsc.ieee.org/wg12/par1484-12-1.html 

[17] IMS Global Learning Consortium http://www.imsproject.org/ 

[18] CETIS (Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards 

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/ 

[19] ISO 19115:2003 Geographic information – Metadata 

http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=26020&I 

CS1=35&ICS2=240&ICS3=70 

[20] International Standard for Archival Description (General) (ISAD(G). Second 

Edition. http://www.ica.org/biblio/isad_g_2e.pdf 


[21] ISAAR (CPF) (International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate 

Bodies, Persons and Families), 2nd ed. 2004 

http://www.ica.org/biblio.php?pdocid=144 


[23] EAC (Encoded Archival Context) http://www.library.yale.edu/eac/ 

[24] EAD Help Pages – Metadata 

http://www.iath.virginia.edu/ead/metadata.html 

[25] International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of 

Museums (ICOM-CIDOC): Museum documentation : standards and guidelines 

http://www.willpowerinfo.myby.co.uk/cidoc/stand3st.htm 

CIDOC CRM (CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model) 

http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/index.html 

[26] SPECTRUM, the UK Museum Documentation Standard, 2nd Edition 

http://www.mda.org.uk/spectrum.htm 

[27] Getty Research Institute, Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA) 

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/standards/cdwa/ 

[28] UK mda (Museums Documentation Association) factsheets 

http://www.mda.org.uk/facts.htm 

[29] IFLA Digital Libraries: Metadata Resources 

http://www.ifla.org/II/metadata.htm 

[30] GILS (Government Information Locator Service/Global Information Locator) 

http://www.gils.net/about.html 

[31] Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI): Government Working Group. 

http://dublincore.org/groups/government/ 

[32] e-gif (Electronic Government Interoperability Framework) 

http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/egif.asp 

[33] e-gms (Electronic Government Metadata Standard) 

http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/schemasstandards/metadata.asp 

[34] UK e-Government Unit 

http://e-government.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/Home/Homepage/fs/en 

[35] Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) 

http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/ 

[36] DC.Culture http://www.minervaeurope.org/DC.Culture.htm 


[37] UKOLN Collection Description Focus http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cd-focus/ 

[38] Minerva: Deliverable D3.1: Inventories, discovery of digitised content & 

multilingual issues: Report analysing existing content 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/intranet/reports/D3_1.pdf; 

[39] JISC Information Environment Architecture Functional Model 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/distributed-systems/jisc-ie/arch/functional-model/. 

[40] Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) Collection Description schema 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/rslp/ 

[41] Minerva: Deliverable D3.2: Inventories, discovery of digitised content & 

multilingual issues: Feasibility survey of the common platform 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/intranet/reports/D3_2.pdf 

[42] Dublin Core Collection Description Application Profile 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/collection-application-profile/2004-08-20/ 

[43] Library of Congress Subject Headings 

http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html 

[44] ISO 2788, 1986 Guide to establishment and development of monolingual 

thesauri 


[45] ISO 5964, 1985 Guide to the establishment and development of multi-lingual 

thesauri 

http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=12159 

[46] Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus 

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/ 

[47] Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names 

http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/tgn/ 

[48] Controlled vocabularies, thesauri and classification systems available in the 

WWW. DC Subject. Compiled by Traugott Koch. 

http://www.lub.lu.se/metadata/subject-help.html. 

[49] TASI (Technical Advisory Service for Images): Controlling your language - links 

to metadata vocabularies. http://www.tasi.ac.uk/resources/vocabs.html 

[50] DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) http://www.doi.org/ 

[51] URNs (Universal Resource Names) http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1737.txt 

[52] PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators) http://purl.oclc.org/ 


[53] Handles http://www.handle.net/introduction.html 

[54] ARKs (Archival Resource Keys) http://www.cdlib.org/inside/diglib/ark/ 

[55] Miller, Paul: I am a name and a number. In Ariadne, issue 24, 21st June 2000. 

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue24/metadata/intro.html 

[56] International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of 

Museums (ICOM-CIDOC): International Guidelines for Museum Object Information : 

the CIDOC Information Categories 

http://www.willpowerinfo.myby.co.uk/cidoc/guide/ 

International 


SEPIA (Safeguarding European Photographic Images for Access) 

This EU funded project has developed a model and open source software tool 

(SEPIADES) for describing and cataloguing analogue and digital photographs. 

http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/sepia/workinggroups/wp5/cataloguing.html 

MICHAEL (Multilingual Cultural Inventory of Europe) 

This project is defining standards for collection level description of digital cultural 

heritage resources. It will provide an online resource discovery service which will 

become available in 2005-6. http://www.michael-culture.irg/index.html 


ProMuS (Prohlizec muzejnich sbirek) 

ProMuS is being developed for presentation of museum and other collections on the 

Internet. It is based on PHP scripts and SQL database. The institution can define the 

way the data is presented to the user. Very little knowledge of html/programming is 

needed. Data and table structure is imported via text files, and it is therefore possible 

to import data from almost any source. Images can be added. 

http://www.mzm.cz/promus 

Norway 

Detektor 

Searchable, annotated subject directory of Internet resources, selected and 

evaluated by librarians at Oslo Public Library. The technical solution is developed by 

Linux Communications AS, a MySQL database running on a Linux server. Detektor 

contains Internet resources in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, English and other 

languages. Dublin Core elements are used to describe the resources, but with local 

adjustments. http://detektor.deichman.no/ 

Samkatalog for privatarkiv 


A database on the web, giving users access to information about non-public records 

in archival institutions throughout the country. Made possible by the Norwegian 

standard for archival description defined by the software Asta. 

http://www.riksarkivet.no/samkat/ 

URN-generator 

Delivering unique Norwegian URNs is a new service from the National Library of 

Norway. URNs (Uniform Resource Names) make the identification of Internet 

documents possible. A URN allocated to a document is persistent and unique, will 

never change as long as the intellectual content remains the same, and will never be 

recycled by being given to another document. URNs can be utilised in Internet 

information retrieval in many different ways. A URN resolution service will enable 

users to resolve URNs into URLs or metadata related to the document. 

http://www.nb.no/html/standardnummerering.html 

Poland 

MONA 

725,000 museum objects (art items) from antiquity to contemporary art described 

according to CIMI description standards. The standard file also contains the results of 

research using special (chemical, biological, biophysical) conservation techniques on 

the museum items. http://www.mnw.art.pl 

Russia 

Russian museum collections 

The uniqueness of this project lies in the complex approach to the creation of a 

museum multipurpose information system. The presence of a network provides 

opportunities for staff to exchange information and collaborate on the creation of 

thesauri, etc. http://www.collections.spb.ru 


CKP - The Central Maritime Catalogue of Montenegro 

Contemporary database of library and archival material relating to marine affairs in 

general, and Boka Kotorska Bay in particular, from the oldest written documents to 

the most recent official material and publications, located in all types of libraries and 

archives in Montenegro (state, church and private). 

http://www.dacg.cg.yu; http://www.matf.bg.ac.yu/iak 

Spain 

Census of Archives and Fonds of Andalusia : CENSARA and CENFOCOA 

Information about local archives and heritage collections is submitted by the 

archivists themselves using web templates and can be accessed on the Internet. This 

novel use of technology is the first project in the region that has been adapted to the 

international standard ISAD-G. http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/aga 

Fichero de Autoridades de Aragón 


The aim of this collaborative archival project is the creation of an authority file 

including persons, families, corporate bodies and places. Partners can load and 

update authority records using connected databases. http://www.anabad.org/gtaa/ 

Ukraine 

Kirovohrad Regional Universal Research Library named after D.Chizhevsky: Dublin 

Core Metadata Project 

Free online application which can convert general html metadata to the correct 

Dublin Core metadata, and then, using an online EDITOR-Converter, to the 

bibliographic exchange format UNIMARC. It can then be saved on the local hard 

drive as a file ISO-2709 for future exporting to the bibliographic database. 

http://www.library.kr.ua/dc/dcproje.html; 

http://www.library.kr.ua/dc/dceditunie.html 

Mental Tree: Ukrainian Information Resources for Education and Science 

This is a universal hierarchic database developed in the Institute of Cultural Memory 

Protection Studies in the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Ukraine. The programme 

supports visual representation of data on top of which RTF, bitmap and vector 

images, sound and video files can be preserved. The project preserves and operates 

with data in different multimedia formats (text, graphic, video, audio, visual) online. 

The most important feature of the database is that users can visually operate the 

data sets. http://www.myslenedrevo.com.ua 


Access to Archives 

The A2A database contains catalogues describing archives collections held 

throughout England by 352 record offices and other archive repositories. 

http://www.a2a.org.uk/default.asp 

SEAX 

SEAX has been developed at the Essex Record Office (ERO). It is divided into two 

parts - Explorer and the Public Access Module (PAM). Using Explorer archivists can 

accession, catalogue, index and store documents. Explorer also gives the ability to 

manage index entries and create and link terms together using a thesaurus. The 

cataloguing part is ISAD(G) compatible. Explorer enables staff to save an image or 

images for any catalogue reference which can then be viewed via PAM. SEAX allows 

the management of various processes - accessioning, cataloguing, indexing, 

thesaurus, document storage, ordering and production, as well as producing a 

searchable database with the facility to add images to documents which can then be 

viewed. http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/ 




Discovery and retrieval 



Search engines 

Lists of recommended sites 

Gateways, hubs and portals 

Cross-searching 

Clumps 

Image retrieval 

Harvesting 

The Semantic Web 

SCOPE 


Libraries have long operated in a networked information environment, and 

increasingly archives and museums do too. The advent of the Internet means that 

even the smallest museum, branch library or branch of a record office can now have 

access to an ever increasing amount of distributed digital information available over 

the web. The knowledge society, lifelong learning and the growing impetus towards 

interaction with central government by electronic means make easy access to 

information increasingly important for all citizens. 

Many institutions are also creating new digital content themselves – be it their own 

web pages or new multimedia content, sometimes funded by specific digitisation 

programmes (see the guidelines on Digitisation and Business models). They need to 

understand how to make this new content searchable and retrievable by users and 

interoperable with other digital content. This is heavily dependent on how the 

content is described in the first place, so this guideline should be read together with 

the guideline on Resource description. 

Research and anecdotal evidence show that most people use search engines such as 

Google to look for information, and so miss the huge amounts of information known 

as the “Deep Web” which includes the databases of libraries, archives and museums. 

Search engines are now beginning to address this problem and museums, libraries 

and archives need to keep watch on developments. 

The Calimera Project is funded 

The technologies and standards in this area are still emerging The Calimera and will 

under the Project continue 

European is funded to 

change and develop over time. Institutions need to be aware of under the Commission, current the European state of 

the art so as to avoid the adoption of inappropriate or obsolescent IST Commission, technology Programme and 

IST Programme 

standards. 

Calimera Guidelines 237 Discovery and retrieval

Institutions need an understanding of these issues in order to plan and prioritise their 

work and particularly when they are procuring new systems or commissioning 

development work from outside consultants/contractors. For an overview of 

information retrieval see Challenges in information retrieval and language modelling, 

edited by James Allen [1]. 


Discovery and retrieval of information depends on how it is described. This guideline 

should therefore be read in conjunction with the guideline on Resource description, 

where topics such as metadata, terminology (controlled vocabularies and thesauri), 

and object identifiers are described. Many of the technologies used in discovery and 

retrieval are described in the guideline on Underlying technologies and infrastructure. 

Interoperability Back to Scope 

In relation to digital content interoperability means that it should be as widely 

reusable, portable i.e. across different networks, systems and organisations, and as 

long lasting as possible. The key to achieving this is through standards - codified 

rules and guidelines for the creation, description and management of digital 

resources (see Re-inventing the Wheel? Standards, Interoperability and Digital 

Cultural Content by Tony Gill and Paul Miller [2] for more information.) The ability to 

search and retrieve information from different sources - across different catalogues, 

across different domains (museums, libraries and archives) and across different 

resource types (books, documents, museum artefacts) is dependent on 

interoperability. This is an area in which there are opportunities to work with other 

organisations, for example colleges, universities etc., to provide better access to 

resources. (See the guideline on Co-operation and partnership). Typically the 

partners may agree to open their services to each other’s users, to provide joint 

access to their catalogues, to produce union catalogues, etc. (Catalogue is used here 

in its widest sense to include descriptions of the contents of museums and archives.) 

There are broadly two approaches to discovery: indexing of the content of a 

resource, and indexing of metadata that describes the resource (metadata may be 

human-created or auto-generated or a mix of the two). The requirements for 

interoperability, and hence the recommendations for best practice, may be different 

depending on which mechanism a content provider is seeking to use/exploit. 

Search engines Back to Scope 

The catalogue is the key to the holdings of an individual library or archive, and 

museums too document their holdings although their catalogues may not be 

available to users in the same way as those of libraries and archives. However, most 

libraries and some archives now offer Internet access to their users, and many 

museums have a presence on the Internet. They need to find ways to help open up 

these networked resources for their users. The easiest way to do this is simply to 

point users to one of the many search engines available. The main types are: 

• Free text search engines which search for keywords e.g. Altavista [3], Google 

[4]; 


• Index/directory based search engines in which the user works his way 

through a series of menus continually narrowing his search e.g. Yahoo [5]; 

• Meta/Multi search-engines which run one search on more than one search 

engine e.g. ixquick [6];. 

• Natural language search engines in which the search can be entered as a 

question e.g. Ask Jeeves [7]. 

There are also subject specific search and personalised search engines. 

Google (and other free text search engines) operate by employing a “robot” that 

follows hyperlinks in Web pages and retrieves the full text of those pages. They then 

build indexes of that text, and provide search services based on those indexes. The 

value of these search services comes mainly from the ranking algorithms used to 

order the items within search result sets, Google’s famously successful Page Rank 

algorithm being based on the number of links to a page. So to ensure that their 

resources are discoverable in Google, a content provider might need to consider 

factors like (not an exhaustive list): 

• the robot needs a “starting point” from which it can follow links; 

• the robot must be able to access the pages to be indexed - either the resource 

itself or a document describing the resource – over HTTP (Hypertext Transfer 

Protocol) [8], so the pages to be indexed shouldn’t be hidden behind 

authentication challenges etc. Also some robots don’t follow URLs containing 

parameters etc. so “search-engine friendly” URLs may need to be constructed; 

• the URLs of the pages indexed must de-reference reliably and persistently so that 

when a searcher follows a link in a result set they obtain the same page that was 

indexed; 

• pages should contain the sort of simple embedded metadata that is used by the 

search engine in its result set displays (title, description, keywords (sometimes), 

etc.); 

• even if the page is available for indexing, its ranking in result sets is subject to 

algorithms such as Google’s Page Rank [9] – and if there are few links to the 

page it will not be highly ranked. 

Metadata-based discovery, on the other hand, relies on the content provider 

exposing metadata records either for harvesting or real-time cross-searching by the 

provider of the discovery service, and a different set of considerations might apply. 

The content provider and service provider need to agree on (not an exhaustive list): 

• the use of a transport protocol for exchange of messages; 

• a query language; 

• metadata schemas; 

• intellectual property rights issues (how a service provider uses/presents metadata 

records); 

• authentication/authorisation issues. 

Also the quality of service provided may depend heavily on the quality and 

consistency of the metadata records from multiple content providers. 

Some search engines also provide alternative ways of searching including “simple 

searching” where the user enters key words, and “advanced searching” where 

Boolean logic, truncation etc. can be used. The latter usually produces better results. 

Other examples of search engine tools include Google Directory [4], which allows 


searching by topic, and Google Local [4], which allows searching for local information 

(currently only in the USA and Canada, but there are plans to extend the service). 

For a comprehensive list of search engines of all kinds and more information about 

search engines, including how to search, see Phil Bradley's Website [10] and Search 

Engine Watch [11]. These sites give information about searching the web, analysis of 

the search engine industry and help to site-owners trying to improve their abilities to 

be found on the web. 

Lists of recommended sites Back to Scope 

Institutions might consider assisting their users further through the creation of lists 

of useful websites. Typically these will have been assessed against some sort of 

quality criteria (the Desire project created a useful chapter on quality and 

assessment in its Information Gateways Handbook [12]) and will often be 

categorised by subject. RDN (Resource Discovery Network) [13] is a good example 

of this. However, maintaining and updating such a list can be time consuming. 

Institutions may wish to consider co-operating with one another in the creation and 

maintenance of such lists. Connexion, the Integrated Cataloging Service from OCLC 

[14], is a good example of a co-operative initiative for the creation of descriptions of 

webpages. (See also portals.) 

Gateways, hubs and portals Back to Scope 

The distinction between gateways, hubs and portals is rather blurred but typically a 

gateway or hub will consist of sets of annotated links to other websites which have 

been vetted by the compilers of the gateway. The user may be presented with a 

series of menus which take them from general terms to more specific terms. Such 

sites are enormously useful to the researcher as they save the work of looking at 

web site after web site on a particular subject in search of one or two which are of 

decent quality. Portals however usually bring together the actual content from 

distributed sources using technology such as harvesting, cross-searching or 

metasearching and present it in an amalgamated form to the user. They may also 

deliver other services such as online shopping. 

It is not possible to list all gateways and portals but the following are examples: 

• General – Yahoo [15], a series of menus covering the World Wide Web as a 

whole; 

• Government - Directgov [16], a list of websites of UK government and local 

government websites thematically and alphabetically arranged; Premier Ministre 

[17], a gateway to agencies of the French government; 

• Academic - the Resource Discovery Network (RDN) [13] established to support 

the needs of the Higher and Further Education sectors in the UK. The RDN is in 

fact a network of individual subject gateways, or hubs, each covering a particular 

subject. It is being developed further by the Subject Portals Project (SPP) [18]; 

the ARL Scholars Portal Project [19], which seeks to provide software tools for an 

academic community to have a single point of access on the Web to find highquality 

information resources and, to the greatest extent possible, to deliver the 

information and related services directly to the user's desktop; Infomine: 

Scholarly Internet Resource Collections [20]; 


• Museums - the 24 Hour Museum [21]; the Dutch Museums Portal [22]; Latvian 

Museum Portal [23]; 

• Libraries - the UNESCO libraries portal [24]; the Librarians’ Index to the Internet 

[25]; 

• Archives - the UNESCO archives portal [26]; the UK National Archives Portal [27]; 

A2A (Access to Archives) [28], the English strand of the UK Archives Network; 

• Culture [29], the European Commission culture portal; 

• Other - Infobel [30], a set of links to on-line telephone directories. 

Specialised software to support the development and maintenance of subject 

gateways is available, for example, ROADS (Resource Organisation And Discovery in 

Subject-based services) [31]. Commercial companies also offer portal software, e.g. 

Vignette [32], SAP Portal [33], Plumtree [34], ZPORTAL [35] etc. Some cultural 

heritage institutions have set up their own gateways and portals – for example to 

support “clumps”, community information services, and to provide learning support. 

Cross-searching Back to Scope 

Cross-searching enables searching across a number of databases at the same time. 

With cross-domain cross-searching users can gain access to a rich selection of 

information resources through one search interface. For example, a user can retrieve 

books, archival records, and information about societies and museum objects in one 

search on a topic of interest. Ways of doing this include: 

• exporting all the information into a new database using e.g. SOAP [36] or 

Harvest. This would involve exporting all the existing information in some defined 

format so that it could be loaded into one central database. There can be 

difficulties with this e.g. 

° getting agreement from each data source owner/manager; 

° dealing with several different systems suppliers; 

° dealing with differences in data structure, especially when dealing with sources 

from different domains (see the guideline on Resource description); 

° organising regular updating. 

• distributed searching. This involves leaving the databases as they are and 

providing a single search engine to search them by for example using the Z39.50 

search and retrieval protocol. Difficulties with this system mainly stem from 

different data structures, fields etc. especially if locally created community 

information databases etc. are involved; 

• linking databases together for cross-searching through a common portal. 

Problems with this again stem from data structures in that there are seldom many 

search fields in common. 

Cross-searching will be facilitated when: 

• all providers of Z39.50 server implement a common profile (e.g. the Bath Profile 

[37]); 

• all domains use Dublin Core to map their differing metadata standards to a 

common structure (including for locally created community information databases 

where there is not as yet an accepted standard for data description and storage; 

Marc 21 [38] has one but it is not widely used; the CASP (Community Advice, 

Seamless Portals) project [39] recommends Dublin Core). 


Z39.50 is an international search and retrieve protocol (ISO 23950:1998 [40]) which 

allows searching of (usually remote) heterogeneous databases and retrieval of data, 

via one user interface. Z39.50 defines a standard way for two computers to 

communicate and share information. Designed to support searching and information 

retrieval - full-text documents, bibliographic data, images and multimedia – it is 

based on client-server architecture and is fully operational over the Internet. It 

allows users to search several catalogues, or other databases, in a single integrated 

search. Note: Until XML query languages evolve further Z39.50 may still be the 

preferred search and retrieve protocol for systems offering complex distributed 

searching. 

SRW (Search/Retrieve Web Service) defines a web service for searching databases 

containing metadata and objects, both text and non-text. The SRW Initiative builds 

on Z39.50 along with web technologies [41]. 

Clumps Back to Scope 

A clump is a group of databases that share common features e.g. a group of crosssearchable 

Z39.50 catalogues of the resources of a group of organisations, typically a 

group of museums, libraries and/or archives. An important element of such clumps 

is a gateway or portal which includes a facility for users to carry out simultaneous 

searches across the catalogues and/or databases of all the participating 

organisations. Dynamic clumping is a means of automatically generating different 

mini-clumps for cross-searching, in other words a mechanism to aid user navigation 

in a large distributed clump. For example only those catalogues strong in a specific 

subject might be searched. In order to achieve this the clump has to adopt a 

common profile, to which the various profiles in use amongst consortium members 

can be mapped. A number of profiles have been developed specifically to support 

this kind of activity, for example the Bath Profile [37] and the ONE-2 Profile [42]. 

Licensing and copyright of the various electronic resources made available via the 

clump may be problematic. 

Gateways, portals and clumps can all be used to support learning services and 

information services such as community information. 

Image retrieval Back to Scope 

At one time images had to be searched for by text descriptors or classification codes 

supported in some cases by text retrieval packages designed or adapted specially to 

handle images. The Getty’s AAT (Art and Architecture Thesaurus) [43] consists of 

120,000 terms for describing objects, textural materials, images, architecture, and 

cultural heritage material. Images can also be classified using systems such as 

ICONCLASS [44] for works of art and museum exhibits, and the Social History and 

Industrial Classification for museum objects [45]. 

More modern systems can now retrieve images which have not been verbally 

described. CBIR (Content Based Image Retrieval) does not use keyword indexing. 

Rather the image is retrieved using inherent characteristics of the image itself such 

as colour, texture or shape e.g. a beach scene would be blue at the top and yellow 

at the bottom. For a technical discussion of the different types of CBIR see Eakins, 

John P. and Graham, Margaret E.: Content-based Image Retrieval: a report to the 


JISC Technology Applications Programme [46]. There are commercial systems of 

CBIR, for example IBM’s QBIC (Query by Image Content) system [47] in which the 

image is described in terms of areas of colour and shape and the retrieval software 

executes the search for images matching the description. It is not necessary to say 

what the subject of the image is. For a demonstration of QBIC see the website of the 

Hermitage Museum (see Links.) BT Exact has developed a prototype system called 

Shopping Garden [48] which uses interactive browsing techniques, showing the user 

a selection of images and tracking the preferences indicated by the user to find the 

required image. 

For advice on image retrieval see Searching for and Retrieving Digital Images. TASI 

(Technical Advisory Service for Images) Advice Paper, 2002 [49]. 

Harvesting Back to Scope 

Harvesting software is a means of harvesting, or gathering, metadata information 

from a list of pre-determined web sources, for example the webpages of participating 

organisations. In the Seamless project (see Links), Harvest creates an index file 

which the system searches in response to a user query. The results are then 

integrated with the results of the Z39.50 searches and are presented to the user as a 

single “hit list”. Clicking on any of the results either opens the webpage (for 

harvested records) or the database record (for Z39.50 records). 

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) [50] is a co-operative venture aimed at making it 

easier to find information over the web through the development and application of 

interoperability standards. The OAI has developed a simple protocol (the OAI 

Protocol for Metadata Harvesting, OAI-PMH [51]) that supports the regular gathering 

of metadata records from one service by a second service. The strong uptake of 

OAI-PMH by the cultural sector is being successful in enhancing resource discovery 

through subject gateways and resource discovery networks such as the RDN 

(Resource Discovery Network) in the UK. One reason for the success is that OAI-PMH 

is fairly easy for cultural institutions running web servers to implement as it is based 

on common underlying Web standards (HTTP, XML and XML schemas). The 

operations that OAI-PMH support allow a cultural institution to act as a data provider 

and to enable a service provider to ask for a copy of all of its metadata records, or 

for some of its metadata records such as records that were modified since a 

particular date. Cultural institutions may consider making their metadata available for 

harvesting by setting up OAI compliant metadata repositories. The mandatory 

minimal requirement for OAI-PMH is unqualified Dublin Core but cultural institutions 

should consider implementing the DC.Culture schema to support resource discovery. 

Institutions that establish an OAI metadata repository should consider inclusion of a 

statement of the rights held in their metadata to ensure they retain ownership rights 

in their metadata. For more information see Foulonneau, Muriel (ed.): Open Archives 

Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting: practices of cultural heritage actors. 

September 2003 [52], and UKOLN’s FAQ website [53]. 

The Open Archive Initiative will facilitate the development of digital libraries for the 

cultural heritage, which aggregate cultural content from memory institutions and add 

services to new audiences. It is likely to lead to the development of communities of 

data providers that share standards, terminology resources, content and services. 


The Semantic Web (see the guideline on Underlying technologies and 

infrastructure) Back to Scope 

The Semantic Web is a vision described in a Scientific American magazine cover story 

in May 2001 [54]. According to Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the World Wide Web 

Consortium (W3C), “The Semantic Web is a web of data, in some ways like a global 

database. This builds on the idea that ‘a goal of the WWW is that it should be useful 

not only for human-human communication, but also that machines would be able to 

participate and help”. But the Semantic Web has a long way to go before this dream 

is realised. It will be built in parts, by people with varied interests. The real power of 

the Semantic Web will be realised when people create many programs that collect 

Web content from diverse sources, process the information and exchange the results 

with other programs. The Semantic Web enables descriptive information to be 

expressed or represented in a form that software applications can exploit more 

effectively than at present. In particular it allows the types of relationships that exist 

between resources to be expressed/represented in a form that software applications 

can process. For example, if someone is planning a holiday, they might search for 

and collect together maps, timetables, lists of hotels, weather forecasts, places to 

visit etc. Then they would work out an itinerary, choose a hotel, and make all the 

necessary bookings. A Semantic Web application would be able to make the 

connections between all the disparate pieces of information and put together the 

whole package, rather as a human travel agent would do. This depends on the 

further development of ontologies such as RDF [55], DAML+OIL [56] and OWL [57]. 

A detailed description and discussion of the Semantic Web can be found in the 

DigiCULT paper Towards a Semantic Web for Heritage Resources [58]. 

In its envisaged next step, the Semantic Web will break out of the virtual realm and 

extend into the physical world. The vision of the Web-enabled microwave oven 

consulting the frozen-food manufacturer's Web site for the best cooking instructions 

can be extended to the services provided by public libraries, archives and museums. 

The virtual picture frame might for example, consult the local museum or art gallery 

for an ideal picture to display and the local virtual public library for an ideal e-book 

biography to download to accompany it, in response to a simple voice request. 


Research and anecdotal evidence show that most people use search engines such as 

Google to look for information, and so miss the huge amounts of information known 

as the “Deep Web” which includes the databases of libraries, archives and museums. 

It is estimated that the “Deep Web” is 500 times bigger than the surface web. 

Heritage institutions need to find a way of working with major search engines to 

index, or “mine”, these resources so that such information will be more easily 

retrievable. Search engines are now beginning to address this problem – see for 

example Yahoo’s Content Acquisition Program [59] which allows content providers, 

for a subscription, to make their own databases available for searching; and Google 

Search Appliance [60] which is available on licence to institutions to enable their 

websites and intranets to be searched using Google search technology. Google 

Public Search Service [61] allows educational institutions and non-profit organizations 

worldwide free “SiteSearch”, which enables users to search the institution’s website, 


and free “WebSearch”, which enables users to search the Internet from the 

institution’s website. 

It is unlikely that people who have got used to searching the Internet for information 

will return to visiting museums, libraries and archives to ask questions face to face, 

though of course they may visit for other purposes. Ways therefore need to be found 

to use the skills of heritage sector professionals to add value to information retrieval 

in the digital age. Librarians, archivists and curators are skilled in reference work and 

in tailoring answers to enquiries to users’ specific needs, and also crucially in 

ensuring users are supplied with authoritative information. Research is needed into 

developing technologies which will enable these professionals to become online 

information brokers. 

The future will see the fruits of innumerable developments in the field of information 

retrieval, which will make the present systems seem primitive. Sophisticated 

personalised robotic agents will continuously search an Internet which has been 

specially designed to be easy for them to search by means of metadata, controlled 

vocabulary and unique identifiers. They will retrieve precisely what their users want, 

because they know their searching habits, and they will do this while they are 

otherwise occupied. They will retrieve no redundant information and miss nothing 

relevant no matter where it may be. 

Portable wireless devices are becoming ubiquitous. In future people will expect to be 

able to ask for information using free text, maybe even popular texting language, 

and to have the answers delivered to their mobile device wherever they are in the 

world. For example, someone arriving in a foreign airport might request unspecified 

useful information, and based on their user profile be sent details of public transport, 

taxis or car rental, suitable accommodation, restaurants, places to visit and 

entertainment etc. 

Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval should become a reality so that a query asked in 

one language will search collections in other languages and present the answer in 

the language of the question. 


[1] Allen, James, ed.: Challenges in information retrieval and language modeling. 

Report of a Workshop held at the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval, 

University of Massachusetts Amherst, September 2002. In SIGIR Forum, Spring 

2003, vol. 37, no. 1. http://www.sigir.org/ 

[2] Gill, Tony and Miller, Paul: Re-inventing the Wheel? Standards, Interoperability 

and Digital Cultural Content. In D-Lib Magazine, vol. 8, no. 1, January 2002. 

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january02/gill/01gill.html 

[3] Altavista http://www.altavista.com/ 


[4] Google http://www.google.com/ For information about search tools including 

Google Directory and Google Local see Google Guide 

http://www.googleguide.com/index.html 

[5] Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/ 

[6] ixquick http://www.ixquick.com/ 

[7] Ask Jeeves http://www.ask.co.uk/ 

[8] HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) http://www.w3.org/Protocols/ 

[9] Google’s Page Rank http://www.google.com/technology/ 

[10] Phil Bradley's Website http://www.philb.com/ 

[11] Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com. 

[12] Information Gateways Handbook 

http://www.desire.org/handbook/2-1.html) 

[13] RDN (Resource Discovery Network) http://www.rdn.ac.uk/ 

[14] Connexion: Integrated Cataloging Service http://www.oclc.org/connexion/ 

[15] Yahoo http://www.yahoo.com/ 

[16] Directgov http://www.direct.gov.uk/ 

[17] Premier Ministre http://www.premier-ministre.gouv.fr/ 

[18] Subject Portals Project (SPP) http://www.portal.ac.uk/spp 

[19] ARL (Association of Research Libraries) Scholars Portal Project 

http://www.arl.org/access/scholarsportal/ 

[20] Infomine: Scholarly Internet Resource Collections 

http://infomine.ucr.edu/ 

[21] The 24 Hour Museum http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/ 

[22] The Dutch Museums Portal http://museum.klup.nl/ 

[23] The Latvian Museum Portal http://www.muzeji.lv/guide/links_e.html 

[24] UNESCO libraries portal 

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=6513&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTI 

ON=201&reload=1094470296 


[25] The Librarians’ Index to the Internet http://lii.org/ 

[26] UNESCO archives portal 

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=5761&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTI 

ON=201&reload=1036514637 

[27] The UK National Archives Portal 

http://www.portal.nationalarchives.gov.uk/portal/ 

[28] A2A (Access to Archives) http://www.a2a.org.uk/ 

[29] Culture - the European Commission 

European culture portal http://europa.eu.int/comm/culture/index_en.htm 

[30] Infobel http://www.infobel.com/teldir/ 

[31] ROADS (Resource Organisation And Discovery in Subject-based services) 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/roads/what/ 

[32] Vignette http://www.vignette.com/ 

[33] SAP Portal http://www.sapportals.com/index.aspx 

[34] Plumtree http://www.plumtree.com/, 

[35] ZPORTAL http://www.fdusa.com/products/zportal.html 

[36] SOAP 

http://www.ws-i.org/Profiles/SimpleSoapBindingProfile-1.0-2004-08-24.html 

[37] Bath profile http://www.collectionscanada.ca/bath/tp-bath2-e.htm 

[38] Marc 21 http://www.loc.gov/marc/community/eccihome.html 

[39] CASP (Community Advice, Seamless Portals) project 

http://egov.vic.gov.au/pdfs/casp-v1.0-draft-Feb2002.pdf 

[40] ISO 23950:1998 Information and documentation - Information retrieval 

(Z39.50) - Application service definition and protocol specification 


[41] SRW (Search/Retrieve Web Service) defines a web service for searching 

databases containing metadata and objects, both text and non-text. The SRW 

Initiative builds on Z39.50 along with web technologies. 

http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw/ 

[42] ONE-2 Profile http://www.one-2.org/ 

[43] The Getty’s AAT (Art and Architecture Thesaurus) 


http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/ 

[44] ICONCLASS http://www.iconclass.nl/index.html 

[45] The Social History and Industrial Classification for museum objects. 

Social History and Industrial Classification (SHIC2) (2nd ed). mda (UK Museum 

Documentation Association). 

(See http://www.mda.org.uk/keytexts.htm for details.) 

[46] Eakins, John P. and Graham, Margaret E.: Content-based Image Retrieval: a 

report to the JISC Technology Applications Programme. January 1999. 

http://www.unn.ac.uk/iidr/report.html 

[47] QBIC (Query by Image Content) http://wwwqbic.almaden.ibm.com/ 

[48] ShoppingGarden 

http://www.btexact.com/whatsnew/newsreleases?doc=42974) 

[49] Searching for and Retrieving Digital Images. TASI (Technical Advisory Service 

for Images) Advice Paper, 2002. 

http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/using/srchandret.html 

[50] Open Archives Initiative (OAI) http://www.openarchives.org/ 

[51] OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting 

http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.html 

[52] Foulonneau, Muriel (ed.): Open Archives Initiative – Protocol For Metadata 

Harvesting. Practices of cultural heritage actors. September 2003. 

http://www.oaforum.org/otherfiles/oaf_d48_cser3_foullonneau.pdf 

[53] JISC Information Environment Architecture: OAI FAQ. UKOLN. 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/distributed-systems/jisc-ie/arch/faq/oai/ 

[54] Berners-Lee, Tim; Hendler, James and Lassila, Ora: The Semantic Web: a new 

form of Web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a revolution of 

new possibilities. In Scientific American, May 2001. 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00048144-10D2-1C70- 

84A9809EC588EF21 

[55] Resource Description Framework (RDF) http://www.w3.org/RDF/ 

[56] DAML+OIL http://www.daml.org/about.html 

[57] OWL Web Ontology Language Overview 

http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-features/ 

[58] Towards a Semantic Web for Heritage Resources. DigiCULT Thematic Issue 3, 

May 2003. ISBN 3-902448-008. 


http://www.digicult.info/pages/Themiss.php 

[59] Yahoo: Content Acquisition Program 

http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release1144.html 

[60] Google Search Appliance 

http://www.google.com/appliance/features.html 

[61] Google Public Search Service 

http://www.google.com/services/websearch.html 

Belgium 


Webwijzer (Web Guide) 

This project guides the library user to quality websites. The broader scope of 

Webwijzer is the development of a Virtual Information Helpdesk. 

http://www.vcob.be/servlet/be.coi.gw.servlet.MainServlet/standard/?toDo=open&id= 

2158 

Croatia 

Culturenet.hr 

Cultural portal initiated in 2003 by Croatian Ministry for Culture and Open 

Society Institute Croatia to bring together all available resources on 

Croatian culture (organisations, associations, institutions, projects, etc.), 

encourage their development and implementation, and provide the 

Croatian cultural sector with a reliable access point with relevant 

information. http://www.culturenet.hr/v1/english/index.asp 


CES (Centralni evidence sbirek) 

The CES is the only catalogue of all museum collections and subcollections 

in the Czech Republic. The system enables users to discover 

and locate collections using full-text searches based on the content 

description of each collection. Free database system PostgreSQL, WWW 

interface, is used for data management. http://www.mkcr.cz/ces/ 

Slovacke muzeum 

Using the online catalogue users from anywhere in the world can access 

the holdings of this small specialised museum’s library, and reserve 

books, order copies, etc. http://knihovna.slovackemuzeum.cz 

Denmark 

Aarhus Public Libraries, The Digital Library 


Bibliographic database on the Internet offers free access to the nine 

million books, CDs, videos, CD-Roms and talking books which are 

available in the Danish Public Libraries. Materials can be ordered online to 

be delivered to the nearest public library. http://www.bibliotek.dk 

Finland 

ELEF: Southern Savo 

This project aims to promote and simplify data searches by creating a 

regional data service network. It will provide a multi-search facility with 

access to all Internet data concerning the Southern Savo Province. The 

project's first stage involves Mikkeli City Library, Mikkeli City Museums, 

Central Archives for Finnish Business Records and, as experts, Provincial 

Archives of Mikkeli. http://www.elka.fi/ 

Germany 

Virtuelles Bücherregal NRW (Virtual Book Shelve North Rhineland- 

Westphalia) 

Converts the entries in the North Rhineland-Westphalia Union Catalogue 

into HTML pages and places them on a server so that they can be 

retrieved by queries in a search engine. 

http://kirke.hbz-nrw.de/dcb/virkiv/ 

Greece 

Argo 

Facilitates open access to bibliographical information resources which are available in 

Greece as well as abroad, using simple, medium and advanced searches. Gives 

access to databases produced or hosted by the EKT (National Documentation 

Centre), the library catalogues of historical research centres and foreign 

archaeological schools and institutes based in Greece, library catalogues from 

Hellenic universities and Technological Education Institutes, the catalogues of 

Hellenic public libraries, and catalogues and union catalogues from libraries all over 

the world. http://argo.ekt.gr 

Electronic Online Access Showroom for the new acquisitions of the Library of the 

University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece) 

Includes a specially designed digital exhibition area which is accessible via the 

Internet and which is periodically updated with new book acquisitions. From the 

catalogue, or from their "search-results" list, users can retrieve more information 

concerning a specific book, such as the table of contents, the front and back cover, 

and basic bibliographic information. http://www3.lib.uom.gr/new_material/ 

Ireland 

Ask About Ireland 

Portal giving access to information, images and documents from Irish public libraries, 

museums and archives. http://www.askaboutireland.ie/show_homepage.do 


Lithuania 

MetaLib - Virtual Library Portal 

Provides users with unified friendly interface and enables them to search across 

diverse resources (e.g. library catalogues, databases, subject gateways, newspapers, 

images, etc.). It also offers personalisation tools such as the ability to save search 

results, track the history of searches and set display options. 

http://www.library.lt 

Utena Land 

Internet portal created by Utena A. and M. Miskiniai Public Library with the support 

of the Open Society Fund, Lithuania. The aim of the project is to create a community 

information system on the Internet to ensure public access to the information of 

different local institutions: library, local lore museum, local press, NGO, schools and 

others. http://www.utena-on.lt 

Macedonia 

Macedonian Archival Integrated Information Systems 

Unique information system for the State Archives of Macedonia. 

http://www.arhiv.gov.mk 

Malta 

Heritage Malta 

A portal to various Maltese museums and heritage sites. 

http://www.heritagemalta.org/museums.html 

Libraries and Archives Department Website 

A gateway to libraries and archives, including public libraries, and access to the 

online public library catalogue. http://www.libraries-archives.gov.mt/ 

Norway 

Kulturnett Norge 

Official gateway to Norwegian culture on the web. Services include an extensive 

database containing links to various Norwegian culture sites, a cultural calendar of 

events across the country and an online magazine about culture and information 

technology. Represents a new form of portal using Topic Maps. 

http://www.kulturnett.no 

Kulturminne Ekofisk (Cultural Heritage Ekofisk) 

Systems enable users to discover, locate and request items from a range of different 

collections. The project uses the OAI-protocol to harvest metadata from the partners, 

a common metadata element set in Dublin Core and the FAST Search & Transfer ASA 

search engine to enable a cross-database search. Digital objects will be identified 

with a URN and referenced via the National Library URN:NBN resolution service. 

(Website forthcoming.) 


Trondheimsbilder (Photos from Trondheim) 

The goal of this project is to enable cross database searching in three different 

database systems, each of them containing digital photos. It focuses on the use of 

new technology like SRW 1.1 (http://www.loc.gov/z3950/agency/zing/srw/). 

http://trhweb.trondheim.folkebibl.no/bildeprosjekt/ 

Poland 

SEZAM, IZA and PRADZIAD 

A search engine has been created to enable access via the Internet to the SEZAM 

(System of Record of Archival Holdings), IZA (Inventory of Archival Fonds) and 

PRADZIAD (Program of Register of Birth, Marriages and Death Registers) databases. 

http://www.archiwa.gov.pl 

SSWIM - The Museum Information Exchange Network 

Designed as a minimalist information programme. Its authors (National Museum in 

Warsaw and State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw) intend it to be used in 

conjunction with existing collection management programmes, to enable some of the 

information stored in museum databases to be exchanged via an external network. 

Also accessible by institutions and individuals outside the museums (e.g. tourist 

offices, publishing houses, educational establishments). http://www.pma.pl 

Portugal 

MatrizNet 

A web search engine which enables users to discover, locate and request items from 

the collections of the 29 Museums co-ordinated by the Portuguese Institute of 

Museums (IPM). http://www.matriznet.ipmuseus.pt 

Romania 

Dinicu Golescu, Arges County Library 

This is an example of cross-searching over a wide geographical network. It is 

possible to search several public libraries’ catalogues by using multiple criteria 

combined with Boolean operators. http://bjarges.adisan.ro 

Russia 

Hermitage Museum 

This site contains a demonstration of image retrieval using the QBIC scheme 

(http://www.qbic.almaden.ibm.com/). 

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/07/hm7_41_1.html 

Museums of Russia 

The aim of this award-winning portal is the promulgation of Russian cultural 

heritage. The target audience ranges from the general public to museum 

professionals, and its contents include general information about Russian museums, 

an exhaustive guide to cultural websites and CDs, thematic electronic conferences, 


an information section for museum professionals, and over 300 weekly webmagazines. 

http://www.museum.ru/ 

Slovakia 

VIKS - Virtual Library of Slovakia 

Project of the Slovak National Library. http://www.snk.sk 

Spain 

AbsysNET - Catalogo de la Red de Bibliotecas Públicas de Andalucía 

Can work as a resource discovery portal which can search library catalogues and 

other data sources simultaneously, and provide users with information taken from a 

wide variety of sources. http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/rbpa/ 

Directory of Spanish and Latin American Public Libraries 

This directory will include all the Spanish and Latin American Public Libraries and will 

allow the exchange of information among them. Information will be retrievable via 

the PICBIP (Programa Iberoamericano de Cooperación en materia de Bibliotecas 

Públicas= Latin American Program of Cooperation for Public Libraries) website. It 

uses the newest international standard, LDAP, which replaces the X500 structures. 

http:// www.picbip.org 

Pacifico II 

Describes content using novel approaches to metadata to enable users to discover, 

locate and request items from a range of different collections held in libraries, 

archives and scientific institutions. The innovative Web design portal offers some 

added value services including a virtual shop to buy surrogates of the different 

materials using an e-commerce system, access to the web contents using WAP 

access, and a “remote assistance and consultancy” service based on voice-over IP 

systems. http://www.pacifico.csic.es/ 

Portal de Documentación Ferroviaria “Docutren” 

This is an application which enables the user to carry out separate or simultaneous 

searches in all the databases belonging to the Fundación de los Ferrocarriles 

Espańoles’ Railway Documentation Historical Archive Department. The user can 

access and consult the bibliographical and document references in the three main 

areas: the Railway Library, the Historic Railway Archive and the Documentation and 

Translation Centre. It aims to become the essential reference point for all railway 

enthusiasts and researchers. http://www.docutren.com 


Joint Information Services Committee (JISC) 

JISC is developing an “Information Environment”, a set of networked services that 

allows people within the UK higher and further education community to discover, 

access, use and publish a range of resources. 


http://www.jisc.ac.uk/ie; http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/distributed-systems/jisc-ie/arch/. 

seamlessUK 

SeamlessUK is developing a one-stop citizen's gateway which integrates local and 

national information from many sources. The service operates in such a way that a 

single search produces an integrated results 'hit' list. The system conforms to 

government standards and uses SOAP, XML query, Z39.50 and Harvest. The project 

team have developed a number of tools and services including a cross-sectoral 

citizens' information taxonomy, a metadata tagging tool, and a 'geocoder' integrating 

various sources of geographic information. The team are also producing a mapping 

taxonomy and other key controlled vocabularies such as the Government Category 

list and partners' own vocabularies. http://www.seamlessuk.info/ 

SEAX 

Developed at the Essex Record office (ERO), this is in two parts – Explorer (which 

enables description) and the Public Access Module (PAM). Using PAM members of the 

public are able to search for documents using various types of search - index 

searches, with thesaurus links, free text searches, advanced searching, accession 

searching and image searching. Having located the required documents, they can 

save favourite documents or favourite searches for indefinite periods. Orders can 

then be placed via SEAX, either immediately if the member of the public is in the 

ERO or for a future date if they are using SEAX over the internet. 

http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/ 

The Tate Gallery 

The Tate gallery permits subject browsing of its images in broad categories e.g. 

Groups and Movements, Abstraction, Architecture, Emotions and Concepts, History, 

Interiors, Leisure and Pastimes, Literature and Fiction, Nature, Objects, People, 

Places, Religion and Belief, Society, Symbols, Work and Occupations. These broad 

categories are then broken into further, narrower, sub-categories. 

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/SubjectSearch 

24 hour museum 

The UK’s national virtual museum, a gateway to over 2,500 museums, galleries and 

heritage attractions. http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/ 




Content and context management 

SCOPE 


Contextualisation 

CMS (Content Management Systems) 

ERM (Electronic Records Management) 

DAM (Digital Asset Management) 

Collections Management Systems 

Integrated museum, library and archive systems 

GIS (Geographical Information Systems) 


Content management underlies the whole raison d’être of museums, libraries and 

archives. Resources must be managed, organised and described in order for them to 

be retrieved and used. In the digital world, resources are not restricted by physical 

location and can be combined in many different ways so that they can be used and 

re-used for whatever purpose is required. 

Content consists of many different pieces of information. For a search to produce a 

meaningful response, these pieces of information need to be set in context. This idea 

of contextualisation has formed the basis of classification schemes from earliest 

times. With digitisation the problem has become at once easier and more difficult – 

easier because computers can search millions of pieces of information extremely 

rapidly, and more difficult because these pieces of information can be presented as 

raw data unrelated to any other information and of limited value without 

interpretation. The challenge is to create computer systems which can present 

contextualised, meaningful information. 

Many different projects have worked and are working on this issue, many supported 

by the European Union. 

The issues for local museums, libraries and archives include whether to buy in 

systems (Content Management Systems, Digital Asset Management Systems, etc.), 

singly or in partnership with other organisations, or whether to manage their own 

collections using standard resource description and discovery and retrieval schemes. 

Such systems can be complex and the challenge for local museums, libraries and 

archives will be to implement potentially complex systems when the staff of the 

organisation are already undertaking a wide range of other tasks. The staff choosing 

a system will need support, and examples to identify the key requirements. The 

system chosen may be in use for many years. However, at the same time, there is a 

Calimera Guidelines 255 Content and context management

very real danger of over-specification, regarding a large number of features as being 

essential that are unlikely ever to be used. 

Many institutions will begin with a collections management system, and use this to 

record catalogues of their collections. They will then use a Content Management 

System to develop their website, and use this to develop the contextual information, 

learning resources and user-focused services. Over time they will then link their 

content and collections management systems to develop a powerful website. 


Contextualisation Back to Scope 

According to the Society of American Archivists Glossary, content is “The intellectual 

substance of a document – the text, data, symbols, numerals, images, sound and 

vision”; and context is “The organizational, functional, and operational circumstances 

surrounding materials’ creation, receipt, storage, or use, and its relationship to other 

materials”, and also “The circumstances that a user may bring to a document that 

influences that user’s understanding of the document”. [1] 

Context is very important, particularly in museums and archives, where it is the 

information on the people, places and events connected with the object or document 

that gives it cultural value. It is important for a museum to know, for example, where 

an object was discovered, when and by whom. Archives also need to preserve the 

original order of a collection. For example the sequence of documents produced in 

the formulation of a policy may be crucial to understanding what actually happened, 

and in certain cases may even be needed as evidence in a court of law. 

In a museum or gallery objects or pictures can be displayed in different ways in 

order to illustrate a particular theme. For example, a gallery could display all the 

paintings of a particular artist together for one exhibition; and display the same 

pictures together with others from the same time or place or subject matter for 

another exhibition. A birth certificate in an archive might be needed together with a 

marriage and death certificate of the same person by someone studying their family 

history; a collection of birth certificates from the same time or place might be needed 

by a historian studying infant mortality. These examples illustrate the need for 

metadata which will describe both the content and context of resources. 

Management systems are also needed so that resources can be used and re-used for 

any purpose but still retain their original “position” within a collection. 

Cultural heritage institutions can add value to contextualisation by using enhanced 

interpretation techniques, which use additional objects, information and activities to 

improve visitors’ understanding and enjoyment. If an exhibition is regarded as a 

story, then the story needs to be made more meaningful by the addition of 

illustrations. Museums and heritage sites in particular are increasingly bringing these 

ideas together into what is called an “interpretive plan”. Enhanced interpretation can 

be used on web sites as well as in physical places, or digital resources can be used to 

enhance visitor’s experiences to a physical place. Local museums, libraries and 

archives could co-operate to add enhanced interpretation to exhibitions, events etc. 


For a guide to interpretative planning see A sense of place: an interpretative 

planning handbook [2]. 

Content Management Systems (CMS) Back to Scope 

Document management and records management systems are systems for 

managing content and as such could be described as Content Management Systems. 

However the term is usually applied to the management of digital content on 

intranets, extranets and websites. A CMS manages the way content is added to a 

website. A CMS typically consists of software to manage the various processes of 

creating and delivering content over the Web, plus the database of resources (text, 

images, video, audio etc.) held on a server and from which information is drawn to 

the website in response to user input. A CMS: 

• enables large amounts of information to be dealt with; 

• enables content to be re-used in different parts of a website without the need for 

re-keying of data; 

• makes changes made to the database on the server instantly available to users 

via the website; 

• allows control over the creation of content e.g. by defining who is allowed to add 

or edit content, etc.; 

• allows automation of some processes such as archiving at specific times, etc. 

The main components of a CMS are: 

• templates to control the design of the webpages. Those authorised to contribute 

content will use these templates. It is useful if they can also be used to add 

metadata, date of addition, date for review, etc.; 

• workflow processes to check automatically that everything is “correct” before 

going live on the website; 

• version management software which enables changes to be made to a 

document; 

• a repository for storing content, i.e. a database, most commonly in XML, from 

which content is drawn in response to searches by users; 

• software to alert contributors when content needs reviewing. 

The technologies involved include: 

• a scripting language to extract data from the database and display it on the web. 

Examples include: 

° Microsoft’s ASP (Active Server Pages); 

° PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor); 

° ColdFusion; 

° Perl (Practical Extraction and Reporting Language); 

° Python; 

• a relational database server such as MySQL ; 

• standards to manage the transfer of information between systems on the 

Internet, such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). 

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is increasingly used to transfer information 

between databases and systems via the Internet. The World Wide Web Consortium 

website contains online tutorials for some of these technologies [3]. 


When choosing a CMS, institutions will need to consider whether to buy one, use an 

open source system, or design their own. This will depend on the skills and budget 

available. There are several free open source systems available, but the skills to use 

them will be required, e.g. the skills to implement, configure and sustain the system, 

and train other staff in its use. Also there will be no back-up from a supplier, 

although there may be very active developer communities that can provide support. 

The cost of a commercial CMS can vary according to the number of contributors 

authorised to use it and whether any specialised modules are required. There may 

also be licence fees for the underlying database. Local institutions might be 

interested in a distributed CMS approach where the CMS is run by one institution and 

other institutions add content (see the guideline on Co-operation and partnership). 

For example a CMS could be run by a local authority, or by a group of local 

institutions. 

Irrespective of the software solution chosen, an information audit is useful to 

determine the extent of the content to be managed. The present and possible future 

uses for the website must also be considered. As with all projects a plan should be 

drawn up (see the guideline on Strategic planning) and all such issues considered at 

the outset. One of the best European sources of information on CMS is the German 

site Content Manager [4]. For a technical overview see the JISC TechWatch report 

by Paul Browning and Mike Lowndes [5]. 

As well as being used by staff, a CMS can be used by members of the community 

who are trained and authorised to add content to a community website (see the 

guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion). 

Electronic Records Management (ERM) Back to Scope 

Information in a document can be described as: 

• content - the subject matter of the document; 

• structure – in paper documents this will be the physical structure, number of 

pages etc.; in digital documents it will be design elements such as headings, fonts 

etc.; 

• context – when, how, by whom and why the document was created, and its 

relationship to other documents. 

If any of these are missing then the meaning of the document could be 

misinterpreted. 

The underlying principle of records management is the lifecycle of a document or 

record from the time it is created until it is disposed of or selected for permanent 

archiving. Decisions on the way in which an individual document is managed are 

taken on the basis of a variety of considerations including legal requirements such as 

data protection legislation and statutory retention periods. 

A records management system enabled the implementation of agreed time scales 

and review periods for each type of record. An ERM will manage this automatically, 

alerting staff when the next stage is reached for each record. Records should be 

reviewed at each stage. 


An ERM should be able to manage both “born digital” records and existing physical 

documents which may be scanned into the system. “Born digital” electronic records 

are just as important as paper records, particularly where many decisions are taken 

through email exchanges. Records of meetings held through video-conferencing or 

instant messaging systems need managing just as much as do the minutes of 

conventional meetings. A culture of best practice record-keeping among managers 

and staff is helpful, but ideally the ERM should be able to capture records by a 

process built in to the electronic systems which produce the records. Hybrid records, 

consisting for example of paper documents and e-mails referring to those 

documents, will also need managing. It is also important that records provide 

evidence of: 

• authenticity (as an accurate account of an activity, transaction, or decision); 

• integrity (an assurance that the data has not been changed subsequently); 

• non-repudiation (preventing the originator from disowning the record). 

For retrieval purposes metadata describing the content, structure and context will be 

needed. 

Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS) Back to Scope 

DAMS can support digital assets throughout their lifespan from acquisition or creation 

to archival preservation. They aim to control a digital resource, particularly digital 

images or video, allowing location and retrieval without losing the context of the 

original. They can track all the possible different versions, preserving a record of all 

changes, and linking back all copies to the original. A DAMS will contain the tools to 

describe, search and export or distribute content in whatever forms are required. It 

will enable the use of digital resources over and over again without the need for 

finding, using or amending, and then re-filing the resource. 

This is done by storing information about the content together with the content 

itself. This includes the descriptive metadata which contains information about the 

content, and the contextual, or structural metadata, which is concerned with the 

relationship of each resource with other resources. For example a document may be 

linked to other documents in a chronological sequence; a drawing may be number 3 

of a series of 10, the whole set together forming a strip cartoon; or an object may be 

part of a collection found together in a tomb during an archaeological dig. 

When information about rights issues and user authentication is included, a DAMS 

can control access and usage. (See the guideline on Security.) User information can 

also enable personalised information to be provided (see the guideline on 

Personalisation). Statistics of usage can also be collected. 

Smaller local institutions need to consider their needs and whether it will be 

necessary and/or cost-effective to introduce a DAMS. If the have a Collections 

Management System this may well be sufficient. 

For a detailed discussion of DAMS, together with technical details, and a list of 

commercial systems, see the DigiCULT Technology Watch Report 1 and Thematic 

Issue 2. [6] 

Collections Management Systems Back to Scope 


A collections management system is used to store cataloguing information about the 

collections of an institution. This will typically implement a recognised professional 

cataloguing standard, such as MARC [7], EAD [8], SPECTRUM [9] or MIDAS [10]. If 

an institution has museum, library and archive collections, the same software may 

enable it to record information using a variety of professional data standards. In 

addition the Collections Management System may also be used to manage digital 

images of items in the collection, and therefore also act as a Digital Asset 

Management System. 

The use of appropriate metadata is very important if searches are to be carried out 

and content retrieved from multiple collections. Local institutions may be making 

their collections available via a portal, or national virtual museum site for example, 

and must follow the guidelines for that site. Collection level descriptions can be used 

to answer questions not confined to one institution or format. Often users do not 

care where the information they need is physically located or whether is comes in the 

form of a book, picture, document or video, and this is where interoperable standard 

descriptive metadata is essential. 

At one time systems were mainly purchased to manage the cataloguing of items in 

the collections, but Collections Management Systems increasingly manage a range of 

resources, services and administrative procedures. For example, a typical system 

might manage; 

• accessions (covering depositors, terms and conditions, insurance and audit 

requirements); 

• cataloguing; 

• location control; 

• conservation; 

• enquiries; 

• loans or movement control; 

• management information. 

A system should support: 

• relevant national and international standards, such as ISAD(G) [11], ISAAR(CPF) 

[12] and EAD [8] for archives, MARC [7] for libraries and SPECTRUM [9] for 

museums; 

• security rights and permissions; 

• a wide range of file formats; 

• terminology control through term lists or thesauri. 

Although the cataloguing standards for the different domains may differ, the basic 

functional requirements are often similar, and software suppliers have created a 

number of systems that can be used to manage museum, library and archive 

collections. For more information see the mda Software Survey [13] and CHIN 

Collections Management Software Review [14]. 

Integrated museum, library and archive systems Back to Scope 

At one time systems were mainly purchased to manage administrative functions. 

Collection Management Systems can increasingly manage a range of resources, 

services and administrative procedures so filling the role of integrated systems. 

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Back to Scope 


Much cultural content has an association with a place. This may be where an item 

was found or collected, where it was manufactured or used or the geographic 

location depicted in an image. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are systems 

that are designed to store, check, manipulate, analyse, retrieve and display placebased 

information. 

GIS are widely used across Europe at government level for policy making, 

implementation, monitoring and evaluation. They are particularly important for 

environmental issues and interactions between citizens and their locality. GIS are 

also widely used in the commercial and industrial sectors for market research, 

strategic planning and management. Convergence between mobile communications, 

global positioning systems (GPS) and navigation are opening up scope for 

commercial products such as in-car navigation systems and activities in distribution, 

logistics and transportation. A significant level of economic activity in Europe involves 

the collection, provision and use of geographic information. 

Large quantities of spatial information are available in Europe, but it tends to be 

fragmented and there are gaps in some areas making it difficult to use. At national 

and EU level there is growing awareness of the need for both quality spatial 

information and metadata to support its retrieval for users. The INSPIRE 

(Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) initiative [15] aims to trigger the 

creation of a European infrastructure to deliver geographic information to support a 

variety of policies and uses. 

GIS software has been developed both by commercial companies and by large 

agencies for their own use. A difficulty for users has been the inability to share 

spatial information between systems. The Open Geospatial Consortium [16], an 

association with members from industry, government and academia, is leading the 

development of interoperable standards (OpenGIS). 

A GIS comprises of a map-based graphical interface and a database system together 

with tools for data input, analysis, visualisation and reporting. GIS may be off-line or 

on-line. In recent years light weight, easy-to-use versions of GIS software have 

become available for use on the Internet. Web-based GIS may be accessed via PDAs 

that incorporate GPS receivers to provide a mobile map-based guide or navigation 

system. 

GIS are useful for researching and visualising data. Local cultural institutions can use 

GIS systems to record and access information about items in their collections or 

about their audiences. For example they could: 

• produce distribution maps or three-dimensional models, capture them as images 

and then use them on web-sites or in exhibitions about the human history or 

natural environment of an area; 

• include GIS functionality on their web-sites, allowing users to interact with placebased 

information, searching databases and producing their own distribution 

maps; 

• conduct audience research, reviewing geographic trends in visitor patterns to plan 

promotional activities or future exhibitions. 


Local institutions that wish to store place-based information, or to include a location 

map on their web site do not necessarily need to install and maintain a GIS. Placebased 

information may be stored within a traditional database and images of location 

maps may be created by traditional means. Where place-based information is 

maintained by local institutions, it is good practice to ensure that a GIS could be 

implemented in the future by following standard guidelines for spatial information. 

This practice allows for OAI-PMH [17] harvesting of metadata and the presentation 

of data through an external GIS system in future projects. 

GIS software may be available to local cultural institutions under licence from their 

parent body (such as a local authority, national agency or educational institution) or 

it may be purchased from mapping agencies or created through digitisation 

programmes. Issues to be aware of include: 

• there may be significant costs associated with purchasing map data and the rights 

to disseminate it online; 

• appropriate permissions must be obtained for use of any map data from third 

parties, ensuring that licences extend to delivering services to defined audiences 

via selected delivery channels; 

• data sets intended to be combined for the purposes of delivering services should 

be of similar scale and resolution, and appropriate for being used together; 

• an appropriate standard co-ordinate reference system must be used and declared 

when recording spatial data; 

• appropriate national standards for the recording of street addresses must be used 

and declared. 

Early mobile access devices have been developed for use in some museums and 

open-air archaeological sites. 

For a detailed guide to GIS see the GIS Guide to Good Practice edited by Mark 

Gillings and Alicia Wise. [18] 


As small-scale, off the shelf systems become available and affordable, they will 

become more widespread among the cultural heritage sector. Open source software 

and systems which can be readily implemented by institutions with access to some 

technical expertise are already having an impact. Over time, tools managed and 

developed by central authorities may enable smaller organisations to implement 

increasingly sophisticated applications without specialist knowledge. 

GIS systems are widely used for archaeological and environmental research and for 

conservation management, and early mobile access devices have been developed for 

use in some museums and open-air archaeological sites, but take-up by local cultural 

institutions has been limited to date. GIS tends to be perceived as being expensive, 

difficult to use and offering functionality that may be beyond current needs. 

However, new mobile access technologies such as PDAs, mobile phones, wireless 

networking and GPS will change the way in which information is presented 

encouraging the use of GIS. Visitors will benefit from map-based guides that provide 


access to cultural information relevant to their location and interests, and from being 

able to select places of interest and to plan their own routes. 


[1] Society of American Archivists: A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology 

[by] Richard Pearce-Moses. 

http://www.archivists.org/glossary/term_details.asp?DefinitionKey=103 

[2] A sense of place: an interpretative planning handbook. Editor: James Carter. 2 nd 

ed. Second edition with revisions published in electronic format on the website of the 

Scottish Interpretation Network, 2001. 

http://www.scotinterpnet.org.uk 

[3] The World Wide Web Consortium’s website contains tutorials for: 

• ASP http://www.w3schools.com/asp/default.asp 

• PHP http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp 

• SOAP http://www.w3schools.com/soap/default.asp 

• XML http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp. 

[4] Content Manager http://www.contentmanager.de 

[5] Browning, Paul and Lowndes, Mike. Content Management Systems. JISC 

TechWatch Report, Sept. 2001. 

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/tsw_01-02.pdf 

[6] New technologies for the cultural and scientific heritage sector. DigiCULT 

Technology Watch Report 1. European Commission, February 2003. ISBN 

9289452757; and Digital Asset Management systems for the cultural and scientific 

heritage sector. DigiCULT Thematic Issue 2. European Commission, December 2002. 

ISSN 17263484. http://www.digicult.info/ 

[7] MARC http://www.loc.gov/marc/ 

[8] EAD http://www.loc.gov/ead/ 

[9] SPECTRUM http://www.mda.org.uk/spectrum.htm 

[10] MIDAS http://www.mda.org.uk/fish/ 

[11] ISAD(G) http://www.ica.org/biblio/cds/isad_g_2e.pdf 

[12] ISAAR(CPF) http://www.ica.org/biblio.php?pdocid=144 

[13] mda Software Survey http://www.mda.org.uk/software.htm 

[14] CHIN Collections Management Software Review 


http://www.chin.gc.ca/English/Collections_Management/Software_Review/index.html 

(also available in French 

http://www.rcip.gc.ca/Francais/Gestion_Collections/Evaluation_Logiciels/index.html) 

[15] The INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) initiative 

http://inspire.jrc.it/home.html, 

[16] Open Geospatial Consortium http://www.opengis.org/ 

[17] The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting 

http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/openarchivesprotocol.html 

[18] Archaeology Data Service: GIS Guide to Good Practice, edited by Mark Gillings 

and Alicia Wise. http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/project/goodguides/gis/ 

Croatia 


M++ 

Integrated museum information system which includes effective ways of managing, 

searching and printing museum documentation. It offers full integration of 

information about museum objects and their surrogates. It also provides a module 

for public access to museum information on the Web (as in bilingual Croatian/English 

example: http://donacijegz.mdc.hr/kovacic-introEN.html). 

http://www.link2.hr 

Finland 

The War History of Ilomantsi 

Using a tourist map users can visit the scenes of the latest wars in Ilomantsi and see 

the fields where Finland fought its last major battle. 

http://www.joensuu.fi/mekri/sotahistoria/warhistory.htm#sarkka 

Greece 

Electronic Online Access Showroom for the new acquisitions of the Library of the 

University of Macedonia (Thessalonica, Greece) 

The online showroom includes a specially designed digital "exhibition area", which is 

accessible via the Internet. Users can retrieve extra information concerning a specific 

book, such as the table of contents and the front and back cover in the form of JPEG 

images. In addition, the online showroom comes with a separate online database 

management environment, which allows the management of the book records, 

including insertion, deletion and editing. http://www3.lib.uom.gr/new_material/ 

Infolibraries 

This project will enable libraries to create and update pages on the web without the 

need for expert help by using a commercial Content Management Tool. Veria Public 

Library will work together with a private company to develop the interface of the 


portal and the various templates for the public libraries to choose from. Local 

libraries will be responsible for collecting and inputting data into the database. 

http://www.infolibraries.gr 

Hungary 

Scriptum Concept Store 

The Concept Store technology enables users to create new online content where the 

content elements are systematically classified, are put into different, multilateral 

concept areas and include comments and annotations by the author, and also by 

users with access rights. http://www.fogalom.hu 

Norway 

Arkivplan.no 

A web-based application for storing, structuring and presenting record management 

plans from local municipalities, thus also creating a nationwide professional 

community on the web. This is not an end user service, but a very important 

strategic initiative for better records management in local municipalities, and aims to 

increase awareness about the context in which public records are created. A 

potential next step is to connect this service with catalogues and other finding aids 

for the end user. http://www.arkivplan.no 

Digitalarkivet (The Digital Archive) 

The archive contains nationwide databases with censuses, church records, 

emigration records, etc., thus allowing users to search and analyse such data for 

many different purposes. It also offers digital copies of rare and important old books, 

and presents several interesting web exhibitions. http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/ 

Fjellatlas (mountain atlas) 

This service provides schools/pupils with tools to present information about cultural 

and natural assets on the Internet by combining a CMS, dynamic maps, multimedia 

etc. under the supervision of a teacher and the County archive. 

http://www.fjellatlas.no 

Fylkesatlas 

Web service demonstrating a GIS solution. Uses a Content Management System with 

dynamic maps/aerial photos as the user interface. Integrates information from 

archives and museums in a seamless way, and combines information from the 

heritage sector with information about transport and tourist services. Offers a vast 

amount of information ranging from museum pieces, place names, photos, videos, 

music, sound, transportation services, tourist services, censuses, land records, 

articles about attractions, etc. from every small corner of the region. 

http://www.fylkesatlas.no 

Oppslagsverket 

From carefully defined key words the user is guided in the direction of archival 

records and other information connected to the chosen keyword. Through the use of 

digital copies, links to additional web resources, library resources, etc., users are 


given a better understanding of how records are created, their historical context and 

their importance as historical sources and documentation. 

http://www.oppslagsverket.no 

Poland 

Fibula 

In collaboration with the Gdańsk Archaeological Museum, the State Archaeological 

Museum is developing this database management system, an Oracle-based 

application which has been designed to facilitate the cataloguing and accessing of 

data gleaned from archaeological fieldwork. It is planned to further develop Fibula 

with the inclusion of a photographic database and the incorporation of a GIS module 

which will provide spatial information relating to archaeological sites. 

http://www.pma.pl 

Slovakia 

AIS OP, GIS OP 

Automated information system of Slovak monuments preservation, and geographic 

information system of Slovak monuments - project of the Slovak Monuments Board. 

http://www.heritage.sk; http://www.pamiatky.sk 

Slovenia 

Virtual guide to Slovene museums and galleries 

This virtual guide contains interactive maps, presenting selected museum objects or 

locations. http://www.burger.si/SLOMuseums.htm 

Spain 

Domus Project 

This is an information and management support system for museums developed by 

the Ministry of Culture. It is an application for the cataloguing and management of 

museum collections and documents, and it computerises all the daily routine 

functions of museums. http://www.mcu.es/museos/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=613 

Generador de Sedes Web : GSW 

Platform developed to foster the visibility and accessibility of Spanish Public Libraries 

on the Internet. It is a web-based tool which allows the generation of web contents, 

together with maintenance and website administration by the library itself. 

http://www.bibliotecaspublicas.es 

Historical Sights and Museums Portal of Andalusia 

Provides detailed information and virtual visits. 

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos 

Turkey 


Door Number, Online Map of Istanbul, Municipality of Greater City and other GIS 

Applications 

It is possible to locate an address on this map right up to the door number. This 

interactive map can also be used to identify community service points, to find the 

best route between two points, and to research public transportation facilities. This is 

only one example of GIS applications used by municipalities among their online 

services for their communities in Turkey. Firms such as NETCAD provide creative 

solutions for municipalities. 

http://www.ibb.gov.tr/index.htm (“Kent haritası” is to be clicked for the map) 

http://www.netcad.com.tr/default.asp 

Ukraine 

Flying Island 

The aim of this project is to create a country wide database devoted to cultural 

heritage in the regions of the Ukraine. Expeditions are made to regional heritage 

sites to record objects, phenomena and events using digitising, scanning and 

video/audio equipment. After processing the data, these digitised works of art, 

pictures, etc. are added to the database that places them in the context of the 

cultural life of Ukraine. http://museum.iatp.org.ua/UIC/ACTIVITY/FLYER/INDEX.HTM 


NEMLAC, the regional strategic development body for Museums, Libraries and 

Archives in the North East of England 

Includes an interactive map which will locate the nearest museums, libraries and 

archives and link to the region's electronic catalogues and virtual collections. 

http://www.nemlac.co.uk/ 

Secret Shropshire 

This site is a good example of a use of GIS by a local authority museum service to 

develop an educational resource. The site enables users to explore the local history, 

natural environment and archaeology of a local area using web-based GIS and an 

image rich database. http://www.secretshropshire.org.uk/ 

Windows on Warwickshire 

This is an interactive website that enables users to explore local areas using webbased 

GIS. http://www.windowsonwarwickshire.org.uk/ 




Multimedia services 

This guideline covers: 

Infrastructure 

Multimedia formats 

- e-books and e-serials 

- Streaming media 

- Music and sound 

- Digital photography 

- Broadcast material 

- Standards and interoperability 

Geographic Information Systems 


Visualisation 

Haptics 

Delivery channels 

- The Internet 

- Digital TV 

- Kiosks 

- Video conferencing 

- Mobile services 

- Tour guides 

SCOPE 


Digital multimedia can be described as a combination of text, graphics, sound, 

animation and video delivered by some form of computer hardware. When the user 

has some control over what is presented it becomes interactive multimedia (see the 

guideline on Interactivity). 

The EU IST programme explicitly supports movement towards the future generation 

of technologies in which computers and networks will be integrated into the everyday 

environment, and defines multimedia as “Using computers and/or digital features to 

present visual and audio content in a meaningful context. Elements include: 

animation, audio components, CD-ROM, computer entertainment, convergence 

media, data compression, DVD, graphics and graphics interfaces, hypermedia, text, 

video, videoconferencing, virtual reality, … and an ever expanding list of technologies 

in this growth area” [1]. 

The balance between print, multimedia holdings and access to Internet resources 

has changed rapidly over the last few years in heritage institutions and it is now 

Calimera Guidelines 268 Multimedia services

accepted that they have a role to play in providing and managing ‘virtual’ as well as 

physical resources. The move towards digital content is also having an impact on 

space allocation as users require PCs and other equipment in order to be able to 

make use of digital resources on the premises. 

More and more cultural resources in diverse formats are becoming available 

electronically and online. Libraries in particular are purchasing or subscribing to 

licences for digital materials (e-books, e-serials, audio-visual media) for use by their 

members. Museums, libraries and archives themselves hold and create digital or 

multimedia content, often in special local collections which may include newspapers, 

photographs, maps manuscripts, sound recordings (e.g. oral history), local art 

collections and film or video. (See the guideline on Digitisation). Collections of 

‘virtual’ Internet (e.g. local or thematic) resources can be created and packaged at 

little cost and are a way of extending conventional services. 

The challenge for museums, libraries and archives is how to integrate new formats 

into the traditional service model where they do not involve physical items and so, 

for example, do not fit into existing acquisition or circulation models. Staff will 

require additional training and new resource management models will need to be 

developed. 

The provision of audiovisual materials and their associated equipment can be useful 

for young children, people with low levels of literacy, and those who use another 

language, who might find oral and visual communication easier than the printed 

word. 

The assurance of accessibility for all users, including disabled people, to multimedia 

resources is of key importance (see the guideline on Accessibility for disabled 

people). 


Infrastructure Back to Scope 

The delivery of effective multimedia services requires bandwidth. The EU is 

committed to ensuring that all museums, libraries, archives and similar institutions 

have broadband connections. In some remote areas this might be provided via 

satellite or wireless technology (see the guideline on Underlying technologies and 

infrastructure). It might be possible to apply for EU structural funds for the purpose 

of connecting rural areas [2]. Adequate numbers of PCs, printers and other 

equipment to enable users to access multimedia resources within the building will 

also be needed. 

Multimedia formats Back to Scope 

Content exists in a variety of forms including text, still images (e.g. photographs, 

slides, microform), moving images (e.g. film, video), sound (e.g. music, spoken 

word, sound effects), and a combination e.g. audio visual media. The need for text, 

pictures, films, sound, music, etc. in non-electronic formats still exists and equipment 


for viewing and listening should be provided for every type of format held by the 

institution. 

Museums, libraries and archives have experience of adapting to new technologies. 

Over the last few decades vinyl records, audio cassettes, CDs, DVDs, cine film, slides, 

videocassettes, audio books, etc. have all been used in cultural institutions. 

Sound, image and multimedia may exist in analogue and digital formats on a range 

of carriers including mechanical carriers (e.g. vinyl records), magnetic tape carriers 

(e.g. audio and video cassettes), magnetic disk carriers (e.g. floppy disks and hard 

disks), photochemical carriers (e.g. reel film formats) and optical carriers (e.g. CDs, 

DVDs). 

However there has been an explosion of computer-based multimedia content which 

modern cultural institutions need to get to grips with. 

e-books Back to Scope 

e-books and e-serials are a way of delivering text electronically. An e-book is a text 

or monograph which is available in an electronic form, and which can be downloaded 

from the Internet and read on a variety of hardware platforms such as a computer 

(desktop, laptop, note-book or tablet) or a handheld device (e.g. a PDA such as a 

Pocket PC or Palm device, or a 3rd Generation (3G) mobile phone). 

Reading software compatible with the hardware and linked to the e-book format is 

also required. e-books are published in a number of different formats; the Open 

eBook Forum [3] is attempting to develop a universal e-book standard. E-book 

readers and formats include: 

• Adobe Reader - for e-books in PDF format; 

• Microsoft Reader - for e-books in Microsoft format; 

• Palm Reader - compatible with any PDA device running the Palm Operating 

System, and also for use with PCs with Windows; 

• MobiPocket Reader - a universal e-book and e-text reader for PDAs that is also 

compatible with some brands of 3G phones; 

• various proprietary readers e.g. netLibrary. 

There are also some readers [4] which will read aloud e.g. 

• Audible.com; 

• Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA); 

• MP3; 

• Adobe 6 (the 'Read out loud' feature which has to be enabled by the publisher). 

Despite what people might think, Digital Talking Books (DTBs) are not always 

accessible to print-disabled people, often because of rights issues. Digital Rights 

Management Systems (DRMs) often disable screen readers as part of a security 

feature. The Daisy Consortium [5] has developed a standard for Digital Talking Books 

(DTBs) (Specifications for the Digital Talking Book - ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002) [6] 

with the aim of making talking books accessible to people with print disabilities. 

e-books are perhaps most associated with libraries, though archives and museums 

might use the technology for delivering text electronically, or in special libraries 


attached to them or incorporated within them. Libraries can make e-books available 

for loan in a number of ways, e.g.: 

• by lending e-book readers loaded with texts. The e-book reader has a loan period 

and must be returned; 

• by circulating e-books for users to read on their own e-book readers. Users do not 

need to physically visit a library service point to borrow or return the books. 

There are two models for circulating e-books: 

• the one book, one user access model: an e-book can be reissued many times but 

only one reader can borrow one ‘copy’ at any one time; 

• the multi-user, simultaneous access model: bring e-books into line with other 

forms of digital content where several people can read the same text at the same 

time. 

However, e-books are usually obtained on a publisher-library licensing basis, and 

publishers prefer the one book one user model, whereas libraries prefer the multiuser 

simultaneous access model. This issue has yet to be resolved. There are also 

rights issues to be considered in connection with e-books. Free e-books available to 

download tend to be out of copyright classics (see Project Gutenberg [7] for 

example.) For a discussion of e-books in libraries see E-books in UK Public Libraries: 

where we are now and the way ahead by Penny Garrod [8]. 

e-serials Back to Scope 

Electronic serials may be defined very broadly as any journal, magazine, e'zine, 

Webzine, newsletter or electronic serial publication which is available over the 

Internet. Free access to some web-based newspapers and journals is available; 

others are only available as fee-based, full-text CD-ROM and web publications. There 

are currently two main formats: 

• e-mail based e-serials typically use plain text and are more commonly described 

as newsletters. Users 'subscribe' through an e-mail message, and the newsletter 

is delivered straight to their e-mailboxes; 

• web-based. Currently, most e-serials are made available via web pages using 

either HTML or PDF. These include electronic daily newspapers. A growing 

number do not have a print equivalent. 

e-serials are either supplied directly by the publishers themselves or via aggregator 

services such as OCLC or EBSCO which provide access to and manage a large 

selection of e-serials on the institution’s (usually library’s) behalf, removing the need 

to negotiate a set of individual licences and prices with a number of different journal 

publishers. Where an e-journal is held on the suppliers' servers, copyright 

agreements with publishers may restrict access and use. It is important to consider 

the payment model involved: some suppliers require both a print and electronic 

subscription. Model licences are available which can be used as a starting point for 

negotiation (see also the guideline on Legal and rights issues). 

The move to e-serials may cause preservation problems. With hard copy serials 

libraries are generally entitled to retain back issues. This is not usually the case with 

e-serials and libraries should ensure that their licence covers them to retain ‘old’ 

editions if they wish to maintain a backrun. 

Some libraries are starting to make multimedia content (e-books, e-serials etc.) 

available to remote users via their websites. In order to meet licence restrictions 


users usually have to be library members and to authenticate themselves in some 

way, perhaps by means of a PIN code, to access the materials. (See the guideline on 

Security.) 

Streaming media Back to Scope 

Streaming media, a sequence of moving images and/or sounds sent in compressed 

form over the Internet, has facilitated the viewing and listening of films, music etc. 

With streaming media, the user does not have to wait to download a large file before 

seeing the video or hearing the sound. Instead, the media is sent in a continuous 

stream and is played as it arrives.. A great many streaming media resources are 

available via the Internet from Europe and all over the world, including community 

webradios, broadcast news bulletins, drama, music, television and radio (both live 

and archived programmes), educational resources, parliamentary and court TV, 

financial and business services, religious broadcasting and full-length commercial 

movies and shorter clips. In order to play streaming’ media, special software e.g. 

RealAudio, MS Media Server, Shoutcast [9] is needed, which can usually be 

downloaded free from the Internet. Some commercial services, such as Groovy 

Gecko [10], offer additional services such as the ability to monitor the number and 

frequency of hits. For an introduction to the technology of streaming media see 

Streaming media: introduction. [11] 

Music and sound Back to Scope 

Music was a pioneer in using ICT to distribute and access cultural artefacts. The 

recording of music has long since moved from analogue to digital and the technology 

is now available in domestic equipment. Digital technology and the Internet are 

providing new means of distribution. Music files are readily downloadable in MP3 

format [12] and producers have started to distribute in this or similar formats 

themselves, although Internet security and e-commerce models remain major issues. 

The EU project MUSICNETWORK [13] was established in order to help bring music 

into the interactive multimedia era. Its Working Group Music Libraries exists to help 

music libraries (including music documentation centres, broadcasting and orchestra 

archives, music-related museums and archives, and other collections) keep pace with 

technological, legal and standardisation developments. It addresses topics like 

metadata, information retrieval and digital library developments in a series of 

workshops and meetings, provides state-of-the-art analyses, and disseminates 

information about new developments and tools. Its website contains information on, 

for example: 

• notation – including issues relating to the accessing of notation via electronic 

devices; 

• standards – proprietary and non-proprietary; 

• protection – copyright, IPR, content protection mechanisms e.g. encryption and 

watermarking (see also the guidelines on Legal and rights issues and Security); 

• distribution – including business models (see also the guideline on Business 

models), new technologies and distribution media (mobile environments, Web 

services, XML, Web-TV and streaming), content protection aspects applied to online 

distribution systems, content information retrieval (metadata management), 

legal issues, and the quality and accessibility of music distribution services; 

• imaging – covering the digitisation, representation, restoration, image processing 

and automatic transcription of music documents, i.e. digitising paper-based music 


scores and manuscripts. The digitisation of music manuscripts requires Optical 

Music Recognition (OMR) technology [14]; 

• accessibility - provision of music for the print impaired in the digital age. 

Digital photography Back to Scope 

Digital cameras have revolutionised the way photographs are taken and used. It is 

now very easy to add photographs to websites etc., but there is a threat from the 

fact that photographs have become ephemeral and disposable. The possible 

shortage of physical photographs in the future would be a loss to historical archives. 

Broadcast material Back to Scope 

Broadcasting is of course a delivery channel, but the content contained in 

programmes is material in a multimedia format. Cultural heritage institutions need to 

co-operate with audiovisual concerns such as film producers and broadcasting 

companies to ensure that films and radio and TV programmes can be digitised, 

preserved and made available for future use. Most television and radio is now 

actually produced in digital format. TV companies such as the Netherlands Institute 

for Sound and Vision [15] are working on strategies to preserve hundreds of 

thousands of hours of broadcast material in authentic ways. 

Standards and interoperability Back to Scope 

Because of the variety of formats available, standards are needed to ensure 

interoperability and to combat obsolescence. (See the guidelines on Digitisation and 

Digital preservation for information on format and media standards.) The existence 

of an international professional association is generally acknowledged as important at 

both international and national levels, serving as a focus for setting standards, as 

well as for co-operation and professional development. Examples in the audio-visual 

field include: 

• IAML, the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and 

Documentation Centres [16]; 

• IAMIC, the International Association of Music Information Centres [17]; 

• FIAT/IFTA, the International Federation of Television Archives [18]; 

• EBU, the European Broadcasting Union [19]; 

• IASA, the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives [20]; 

• FIAF, the International Federation of Film Archives [21]; 

• AMIA, the Association of Moving Image Archivists [22]. 

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (see also the guideline on Content and 

context management) Back to Scope 

Much cultural content has an association with a place. This association may be where 

an item was found or collected, where it was manufactured or used, or the 

geographic location depicted in an image. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are 

systems that are designed to store, check, manipulate, analyse, retrieve and display 

place-based information. They consist of hardware, software, and data that can be 

combined to create a relational database to be used for the retrieval and analysis of 

any information with a spatial component. Although GIS is sometimes thought of 

simply as a map-making tool, it is the capacity of a GIS to store and link to 

information behind a point on a map that makes it so powerful. 


The full analytical capabilities of GIS are only available off-line as these demand high 

levels of both computing resources and operator skill. In recent years light weight, 

easy-to-use versions of GIS software have become available for use on the Internet. 

Web-based GIS may be accessed via PDAs that incorporate GPS receivers to provide 

a mobile map-based guide or navigation system. 

Many online or Internet resources have searchable GIS interfaces. Although the 

building blocks for public museums, libraries and archives to develop their own local 

GIS-based services are still relatively complex, it is becoming more feasible to do so, 

especially in the context of the wider service, technological and licensing 

environment of a whole local authority. 

GIS software may be available to local cultural institutions under licence from their 

parent body (such as a local authority, national agency or educational institution). It 

should comply with emerging industry standards from the Open GIS Consortium. 

[23] 

Map and other spatial data is created by taking measurements on the ground with a 

global positioning system survey, by using photography or satellite images, or by 

digitising existing maps. It may already be held by local cultural institutions or their 

parent bodies, or it may be purchased from mapping agencies or created through 

digitisation programmes: 

The construction of a fully functional GIS interface requires attention to the control of 

terminology for place names (e.g. a gazetteer) and linkage to a controlled set of keys 

(post codes, grid references etc.) for those places. 

As more and more geographic and cartographic data goes over to a primarily digital 

form museums, libraries and archives will have to grasp the nettle of providing GIS 

and its supporting hardware to the public. There are however a number of issues 

that need to be taken into account: 

• the hardware for running GIS needs to be powerful because GIS datasets tend to 

be large and the faster the computer the less time it takes to do the computing 

and display the results; 

• high bandwidth network and Internet connections will be required for the same 

reasons. Large monitors are desirable, plotters and printers need to be acquired; 

• staff will have to be trained or special staff recruited, as most members of the 

public will not be able to use any but the most basic GIS applications without 

help. There are some helpful sites available on the Web which staff could use. 

[24] 

Virtual reality (See also the guideline on Interactivity) Back to Scope 

Virtual reality (VR) is the simulation of a real or imagined environment that can be 

experienced visually in three dimensions. It differs from other three-dimensional 

graphics media in that it is interactive, enabling the user to move around within the 

space e.g. to tour a virtual exhibition. Three-dimensional virtual reality ‘fly through’ 

models are used, for example, in the reconstruction of vanished or ruined 

monuments or in simulating whole areas of an ancient landscape. The Web3D 

Consortium [25] is working towards creating interoperable standards for 3D 


technologies: the current standard is VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) 

(ISO/IEC 14772) [26] and the emerging one is X3D (Extensible 3D) [27]. 

Visualisation Back to Scope 

Visualisation is the term used to describe the use of computer graphics to present 

and analyse information. Two-dimensional (2D) visualisation includes charts and 

graphs e.g. pie-charts, histograms, line-graphs, contour plots and scatter plots. 

Three-dimensional (3D) visualisation uses techniques such as iso-surfaces, 3D vector 

plots, volume rendering techniques, etc. or a combination of these. 

The use of animation adds movement to 3D visualization. For example, “flybys” 

allow the viewer to see all sides of a static object e.g. a vase, and “motion 

observation” allows the viewer to watch the object itself move e.g. a machine in 

action. 

Visualisation techniques have all sorts of potential applications. For example they can 

be used to create visual reconstructions of people or objects from excavated 

remains, or to see what effect a volcano erupting would have on a landscape. 

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) [28] is currently the established software interface 

for graphics hardware. 

Haptics Back to Scope 

Haptics enables users to “touch” and “feel” objects via a computer by using special 

input/output devices (e.g. data gloves). This adds another dimension to the 

experience of virtual reality and can be useful for visually disabled people (see the 

guideline on Accessibility for disabled people). For a discussion of haptics see 

DigiCULT Technology Watch Briefing no. 13: Telepresence, Haptics, Robotics, April 

2004. [29] 

Delivery channels Back to Scope 

The range of devices, or delivery channels, which can be used to access multimedia 

services is increasing, and includes 3G mobile phones, PDAs, kiosks, digital and 

interactive TV and digital media players. Small, often portable devices, can now 

deliver information and integrate personal services in an electronic format. 

Digitisation and the Internet have revolutionised the delivery of multimedia content. 

Newly emerging technologies now offer museums, libraries and archives 

opportunities to extend and improve services and to reach wider population groups. 

It is now possible to deliver services direct to the end user, placing the individual at 

the centre of current and future developments. 

The Internet Back to Scope 

Internet penetration in Europe continues to grow rapidly, driven by ambitious 

European and national targets to deliver all services electronically. Between 2000 and 

2004 Internet penetration in the EU grew by 44% to 204 million, almost half the 

population. However it varies greatly across the EU, from 15% at the lower end 

(Greece) to 74% at the higher end (Sweden) (September 2004 figures [30]). 


The Internet provides a multimedia environment for the enjoyment of entertainment, 

recreation and the arts, the exercise of imagination and the exploration of ideas as 

well as for the use of information, news and educational resources. The provision of 

access to the Internet in rural areas and deprived neighbourhoods in towns will 

contribute to the fight against social exclusion and create conditions for both 

economic and social development. 

Providing public access to the Internet poses a number of operational issues 

including: 

• filtering or blocking to prevent access to unsuitable sites, particularly for children 

(see the guideline on Learning); 

• downloading material from the web to the computer’s hard drive, or allowing 

users to use their own floppy disks, raises security issues e.g. the danger of 

viruses (see the guideline on Security); 

• printing – many organisations charge for printouts from publicly available 

computers. The easiest way to control printing and collect the fees due is to 

adopt some sort of printserver software and centralise printing to printers under 

staff control; 

• additional software may be required for some services such as downloading and 

games. Such plug-ins may include Acrobat, Flash, Macromedia, VRML and Real 

Audio. Some of these need very frequent updating, and some, particularly those 

used to download audio and video, are bandwidth-heavy and may involve long 

download times. Headphones need to be provided if downloading of sound files is 

permitted; 

• a booking system may be needed to control the use of computers. Consideration 

needs to be given to the length of sessions, the number of sessions per day/week 

which can be booked by the same person, advance reservation systems and who 

is eligible to make bookings; 

• a policy may be needed regarding the level of assistance which will be provided to 

computer users. E-learning packs could be provided, online tutorials signposted, 

staff could give introductory help just to get people started, or run full-scale 

training courses either free or for a fee; 

• e-mail is an important means of seeking information and making contacts e.g. for 

lifelong learners. Allowing users to set up personal e-mail accounts raises 

administrative and financial issues. However, access to free web-based e-mail 

such as Hotmail could be allowed; 

• chat lines can also be a very useful source of information although they are 

sometimes associated with potentially harmful material and “computer addiction”, 

raising a need for quality control or mediation of the chat lines made available. 

Similar considerations apply to access to computer games on the Internet. 

The Internet can be delivered via a variety of channels including telephone, cable, 

satellite, wireless and “Web on TV” (or MSN TV - a system that allows users to surf 

the Internet and send e-mails using their television and a set-top box) (see the 

guideline on Underlying technologies and infrastructure). Satellite and wireless are 

connecting users in rural and isolated areas, as well as mobile users who can now 

get access through mobile phones and other portable devices. 


There is increasing scope for cultural institutions to develop personalised digital 

services to extend their informational, educational, social and recreational roles using 

delivery channels like mobile phones, PDAs, and digital or interactive TV. 

Digital TV Back to Scope 

Television is a technology familiar to everyone and presents no problems for 

technophobes. Digital TV provides access to many more channels than earlier 

systems and thus offers an opportunity to deliver more local services directly into 

homes. Interactive TV allows the viewer to interact directly with TV broadcasts, to 

play games, or send messages. Although digital TV is still very new, there are 

estimated to be over 32 million digital receivers in use in Europe, of which at least 25 

million have interactive capability. Digital TV is expected to continue to develop over 

the next few years. Decoding boxes for analogue TVs are now relatively cheap, 

making access to digital services easier and cheaper. 

The European Commission is supporting the use of open and interoperable standards 

for interactive digital TV, including the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard 

[31]. Launching the communication [32] on this, Enterprise and Information Society 

Commissioner Olli Rehn said “Digital television networks (satellite, terrestrial and 

cable) have the potential to offer delivery of multi-media information Society 

services, alongside 3G mobile and other networks, and we welcome all future 

investment in this important technology”. 

Cultural heritage institutions should be aware of the possibilities of taking advantage 

of the medium, perhaps by broadcasting information appearing on their authority's 

existing websites e.g. details of local public services, councillors and MPs, learning, 

health and care, leisure and sport and local organisations. 

With hundreds of television channels broadcasting all hours of the day, there is a 

demand for material. The extensive collections of art, documents, film, photographs, 

printed material and sound held in museums, libraries and archives make them major 

potential content providers to the media. Raw content in a digital form can be made 

available, but also the added value of subject expertise needed to present and 

interpret it. Digital TV can be used to reach wider audiences, develop niche markets, 

and potentially bring financial returns. 

It is possible that digital TV may become the most popular method of accessing the 

Internet. A new user community could come into being, such as home users who are 

unwilling or unable to invest in computer technologies, but do wish to watch the TV. 

Also the TV tends to be available in the living room and more readily accessible than 

a PC. New 3G mobile phones can also support broadcasting. 

At present web surfing on a TV is possible but in a more limited fashion. For 

example, the input device is not usually a mouse; the tab key on a key board may 

have to be used, or some kind of remote control. Therefore information designed for 

this type of access may need to be more like text TV services, where users scroll 

through a selection of menus until the desired page is reached. 


Television tends to be a watch-only medium. However, technologies are emerging 

which allow writing to the web, which will transform web-enabled television. It will 

be possible for museums, libraries and archives to write directly to the web using 

TTW (Through-the-Web) editors or other content creation tools such as Wiki or Blog. 

A Content Management System (CMS) combined with a TTW authoring tool allows 

users to edit content on the web without the need for complex technical skills. For a 

description of TTW technology see Through the Web Authoring Tools by Paul 

Browning [33]. 

Kiosks Back to Scope 

Public access online and Internet kiosks have been available for several years and 

now form an important part of local authority information and service access strategy 

in many European towns and cities. 

However, like telephone kiosks, they are facing competition from PDAs, laptops and 

mobile phones. If they are to be successful they need to: 

• be strategically placed where people have free time and may need information, 

such as shopping centres, cafes, railway and bus stations, and airports; 

• be multi-functional e.g. offer Internet access, e-mail facilities and facilities to 

conduct transactions such as making reservations and paying bills. 

Nevertheless, within a building a well-designed kiosk can deal with a number of 

routine tasks such as membership applications, frequently asked questions, 

directions to areas of the building, book requests, ticket purchase, as well as provide 

access to the Internet and to sites such as online citizens’ information systems. 

Important decisions in kiosk design include whether the data is loaded locally on a 

PC at each kiosk or updated remotely, whether the kiosk is offline or connected to a 

network and/or the Internet, whether it has telephone access to a helpdesk; and 

methods of anti-vandalism security. 

Video 

This enables two or more people in different places to see and hear each other, and 

sometimes share work together on their computers. It already makes important 

contributions in areas such as e-learning and staff training, and can be used as a 

tool for branch/agency communication and community outreach. Multi-site video 

conferencing is possible, linking several sites together in a simultaneous conference. 

conferencing Back to Scope 

Video conferences take place over telephone networks so high bandwidth is 

important. The basic ingredients for a video conference system are transmitting and 

receiving equipment at each site and an intervening network to carry the signals. 

Input devices could be microphones, television cameras, white boards, etc.; and 

output devices could be loudspeakers, television picture monitors, data screens, 

white boards, etc. 

For video conferencing to become really successful interoperability of equipment is 

essential. The main standards are H.320 and H.323 [34]. 

Mobile services Back to Scope 


Mobile handheld devices are becoming increasingly small and multifunctional. Mobile 

phones can now act as telephones, calculators, personal organisers, calendars, 

cameras, Internet servers, e-mail senders and receivers, e-book readers, enable 

users to play games, etc. PDAs can play music and show video films. 

The delivery of digital multimedia content to handheld devices is already possible 

therefore, in that anything which can be accessed via the Internet will be accessible 

on a PDA. 

Ways in which cultural heritage institutions can utilise mobile technology might 

include: 

• promoting services; 

• advertising exhibitions and events; 

• sending personalised messages such as information about events of interest to a 

particular individual, or reminders of overdues books or reservations ready to be 

collected; 

• answering enquiries. 

Useful advice on developing content for mobile devices can be found on the 

Canadian Heritage Information Network website. [35] 

However, using the positioning potential of mobile access via wireless communication 

technology, cultural institutions can also offer services such as personalised tour 

guides. 

Tour guides Back to Scope 

Audio guides are now very common in museums and heritage sites to guide people 

round an exhibition or outdoor attraction, but can also be used in museums, libraries 

and archives as an alternative to printed guides to explain systems or services. They 

are often available in more than one language. 

Audio guides are increasingly being replaced by handheld wireless devices, which are 

much more flexible. They can for example be personalised to a group or individual, 

and can contain interactive features. In addition to audio, images, text, graphics and 

video can be delivered to the PDA. Content can be stored on a central computer 

server and relayed to visitors via a wireless local area network (WLAN) when and 

where they need it. Visitors can borrow PDAs or use their own, downloading maps or 

floor plans and other information at the start of the visit. (See the guidelines on 

Personalisation and Interactivity.) 

This technology offers a number of advantages including: 

• accessibility – it can be tailored to the special needs of visitors; 

• flexibility – it enables users to make their own way around and access information 

in greater or lesser detail as they wish; 

• convenience – it can be easier to read or listen to information from a handheld 

device than from a printed label or guidebook; 

• personalisation – information can be delivered in different languages, or aimed at 

different audiences e.g. children or experts. 



It may be attractive in countries with a large, long and rich legacy of documented 

cultural history, to concentrate on such out-of-copyright collections as a way of 

minimising the need to deal with IPR problems. However, if museums, libraries and 

archives are to compete in the longer term as content providers supplying services 

over wide networks, they will need to engage fully with the rights-holding community 

about licensing the re-use and repackaging of in-copyright content (see the guideline 

on Legal and rights issues). 

Institutions may find that increasingly their users are no longer visiting service points 

or interacting with staff. Some services may become automated and take place only 

electronically, which will bring a need for rationalisation and re-engineering. 

Multimedia resources will be integrated into catalogues and will be searchable and 

retrievable regardless of format. 

Some resources such as e-books, e-serials, music, film etc., will be downloadable 

direct from suppliers’ systems on a “just-in-time” basis. They will either be 

purchased or supplied on a licensed subscription model. 

Similarly such resources will be delivered on demand direct to users’ own computers 

or PDAs without the need to visit the institution for access. 

Visitors to cultural institutions will enjoy a personalised experience enhanced by 

virtual reality techniques. 

In the future it is likely that most people will access the internet in ways other than a 

PC, e.g. through digital television, through a wireless-connected mobile phone, even 

through a games console or DVD player. It is estimated that 80% of the European 

population already have access to mobile handsets. The growth in the mobile 

communications and interactive television sectors is likely to be driven by the offering 

of innovative multimedia. The challenge for cultural heritage institutions will be to 

deliver services that bring real value-added to individuals, the education sector and 

businesses. 


[1] Information Society Technologies: Multimedia in modern society. 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka3/home.html 

[2] European Union's action in support of regional development. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/ns_en.htm 

[3] The Open eBook Forum http://www.openebook.org/ 

[4] Audible.com; http://www.audible.com/ 

Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA); 


http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.aspx 

MP3; http://www.mp3.com/ 

Adobe 6 http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html 

[5] The Daisy Consortium http://www.daisy.org/ 

[6] Specifications for the Digital Talking Book (ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002 

http://www.loc.gov/nls/z3986/v100/ 

[7] Project Gutenberg http://promo.net/pg/ 

[8] Garrod, Penny: E-books in UK Public Libraries: where we are now and the way 

ahead. UKOLN, July 2004. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/nsptg/e-books/#10 

[9] RealAudio http://uk.real.com/ 

MS Media Server 

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/default.aspx 

Shoutcast http://www.shoutcast.com/ 

[10] Groovy Gecko http://www.groovygecko.com/ 

[11] Streaming media: introduction. University of Tasmania, 2003. 

http://www.utas.edu.au/teachingonline/develop/multimedia/streaming/introduction.h 

tml 

[12] MP3 http://www.mp3.com/ 

[13] MUSICNETWORK http://www.interactivemusicnetwork.org/ 

[14] OMR Bibliography 

http://www.interactivemusicnetwork.org/wg_imaging/upload/omrbib-20040128e.htm 




A9AF9FB858BB 

[16] IAML, the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and 

Documentation Centres http://www.iaml.info/ 

[17] IAMIC, the International Association of Music Information Centres 

http://www.iamic.net/ 

[18] FIAT/IFTA, the International Federation of Television Archives 

http://www.fiatifta.org/ 

[19] EBU, the European Broadcasting Union http://www.ebu.ch/en/index.php 


[20] IASA, the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives 

http://www.iasa-web.org/ 

[21] FIAF, the International Federation of Film Archives 

http://www.fiafnet.org/ 

[22] AMIA, the Association of Moving Image Archivists 

http://www.amianet.org/home/about/mission.html 

[23] Open GIS Consortium http://www.opengis.org/ 

[24] ESRI GIS and mapping Software http://www.esri.com 

The GIS Data Depot http://www.gisdatadepot.com/ 

http://www.gisnet.com/note-book/GIS_Resources.htm 

The Geospatial Resource Portal tutorial 

http://www.gisdevelopment.net/tutorials/ 

ARL GIS Literacy Project http://www.arl.org/info/gis/index.html 

[25] Web3D Consortium http://www.web3d.org 

[26] VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) (ISO/IEC 14772) 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/StandardsQueryFormHandler.StandardsQueryFormHandler 

?scope=CATALOGUE&keyword=&isoNumber=14772&sortOrder=ISO&title=true&sear 

ch_type=ISO&search_term=14772&languageCode=en 

[27] X3D (Extensible 3D) 

http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications/x3d_specification.html 

[28] OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) http://www.opengl.org/ 

[29] DigiCULT Technology Watch Briefing no. 13: Telepresence, Haptics, Robotics, 

April 2004. 

http://www.digicult.info/downloads/DigiCULT_TWB13_Haptics_1.pdf 

[30] Internet World Statistics. http://www.internetworldstats.com/ 

[31] Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) http://www.mhp.org/ 

[32] Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, 

the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on 

interoperability of digital interactive television services [SEC(2004)1028]. 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/ecomm/doc/useful_information/librar 

y/communic_reports/interoperability_idtv/com_2004_541_en.pdf 

[33] Browning, Paul: Through the Web Authoring Tools. In Ariadne, Issue 39, 30 th 

April 2004. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue39/browning/intro.html (For more 

technical details see the JISC TechWatch report by the same author at 

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/tsw_03-08.pdf) 


[34] Video Technology Advisory Service: Videoconferencing standards. 2003. 

http://www.video.ja.net/stan/ 

[35] Canadian Heritage Information Network. Mobile Technologies and Interactive 

Applications: Developing Content for Mobile Phones. June 2004. 

http://www.chin.gc.ca/English/Digital_Content/Tip_Sheets/Wireless/dev_content.htm 

l 

Croatia 


Interactive CD-ROM "Insects" 

Two Croatian museums (Varazdin City Museum and Museum of Natural History in 

Rijeka) have produced, in co-operation with several institutions from Croatia and 

abroad, an interactive educational CD-ROM as a supplement for their permanent 

exhibitions on insects. The material from the CD-ROM (audio and video recordings, 

animation and graphic presentation) will soon be mounted on the museums' 

websites. Awarded a special award for richness of documentary material and 

originality of pedagogical approach in Taiwan in May 2004 at the International 

Audiovisual Festival on Museums and Heritage (FAIMP). There is an English version 

of the CD-ROM. 

SMS in Medvescak Public Library 

Medvescak Public Library initiated, in collaboration with a Croatian GSM operator VIP, 

a system which uses SMS to communicate with its users e.g. for making 

reservations. It has proved to be both efficient and effective, reaching new users and 

saving money and time of library staff. http://www.knjizmed.hr 


Together with the LIS software manufacturer Unibis, new and significant 

enhancements in the Music collection OPAC search options have been developed. 


Cyprus 

Limassol District Archaeological Museum 

The website contains many photographs of artefacts etc. 

http://www.limassolmunicipal.com.cy/museum 

Museum of Kykkos Monastery 

Contains a virtual tour of the museum with indexes of pictures, documents, 

manuscripts etc. http://www.kykkos-museum.cy.net 

France 

Guide des documents multimédias en bibliothèques 

Guideline for multimedia documents and contents within libraries. 


http://www.addnb.org/fr/guide/index.htm 

Germany 

Lebendiges virtuelles Museum Online (LeMO) (Living Virtual Museum Online) 

A joint broadband project of the Deutsches Historisches Museums (DHM) [German 

Historical Museum], the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (HdG) 

[House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany] as well as the Fraunhofer- 

Institut für Software- und Systemtechnik (ISST) [Fraunhofer Institute for Software 

and Systems Technology]. A virtual tour through the 20th century which mixes 3D 

Animation (VRML) and film and sound documents with museum objects and 

information texts (HTML) to provide a comprehensive picture of history. LeMO is only 

part of a variety of multimedia projects which the museum is using. Included on the 

website are 360° panoramas (which can also be downloaded and used as screen 

savers), sound and video presentations and webcams. 

http://www.dhm.de/lemo/ (LEMO) 

http://www.dhm.de/mm/index.html (multimedia in the museum) 

Multimedia Online Archive Chemnitz (MONARCH), Technische Universität Chemnitz 

Uses client-server technology for long-term archiving and making multimedia 

resources accessible. http://www.bsz-bw.de/diglib/agmm/ 

Museum Multimedial, Deutsches Museum Munich 

Uses a combination of numerous multimedia technologies (digitisation, live cameras, 

panorama pictures, video clips, audio clips and interactive demonstrations) to 

illustrate the development of technology. 

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/mum/index.htm 

Projekt Multimedia, Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg 

An extensive project to co-ordinate various multimedia projects within a larger 

framework of a digital library. Among the projects are: portal for libraries, museums 

and archives (cross-searching across holdings); music libraries; audio-visual archives; 

meta-data project; electronic reserve shelf for teaching. 

http://www.bsz-bw.de/diglib/ 

Lithuania 

MUSICALIA 

Provides access to the digital archive of multimedia musical heritage items stored at 

the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. PHP, mySQL and XML 

technologies are used for presenting medieval musical manuscripts. 

http://www.musicalia.lt 

Luxembourg 

Musée National d'Histoire et d'Art 

Includes a virtual tour of the exhibitions. http://www.mnha.public.lu/index.html 

Norway 


Johan Nygaardsvold Museum 

A very extensive website with animated characters in flash and a wide use of 

multimedia. Also intended as content for kiosks in the museum. Schoolchildren are 

the main target audience. http://www.gubben.no 

Låtlån 

This is a project where two libraries and a couple of copyright organisations cooperate. 

Through this library service users can register and get access to 48,000 

sound tracks on the Internet. Chosen sound tracks are streamed to the user, and not 

downloaded. The system also stores personal preferences. 

http://www.nettbiblioteket.no/llaatlaan.htm 

Map and database services for PDA/Mobile phones 

Provides wireless access to information about cultural heritage, using dynamic maps 

as user interface. http://www.geoshare.net/prototypes/tourism/ 

Oslo City Archive 

This website is an interesting example of how to present an archive and its services 

on the Internet. It focuses both on professional services and on services developed 

for certain user groups. The website offers a vast amount of information ranging 

from photos, web galleries, web exhibitions, and soon also videos telling the recent 

history of Oslo. http://www.byarkivet.oslo.kommune.no 

Russia 

The Mythology Time 

Electronic museum exhibition at the Khanty-Mansiysk City Museum of Nature and 

Man. A set of multimedia informational kiosks supplements the permanent exhibition 

dedicated to folk culture and mythology of the Ob’ Ugrians. Uses collections 

management database KAMIS 2000. http://www.kamis.ru 

Kaluga Regional Art Museum 

The project ”Creation and accommodation on the Internet of the Kaluga Regional Art 

Museum informational resources” has led to the computerisation of the museum, the 

generation of an electronic catalogue and the creation of a website using circular 

panorama IPIX viewing technology. http://artmuseum.okclub.org/ 

The Virtual World of the Russian Museum 

A polyfunctional computer centre (PCC) is being established as a state-of-the-art 

museum applying the latest IT achievements, the technologies of virtual reality and 

multimedia. The project concept involves creating three functional areas: Virtual 

Reality Centre, Modern Technologies Centre, and Centre of Digital Communications. 

http://www.rusmuseum.rii/rii/museum/net/vwrm/ 

Spain 

Historical Sights and Museums Portal of Andalusia 

Provides detailed information and virtual visits. 

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos 


Mobile Library Service Garrigues-Segrià (Culture Department of the Regional 

Government of Catalonia) 

Mobile library equipped with broadband access to the Internet, and to the library 

website and all its functions, by satellite channel. It also provides accessibility to 

people with reduced mobility. http://cultura.gencat.net/biblio/busgs.htm 

Sweden 

Swedish National Archive for Recorded Sound and Moving Images (SLBA) 

Collects the Swedish output of audiovisual media: broadcast radio and TV, film, 

video, records, CDs, multimedia. Databases are made available on the Internet, and 

it is possible to watch short films etc. 

http://www.ljudochbildarkivet.se/slba/PSUser/servlet/com.ausys.ps.web.user.servlet. 

AuthorizedPageServlet?nodeid=101&pageversion=2 

Virtual Museum of Vikings in east Södermanland and Nyköping 

Sweden's biggest Virtual Reality-site, about Vikings, east Sörmland and the medieval 

town and castle of Nyköping. http://www.illustrata.com/pages/ny.html 

Turkey 

Topkapi Palace Museum 

Holds documents of the Palace and Sultans' household. The website contains articles, 

a great many images, floorplan and virtual tours. 

http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/topkapi.html 

Ukraine 

Kirovohrad Regional Universal Research Library named after D.Chizhevsky 

Fully functioning library WAP site giving mobile users access to all library services 

and information. http://wap.library.kr.ua/ 




Interactivity 

SCOPE 

This guideline deals with interactive multimedia resources in museums, libraries and 

archives, and also the applications of interactivity for and by users. 


Human-computer interaction 

Games technology 


Interaction with users 

Enquiry services 

Interactive displays 


The European Union is committed to a Europe in which all citizens will have access to 

and be able to use interactive multimedia IST services. “Information and 

Communication Technologies (ICT) is a key tool to address the policy priorities of the 

European Union” [1]. eGovernment for example is not seen as a one way process. 

Interactive services such as Europe Direct [2], Dialogue with Citizens [3], Your Voice 

in Europe [4] and Citizens’ Portal [5] have been set up to enable EU citizens to find 

out about and contribute to decision making. The EU is also committed to raising 

ICT skills among its citizens and supports interactive e-learning as an educational 

tool [6]. The EU e-inclusion [7] and e-accessibility [8] programmes also aim to make 

it possible for every citizen to get involved. 

Local cultural heritage institutions have a role to play in all these agenda (see the 

guidelines on eGovernment, Learning, Social inclusion and Accessibility for disabled 

people). Interactive services involve and engage people. Interactive exhibits in 

museums for example are very popular. When delivered through familiar technology 

such as interactive TV, e-services are expected to reach many more people. (See the 

guideline on Multimedia services). 


Interactive programs allow non-linear navigation through multimedia content which 

may contain text, still images, animated images, sound and video. Users are given 

the opportunity to interact with the program by answering questions, making 

choices, etc. 

Interactivity can be used to: 

• enhance gallery displays in museums; 

• present information in exciting and engaging ways; 

Calimera Guidelines 287 Interactivity

• be an attraction for children, young people, families and schools; 

• be used as a marketing tool to encourage visitors to visit the real site; 

• make displays and websites more accessible for people with disabilities, including 

print disabilities; 

• present interactive e-learning tutorials which “test” the learner; 

• enable users to create and contribute content; 

• enable users to interact with virtual communities of interest; 

• enable consultation with users through online surveys, questionnaires, voting, etc. 

It is worth considering the aims, objectives and audience of the organisation and 

whether the introduction of interactive displays or websites will contribute positively 

to the service offered. The content is the important thing; interactivity and 

presentation are delivery channels and should not distract from the content offered. 

Issues which need considering include: 

• the skills needed to produce interactive displays and websites – it may be 

necessary to buy these in; 

• the cost – interactive displays tend to be more expensive than static ones; 

• software and hardware – software and hardware is needed for both editing and 

presentation; 

• equipment – extra equipment may be needed to produce and use the programs, 

including speakers, video recorders and players, CD-ROM recorders and players, 

touchscreens, mouse alternatives, etc.; 

• the audience – it is difficult to produce interactive programs which will appeal to 

all ages and types of user; 

• whether the system will be a standalone interactive model in a kiosk or cabinet, 

or accessible over the web. 

The websites of museums, unless they are exclusively virtual museums, should aim 

to complement rather than replace traditional visits. They can contain for example 

information and services not easily provided on the physical site such as press 

cuttings, details of educational services to schools, etc. There should be sufficient 

content for those unable to visit, but presented in such a way that it will attract 

visitors to the physical site. This also applies to galleries and heritage sites, but 

perhaps not to the same extent to archives and libraries. 

As with all projects, a plan should be made (see the guideline on Strategic planning) 

and the desired end-result should be decided on at the outset bearing in mind the 

staff skills, budget, time etc. available. It may be possible to produce a useful 

interactive or Virtual Reality system comparatively cheaply and with a small team if 

the technology is chosen carefully. There are often free tutorials in the use of 

software available on the web. For a useful beginners guide to installing interactives 

in museums see So you want to put a computer interactive in your museum? - A 

beginner’s guide [9]. 

Virtual reality (See also the guideline on Multimedia services) Back to Scope 

Virtual reality (VR) is the simulation of a real or imagined environment that can be 

experienced visually in three dimensions. It can be used to great effect to give virtual 

tours of real places - museums, galleries, archaeological sites, heritage sites such as 


stately homes and gardens, etc. - and to guide people round a library or record 

office. 

For simulated environments, three-dimensional virtual reality ‘fly through’ models can 

be used, for example, in the reconstruction of vanished or ruined monuments or in 

simulating whole areas of an ancient landscape. 

VR can also allow the manipulation of objects, and can show how machines work; 

so in a museum of industrial archaeology users could see how an early printing press 

worked. 

VR can be very useful for increasing accessibility for disabled people. For example, in 

an old historic building it may be impractical to fit ramps etc. to enable wheelchair 

users to access all floors. A really good VR system can enable them to see rooms 

which they cannot physically go into [10]. (See also the guideline on Accessibility for 

disabled people.) 

In the education field, VR can enhance e-learning opportunities for students isolated 

by geography or circumstance e.g. they may be housebound because of disability or 

ill health, or because they are caring for children or elderly people. VR is often used 

to demonstrate operations in medical training. This could be transferred to the 

cultural world to demonstrate a procedure involving an object or document when to 

use the original might damage it. 

VR can be enhanced by technology such as Flash and Shockwave, multimedia 

technology developed by Macromedia [11]. 

Avatars, or virtual representations of human beings, can be used in VR settings (they 

are based on shapes and supported by VRML) for a number of applications, such as: 

• to guide people through an exhibition, library etc., 

• to instruct people how to use a catalogue or piece of equipment such as a selfservice 

issue system or an audio player; 

• to read aloud a document; 

• to encourage communication among a group of geographically scattered users 

with similar interests; 

They can be personalised to resemble a type of user, such as a child (boy or girl), or 

even to resemble the user him/herself. (See the guideline on Personalisation.) 

The Web3D Consortium [12] is working towards creating interoperable standards for 

3D technologies: 

• VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) (ISO/IEC 14772) [13] is the current 

standard. It is a file format for 3D objects and scenes. Objects can be made to 

move either independently or as a result of user input. They can be solid as in 

walls, or can allow things to pass through, as through water or smoke. Sounds 

can be added, and also the appearance of time passing. VRML supports the 

creation of avatars which can move about in the virtual environment. 

• X3D (Extensible 3D) [14] is the emerging successor to VRML. It is open source so 

there are no licensing issues, is incorporated within the MPEG-4 [15] multimedia 


standard, is compatible with Scalable Vector Graphics etc., and is backwards 

compatible with VRML. 

Other technologies include: 

• QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) [16]. This Apple product is not strictly a VR 

technology, but can be used to surround VR models with realistic photographic 

backgrounds or features. It can also be used for virtual tours by linking a series of 

views through which users can navigate by clicking on spots on the screen, and 

can be used to show objects from a variety of angles. 

• Java3D [17]is an Application Programmer Interface (API) which is primarily used 

for standalone applications such as museum interactives. It is not really suitable 

for web delivery. 

• Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) [18] is perhaps the most widely used graphics 

API which can be delivered across all popular platforms. 

Human- computer interaction (HCI) Back to Scope 

The traditional method of interacting with a computer is by a keyboard, mouse, 

trackball, joystick, or other, usually hand-operated, input device, and a visual output 

device such as a screen or printer. Other input and output devices exist, and new 

ones are now emerging, which allow the user to concentrate on the content with less 

distraction. Many of these devices have been developed for disabled users (see the 

guideline on Accessibility for disabled people) but they also have advantages for 

young children and elderly people who have little experience of computers, and can 

give any user a more realistic, more immersive virtual experience. 

One familiar example already in common use is touchscreens, which have many 

advantages in standalone situations, including: 

• no training or skill is required for use; 

• input errors are reduced; 

• no space is needed for keyboards, mouse mats etc.; 

• there is less to be damaged, lost or stolen; 

• less text and more pictures and symbols can be used, so facilitating multilingual 

use and use by people with few literacy skills. 

Typical uses include: 

• information kiosks; 

• kiosks or cabinets giving additional information on objects in an exhibition, or 

displaying items not on display for reasons of space or conservation of originals; 

• to display documents in an archive which are too fragile for public handling. 

Viewing can also be enhanced by enlargement etc.; 

• self-service issue and discharge machines in libraries; 

• touchscreen catalogues. 

New and emerging technologies include for example voice input, eye tracking, 

pressure and motion tracking devices, and devices such as shutterglasses (which 

allow the wearer to see enhanced 3D images on a screen) and head-mounted 

displays (where the wearer sees the images inside the “helmet” itself). Some headmounted 

displays can see both the virtual image and the surrounding real 

environment simultaneously, allowing the virtual image to be seen in context. Sound 

can be added via headphones. For a detailed discussion of these and similar 


technologies see the DigiCULT report New technologies for the cultural and scientific 

heritage sector [19]. 

International standards [20]for HCI technology include: 

• ISO 13406: Ergonomic requirements for work with visual displays based on flat 

panels 

• ISO 18789: Ergonomic requirements and measurement techniques for electronic 

visual displays 

• ISO 9241: Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals 

• IEC TR 61997: Guidelines for the user interfaces in multimedia equipment for 

general-purpose use 

• ISO 14915: Software ergonomics for multimedia user interfaces 

• ISO 13407: Human-centred design processes for interactive systems 

• ISO TR 16982: Usability methods supporting human centred design 

• ISO TR 18529: Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Human-centred 

lifecycle process descriptions 

• ISO/IEC 10741-1: Dialogue interaction - Cursor control for text editing 

• ISO/IEC 11581: Icon symbols and functions 

• ISO/IEC 14754: Pen-based interfaces - Common Gestures for text editing with 

pen-based systems 

• ISO/IEC 18021: Information Technology - User interface for mobile tools 

• ISO DTS 16071: Guidance on accessibility for human-computer interfaces. 

The World Wide Web Consortium is developing specifications to support multiple 

modes of interaction (or multimodal interaction) with the web [21]. 

Games technology Back to Scope 

Technology designed for games is used in a number of other sectors. In the 

education sector, the value of computer games has been recognised for some time. 

They can be useful as a source of ideas for controls and interfaces of new software, 

or of techniques to engage and motivate users. The underlying technology of 

products used to create games (such as 3D engines) are also used in educational 

and training products, for example in flight simulation systems for training pilots. 

Games technology is used to make learning more exciting and engaging. When using 

games, learning takes place unobtrusively. People don’t really think that they are 

learning, just that they are doing something interesting. 

In the cultural sector games can be used to involve users in learning about historical 

artefacts, heritage sites, local history, scientific experiments, etc. Interactive models 

can be actual games, or they can utilise the technology normally associated with 

games. Games make use of easy-to-use human-computer interfaces, real or 

imagined virtual environments, character animation, etc., all of which have 

applications transferable to the cultural sector. The websites of many virtual 

museums can be used as a source of ideas [22]. 

Games do not have to be played alone. There are many examples of multi-player 

games, and if used on a website this technology could be used in creating and 

sustaining virtual communities of interest. 


Content creation Back to Scope 

Content can be created by the museum, library or archive, and it can also be created 

by users. People can interact with the institution or with other people using 

technology such as TTW, Blogs and Wiki [23]. The Wikipedia [24] is a good example 

– anyone can contribute information or edit an article. (The original articles are not 

lost as they are saved in the history section.) The community portal section of 

Wikipedia explains how to contribute. Using this technology cultural institutions could 

encourage interactive worldwide virtual communities of interest to flourish. 

Interaction with the local community can also encourage and facilitate content 

creation. Local groups, schools or individuals can be provided with the tools and 

assistance to produce content (photographs, videos, audio resources, etc.) about 

local events, people, history etc. which then becomes part of the museum, archive or 

library collection. (See also the guideline on Cultural identity and cohesion.) 

Interaction with users Back to Scope 

Interaction with users can take many forms, including: 

• online enquiry services; 

• user surveys; 

• user consultation; 

• registration and form filling; 

• ordering and purchasing goods; 

• dialogue with users, etc. 

Such interaction will help to familiarise people with online communication and 

encourage take-up of eGovernment. 

Mobile phones and PDAs are now available which support multimedia messaging. 

Museums, libraries and archives could use SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS 

(Multimedia Messaging Service) technology to communicate with users and promote 

their services. MMS allows compatible cell phone users to exchange multimedia 

messages, such as colour pictures, animations, video clips and music. MMS 

technology could be used by museums, libraries and archives to communicate with 

users for informational and promotional purposes. Such communications could be 

personalised to users who have registered an interest (see the guideline on 

Personalisation). 

Enquiry services Back to Scope 

Museums, libraries and archives can provide interactive enquiry, and associated, 

services. For example: 

• "Ask a Librarian" services (this type of service could also be used by archives or 

museums) - these are now available in many countries. Libraries throughout the 

country work together to provide the service usually on a rota basis. Questions 

are placed on an enquiry page which is automatically routed to one of the 

participating reference libraries which receives it as an e-mail message. Librarians 

respond by e-mail to the enquirer as soon as possible. This type of shared service 

is perhaps not so applicable to museums and archives where enquiries tend to be 

specific to the institution, but there is no reason why a single institution could not 

run a similar service even if it were for less hours; 


• "Talk-to-a-person" services - these use chat line technology to allow enquirers to 

talk to a member of staff in real time. 

• co-browsing techniques - these enable staff to assist in searching databases or 

the Internet; 

• access to catalogues through the website, with facilities for placing requests, 

making bookings, etc.; 

• access to databases such as community information databases; 

• the ability to view, read or listen to digitised materials of all types; 

• links to other relevant web sites; 

• FAQ services; 

• bulletin boards with news of coming events. 

Interactive displays Back to Scope 

MMS technology can be used to provide visitors with media rich, interactive content 

to accompany exhibits. The content can be information linked to a particular object, 

or a game, quiz or tutorial, or a video clip about a particular aspect of what is on 

display. Visitors could also send digital pictures from the exhibition to their home 

computer for future use. Images and files could also be made available on websites 

which could be downloaded for mobile delivery. 

Audio tour guides are now commonplace in museums. Interactive multimedia tour 

guides are now possible which can use GIS technology to give information when the 

visitor reaches a particular location (see the guideline on Content and context 

management). Tour guides can also be personalised to the user (see the guideline 

on Personalisation). This technology could be equally useful to guide people round a 

library or archive, and could be adapted to give instructions on the use of equipment, 

catalogues etc. 

Standalone interactive displays are very popular in museums. Hands-on activities can 

be used to complement and contextualise exhibitions. Low-tech examples might 

include discovery trails, peep-holes, clay modelling, dressing up, and going down a 

“coal mine”. Most standard desktop PCs are now capable of running multimedia 

interactive functions, so computer interactives are becoming affordable for even 

small institutions. These can enable people to engage with objects on display in a 

new way, by viewing the object from all sides, “feeling” its weight, seeing how it 

works if it has moveable parts, etc. Larger interactives can even “immerse” the user 

in a whole new experience. (See the guideline on Multimedia services.) 


Efforts need to be made to exploit gaming technology as a means of simulating, 

storing, testing, and transmitting content and ideas. 

Mobile phones are already available with access to interactive technology on which 

users can watch TV, listen to music, play games, etc. Museums, libraries and 

archives will need to take advantage of this technology. 


With the trend to ever smaller devices, alternative input and output methods will be 

needed such as handwriting, small alphanumeric keypads, virtual keyboards which 

can be projected onto any flat surface, wearable keypads, eye tracking, voice input, 

haptic input devices based on pressure and movement, etc. 

As standard desktop computers become powerful enough to handle video images, 

computer animations, and digital sound reproductions, it is increasingly possible for 

local institutions to create and provide interactive multimedia programs for their 

users. 

There are new technologies emerging constantly, including for example new imaging 

and modelling techniques, large scale terrain modelling, geo-temporal 3D databases, 

remote sensing, laser scanning, etc. The cultural heritage sector should be 

encouraged to explore uses for these techniques for example in object and image 

restoration, virtual reality, historical re-enactment, storytelling, site reconstruction, 

etc. 


[1] Strengthening Competitiveness Through Co-operation. European Research in 

Information and Communication Technologies. Brussels, September 2004. 

ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/ist/docs/strengthening-european-research-in-ict.pdf 

[2] Europe Direct http://europa.eu.int/europedirect/about_en.htm 

[3] Dialogue with Citizens http://europa.eu.int/citizensrights/index_en.cfm 

[4] Your Voice in Europe http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/index_en.htm 

[5] Citizens’ Portal http://www.europarl.eu.int/opengov/default_en.htm 

[6] eLearning Programme: a programme for the effective integration of Information 

and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education and training systems in Europe 

(2004 – 2006). 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/elearning/programme_en.html 

[7] e-inclusion 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/all_about/einclusion/index_e 

n.htm 

[8] e-accessibility 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/citizens/accessibility/index_en.htm 

[9] Cutting, Joe: So you want to put a computer interactive in your museum? - A 

beginner’s guide. (This site also contains useful articles on commissioning and buying 

museum computer exhibits, software, technology, evaluation, etc., and links to 

other sites of interest. 

http://www.joecutting.com/beginnersguide.html 


[10] See The Virtual Experience Company: Disabled Access at Shakespeare's 

Birthplace. http://www.virtualexperience.co.uk/disabled.htm 

[11] Macromedia http://www.macromedia.com/ 

[12] Web3D Consortium http://www.web3d.org/ 

[13] VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) (ISO/IEC 14772) 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/StandardsQueryFormHandler.StandardsQueryFormHandler 

?scope=CATALOGUE&keyword=&isoNumber=14772&sortOrder=ISO&title=true&sear 

ch_type=ISO&search_term=14772&languageCode=en 

[14] X3D (Extensible 3D) 

http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications/x3d_specification.html 

[15] MPEG-4 http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/starting-points.html 

[16] QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtvr/ 

[17] Java3D http://java.sun.com/products/java-media/3D/ 

[18] Open Graphics Library (OpenGL) http://www.opengl.org/ 


Technology Watch Report 1. European Commission, February 2003. ISBN 

9289452757. http://www.digicult.info/pages/techwatch.php 

[20] International standards http://www.standardsinfo.net/isoiec/stdcat.html 

[21] World Wide Web Consortium: Multimodal Interaction Activity 

http://www.w3.org/2002/mmi/intro 

[22] For a list of virtual museums see the ICOM’s Virtual Library Museums Pages 

http://icom.museum/vlmp/; or Musée http://www.musee-online.org/ 

[23] Browning, Paul: Through the Web Authoring Tools. In Ariadne, Issue 39, 30th 

April 2004. http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue39/browning/intro.html (For more 

technical details see the JISC TechWatch report by the same author at 

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/tsw_03-08.pdf) 

[24] Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page 

International 

NEDLIB (Networked European Deposit Library) 



Nedlib has produced several interactive models including a workflow model for digital 

preservation. http://www.kb.nl/coop/nedlib/ 

Theatron 

Produced by the Theatron Consortium and part-funded by the European Commission, 

Theatron features interactive real time walkthroughs of highly accurate 3D models of 

present and past theatres. The user can not only see what, for example, the Theatre 

of Epidauros looked like when new, but can also walk and fly around it, and try the 

view from different seats. Some of the theatre sites featured even have audio 

reconstructions, enabling the user to hear what the audience would have heard from 

different parts of the theatre. http://www.theatron.org/index.html 

Virtual Heritage Network 

An international organisation designed to promote the utilisation of technology for 

the education, interpretation, conservation and preservation of natural and cultural 

heritage. http://www.virtualheritage.net/ 

Belgium 

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences: Museum of Natural Sciences 

Interactive site containing children’s games, a multimedia section, science on line, a 

site for teachers, etc., and links to two European virtual museums: Europ@ncestors 

and 300 Pearls. http://www.naturalsciences.be/ 

Croatia 

Croatian Museums on the Internet 

Directory of and links to Croatian museums. Many of the museums listed use new 

technology e.g. VR presentations of exhibitions. 

http://www.mdc.hr/www-MDC-eng/4.html 

Finland 

Conversations with Angels 

3D virtual world in which users can chat with a variety of different avatars in real 

time. http://angels.kiasma.fng.fi/ 

France 

The Louvre 

The virtual tour of the Louvre uses QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality). 

http://www.louvre.or.jp/louvre/QTVR/anglais/index.htm 

Greece 

Archeoguide 

This project is developing a system based on advanced IT including augmented 

reality, 3D-visualisation, mobile computing, and multi-modal interaction techniques to 


virtually reconstruct archaeological remains so that the user can see what they would 

have looked like originally. http://archeoguide.intranet.gr/ 

Immersive Virtual Reality (FHW) 

FHW is a cultural heritage institution working to preserve and disseminate Hellenic 

culture, historical memory and tradition through the creative use of state-of-the-art 

multimedia and technology. It uses the best of contemporary museum theory, 

developments in computer science and audiovisual media for interactive exhibits, 

including a virtual journey through the ancient city of Miletus, the reconstruction of 

the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, an interactive educational environment that brings to 

life Byzantine and Classical costume, an interactive exhibit about pottery depicting 

the Olympic games, and several of Archimedes’ experiments. http://www.fhw.gr/ 

Italy 

Institute and Museum of History of Science, Florence 

Interactive website where people can learn about the works of early Italian scientists 

including Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci or take a virtual tour of some of the exhibits. 

In Italian and English. http://www.imss.fi.it/ 

Luxembourg 

Musée national d'histoire naturelle 

An interactive multimedia system supplies knowledge relating to natural science. 

http://www.mnhn.lu/ 

Norway 

Lesehulen 

The main goals are to motivate children to read books by introducing Norwegian 

authors through sound, images and interactivity, presented on the Internet via 

broadband technology. The application uses Flash-animation, voice-over, music and 

real-time audio. http://www.lesehulen.no 

Portugal 

Museu Nacional de Arqueologia (MNA), Lisboa 

The National Archaeological Museum has an award-winning interactive website. It is 

currently undergoing an ambitious remodelling project (for details see 

http://www.ipmuseus.pt/cgi-bin/ipmuseus_en/fs_inici_proj.html) aimed at turning it 

into a new portal for archaeology. 

http://www.mnarqueologia-ipmuseus.pt 

http://biblioteca.mnarqueologia-ipmuseus.pt (museum library) 

Portuguese Institute of Museums (IPM) 

The IPM co-ordinates documentation for museums within Portugal, including 

standards in use, projects, usage statistics, links to museums etc. 

http://www.ipmuseus.pt/ 


Romania 

Electronic Visit to a Museum 

Enables users to make virtual contact with traditional craftsmen and learn about the 

museum’s major projects. It uses digital tools to animate the museum tour, promote 

architectural monuments and traditional culture and heritage, publicise museum 

activities, and work with children to help them learn traditional crafts. 

http://www.itcnet.ro/sibiu/rom/dumbra_r.htm 

Spain 

Group ÒLIBA 

The initial proposal was simply to experiment with how virtual exhibitions may 

improve the potential of real exhibitions in terms of information access, public 

knowledge and visits to museums. This has now developed to include evaluation of 

how people interact with features such as 3-D reconstructions, games, etc. 

http://oliba.uoc.edu 

Sweden 

Torsby Finnkulturcentrum 

Research and information centre about the Forest-Finns of northern Värmland. 

Photographs, maps, stories etc., and an opportunity to play the kantele, an ancient 

Karelian stringed instrument. http://www.finnkulturcentrum.com/ 

UK 

Ask Chris 

An online and interactive source of reading advice, launched by Essex County Council 

Libraries. It combines the reading interests of library staff, reading groups and 

individual readers to provide personal reading recommendations. It uniquely makes 

provision for adults learning to read through the “Quick Reads” selection, and also 

supports readers needing large print and audiobooks. A children’s section has 

recently been developed. Many public library websites now include some reader 

reviews but Ask Chris was the first to move beyond static pages. Interactive 

elements include the “Have Your Say”, “Booktalk” and “Reading Lives” sections, and 

readers can contribute their own reviews and contact “Chris” direct. 

http://www.essexxcc.gov.uk/askchris 

CRUMB (Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss) 

Research programme supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Board. It has 

set up a very useful website containing articles and advice aiming to help curators, 

producers, technicians, and commissioners using new media and technologies. 

http://www.crumbweb.org/ 

Tudor Hackney 

Developed by a partnership involving Hackney Archives, the National Archives 

Learning Curve Team and Hackney theatre group “Immediate Theatre”, this site 

enables the user to enter a virtual reality world, exploring a house and watching 

video drama. Links take users to the documents which helped Hackney Archives 


Department and the Tudor Hackney team reconstruct the house. Viscape 3d viewer, 

available via the Tudor Hackney site, must be downloaded. 

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/index/council/departments/communityleisure/community 

-culture-leisure/archives/tudorhackney.htm 

Tyne & Wear Museums 

Interactive access to several local museums, galleries and heritage sites, with games, 

educational sites, and accessibility for disabled people. 

http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/ 




Multilingualism 

SCOPE 

Issues dealt with in th is guideline include: 

European l a ngua ges 


Sign languages 

Information retrieval 

Multilingual thesauri 

Multilingual websites 

Scripts 

Fonts and keyboar d s 

Transliterat ion, tra n scri p t io n and au tho r ity f iles 

Machine translation 

Voice to voice translation 

POLICY ISSUES Back to S c ope 

“Language is the foundation of communication between people and is also part of 

their cultural heritage. For many, language has far-reaching emotive and cultural 

associations and values rooted in their literary, historical, 

philosophical and educational heritage. For this reason the users’ language should 

not be an obstacle to accessing the multicultural heritage available in cyberspace. 

The harmonious development of the information society is therefore only possible if 

the availability of multilingual and multicultural information is encouraged.” [1] 

Article 12 of the European Charter fo r Regio n al or Minorit y La ngua ges [2] deals 

specifically with cultur al activities and facilit ies – “especially libraries, video libraries, 

cultural centres, museums, archives, academies, theatres and cinemas, as well as 

literary work and film production, vernacular forms of cultural expression, festivals 

and the culture industries, including inter alia the use of new technologies” . The 

signatories to this (i.e. the member s t a t e s o f t h e C o u n cil o f E u r o p e ) “undertake to 

make appropriate provision… for regional or minority languages and the cultures 

they reflect”. 

Cultural in stituti o ns s h oul d aim t o reach as wide an audience as possible. Websites 

can reach a global audience, and there ar e estimated to be over 6,000 languages in 

the world. The EU is commi tted to integra t ion among its member states but also 

promotes the linguistic and cultural diversit y of its peoples by pr omoting th e teaching 

and learni ng o f la ng uages, i n cl udi n g mino rity a n d r e gional la nguages. T h e Action 

Plan on Language Le arning and Linguistic Diversity for 2004 – 2006 [3], states that 

“language learning is for all citizens, throughout their lives. Being aware of other 

languages, hearing other languages, teaching and learning other languages: these 

Calimera Guidelines 300 Multilingualism

things need to happen in every home and every street, every library and cultural 

centre, as well as in every education or training institution and every business”. 2001 

was designated the European Year of Languages [4] and its activities continue 

annually through the celebration of the European Day of Languages on 26 

September [5]. 

Museums, libraries and archives will need to consider providing services in 

• the official EU languages; 

• minority indigenous languages; 

• the languages of immigrants; 

• non-European languages – to some extent this will depend on the nature of their 

collections and whether there is likely to be interest outside Europe; 

• sign languages. 

European languages Back to Scope 

There are 20 official languages in the EU – Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, 

Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, 

Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. The term 

“official language” is defined as a language that can be used in dealings with public 

authorities and in official documents, including commercial documents. A citizen may 

write to an EU institution in any of these languages and must receive a reply in the 

same language. 

Information about the regional and/or minority languages of the European Union 

can be found on the website of Mercator [6], a research network and information 

service set up with the support of the European Commission. It is estimated that 

there are over 150 minority indigenous or autochthonous languages within the EU, 

not including dialects of any of the official languages, or any of the languages spoken 

by immigrant communities. The European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages 

(EBLUL) [7]estimates that over 40 million people in the EU speak a language which is 

not the official language of their country of origin. 

Some minority languages are afforded some sort of recognition in Europe, or within 

the country where they are spoken, but not all. The official status of the minority 

languages of Europe can be found on the Mercator website [6]. There are three 

accepted categories of regional and minority languages: 

• languages specific to a region which may be wholly or partially in one or more 

member states. This would cover languages like Basque, Breton, Catalan, Frisian, 

Sardinian, Welsh and so on; 

• languages spoken by a minority in one state but which are official languages in 

another EU country. This definition covers, for example, German in southern 

Denmark, French in the Val d’Aoste in northern Italy, Hungarian in Slovakia, etc.; 

• non-territorial languages such as those of Roma or Jewish communities (Romany 

and Yiddish), or Armenian. 

Some minority languages are fully developed languages of culture taught in schools, 

with established orthographies, extensive literatures and a considerable amount of 

publishing. Others may lack some or even all of such attributes and it may be difficult 


to make provision for them. Indigenous linguistic minorities however tend not to 

present the same challenges as do immigrants. For example: 

• they are often fully bilingual and do not require instruction in the majority 

language or culture; 

• there is no doubt about their numbers or permanence or socio-economic 

circumstances. 

There are also many non-indigenous languages spoken in Europe mainly by 

immigrants. These include: 

• Turkish (mainly in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands); 

• Maghreb Arabic (mainly in France and Belgium); 

• Urdu, Bengali and Hindi (mainly in the United Kingdom; 

• Balkan languages (spoken in many parts of the EU by migrants and refugees who 

have left the region as a result of recent wars and unrest). 

Social inclusion Back to Scope 

No official EU protection is afforded these languages, but heritage institutions will 

need to be socially inclusive (see the guidelines on Social inclusion and Cultural 

identity and cohesion) and so will need to consider the language issue. Established 

ethnic minorities may well be bi-lingual, or even, in the case of second and third 

generations, monolingual in the majority language. Recent immigrants pose more of 

a problem. Museums, libraries and archives must be aware of the languages used in 

their communities. In some large cities with a rapidly changing population this might 

involve regular monitoring of the linguistic profile. As well as providing a service in 

any relevant minority languages, they must also recognise their responsibility to 

document and preserve the cultural identity of all members of their communities, 

which could involve collecting materials and creating content in several languages. 

Services to immigrants could involve: 

• recruiting staff who speak the language(s), preferably as native speakers; 

• ensuring all leaflets, signs and publicity are available in all relevant languages; 

• providing reading materials and audio-visual materials in all relevant languages; 

• providing word processing facilities in all relevant languages; 

• providing a translation service; 

• designing websites in more than one language. 

Sign languages Back to Scope 

These must not be overlooked. There are many different versions of sign language 

and although not recognised as official EU languages, the Council of Europe's 

Recommendation 1598 (2003) Protection of sign languages in the member states of 

the Council of Europe encourages member states "to give the sign languages used in 

their territory formal recognition” [8]. Some countries, including Denmark, Finland, 

Portugal, Sweden and the UK, do afford official recognition to a sign language. 


These guidelines focus on multilingualism in the digital arena. In practice 

organisations have faced a number of difficulties in creating and maintaining multilingual 

digital content and pan-European products and services for the global 


networks. Some of these difficulties are technical and some relate to the costs and 

difficulties of translation. In recognition of this the EC has created an action line to 

address multilingual issues under the strategically important e-Content programme 

[9]. 

Information retrieval Back to Scope 

As more and more cultural resources are digitised access is extended to a global 

audience. The challenge for museums, libraries and archives is to ensure access to 

these resources while at the same time respecting cultural and linguistic diversity. 

Various projects have been set up to work in this area, including MACS (Multilingual 

Access to Subjects) [10]. 

Multilingual thesauri Back to Scope 

A thesaurus is a set of controlled terms for the detailed subject indexing of 

(originally) printed documents. A thesaurus will show relationships such as hierarchy 

and equivalence between the terms it uses. A major problem in the construction of 

thesauri in more than one language is that terms in one language may not cover the 

same semantic fields as terms in another, for example the English term “teenager” 

covers a narrower semantic field than the French “adolescent”. 

There are standards for the compilation of thesauri and equivalent terms across 

languages (see ISO 5964:1985 Guidelines for the establishment and development of 

multilingual thesauri” [11].) This standard is an adjunct to ISO 2788:1986 [12] which 

covers monolingual thesauri and so is not complete in itself, many of the problems in 

the construction of thesauri being common to the construction of monolingual and 

multilingual thesauri. A revision of both standards is currently in progress. A new 

standard, BS 8723: Structured vocabularies for information retrieval - guide, is 

planned, to cover both monolingual and multilingual thesauri. It will be in five parts, 

as follows: 

Part 1: Definitions, symbols and abbreviations (draft published Nov. 2004); 

Part 2: Thesauri (draft published Nov. 2004); 

Part 3: Vocabularies other than thesauri; 

Part 4: Interoperation between multiple vocabularies; 

Part 5: Interoperation between vocabularies and other components of information 

storage and retrieval systems. [13]. 

The Getty Information Institute has produced Guidelines for Forming Language 

Equivalents: A Model based on the Art and Architecture Thesaurus [14] 

(http://www.chin.gc.ca/Resources/Publications/Guidelines/English/). The chapter on 

multilingual thesaurus construction in Jean Aitchison, Alan Gilchrist [and] David 

Bawden: Thesaurus construction and use: a practical manual. 4th ed. ASLIB: 

London, 2000. ISBN 0-85142-446-5 [15] is also very useful. 

Multilingual websites Back to Scope 

”A quality website must be aware of the importance of multilinguality by providing a 

minimum level of access in more than one language.”[16] The structure of a 

multilingual or bilingual website should be carefully considered from the outset so 

that multilingualism is an essential part of it and not just an afterthought. The 

MINERVA Project has suggested some criteria to define a multilingual website [17], 


the degree of multilinguality being dependent on the number of these which are met. 

They are: 

• some content should be available in more than one language; 

• some content should be available in sign language; 

• some content should be available in non-EU immigrant languages; 

• site identity and profile should be available in more than one language; 

• core functionality of the site (searching, navigation) should be available in more 

than one language; 

• static content (images, descriptions etc.) should be available in more than one 

language; 

• switching between languages should be easy; 

• site structure and user interface language should be logically separate so that 

layout does not vary with the language; 

• multilinguality should be driven by a formal multilinguality policy; 

• the website should be reviewed against this policy. 

In some cases a bilingual, as opposed to a multilingual, website will be appropriate. 

Bilingual websites may be used: 

• in countries or regions where there is one main minority language, e.g. Wales; 

• to address a readership which can be expected to consist of bilingual individuals; 

• to address individuals who may speak one or other of two languages; 

• to make a social or political point by reminding members of the majority 

community of the existence of a minority. 

Multilingual websites will be needed: 

• in countries where there are a number of minority indigenous languages; 

• to address ethnic minorities, including immigrants and asylum seekers, in their 

own languages; 

• if the content of the website is likely to be of interest to a pan-European or global 

audience. 

There are various policy decisions to be made which have far-reaching effects on the 

appearance of the website: 

• frames may be difficult in a multilingual context; 

• multilingual pages are likely to have a lot of text on them and may have a 

formidable appearance; 

• some fonts are more appropriate for one language than another, and it is 

preferable to use the same font throughout rather than to appear to make one 

language more legible than others; 

• the language of logos must be sensitively chosen. The use of a majority language 

in a logo can alienate minority language users; 

• there may be a role for touchscreen technology in the design of multilingual 

websites. 

Remember also that a multilingual website is not a cheap option and that, like other 

websites, it will require updating and this will not be such a simple matter as 

updating a monolingual site. 

There are a number of ways in which a multilingual website may be arranged: 

• users may be offered a once and for all choice of which language they wish to 

use on the first page, and if they want to change, may be forced to return to that 


page. This may be appropriate in certain settings e.g. in a country in which two 

languages are used but by no means everyone is bilingual, for example Belgium 

and Switzerland; 

• they may be offered a choice of language on each page of the site. This may be 

by means of a button or filing tab, conventions familiar to most Internet users. 

Language links should be at the top of the page rather than at the bottom, as 

that is the part of the page displayed by default, and the link should take the user 

to exactly the same page but in the other language - not to another part of the 

site. The language should be given its native name e.g. French should be called 

Français; 

• all pages may offer the same text in all languages. Be aware that the same text in 

different languages may take up different amounts of space; typically an original 

text will be shorter than a translation; 

• sites may be asymmetrical, for example some information may be relevant to 

speakers of only one language e.g. a social club for Welsh people may have its 

membership form in Welsh only but in other respects may be bilingual. 

The choice of arrangement may be affected by: 

• which type of audience being addressed - individuals speaking more than one 

language or individuals speaking only one language. Bilingual individuals may 

want to be able to see two languages much of the time as a means of doublechecking 

that they understand the text correctly; 

• on a bilingual site, how different from each other the two languages are. Some 

languages are mutually comprehensible to a degree e.g. Spanish and Catalan, 

whereas some are not e.g. English and Welsh. Also some concepts do not appear 

at all in some languages; 

The website of the Welsh Language Board [18] contains advice from the School of 

Education, University of Wales, Bangor and Escola Superior Politecnica, Universitat 

Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona on the design of bilingual websites, including 

recommendations as to the best ways of incorporating bilingualism into the design of 

a website without giving undue prominence to one language over another, and 

avoiding giving offence by the use of emotive or politically charged symbols such as 

flags to represent languages as many languages are spoken in more than one 

country and many countries are bilingual. 

Scripts Back to Scope 

Computers store letters and other characters by assigning a number for each one. 

The enormous diversity of languages and scripts led to hundreds of different 

encoding systems for assigning these numbers. Then in the mid-1980s Unicode [19] 

began to be developed. It assigns a unique binary code number to every character in 

every language, no matter what the platform, program or language. The Unicode 

Consortium is a non-profit making organisation founded to develop, extend and 

promote the use of the standard. Unicode is continually being expanded, nowadays 

even to include such things as archaic alphabets like Ogham (an ancient Celtic script) 

and cuneiform, and can cope with numbers, symbols, punctuation and Braille 

patterns etc. Although Unicode Standard Version 4.0. [20] and ISO/IEC 10646:2003 

[21] are not the same thing, the sets of characters, names, and coded 

representations they contain are identical. Unicode Version 4.0 covers over 96,000 


characters from the world's scripts. Although by no means the only standard in the 

field, it is favoured by the IT industry, as the adoption of one method has obvious 

advantages for worldwide communication, software availability, data interchange and 

publishing. ISO/IEC 10646:2003 has been widely adopted in new Internet and W3C 

protocols and mark up languages such as XML and HTML, and implemented in 

modern operating systems and computer programming languages. 

Fonts and keyboards Back to Scope 

Small caps can be bought which cover the keys of a normal keyboard to aid in the 

typing of languages using extended versions of the Roman script e.g. ð å þ ñ ç æ ć ł 

etc. This simple method can even enable the Kanji script of Japanese to be wordprocessed. 

Soft keyboards, or keyboards displayed on a touch screen, may be a flexible way of 

dealing with some of the problems of non-Roman or exotic scripts. 

Languages with thousands of characters, like Chinese, require special software 

before they can benefit from electronic word-processing. For Chinese, a normal 

keyboard is used to enter a phonetic spelling of a Chinese word according to the 

Pinyin system of transliteration and the software displays those characters which are 

pronounced in that way – there may be as many as ten or so. The correct character 

or characters are chosen and entered in the document. The wrong choice would be 

the Chinese equivalent of a spelling mistake. This system is very adaptable, enabling 

the traditional and the simplified Chinese characters to be word-processed. The use 

of the Pinyin system does however mean that the operator needs to know the 

Mandarin or Pekingese pronunciation of Chinese, which it is not necessary to know in 

order to write Chinese by hand. It is however possible to buy software based on the 

Cantonese pronunciation [22]. The software takes up more space on the PC’s 

memory than the word-processing of a language written in the Roman alphabet but 

in cities where there are considerable numbers of Chinese people it could be 

justifiable to buy this software and make it available on a dedicated machine. Arabic 

scripts present less of a problem as specially adapted keyboards are available. 

It is worth considering commercial fonts, software, and keyboards for multilingual 

computing such as those sold by Fingertip Software [23] which are based on 

Unicode. 

Transliteration, transcription and authority files Back to Scope 

In many cases e.g. for the production of catalogues, indexes, toponymic lists and 

other works of a bibliographic nature which are meant to be used by people who can 

only be expected to be familiar with the Latin alphabet, or for typographical reasons, 

it will not be possible or practical to use the characters of a non-Latin script. In that 

case, transcription or transliteration will be necessary. 

Transliteration is the process by which the letters of an alphabetic writing system are 

converted into the symbols of another alphabetic system e.g. Cyrillic or Greek into 

the Latin alphabet. There are problems caused by alternative systems of 

transliteration e.g. Чехов can be transliterated Tchehov or Chekhov. 


Transcription is the process by which the sounds of a language are converted into 

the symbols of another language. Transcription may in principle be used for the 

sounds of any language, but it is the only system which can be used to convert the 

sounds of non-alphabetic languages such as Chinese into the symbols of the Latin or 

some other alphabetic system. 

Clearly there are problems of standardisation as a result of transliteration and 

transcription. Different systems or variation in practice would cause difficulties in 

searching databases. At the moment there is no standardised name record format 

relevant to the needs of European cultural institutions but a prototype has been 

developed by the LEAF project (Linking and Exploring Authority Files) [24] funded by 

the EC from March 2001 to 2004. The project results will be implemented by 

extending MALVINE, an online search service for post-medieval manuscripts, into a 

global multilingual information service about persons and corporate bodies [25]. 

International standards are being developed for the transliteration of a variety of 

languages. For example there is a standard for the transliteration of Indic scripts ISO 

15919:2001, Transliteration of Devanagari and related Indic scripts into Latin 

characters [26]. 

Machine Translation (MT) Back to Scope 

At one time great hopes were entertained of MT but in view of the effort expended 

on it over the last fifty years the results may be seen as disappointing. The kind of 

problems which are encountered and which have so far proved impossible to solve 

are, for example: 

• ambiguities in the meanings of words; 

• differences in word order; 

• as yet no way has been found to give computers any knowledge of the real world 

or context or readership. 

The effectiveness of MT systems is dependent on a number of factors e.g. 

documents must be free of any typographic or grammatical errors, words not in the 

dictionary of the system, or complex sentence structures. 

MT is the application of computers to the task of translating texts from one natural 

language to another and nowadays includes software ranging from simple dictionary 

lookup programs used as word-processor add-ons to sophisticated batch-translation 

systems. Viable applications for MT include: 

• content scanning, that is using a translation system simply to obtain a rough draft 

so as to be able to get the general gist of a text; 

• screening large numbers of documents to identify those warranting human 

translation; 

• assisting human translators - computer-aided translation (CAT) software uses a 

variety of linguistic tools to improve the productivity of translators, particularly 

when translating highly repetitive texts such as technical documentation. 

There are a number of websites offering both free and charged translation services 

on the World Wide Web. If a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is entered MT software 


can translate a webpage and documents can be translated automatically. These sites 

also often offer translation by human beings, for example AltaVista Babelfish, Google 

Language Tools, World Lingo, Free Translation, and Systran. The Yahoo Language 

Translation and Interpretation Resources page is a useful source of information 

about MT sites [27]. A gateway to a number of web-based translation services, 

including Internet search engines, is Babblefish [28]. 

For more information about MT see the website of the European Association for 

Machine Translation [29]. 


Work is already underway to establish a multilingual portal to the cultural heritage of 

Europe. MICHAEL, the Multilingual Inventory of Cultural Heritage in Europe [30], is a 

spin-off from the MINERVA project [31]. It will develop a trans-European inventory of 

the digital cultural heritage of Italy, France and the UK which will be made available 

to the public, utilising an open source platform which will allow extension to other 

countries. 

The European Library [32], developed by the TEL project, will be launched in 2005 

as a portal offering access to the combined resources of the 43 national libraries of 

Europe. It will use MACS to allow cross-language retrieval. This type of service 

provides a platform for research into multilingual access issues. 

It would be useful to have more central resources of materials in minority languages 

along the lines of Denmark’s Indvandrerbiblioteket, a national resource centre for 

books and other media in foreign languages for ethnic minorities in Denmark. A 

central resource is especially useful where the minority language speakers are well 

dispersed throughout society and not concentrated in particular places, making local 

provision uneconomic. 

The EC Joint Interpreting and Conference Service (SCIC - from the French acronym) 

[33] has as one of its objectives to exploit the possibilities offered by new 

technologies. It has set up a unit consisting of members of staff who test new 

communication tools and search for ways of bringing multilingualism to channels of 

communication such as multilingual chats on Internet, multilingual communication in 

the media, and multilingual virtual conferences. 

The Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) and CLEF 2004 [34] have done a lot of 

research into multilingual information retrieval. It is to be hoped that such work will 

form the basis for future developments. 

Although imperfect in many ways, it would be useful to have some form of machine 

translation for minority languages, especially those spoken by minorities, not just the 

major languages of Europe. 

Voice-to-voice translation Back to Scope 


Voice-to-voice translation, that is a machine which translates spoken language from 

one language to another, is still science fiction but might be developed in the 

comparatively distant future. Such a device would involve the perfection of a number 

of complex technologies, each of which at present has many shortcomings, 

including: 

• voice recognition i.e. a machine which accurately converts spoken language to 

written text; 

• machine translation i.e. a machine which translates text from one language to 

another; 

• text back to speech. 

Commercial speech recognition software which converts speech to text is available 

but the results are not yet satisfactory. 95% accurate means 5% inaccurate or 5 

mistakes in every 100 words (e.g. 20 in this paragraph). The shortcomings of text-totext 

machine translation have already been discussed. For machine translation to 

have any chance of working, input to it must be perfect and all voice recognition 

software generates errors. Text can be converted to speech with some success; this 

is the only part of the requisite technology which is as yet in an adequate condition. 

Future developments should see improvements in multilingual access to our common 

heritage through, for example, multilingual inventories of digitised content, 

multilingual authority files, online automatic translation, and standards for 

multilingual websites. 


[1] European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. 

http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/148.htm 

[2] Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in the Information Society. UNESCO, 2003. 

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001329/132965e.pdf 

[3] Action Plan on Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity for 2004 – 2006 

http://ww2.eblul.org:8080/eblul/Public/le_bureau/press_releases/european_commissi 

on/view 

[4] European Year of Languages 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/lang/languages/actions/year2001_en.h 

tml 

[5] European Day of Languages http://www.ecml.at/edl/default.asp?t=start 

[6] Mercator http://www.mercator-central.org 

[7] European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) 

http://ww2.eblul.org:8080/eblul/ 


[8] Council of Europe's Recommendation 1598 (2003) Protection of sign languages in 

the member states of the Council of Europe. 

http://assembly.coe.int/documents/AdoptedText/TA03/EREC1598.htm 

[9] e-Content programme http://www.cordis.lu/econtent/call4.htm 

[10] MACS (Multilingual Access to Subjects) http://infolab.kub.nl/prj/macs/ 

[11] ISO 5964:1985 Guidelines for the establishment and development of 

multilingual thesauri 


[12] ISO 2788:1986 Guidelines for the establishment and development of 

monolingual thesauri 


[13] BS 9723: a new British Standard for structured vocabularies [by] Stella G. 

Dextre Clarke. 

http://www.glam.ac.uk/soc/research/hypermedia/NKOSworkshop%20Folder/dextre_clarke.ppt 

[14] Guidelines for Forming Language Equivalents: A Model based on the Art and 

Architecture Thesaurus. Getty Information Institute. 

http://www.chin.gc.ca/Resources/Publications/Guidelines/English/ 

[15] Jean Aitchison, Alan Gilchrist [and] David Bawden: Thesaurus construction and 

use: a practical manual. 4th ed. ASLIB: London, 2000. ISBN 0-85142-446-5 

[16] Cultural Website Quality Principles. Minerva Project, 2003. 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/structure/workinggroups/userneeds/documents/cwqp 

-uk.htm 

[17] Commentary and exploration of the ten ‘quality principles’ published by the 

Minerva Project and agreed at the 5th NRG meeting in Parma. Draft version 11. 

Minerva, 2004. 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/qualitycommentary/qualitycommentary0 

40622draft.pdf 

[18] Welsh Language Board http://www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org.uk/ 

[19] Unicode http://www.unicode.org 

[20] The Unicode Standard, Version 4.0. Boston, MA, Addison-Wesley, 2003. ISBN 0- 

321-18578-1. http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.0.0/ 

[21] ISO/IEC 10646:2003 Information technology -- Universal Multiple-Octet Coded 

Character Set (UCS) 


[22] AsiaSoft http://www.asiasoft.com/ 


[23] Fingertip Software http://www.fingertipsoft.com/ 

[24] LEAF project (Linking and Exploring Authority Files) 

http://www.crxnet.com/leaf/ 

[25] MALVINE (Manuscripts and Letters via Integrated Networks in Europe) 

http://www.malvine.org/, 

[26] ISO 15919:2001, Transliteration of Devanagari and related Indic scripts into 

Latin characters. 


ICS1=1&ICS2=140&ICS3=10 

[27] AltaVista Babelfish http://babelfish.altavista.com/; 

Google Language Tools http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en; 

World Lingo 

http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/worldlingo_translator.htm;l 

Free Translation http://www.freetranslation.com/; 

Systran http://www.systransoft.com/; 

Yahoo Language Translation and Interpretation Resources 

http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/Translation 

_and_Interpretation/ 

[28] Babblefish http://www.babblefish.com/babblefish/ 

[29] European Association for Machine Translation http://www.eamt.org/index.html 

[30] MICHAEL, the Multilingual Inventory of Cultural Heritage in Europe 

http://66.102.9.104/custom?q=cache:4y19yGtoMJUJ:www.minervaeurope.org/event 

s/documents/piccininno040413.ppt+michael&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 

[31] MINERVA project http://www.minervaeurope.org/ 

[32] The European Library http://www.europeanlibrary.org/ 

[33] The EC Joint Interpreting and Conference Service (SCIC) 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/scic/newtechnology/technology_en.htm#1 

[34] The Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) http://clef.iei.pi.cnr.it/ and CLEF 

2004 http://www.delos.info/eventlist/CLEF2004.html 

Denmark 


Danish Central Library for Immigrant Literature (Indvandrerbiblioteket) 


Set up to deal with the cultural needs of recent immigrants and contains over 

146,000 items in about 100 languages. Collections are maintained in about 50 

languages. http://www.indvandrerbiblioteket.dk 

FINFO - Information for Ethnic Minorities in Denmark 

The overall aim of FINFO is to provide representatives of ethnic minorities with better 

access to information in their own languages about their rights, obligations and 

opportunities in Danish society. http://www.finfo.dk/ 

Germany 

Online-Auskunft 

The Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin is the first German-language library to use 

QuestionPoint for virtual reference (it translated the interface into German). The user 

can choose between several different languages (English, German, French, Spanish, 

Portuguese, Dutch, Slovak, Chinese, Japanese and Korean) to ask a question. 

http://www.zlb.de/fragen_sie_uns/ask_a_librarian 

Norway 

BAZAR 

A multilingual portal to information about Norwegian society and culture aimed at 

ethnic minorities living in Norway. The website also gives links to newspapers in 

different languages. BAZAR is available in 14 languages. 

http://www.bazar.deichman.no 

Detektor 

Searchable, annotated subject directory of Internet resources in Norwegian, Danish, 

Swedish, English and other languages. Dublin Core elements are used to describe the 

resources, but with local adjustments. http://detektor.deichman.no/ 


Multikulti 

Joint project set up by the London Advice Services Alliance and the London Libraries 

Development Agency to provide information on welfare issues in a wide variety of 

languages. Awarded the “Communications Social Innovations” award for 2004 by 

the Global Ideas Bank (Institute for Social Inventions) 

(http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/news/). The website is based on the MKDoc 

Content Management System (http://mkdoc.com/) which allows websites to be 

created that meet current accessibility standards. Due to the use of Unicode in the 

website it is possible for it to be viewed on all browsers and on all computing 

platforms. http://www.multikulti.org.uk/ 

Norfolk County Council @ your service 

Foreign language welcome leaflets are available online in 33 languages. 

http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/welcome.htm 





Privacy 

Smartcards and swipe cards 

Payment systems 


Recommender systems 

Personalised information retrieval 

Portals 

Interactive fora and online communities 

Virtual museums, libraries and archives 

Smart labels and tags 

Agent technology 

Mobile access 

Lifelong learning 

Implications for staff roles and training 



SCOPE 


The EU is supporting research into knowledge technologies and the KTWeb project 

has recognised that “more research should be undertaken specifically focusing on 

contextual retrieval, personalisation and user profiling”. [1] 

Sophisticated forms of personalised services are already common in the financial and 

commercial worlds, where they are regarded as valuable tools in marketing and to 

retain customer loyalty. They are becoming increasingly popular in other sectors such 

as education and tourism, and offer exciting possibilities for the cultural sector to add 

value to services by taking into account the specific interests and characteristics of 

users. The more collections are digitised, the more opportunities there are for 

personalisation. 

Personalisation should not be introduced for its own sake however, but only when it 

brings added value to a good proportion of users. Complex personalisation systems 

may not be good value as compared with good basic web navigation facilities and 

access for groups such as disabled people from the home page. Personalisation 

systems should be simple to operate or people will not take the time or make the 

effort to use them. 

Personalisation could lead to changes in the way museums, libraries and archives 

operate. For example, there will be an impact on performance measurement, with 

Calimera Guidelines 313 Personalisation

opportunities to obtain more detailed management information. Also the change 

from "product push" to "user pull" will impact on the role of staff, and the 

implications for staff training will need to be addressed. 

Because of the level of complexity and expense of personalisation systems, 

institutions will probably need to co-operate with other organisations to provide 

personalised access across a range of different museums, libraries, archives and 

other services. 

Many personalisation systems use smartcard technology, requiring increasingly 

sophisticated authentication techniques. Museums, libraries and archives must be 

aware of the coming changes to systems of authentication and the possibility of this 

process either becoming more complex and expensive or being taken out of their 

control. This is an area where co-operation may be necessary or desirable, but 

institutions will need to decide whether to undertake their own authentication 

procedures or rely on those of third parties. 

Ethical issues such as protection of privacy will need to be addressed, perhaps 

through a code of conduct. The issue of integrating user databases with content 

databases will also need to be dealt with. 

For a discussion of the issues to be considered in setting up a personalisation system 

see "The personalization challenge in public libraries: perspectives and prospects" by 

Christopher Chia and June Garcia [1], and “Personalisation and the web from a 

museum perspective” by Jonathan P. Bowen and Sylvia Filippini-Fantoni [2]. 


A personalised system is one which responds differently to different people, either 

because of their response (explicit or implicit) to questions asked by the system at 

the time, or because of their previous interaction with the system. In order to 

provide a personalised service the system must be able to identify the person, which 

involves user authentication. 

User authentication (see also the guideline on Security) Back to Scope 

Authentication is the process by which the electronic identity of a client is asserted 

to, and validated by, an information system, using a credential issued following a 

registration process. It may involve establishing that the client is the true holder of 

that credential by means of a password or biometric. A biometric authentication 

involves the identification of fingerprints, facial features, voiceprints or retinal 

patterns. The registration process will have involved the production of some realworld 

identification process such as a driver’s licence, passport, or birth-certificate 

etc. There are different levels of authentication; the following are listed in order of 

the degree of security they provide: 

• obscurity is based on the assumption that only authorised users will know the 

name of a file or database and that the databases are sufficiently protected by 

this alone; 


• simple authentication uses shared secrets (passwords) which are exchanged as 

clear text and which provide very little assurance of the identity of the sender of 

the message. For example passwords can be lost or stolen; users tend to choose 

obvious words to be their passwords; they often have to remember a number of 

them and are tempted to make notes of them so undermining their usefulness as 

guarantors of identity. A single password may even be shared by a group of 

people. There exist types of software designed to “sniff” or observe the use or 

exchange of passwords and intercept them; 

• protected authentication is similar but does not rely on clear text exchange of the 

passwords and therefore protects against interception and replay of 

communication; 

• strong authentication uses an encrypted secret known only to the sender of the 

message to guarantee his identity. This type of authentication may be needed for 

purposes of non-repudiation, i.e. the authenticated sender of the message cannot 

later deny having sent it if, for example, he orders some goods or services. 

Identification systems can be bought off the peg e.g. the Athens Access Management 

System [3], an access management system controlling access to online databases, 

and Kerberos [4], a network authentication protocol which uses secret key 

cryptography. 

Authentication in the near future will probably be done by local or central 

government agencies which will issue members of the public with an all-purpose 

form of identification, probably some kind of smartcard, which will give holders 

access to a range of services including museums, libraries and archives. 

Privacy Back to Scope 

The coming age of personalisation systems will end the relative anonymity of users 

and pose an ethical dilemma to cultural heritage institutions. When people identify 

themselves to an electronic information system they have made it easy for their 

activities to be monitored in a way which it is impossible for them to deny. Policies 

must allow people to opt out of some of the electronic systems which track usage 

and must give them the guarantee that data of this kind will remain private and 

never divulged. 

Biometric authentication systems such as fingerprinting have advantages such as the 

elimination of the problem of lost tickets. However people must individually agree to 

such a system and alternatives made available for those who do not wish to take 

part. 

The EU Data Protection Directive [5] requires all organisations making use of user 

profiling to declare explicitly to the user what they will use the data for. (See also the 

guideline on Legal and rights issues.) 

Smartcards and swipe cards Back to Scope 

These are not technical terms and are sometimes not used with precision, but the 

following distinction is usually observed: 

• Swipe cards: plastic cards with a magnetic strip on them which, on being swiped 

through a groove or slot, identify a user and permit them to access certain 


facilities. They may, for example, open a door or let them use a computer 

terminal. They do not contain any more information than is necessary to identify 

the individual, the real information about them being held on a database. 

• Smartcards may be physically identical to swipe cards and work in the same way 

but unlike swipe cards they contain a microchip which can contain information 

about a particular individual and can carry out calculations. This information will 

not be stored on any other database. Contactless smartcards are now becoming 

more common. These have an embedded inductive loop aerial which allows them 

to work in proximity to a contactless card reader without physically making 

contact. These types of cards are already used by several toll systems and mass 

transit operators including the London Underground. 

Swipe cards are cheap but smartcards are fairly expensive to issue and uneconomic 

for most museums, libraries and archives as a stand-alone application. However, 

some local authorities use them to provide access to a range of services including 

libraries, museums and archives as well as car parks, swimming pools etc. Several 

European cities have introduced multipurpose cards under the Multi-application 

SmartCities project [6]. There are a large number of standards relevant to 

smartcards - also called identification cards and financial transaction cards [7]. 

Smartcards are a potential way of providing or controlling access to a range of 

services without time-consuming staff involvement other than that involved in 

updating, personalising and issuing the card, e.g.: 

• as a way of charging for goods and services such as photocopies, print-outs, 

subscription online databases, e-books, or items from a gift shop, either on site or 

remotely; 

• to restrict access to predetermined web sites e.g. for children (a basic list of sites 

could be provided with parents able to modify it if they wish); 

• to provide access to subscription-based services e.g. for business users; 

• to provide access to the personalised choices of the user of a network e.g. show 

on the screen the services that user has chosen and no others, or their favoured 

fonts, templates, language and other settings; 

• to regulate the time spent by users of certain services such as the Internet, which 

it is difficult for staff to supervise. 

Payment systems Back to Scope 

Museums, libraries and archives may wish to charge users for some services, or may 

sell goods, or they may wish to charge users who make use of their facilities from 

remote locations, or to charge other organisations (e.g. for interlibrary loans). They 

will need a higher level of security for functions involving payment than for others. 

There are electronic systems of payment involving the use of smartcards and PCs, or 

substitutes for PCs such as digital televisions. Points to note include: 

• value may be held in an encrypted file on a PC or equivalent and protected by a 

password. It may be transferable to another PC using currently available 

technology; 

• smartcards are hard to counterfeit, though they can be stolen and their loss is the 

equivalent to losing cash as the value cannot be refunded; 

• several different payment mechanisms can be combined on the same smartcard 

e.g. Visa, MasterCard etc.; 


• money can be transferred over the telephone and from one card to another; 

• payment using a smartcard will be quick, as validation is not necessary, and 

anonymous as information about the buyer is not transferred with the payment. 

In this it resembles the use of cash; 

• smartcards may be reloadable i.e. value can be uploaded and the card can be 

reused indefinitely. 

There are standards on electronic transactions e.g. CEPS (Common Electronic Purse 

Specifications) [8] and EEP (European Electronic Purse) [9]. In general a number of 

conditions for electronic charging systems are required: 

• there must be some evidence that the apparent originator of an electronic 

transaction is the authenticated user associated with that ID (non-repudiation); 

• there must be evidence that the intended recipient of a message really got it 

(evidence of receipt); 

• there must be evidence that an electronic communication was not tampered with 

in transit. 

Personalisation Back to Scope 

Personalisation functions could include: 

• enabling institutions to: 

° treat users as individuals – greet them by name, avoid asking them twice for 

the same information, etc.; 

° provide users with information on new materials, web sites, etc. based on their 

stated areas of interest. This could be done by means of alerts sent by e-mail 

or SMS (Short Message Service). Users could have more than one identity for 

this purpose e.g. a work identity, a learning identity and a leisure identity; 

° provide users with personalised search results in response to queries. 

• enabling users to: 

° manage their own library transactions; 

° order up books, documents etc. which they wish to see on their next visit to 

the archive or library; 

° reserve computers, microfilm readers etc. to be used on their next visit; 

° book visits to exhibitions, buy tickets to events, order items from gift shops, 

order print-outs, copies etc.; 

° build their own personal museum, library or archive by saving URLs, 

bibliographical details, etc.; 

° design their own web page - especially useful for those requiring special 

access facilities such as print impaired people or those using a different 

language - and select which services they want to receive; 

° personalise their visits to a museum; 

° create a visit plan prior to a visit, taking into account personal interests and 

such things as whether children will be included in the group; 

° create their own virtual exhibitions; 

° interact with others with similar interests so building virtual communities of 

interest. 

Personalisation can take place on 2 levels: 

• aimed at individuals; 


• aimed at groups e.g. children, business users. When aimed at groups, 

requirements specific to those groups can be incorporated e.g. filtering of 

websites for children, service in a minority language for linguistic minorities. 

Personalisation can be brought about in two ways: 

• implicit personalisation (computer driven) - the system tracks usage patterns and 

preferences and adapts systems and interfaces accordingly (e.g. Amazon [10], A9 

[11], and eurekster [12]; 

• explicit personalisation (under user control) - systems which can hold data about 

users with their full knowledge and which can enable users to identify themselves 

and so gain access to services which they have customised deliberately (e.g. most 

Internet portals such as My Yahoo [13]). This type of personalisation has 

enormous potential in the cultural sector. Applications can include alerts, 

newsletters, calendars, etc. Institutions can also offer on their websites tools to 

allow users to save images, articles, links, search results etc. during navigation, 

and so create a personal environment within the website to which they can return 

and find information of interest and to which they can continuously add new 

items. So far only a few large museums have been able to put such ideas into 

practice, e.g. the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the Louvre, Paris, and the UK 

National Museum of Science and Industry (see links). 

Recommender systems Back to Scope 

These are systems which take input directly from the user, and based on user needs, 

preferences and known usage patterns built up over time, make recommendations of 

products and services e.g. collections to browse, books to buy/read, websites to visit. 

The idea is that the user can get what they want without having to ask. The 

technologies involved in recommender systems are information filtering, collaborated 

filtering, user profiling, machine learning, case based retrieval, data mining, and 

similarity-based retrieval. For example a user who visits sites on Monet and Renoir 

could be directed to sites on French impressionism in general. Examples include 

Amazon [10] (available on several country-specific sites and Whichbook.net [14], a 

site which recommends books to read. 

Personalised information retrieval Back to Scope 

Information retrieval using popular search engines can result in millions of 

documents being retrieved. Searchers typically will only look at the first page or two 

of results and so may miss relevant information. 

Relevance feedback systems work towards overcoming this problem. There are 

two types of relevance feedback system – explicit and implicit. 

• Explicit relevance feedback relies on the searcher indicating which documents 

contain relevant information. The system then creates a revised query based on 

the documents indicated. This can go on until the searcher is happy with the 

results. There are various drawbacks to this system, e.g.; 

° it is very time consuming for the searcher; 

° there is no middle ground - the searcher must indicate that the document is 

either relevant or not relevant. 

• Implicit relevance feedback infers which pages are relevant by analysing user 

actions such as time taken to read a page, links followed, scrollbar activities, 


mouseovers, etc. The system then generates successively expanded queries 

based on an estimate of the user’s needs. Over time the user is exposed to more 

relevant information. Two different responses to the same initial query can 

develop: 

° the user’s information need becomes more crystallised and the results more 

targeted; 

° the user’s information need changes in the light of new information received. 

Over time the system will look at any new search terms inserted by the user, 

or new links followed, and develop new queries based on these, so finding 

different results. 

Image retrieval is another way of personalising information retrieval which is 

particularly relevant to the museum and art gallery domain. Users start by browsing 

a set of images. Based on their selection, new images are presented and a search 

path develops. This allows for direct searching without the need for formal 

description of the information need. 

Portals Back to Scope 

Portals too can offer searchers something more targeted than a search-engine result 

set. A portal brings together content from diverse distributed resources, collates it 

into an amalgamated form, and presents it to the user, usually via a web browser, 

though other means are also possible such as via alerting services. Many 

organisations are now developing portal-type access to their services for their 

customers. Banks are encouraging their customers to manipulate their own bank 

accounts on-line and supermarkets are providing automated shopping facilities which 

have a memory of the customer’s previous choices. The purpose of the customised 

portal is to save information for customers and avoid presenting them with 

information they do not need: a potential solution to the problem of information 

overload. Portals can: 

• enable users to create their own information and research environments. This 

could be particularly useful to people without Internet access at home or at work; 

• be customised to specific user groups such as students. Portals, or subject 

gateways, are often useful for educational purposes. 

Interactive fora and online communities Back to Scope 

A number of institutions now offer interactive fora to their users to enable them to 

review or discuss exhibitions, books, films, music etc. Such sites can be a good way 

of communicating with users, especially special groups of users, and of keeping them 

up to date with events, recent acquisitions etc. It is possible for this kind of site to be 

customised so that readers can elect to be notified only about news of interest to 

them. Once people have applied for personalised alerts etc, it is possible to identify 

communities of users with similar interests and to enable them to interact with each 

other, if they wish to do so (see privacy). Online forums can be created to facilitate 

discussion and debate and the sharing of news, etc., particularly valuable for 

teachers and students who can set up virtual learning environments (see lifelong 

learning). 

Virtual museums, libraries and archives Back to Scope 


A virtual museum, library or archive can either be linked to one physical institution, 

or it can exist only as a virtual institution. In the latter case it will usually have been 

created by a consortium drawing on the contents of many institutions. 

Museums and heritage sites are increasingly setting up websites which are essentially 

virtual museums. These enable users to create their own virtual visits according to 

their interests, rearrange the exhibits, learn about specific items at a level of detail 

which they can choose, use virtual tour guides, etc. 

Virtual archives can enable users to examine archives according to a theme or 

subject regardless of their physical arrangement or geographical location. 

Libraries and archives can offer their users virtual enquiry services. These can be, for 

example: 

• e-mail and phone based services which connect with the institution’s website, 

collection of Internet links, computerised catalogue etc. Systems of this kind are 

often connected with an enquiry management system, which records details of 

enquiries and enquirers. Essex Libraries Answers Direct service is an example of 

this type of service (see Links). 

• e-mail enquiry services making use of “chat” or live-interaction software, enabling 

the user to communicate directly with a member of staff. Gateshead Libraries' 

Live Help is an example (see Links). This type of service is ideally suited to 

explaining to people about the use of digital resources such as on-line databases 

and websites which can be explored together and transferred directly to the user 

without having to be described in words. Enquiries can be transferred live, while 

the user is still on-line, to another institution which has similar software. There 

are some commercially produced examples of this type of software [15]. 

For a discussion of “virtual libraries” see Digital Reference Overview: an issue paper 

from the Networked Services Policy Task Group. UKOLN, February 2003. [16]. 

Smart labels and tags Back to Scope 

RFID (radio frequency identification) labels or tags have considerable advantages 

over barcodes. For example: 

• as they use radio frequencies to transmit data to a reader, they do not require 

line of sight or close proximity to the reader in order to be read; 

• they are (re)programmable and so can be used more than once and for more 

than one function; 

• they are physically durable and not susceptible to damage from dirt, grease or 

water, and so can be used outside on heritage sites etc.; 

• they can be fixed to or embedded unobtrusively in virtually any object, which is 

important given the variety of objects and media held in heritage institutions; 

Smart tags can be used for work processes such as inventory management, check-in 

and check-out of library books, and anti-theft control. However they can also be used 

to provide innovative guiding services and to study visitor behaviour. Possibilities for 

personalising visits could include: 

• issuing visitors with a smart tag which they can take round an exhibition and use 

to get information about particular objects. At the end of the visit the data 

collected on the tag can be downloaded and a printout of pictures of the objects 

they were particularly interested in can be given to them to take away; 


• combined with headphones or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), visitors to a 

heritage site could wander around at will listening to or reading information about 

features as they approach them. The language in which the information is given, 

and the level of information, can be tailored to the visitors’ needs; 

• used with avatars or robots they can guide people round an exhibition, focussing 

on items of interest to the person or group. This could be especially useful for 

groups of children. 

There are some disadvantages associated with smart tags, e.g. 

• they are comparatively expensive as compared with barcodes; 

• they have a fairly short lifespan, not important in a retail setting but very 

important in the heritage sector; 

• standards have not yet been defined. - JTC1/SC31 19762 Part 2 [17] is still under 

development. 

For a description of this technology and examples of applications see New 

Technologies for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage Sector. Digicult Technology 

Watch Report 1, February 2003. ISBN 92-894-5275-7. pp. 63-93. [18] 

Agent Technology Back to Scope 

The term “agent” has no clear or settled definition at the moment but it seems to be 

most often used to refer to a program that gathers information or performs some 

other service without the immediate presence of the user. By means of algorithms, 

an agent learns about its user’s habits and preferences over time and becomes more 

useful the more it is used. Agents can also take the form of avatars (human or 

animal substitutes) or robots (physical mobile agents). 

Applications for agents could include: 

• Internet searching. The role of the face-to-face interview with the user will always 

be important but the process of guiding people to suitable websites and other 

types of high quality information can be automated by agent technology. An 

agent compares favourably with a search engine. It could for example: 

° not confine its search to the World Wide Web; 

° use controlled vocabulary to search the World Wide Web more intelligently; 

° remember where it has searched successfully in the past. It can update its 

own knowledge and find particular documents even if they move; 

° search the Internet continuously and automatically, during times when it is 

quiet; 

° tell users about new information in which they might be interested. It could 

have a memory of the uses to which the user has put its previous findings. 

Avatars are currently most often used in games software, but applications in the 

cultural sector could include: 

• acting as tour guides in virtual exhibitions; 

• presenting or teaching performance arts e.g. dance; 

• acting as “talking heads” to communicate information, news, or stories. 

Robots could be used: 

• as tour guides in actual exhibitions. 

Agent technology can be personalised: 

• by designing the appearance of an avatar; 

• by tailoring it to the user’s interests, language, abilities or disabilities. 


One way of personalising is by using “skin technology”, which controls the delivery 

of standard content according to the “skin” chosen by the user. “Skins” can be 

designed for different groups of user, can present content in chosen fonts and 

languages, and can filter out content which the user has indicated no wish to see. 

Examples (see links) of agent technology include: 

• SEONAID - to present government information in a user-friendly way (see the 

guideline on eGovernment and citizenship); 

• the Peranakans Project – a compelling learning environment (see lifelong 

learning); 

• the TOURBOT project – a robotic tour guide. 

For a description of agent technology and a discussion of its possible uses in the 

cultural sector, see Digicult Technology Watch Report 2: Emerging technologies for 

the cultural and scientific sector. February 2004. ISBN 9289452765. [19]. 

Mobile access Back to Scope 

People now expect services to be available whenever and wherever they need them. 

Cellular ‘phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and wireless communication 

protocols such as Bluetooth [20], WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) [21] and GPRS 

(General Packet Radio Service) [22] are making this possible. In combination with 

RFID tagging of objects, museums, libraries and archives can assist the location of 

specific books or items with a mobile device which directs the visitor towards 

particular objects or shelves. When a mobile device is integrated with the web or the 

institution’s own intranet then visitors can personalise their visit by accessing 

different levels of information. In the case of outdoor heritage sites, the ubiquitous 

connection offered by wireless networks makes visitors independent of human tour 

guides. All this has implications for lifelong learning. 

Lifelong learning (see also the guideline on Learning) Back to Scope 

Personalised systems have the potential to facilitate the learning process. Learning is 

stimulated when the information is described in terms the user can understand and if 

it makes reference to their interests. The use of personalisation systems in university 

libraries has shown that they can be of great use to learners by selecting and filtering 

information and tailoring it to their course requirements. Similarly in the archives 

domain personalisation systems can direct learners to related collections of interest. 

Personalised museum tours can increase the enjoyment of the learner and stimulate 

post-visit study, particularly if it refers back to and builds on concepts the learner has 

encountered during the visit. An example of such a service is the GettyGuide (see 

links). Online communities of interest are particularly useful in the education sector 

as they enable discussion and the exchange of ideas between teachers and students 

and among learners themselves. It is also possible to create personalised portals 

where teachers can give access to specific resources tailored to coursework or 

curricula. However, systems must be chosen that do not narrow people's access to 

information; they must still be exposed to new ideas. 

Implications for staff roles and training (see also the guideline on Staffing) 

Back to Scope 


The change from "product push" to "user pull" will impact on the role of staff, and 

the implications for staff training will need to be addressed. Their role will be 

transformed from simply providing access to managing multiple channels of access 

and fostering co-creation of content. If smart tags are introduced there may well be 

a move away from traditional duties such as check-in/out services in libraries, which 

could lead to staff being employed in more user-focussed work, or even to job cuts. 

Staff will need to be very aware of the different needs of individuals or groups. There 

will also be a need for more technical skills. 


Smartcards can be expected to become the standard way of gaining access to local 

authority and other services. Portals, intelligent agents and filtered Internet 

environments can all be activated by the use of smartcards and they can be used in 

user-authentication much more effectively than the existing password based 

systems. It is likely that citizens in the future will be able, or even required, to 

possess a single smartcard which will identify and authenticate them to all central 

and local government organisations. Smartcards may well become the normal way of 

paying even quite small debts to local authorities and their agencies and it is even 

possible that this method of payment may become the preferred way because it may 

reduce costs. Cash does not have to be handled, counted or banked, bank charges 

may be smaller, mistakes will be fewer etc. Use of biometric methods of user 

authentication may become normal in the public services generally. Future systems 

of authentication may have several layers; e.g. a person may be entitled to borrow 

items from a library, but not entitled to use a portal, personalised OPAC, or feebased 

service. 

Much personalisation is currently at the experimental stage and only available as 

prototypes. Costs of personalisation systems are likely to decrease and could 

increasingly be packaged with standard web software and management systems as 

experience of what is useful is gained. 

Smart tags are likely to come down in price, to become more durable, and, standards 

should be finalised in the near future. As more and more commercial industries use 

smart tags the technology will be developed and improvements in read range, read 

rate and memory capacity can be expected. This will lead to wider use in museums, 

libraries and archives both for better housekeeping systems and also for exciting and 

innovative personalised services. 

The development of agent technology is progressing rapidly and different types are 

being integrated to create highly sophisticated robots which will perform several 

complex tasks simultaneously and relieve the user of much routine work. Currently 

expensive, this technology should become cheaper as it becomes more pervasive. 

Meanwhile institutions should introduce agent technology in conjunction with an 

already existing virtual exhibition, and should consider consortiums to share the 

costs. 


Future research needs to focus on developing user-driven research tools and services 

able to integrate the learning and research behaviours of users. 

Interactive television may eventually take over from the Internet as the informationseeking 

or “edutainment” tool of choice. Home media systems already exist which 

bring together the features of TV, video and computer to personalise the use of TV. 

People can already choose which programme to watch, vote online, take part in 

online quizzes, organise their own TV schedule etc. It is likely that niche TV markets 

will develop and cultural heritage institutions will need to use these new channels of 

communication as well as or instead of websites. 

People on the move will increasingly expect services such as personalised alerts to be 

delivered to their mobile ‘phone using WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) 

technology. They will also expect to take their PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) to a 

museum, library or archive and save personalised information to it for later use etc. 

Wireless connectivity, global positioning systems, and mobile computing are likely to 

be integrated into PDAs within about five years. The conjunction of mobile 

technologies and digital museums, libraries and archives will eventually enable ‘ondemand’ 

delivery of textual and other content to PDAs, regardless of location. 

Museums will be able to revolutionise the ways in which secondary resources are 

presented to visitors in relation to artefacts: exhibitions can be arranged according to 

entirely new themes, not necessarily arranged in traditional chronological patterns, 

and visitors will be empowered to create virtual exhibitions using their own portable 

devices. 

The challenge for cultural heritage institutions is to develop personalisation systems 

which users can access form anywhere at any time containing their own unique 

identity, operating environment, and with content and services customised to their 

needs. This will give them a competitive edge and retain loyal users. 


[1] Raising awareness for knowledge technologies. 

http://istresults.cordis.lu/index.cfm/section/news/Tpl/article/BrowsingType/Short%20 

Feature/ID/58935/highlights/personalisation 

[1] The personalization challenge in public libraries: perspectives and prospects by 

Christopher Chia and June Garcia. 

http://stiftung.bertelsmann.de/documents/Personalisation_engl.pdf 

[2] Personalisation and the web from a museum perspective by Jonathan P. Bowen 

and Sylvia Filippini-Fantoni. http://my.museophile.net 

[3] Athens Access Management System http://www.athens.ac.uk/ 

[4] Kerberos http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/ 

[5] The EU Data Protection Directive (EU Directive 95/46/EC 


http://www.dataprivacy.ie/6aii.htm 

[6] SmartCities project 

http://dbs.cordis.lu/fepcgi/srchidadb?ACTION=D&CALLER=PROJ_IST&QF_EP_RPG=IST-1999-12252 

For a list of the cities involved see 

http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/smartcard/index.html. 

For a description of the Dundee Discovery Card see The smart city by Sid Bulloch in 

Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in 

Scotland, June 2004 Volume 2 (3). 

http://www.slainte.org.uk/publications/serials/infoscot/vol2(3)/vol2(3)article2.html 

[7] ICS field 35.240.15: Identification cards and related devices 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueListPage.CatalogueList?ICS1=35&ICS2=240&IC 

S3=15 

[8] CEPS (Common Electronic Purse Specifications) http://www.cepsco.org/ 

[9] EEP (European Electronic Purse) http://www.ecbs.org/ 

[10] Amazon http://www.amazon.com . 

[11] A9 http://a9.com/ 

[12] eurekster http://home.eurekster.com/ 

[13] My Yahoo http://my.yahoo.com 

[14] Whichbook.net http://www.whichbook.net 

[15] For reviews of some commercially produced examples of this software see Live, 

Digital Reference Marketplace by Buff Hirko in Library Journal 15 th October 2002. 

http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA251679&publica 

tion=libraryjournal 

[16] Digital Reference Overview: an issue paper from the Networked Services Policy 

Task Group. UKOLN, February 2003. 

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/public/nsptg/virtual/. 

[17] JTC1/SC31 19762 Part 2; Information technology -- Automatic identification and 

data capture techniques -- Harmonized vocabulary -- Part 2: Optically readable 

media (ORM) 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/stdsdevelopment/techprog/workprog/TechnicalProgramme 

ProjectDetailPage.TechnicalProgrammeProjectDetail?csnumber=37433 

[18] New Technologies for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage Sector. Digicult 

Technology Watch Report 1, February 2003. ISBN 92-894-5275-7. pp. 63-93. 

http://www.digicult.info/pages/techwatch.php 


[19] Digicult Technology Watch Report 2: Emerging technologies for the cultural and 

scientific sector. February 2004. ISBN 9289452765. 

http://www.digicult.info/pages/techwatch.php 

[20] Bluetooth http://www.bluetooth.com/ 

[21] WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) 

http://www.iec.org/online/tutorials/wap/ 

[22] GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) 

http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/gprs/intro.shtml 

Europe 


The PAST project 

This was a prototype exploiting a number of key technologies (handheld PCs, 

wireless networks, dynamic user profiling techniques, dynamic scheduling and 

planning techniques, and XML technologies) to create a wireless e-guide for 

archaeological sites. A demo is available at http://www.beta80group.it/past/ 

Belgium 

The "Brussels Card" 

This card entitles the holder to free access to nearly all the museums in Brussels. The 

Brussels Card is valid for three days and contains a chip card, a ticket for public 

transport and an illustrated guide. 

http://www.brusselsmuseums.be/fr/brusscard/index.php 


Information services of the Masaryk public library (MVK) 

Online bulletin about MVK news and activities (new library acquisitions, writer/reader 

meetings, information about regional cultural life, etc.). It consists of links to specific 

web pages which are selected by topic and changed monthly. Readers can choose to 

have it delivered by e-mail or traditional methods. 

http://www.mvk.cz/index.php?page=infoservis&menu=z 

France 

The Louvre, Paris 

A customised alert system is planned which will allow visitors to complete a profile 

detailing their interests and whenever an event of interest is due they will be 

automatically informed by e-mail or text message. http://www.louvre.fr/ 

Germany 


TOURBOT 

TOURBOT, an EU funded project, developed an interactive museum robot for the 

Beethoven-Haus, Bonn. For a description see Reitelmann, A.: The TOURBOT Project 

in Ecsite-Newsletter, vol. 53, 2002, p.8. 

http://www.ecsite-uk.net/news/ecsite/ecsite_newsletter_53_winter_2002.pdf 

Greece 

Archeoguide 

Provides personalised and thematic navigation aids around heritage sites taking into 

account cultural and linguistic background, age and skills. 

http://archeoguide.intranet.gr/project.htm 

Italy 

Carrara Marble Museum 

Users can select a predefined profile (tourist, student or expert), or define their own 

profile, and access to the web site will be customised. 

http://giove.cnuce.cnr.it/Museoeng.html 

Lithuania 

MetaLib - Virtual Library Portal 

This portal offers personalisation tools such as the ability to save search results and 

track the history of searches, and set display options. http://www.library.lt 


Tour of the world in 80 questions 

The National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden allows children to print out a personalised 

tour plan based on their choice of subjects and places. It includes maps, descriptions 

of artefacts, and related questions to answer. http://www.rmv.nl 

Singapore 

The Peranakans Project 

This project deals with culture, history and education, with an avatar being used as 

an immediate, visual and identifiable conduit for learning about different ways of life. 

http://www.inigraphics.net/press/topics/index.html 

Spain 

AbsysNET - Catalogo de la Red de Bibliotecas Públicas de Andalucía 

Integrated library system with new information retrieval functions complemented by 

personalised services. Users are offered a series of links, recommended 

bibliographies and other customised services catering to their specific requirements 

and geared to their preferences. The personalised OPAC takes into account previous 

interaction with users, thus identifying searching habits. Once users connect to the 


system they are notified about material awaiting collection, overdue items, new 

acquisitions of interest to them, etc. Users can also store their favourite links on the 

Internet, update membership details, etc. 

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/rbpa/ 

Pacifico II 

This innovative web design portal has developed novel “middleware” systems which 

enable the delivery of new applications including: user authentication and 

authorisation systems, personal preferences handling and e-payment systems. There 

is a virtual shop to buy surrogates of the different materials, access to the web 

contents using WAP access, and a service of “remote assistance and consultancy” 

based on voice-over IP systems. http://www.pacifico.csic.es/ 


Essex Libraries Answers Direct 

An online and telephone enquiry service, connected with an enquiry management 

system. 

http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/display/guideContents/index.jsp?oi 

d=15545 

Gateshead Libraries' Live Help 

This service uses chat and page push technology to help people to find information 

by “talking” directly to a librarian. 

http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/livehelp.htm 

Science Museum, London - In Touch project 

Allows users of interactive exhibits to e-mail them to their home computer for later 

use. http://www.sciencemuseum-in-touch.org.uk 

SEAX 

SEAX, developed at the Essex record Office (ERO), has a reader management feature 

which enables the ERO to log on all users, recording the details required by the 

County Archive Readers Network (CARN). Members of the public can search for 

documents and then save favourite documents or favourite searches for indefinite 

periods, and orders for retrieved documents can be placed via SEAX. SEAX tells staff 

where the documents are stored, alerts users when their documents are ready, 

allows public and staff to monitor the progress of orders and record issues and 

returns. Members of the public can also apply for a reader's ticket in advance via the 

Internet. When logging on to SEAX members of the public can specify the nature and 

purpose of their research, and can change this if required. They can also view all 

their orders for the last 2-3 months and cancel orders placed in advance if their plans 

change. http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/ 

SEONAID 

Scotland used this avatar to present government information initially to children in a 

user-friendly way. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2002/07/SENW058.aspx 

UK National Museum of Science and Industry’s Ingenious project 


Registered users have access to personalised pages and are invited to join in live 

debates and create content. http://www.ingenious.org.uk/ 

USA 

Getty Museum 

The GettyGuide (http://www.triplecode.com/projects/getty.html) is a PDA which 

allows visitors to “bookmark” objects during their visit, download them onto the 

museum kiosk, and then either e-mail them home, or save for future visits where 

they can be accessed in the kiosk on the MyGetty page. (See also The role of 

museums in online teaching, learning, and research by Kenneth Hamma, J. Paul 

Getty Museum, Los Angeles. 2004. 

http://www.imls.gov/pubs/webwise2004/wbws04cp4a.htm, and J. Paul Getty 

Museum Re-Architects Technology to Enhance Visitors' Experience: Sun Consultants 

and Java Technology Keys to Next-Generation Architecture by David S. Marshak, 

Patricia Seybold Group. Prepared for Sun Microsystems, Inc., June 2003. 

http://www.sun.com/service/about/success/recent/getty.html.) 

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 

On the My Met Museum section of the website users can get access to features such 

as My Met Gallery (gathers user’s favourite works of art from the Museum's online 

collection), and My Met Calendar (allows users to customise the online calendar so it 

displays only those events that interest them). They can also register to receive 

automatic weekly calendar reminders). http://www.metmuseum.org/ 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 

The “Make your own gallery” kiosk allows visitors to rearrange the pictures in an 

exhibition and add their own commentary. 

http://www.sfmoma.org/exhibitions/exhib_detail.asp?id=58 





SCOPE 

The guideline on Social inclusion deals with the need to make services accessible to 

everyone, including disabled people, and with the management, planning, financial 

and staffing issues; and the guideline on Multilingualism deals with access in 

different languages. 

This guideline deals with the technological aspects of making services accessible to 

disabled people, and includes: 

Disabled people and their needs 

Physical access 

Access to information 

Intellectual access 

Virtual access 

Web accessibility 



There are estimated to be 37 million people with disabilities in the EU, and the 

number of older Europeans is steadily increasing. Disabled people are people who 

have difficulty using facilities provided for the general public because of physical or 

sensory impairments, print disabilities, or learning difficulties. This includes people 

who are temporarily disabled through accident or illness, those with long-term 

disabling illnesses such as arthritis, those with age-related disabilities, and learning 

disabled people. The term physical impairments refers to reduced mobility, reach, 

balance, stamina and/or height. Sensory impairments include reduced vision and/or 

hearing. The term “print disabled” covers people with a visual, mental or physical 

impairment which makes it difficult for them to read conventional print, and includes 

dyslexic persons. 

The EU is committed to making all services available to disabled people (see the 

European Union Disability Strategy [1]) and accessibility has been included in EU 

research programmes for more than ten years: 

• in the TIDE initiative (“Technology Initiative for Disabled and Elderly”, 1991 

1997); 

• in the 4 th Framework Programme of the Information Society Technology 

Programme (“Disabled & Elderly Sector” of the Technology Application 

Programme – TAP); 

• in the 5 th Framework Programme (“Applications for Persons with Special Needs 

including the Disabled and Elderly”); 

• in the 6 th Framework Programme, under the Strategic Objective “e-inclusion”; 

Calimera Guidelines 330 Accessibility for diasabled people

• in the Leonardo da Vinci Programme (ACCELERATE - Access to the Modern 

Library Services for the Blind and Partially Sighted People was a project involving 

2 academic libraries in Greece and Cyprus. A very useful handbook was published. 

[3] 

• in the Culture 2000 Programme (“Access to Cultural Heritage: Policies of 

Presentation and Use” (ACCU) is a three-year international project which started 

on 1 September 2004. It will promote co-operation between operators in the field 

of heritage management and offer new tools for accessibility issues. Cultural 

institutions from six European countries are participating in the project, led by the 

Finnish National Board of Antiquities (Helsinki, Finland). 

Many member states have national legislation and/or guidelines regarding 

accessibility and these are noted in the Appendix to this guideline. 


Services provided can be categorised in three main areas: 

• physical access (to buildings, service counters, workstations, exhibition areas, 

display cases, reading rooms, shelves, etc); 

• access to information (e.g. the availability of accessible formats, adapted 

workstations, assistive and inclusive technology and web accessibility); 

• intellectual access (to the content of collections). 

Physical access Back to Scope 

Most issues concerning physical access apply equally to museums, libraries and 

archives. In many cases removing all physical and structural obstacles is difficult if 

not impossible, but it is essential that the environment is made as barrier-free as is 

reasonably achievable. This includes, for example: 

• clear signs outside the building; 

• well marked and lit reception areas, with desk space available at a suitable height 

for wheelchair users; 

• entrances with suitable, clear openings or automatic doors (preferred door width 

900mm); 

• ramps outside and within building; 

• stairs: no open treads, handrails on both sides, tactile markers; ideally: speaking 

elevators; 

• barrier-free hallways (no floor mats or furniture); 

• colour contrast in carpets and on walls (also to function as warnings near stairs 

and doorways; textures, smells, vibration, movement or air currents can also be 

used for this purpose); 

• effective lighting; 

• accessible tables, computer stations and public service desks (table height and 

width, turning spaces, ergonomic chairs, lighting); 

• accessible public areas such as toilets and public telephone; 

• shelving and display cases: should ideally fall within 750-2000mm from floor level; 

• clear and consistent signage throughout using plain typeface (sans serif such as 

Helvetica, Univers or Arial) on spaces and websites; 

• accessible parking; 

Calimera Guidelines 331 Accessibility for disabled people

• visually cued alarm systems. 

Access to information Back to Scope 

Access to information can be facilitated on a variety of levels requiring both technical 

and human solutions. The following are examples of what should be considered, and 

is not an exhaustive list. Institutions should consult their national organisations for 

the disabled for further advice. 

Human solutions: 

• bold felt-tip pen and notepad at enquiry points; 

• staff available to read aloud from written materials; 

• staff trained in helping disabled people. Ideally this could include staff trained in 

lip reading, sign language, the deaf blind alphabet, finger spelling etc.; 

• information in plain language and/or symbol systems e.g. Blissymbolics [4], 

Picture Communication Symbols [5]; 

• accessible formats e.g. large print, Braille [6], audio formats, subtitled and signed 

videotapes; 

• information in clear print using suitable fonts; 

• events, videos and websites with sign language using professional interpreters 

and training deaf people to become guides. 

Technical solutions: 

• textphones 

• telephone amplifiers; 

• induction loops; 

• print magnification devices; 

• accessible catalogues; 

• alternative input devices (adapted keyboards e.g. touch sensitive overlays, largesize 

keys and special function keys, touch pads, adapted mouse devices such as 

trackerballs, joysticks, datagloves which are used to gesture commands to the 

computer, sensory input devices including speech); 

• text-reader (text-to-speech) equipment; 

• glare protective screens and high resolution, large-screen monitors; 

• system options that allow the user to alter screen contrast, font size and colours; 

• screen reader software; 

• optical character recognition systems with read-back capabilities; 

• Braille input hardware and software and Braille translation software; 

• websites which meet worldwide web accessibility standards; 

• haptic devices which allow virtual holding of objects giving tactile and weight 

sensations, and which can incidentally be used to protect fragile items; 

• shutterglasses, which transform the way the user sees the image on a standard 

monitor; 

• portable and wearable computers. 

Intellectual access Back to Scope 

Organisations which aim to be inclusive tailor their services to diverse groups of 

users and audiences and develop strategies to provide intellectual access to the 

content of collections, through, for example: 

• guided tours, activities, audio guides, slide shows, websites etc which describe 

objects and exhibitions for visually impaired people, in addition to standard 


ackground information; and in plain language and using image support for 

people with learning difficulties; 

• multi-sensory events and exhibitions; 

• tactile exhibitions e.g. using 3-dimensional models and maps and tactile drawings; 

• gallery interactives designed with disabled people in mind; 

• head mounted displays; 

• virtual environments. 

People who are prevented from getting to a library, museum or record office because 

of a disability should not be denied access to these services. Museums, libraries and 

archives should consider outreach services ranging from mobile vehicles and services 

for people who are housebound to activities and portable collections for use in a 

variety of locations which are used by disabled people. 

Virtual access Back to Scope 

Digitisation enables services to be delivered using laptop computers with Internet 

access, televisions, and CD-ROMs or DVDs. It has also opened up exciting 

possibilities for virtual access. Museums can make exhibitions available on web sites, 

with the facility to move objects around and see them from all angles which is an 

improvement on a static display. Libraries can provide opportunities for searching 

catalogues, requesting and renewing books, and asking for information via the 

Internet and e-mail. Archives can make documents, photographs, films, and sound 

archives available over the Internet. What can be offered is limited only by the 

imagination. The links at the end of this guideline illustrate some imaginative virtual 

services which enhance the experience of everyone, not only disabled people. For a 

description of virtual reality and human interface technologies see New technologies 

for the cultural and scientific heritage sector. DigiCULT Technology Watch Report 1, 

February 2003, chapters 4 and 5. [7] 

Web accessibility Back to Scope 

However virtual access via the Internet is subject to web accessibility considerations. 

The “Charter of Parma” document, presented in 2003 to the Committee for Cultural 

Affairs of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, encourages the application 

of ten “quality principles” for cultural websites, one of which is that websites should 

be “accessible to all users, irrespective of the technology they use or their disabilities, 

including navigation, content, and interactive elements” [8]. The EU is committed to 

the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) guidelines produced by the World Wide Web 

Consortium [9]. These guidelines provide clear and straightforward guidance and 

cover issues from basic requirements such as colour contrast, to more complex 

requirements about how the information is structured and set out on the page, and 

how the site is navigated. It is recommended that the content of web pages is 

always separated from the presentation so that if users remove the layout and 

design elements they can still access the information. 

User interfaces including websites should be checked for accessibility. Again, the 

standard against which European sites are checked is usually the one set by the 

WAI. The “Commentary and exploration of the ten ‘quality principles’ published by 

the Minerva Project and agreed at the 5th NRG meeting in Parma, draft version 11” 


contains a checklist and practical tests for assessing a website [8]. There are several 

automated tools available for checking websites, including: 

• Bobby [10], which tests against the WA1 standard. This has recently become a 

commercial product and the free version is limited to checking one page per 

minute. 

• HTML-kit [11], which can be used to enhance the accessibility of a website, and 

correct errors and inaccessible features. This is a free website. 

A list of similar tools is available on the WAI site [12]. Such tools however only check 

the technology of the website; they do not evaluate the content for accessibility. 

The World Wide Web Consortium has however also developed content accessibility 

guidelines [13]. 

There is no substitute however for user testing with disabled people. However, as 

not all disabled people are the same, it is preferable to make it possible for the style 

to be over-ridden and the content accessible using any preferred style or via any 

device. People with different access needs should be asked to carry out and report 

on tasks which they need to perform. User testing can be done in-house, or 

contracted out to an organisation or specialist company. Ideally users should be 

involved from the design stage. 

In addition, websites should be: 

• accessible by different browsers (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape 

Navigator); 

• accessible by different hardware devices (e.g. Personal Digital Assistants, PCs); 

• usable by browsers that support HTML/XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets and the 

Document Object Model [14]; 

• usable by browsers that do not have plug-ins, so technologies such as Javascript 

and Macromedia Flash must be considered carefully before being used; 

• ideally usable by screen readers (talking browsers). PDF (Portable Document 

Format) should therefore be avoided. Although PDF is becoming more accessible 

now due to development work undertaken by Adobe, it is still recommended that 

an alternative HTML version of a PDF file is provided. With the advent of Acrobat 

Reader 6.0 (full version), Adobe has embedded a scaled-down version of a 

"screen reader" (more accurately referred to as a "text-to-speech synthesizer" in 

this instance) into the Reader software itself. This can read aloud the text in 

nearly all PDF files, even older files that were not created with accessibility in 

mind. However not everyone has the latest full version of the Acrobat Reader with 

the embedded speech synthesizer, the embedded speech synthesizer is not as 

good as the full-featured screen readers that most visually impaired people use 

(e.g. JAWS [15], Window Eyes [16]), the existence of the embedded speech 

synthesizer is not well known even among visually impaired people, and new skills 

need to be learned to use it. There is a useful article about this on the WebAIM 

website [17]. See also the Daisy Consortium website [18] for information about 

screen readers and Digital Talking Books (DTBs). 


Genuine e-accessibility will only come about when mainstream products are designed 

to be accessible by as broad a range of users as possible. The EU is supporting a 


“Design for All” approach [2], which will lead to IST products, services and 

applications being suitable for most potential users without the need for further 

modifications. 

The European Institute for Design and Disability [19] is also working to enhance 

barrier-free design. 

A new European communication on e-accessibility [20] is expected to address two 

major challenges relating to the inclusion of all in the information society: the 

problems associated with the ageing population and the specific problems of disabled 

people. 

New technologies are likely to emerge which will improve the experience of disabled 

people. Examples of existing technologies which illustrate the direction things may 

go include: 

• systems which provide people with hearing impairments with written word-forword 

captions, or text, on a PC or laptop screen during face-to-face conversations 

and at conferences. Text appears virtually simultaneously with the speaker’s 

words and fonts can be enlarged to suit the user’s needs. The user can take the 

equipment anywhere where there is a telephone socket or mobile phone 

connection. In the cultural heritage sector this sort of equipment would be useful 

in face-to-face dealings with staff, in discussion groups or lectures, and when 

listening to sound archives; 

• handheld computers, or Personal Digital Assistants, which are tailored to the 

needs of different groups e.g. for hearing impaired people, video clips of an 

interpreter using sign language to describe works or objects in an exhibition; for 

visually impaired people, audio descriptions can be played together with 

commentary; and for those with learning difficulties, a specially designed sound 

track can be used. For people requiring more in-depth information, PDAs can be 

linked through a wireless network to a central server so that more information 

can be requested at any time during a visit (see Poole, Nick: The future in the 

palm of your hand. In Museums Computer Group Newsletter, Sept 2002 [21]); 

• computers which make use of all human senses as input devices. 

In the future visitors will increasingly take their own handheld PC and wireless 

networking card into museums, galleries, libraries and record offices and access a 

whole range of resources through always-on internet connections. 

E-books, music, illustrations, video etc. are already downloadable on to home PCs, 

televisions and mobile phones. Disabled people will benefit from having requested 

material delivered directly to their own PCs at home or elsewhere. 

There is scope to research smaller and more portable devices, datagloves, agents, 

avatars, robots, haptic devices, etc. (See the guideline on Personalisation for more 

information.) It is of vital importance that real users are involved from the very 

beginning and consideration is given to real applications, numbers of beneficiaries 

and economic viability. 



[1] European Union Disability Strategy 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/disability/strategy_en.html 

[2] European Design for All e-Accessibility Network 

http://www.e-accessibility.org/ 

[3] Development of Library Services to Visually Impaired People: guide for Hellenic 

libraries [by] Bruno Sperl. July 2001. Initially developed as a handbook "Train the 

trainers", a deliverable of Action 3 of the ACCELERATE project. 

http://www.lib.uom.gr/accelerate/deliverables/Ttt_en.doc); 

[4] Blissymbolics http://www.symbols.net/blissre.htm 

[5] Picture Communication Symbols http://www.mayer-johnson.com/ 

[6] Braille http://www.braille.org/ 


Technology Watch Report 1, February 2003, chapters 4 and 5. 

http://www.digicult.info 

[8] Work programme to define the quality guidelines for cultural Websites. Minerva 

WP5 Italian Working Group. 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/structure/workinggroups/userneeds/docindex.htm 

[9] WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) guidelines produced by the World Wide Web 

Consortium http://www.w3c.org/WAI 

[10] Bobby http://bobby.watchfire.com 

[11] HTML-kit http://www.chami.com/html-kit/ 

[12] Web Accessibility Initiative: Evaluation, Repair, and Transformation Tools for 

Web Content Accessibility http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html 

[13] World Wide Web Consortium: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 

http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/ 

[14] World Wide Web Consortium: Cascading Style Sheets, level 2. CSS2 

Specification. W3C Recommendation, 12 May 1998 

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2 

[15] JAWS http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws.asp 

[16] Window Eyes http://www.gwmicro.com/products/ 


[17] WebAIM: Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Techniques 

http://www.webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/ 

[18] Daisy Consortium http://www.daisy.org/default.asp 

[19] The European Institute for Design and Disability 

http://www.design-for-all.org/ 

[20] Commission Communication on eAccessibility in 2005 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/citizens/accessibility/com_ea_2005/in 

dex_en.htm 

[21] Poole, Nick: The future in the palm of your hand. In Museums Computer Group 

Newsletter, Sept 2002. 

http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk/newsletters/sept2002.htm 

International 


Daisy Consortium 

The DAISY Consortium has developed a Digital Talking Book standard (ANSI/NISO 

Z39.86, Specifications for the Digital Talking Book http://www.loc.gov/nls/niso/) to 

ensure access to information for people with print disabilities. 

http://www.daisy.org/ 

Australia 

Web Accessibility Toolbar 

Free software for checking web site accessibility provided by the Accessible 

Information Solutions (AIS) team at the National Information and Library Service 

(NILS) , Australia. Available in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. 

http://www.nils.org.au/ais/web/resources/toolbar/ 


Education and Research Library of Pilsener Region 

There is a Library for the Blind on this website. http://www.svkpl.cz/ 

Handy 

Database for disabled people containing information about health care, therapy, etc., 

prepared by a disabled member of staff. The website has a “Blind Friendly” 

certificate. http://www.knihkm.cz 

National Archives (formerly the State Central Archives) 

As from 1st January 2005 the National Archives is housed in newly built facilities 

which meet the requirements for access without barriers. http://www.nacr.cz. 


Information is also available via Archives Direction Division of the Ministry of Interior 

of the Czech republic http://www.mvcr.cz 

Ireland 

Making Access Happen 

Booklet exploring practical initiatives to accommodate library users with disabilities. It 

is based on four pilot projects in Cavan, Dublin City, Kildare and Mayo public library 

services which tested out new approaches to ensuring accessibility. The booklet is 

available free or can be downloaded from the website. 

http://www.librarycouncil.ie/policies/making_access.shtml 

Norway 

Fetsund Lenser (Fetsund Timber Boom Museum) 

Content-rich website with text and multimedia elements with a strong focus on 

accessibility. The website is in conformance with Level A of the W3C Web Content 

Accessibility Guidelines. Users are presented with a choice of different user 

interfaces, e.g. a choice between sound- and text-based information. 

http://www.fetsundlenser.no/ 

Slovenia 

Državni portal Republike Slovenije (State Portal of the Republic of Slovenia) 

This portal provides a single access point to many government services online, and 

provides user friendly access to visually impaired people, enabling them to fill in 

various forms and make transactions like completing a tax return, applying for a 

passport, etc. http://euprava.gov.si/e-uprava/en/portalPage.euprava?pageid=34 

Turkey 

Braille Teknik 

This company brings the latest technology devices and products to Turkey for the 

use of visually impaired people, making it possible for a visually impaired person to 

work as a sighted person does, and provides solutions in Turkish for a large number 

of products. http://www.brailleteknik.com/ingdefault.htm 

UK 

Ask Chris 

An online and interactive source of reading advice, launched by Essex County Council 

Libraries. There is an option to select reviews of books available in Large Print or 

audiobook format, which significantly extends reading choice for visually impaired 

readers and removes the frustration experienced with other sites where books 

actively promoted are not then available in the required format. The site has been 

built to be compatible with screen readers. http://www.essexxcc.gov.uk/askchris 

RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind) Web Access Centre 


The Web Access Centre site has been developed as a free online resource centre for 

designers and managers. 

http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/code/public_rnib008789.hc 

sp 

Talking Newspaper Association of the UK (TNAUK) 

TNAUK has developed a program which can convert a newspaper into electronic 

format and e-mail it to users in about 6 minutes. 

http://www.tnauk.org.uk/Pages/digital_service.html 



APPENDIX Back to Scope 

The following documents are particularly relevant to cultural heritage institutions: 

• COM650 final of 30 Oct 2003 – Equal opportunities for people with disabilities: a 

European Action Plan 

• http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2003/oct/com650_final_en.h 

tml 

• Council resolution of 6 May 2003 on accessibility of cultural infrastructure and 

cultural activities for people with disabilities (2003/C134/05) 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2003/oct/crs_134_05_en.ht 

ml 

• Council resolution of 6 Feb 2003 – “e-Accessibility” – improving the access of 

people with disabilities to the knowledge based society (2003/C39/03) 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2003/oct/crs_175_01_en.ht 

ml 

• A review of legislation relevant to accessibility in Europe. Final draft. [By] André 

Gubbels and Erkki Kemppainen. eAccessibility expert group, November 15, 2002. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/knowledge_society/eacc_rev_leg.p 

df 

Policies Relating to Web Accessibility 

Published by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the Worldwide Web Consortium, this 

gives information on the European Union and the following European countries: 

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK, as 

well as Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand and the USA. 

http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/ 

Handbook for quality in cultural Web sites: improving quality for citizens. Directory of 

European and national rules on Web Applications, edited by Chiara De Vecchis. 

Published by the Minerva Project, this covers the European Union and the following 

member states: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, 

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It also includes 

international guidelines. 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/qualitycriteria1_2draft/appendix4.htm#4 

Austria 

See 


Belarus 

Information in English regarding the law: On Prevention of Disablement and 

Rehabilitation of Invalids No. 3317-XII of October 17, 1994 [Last amendments and 

alterations: Law of the Republic of Belarus of November 28, 2003 No. 249-Z]. 

Chapter 1, article 1 contains a provision for social rehabilitation – a system of 


measures ensuring improvement of the standard of living of invalids, creation of 

equal capabilities for them for full participation in the life of the society. 

http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/6e1a652fbefce34ac2256d910056d559/ccda93eeae 

3e0c5bc2256dee00530679?OpenDocument 

Belgium 

See 


Bulgaria 

Legislation: 

• Act for Protection, Rehabilitation and Social Integration of Disabled People, 1995, 

updated 2001. http://www.mlsp.government.bg/bg/law/law/index.htm 

• Regulation N1 for creation of appropriate conditions for disabled people in builtup 

areas in towns and villages, 1995. 

Guidelines: 

• Petkov, Krasimir: Tърсене на информация в Интернет (Searching for 

information on the Internet), 2001. These guidelines, in Bulgarian only, are 

addressed to librarians and information specialists. 

• Petkov, Krasimir: Интернет - ключ към безграничната информация (Internet - 

key to the unlimited information), 1998. Also in Bulgarian. 

http://www.lib.bg/LTsvetkova.htm 

Article: 

• Web accessibility in Bulgaria: conclusion from the research, by Mathieu Lutfy. In 

Social Rights Bulgaria, 24th September 2004. 

http://www.socialrights.org/spip/article729.html 

Croatia 

Legislation: 

• The Croatian Constitution prescribes equal rights/access for all. 

http://www.usud.hr/htdocs/en/the_constitution.htm 

• National program for the improvement of the quality of life of the disabled. The 

Government of the Republic of Croatia, 1999. 

http://www.croatia.ch/veleposlanstvo/dom/programi_vlade_rh.php 

• National strategy for integrated policy for disabled persons from 2003 to 2006. 

Government of the Republic of Croatia. (Explicitly states that for example ICT 

should be accessible to disabled people, and that all international 

legislation/guidelines of importance for disabled people will be translated and 

published in Braille or as audio recording by the end of 2004.) Available, but only 

in Croatian, at 

http://www.vlada.hr/Download/2003/01/30/Nacionalna_strategija_jedinstvene_po 

litike_za_osobe_s_invaliditetom 

• Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2003. (Article 86 defines the use of copyright 

works by disabled people.) 

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/file_download.php/79dc0882ffde967a0a20982 

2dfe3c567Copyright+and+Related+Rights+Act2003.pdf 


• IFLA Guidelines for Library Service to Braille Users 

http://www.ifla.org/VII/s31/pub/guide.htm and IFLA Guidelines for Library 


Services to Persons with Dyslexia http://www.ifla.org/VII/s9/nd1/iflapr-70e.pdf 

have been translated into Croatian and are implemented in Croatian libraries. 

• Within the Croatian Library Association there is a special section for library 

services for disabled people, founded in 2000, which deals with relevant issues 

and is undertaking studies and research into the matter of accessibility for 

disabled people. http://www.hkdrustvo.hr/ 

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10) 

have also been translated into Croatian and are available at 

http://www.ffzg.hr/infoz/dzs/smjer/. 

• Internet Support For Blind Internet User - IPSIS is a non-formal organization 

which deals with development and application of communication and computer 

technologies aimed to provide assistance to the blind and visually impaired 

people. With the assistance of collaborators and donors IPSIS currently develops: 

linux distribution for the blind, web portal for the blind, digital collection of 

textbooks, literary works and other written material, free Internet access for blind 

and visually impaired people. http://www.ipsis.hr 

Denmark 

See http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/ 

and 


Cyprus 

Development of Library Services to Visually Impaired People: guide for Hellenic 


trainers", a deliverable of Action 3 of the European Commission Leonardo da Vinci 

programme ACCELERATE project. 

http://www.lib.uom.gr/accelerate/deliverables/Ttt_en.doc 


Legislation: 

• Law No. 257/2001 Coll. of 29 June 2001 on Libraries and Terms of Operating 

Public Library and Information Services (Library Act). 

http://knihovnam.nkp.cz/sekce.php3?page=03_Leg/01_LegPod/Zakon257.htm 

• State Information and Communications Policy e-Czech 2006. (States that Public 

administration services must be user-friendly and available to all, that is also to 

the handicapped or otherwise disadvantaged population groups.) 

http://www.micr.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=1288 

• Electronic Communications Act (Draft), March 2004 (Section 43 deals with Special 

Measures for Disabled Persons) http://www.micr.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=1282 

• White Paper on electronic commerce, May 2003 (States that the Government 

must support accessibility of the Internet to handicapped citizens.) 

http://www.micr.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=1105 

• Law No.29/1984 Coll. (Section 3 guarantees the right to education for deaf and 

blind people in sign language and Braille.) http://mvcr.iol.cz/sbirka/1988/sb04- 

88.pdf 

• Act no. 155/1998 , section 54, Act on sign language and on the amendment of 

further acts. http://www.psp.cz/cgi-bin/dee/docs/surveys/1998/chronological.html 


• Law No. 121/2000 Coll. of 7 April 2000 on Copyright, Rights Related to Copyright 

and on the Amendment of Certain Laws (Copyright Act). (Article 38 (2) enables 

the lending of computer programs and to copies of audio or audiovisual fixations 

…for exclusive use by persons with health disabilities in connection with their 

disability.) 

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/file_download.php/2ebab9db3c6aab04f0f99f9 

d6be4dd9dCopyright_Act.pdf 

• CR Government's resolutions concerning the Board for People with Disabilities 

http://wtd.vlada.cz/scripts/detail.php?id=3934 

• National Plan on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities,1998. 

http://www.vlada.cz/1250/eng/vrk/vybory/vvzpo/dokument/narplan.eng.htm 

• National Development Programme Mobility for All, 2004. 

http://www.mobilityforall.cz/index_eng.htm 


• Muzea pro všechny CV ICOM 2003 (Museums for everybody.) http://www.czicom.cz/plan_english04.html 

Other: 

• Useful websites: http://www.helpnet.cz, http://www.blindfriendly.cz, 

http://pristupnostnawebu.cz, http://www.dobryweb.cz. 

Estonia 

• Online accessible Estonian legal acts regulating librarianship 

http://www.nlib.ee/inglise/lib/lib2_acts.html 

• Social Benefits for Disabled Persons Act (consolidated text July 2002) 

http://www.legaltext.ee/en/andmebaas/ava.asp?m=022 

• Social Welfare Act (consolidated text Dec 2003) 

http://www.legaltext.ee/en/andmebaas/ava.asp?m=022 

• Sotsiaalministeerium (Ministry of Social Affairs) is drawing up a development 

strategy for the welfare sector, organising the provision of welfare services and 

the work of welfare institutions, and preparing welfare-related legislation - 

Towards a human-centered society. Special care development programme: 

People with disabilities. http://www.sm.ee/engtxt/pages/goproweb0425 

Finland 


and 


France 


and 


Germany 


Greece 

• Development of Library Services to Visually Impaired People: guide for Hellenic 



trainers", a deliverable of Action 3 of the European Commission Leonardo da Vinci 

programme ACCELERATE project. 

http://www.lib.uom.gr/accelerate/deliverables/Ttt_en.doc 

• See also 

http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/qualitycriteria1_2draft/appendix4.ht 

m#4 

Hungary 

Disabled people - Legislation: 

• Az 1998. évi 26. sz. törvény a fogyatékos személyek jogairól és 

esélyegyenlőségük biztosításáról. 

• Disabled people - Information 

• Egyészségügyi Szociális és Családügyi Minisztérium http://www.eszcsm.hu 

• Siketek és Nagyothallók Országos Szövetsége http://www.sinosz.hu/ 

• Magyar Vakok és Gyengénlátók Országos Szövetsége http://www.mvgyosz.hu/ 

• Mozgáskorlátozottak Egyesületeinek Országos Szövetsége http://www.meosz.hu 

• Értelmi Fogyatékosok és Segítőik Országos Érdekvédelmi Szövetsége 

http://www.c3.hu/~efoesz/ 

• Autisták Érdekvédelmi Egyesülete http://www.esoember.hu/ 

• A krónikus betegek és fogyatékkal élők országos szervezetei 

• http://www.disability.hu/adatok_gyujtemenyek/index.html#kbefeoesz 

• Országos Fogyatékosügyi Tanács http://www.szikoraweb.hu/fogyatekos/ 

• Fogyatékosok Esélye Közalapítvány http://www.fogyatekosok-eselye.hu/ 

Libraries, museums, archives - Legislation: 

• 1997. évi CXL. törvény a muzeális intézményekről, a nyilvános könyvtári ellátásról 

és a közművelődésről. 

Libraries, museums, archives - Information: 

• Közgyűjteményi adatok http://www.neumann-haz.hu 

• Könyvtári Intézet http://www.ki.oszk.hu 

• Múzeumok ország- és világszerte http://muzeum.lap.hu 

• Múzeumok adatbázisa http://www.museum.com/jb/start.html 

• Magyar Országos Levéltár http://www.natarch.hu 

Ireland 


and 


Italy 


and 


Luxembourg 

See 



See 



Norway 

• A committee has been appointed by the government to discuss and outline a 

separate antidiscrimination act for disabled people. The committee will complete 

their report by the end of this year (2004). 

• The parliamentary committee on social affairs reviewed the white paper on 

reducing barriers for disabled people (St.meld. nr. 40 (2002-2003). . In their 

review the committee emphasised the need to strengthen the legal rights of 

disabled persons, but that a separate antidiscrimination act and/or changes in the 

existing legislation should be reviewed. (English summary 

http://odin.dep.no/sos/engelsk/news/publ/bn.html) 

• The Delta Centre - The National Resource Centre for Participation and 

Accessibility, has formulated guidelines in connection with the project "Internet 

for all". These are general guidelines but relevant to the archive, library and 

museum domains. 

http://www.shdir.no/index.db2?id=11272&PHPSESSID=397d7506dac3f186697fb8 

72c7db400c 

• The project "The accessible library" by ABM-utvikling has also reviewed 

accessibility to web-based library resources, but has not formulated any separate 

guidelines, only used the general ones outlined by the Delta Centre for surveying 

and suggestions for improvement. These guidelines focus mainly on the physical 

localities and access to them. http://www.shdir.no/index.db2?id=3057 

(Norwegian only). (For a description in English see Olsen, Aina and Roed 

Andersen, Randi: The public library – how to include people with disabilities. 

http://www.shdir.no/assets/7481/The%20public%20library.pdf) 

Poland 

• The Charter of Rights of Disabled People, resolution of the Sejm of the Republic 

of Poland, 1 August 1997. 

http://www.cirnetwork.org/idrm/reports/compendium/poland.cfm 

• State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (PFRON) 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/smie/viewmeasure.cfm?m_id=12770 

Portugal 


and 


Romania 

Legislation: 

• Ordonan^c de Urgen^c nr. 102 din 29 iunie 1999 (Government Order no. 102, 

June 29th 1999) about the special protection and employment of persons with 

disabilities. Published in Official Gazette in June 30th 1999. This order was 

approved by the Romanian Parliament through the Law no 519 of July 12th 2002. 

http://atlas.ici.ro/disability/LEGI/L519_2002.htm 

• There is a printed web guide containing 2,500 addresses of Romanian websites 

annotated and organised by subject. For more information see 

http://www.ghidweb.ro 



• Ghid de resurse Internet pentru biblioteci si bibliotecari (Guide to Internet 

resources for libraries and librarians), by Robert Coravu. 2002. 

http://www.hasdeu.md/ro/informatii/ghid.shtml 

Russia 

On the Social Protection of Disabled Persons in the Russian Federation, 1995. (see 

article http://english.pravda.ru/society/2002/12/03/40288.html). 

Spain 

Legislation: 

• Legislación Española sobre Accesibilidad para la Sociedad de la Información 

http://www.sidar.org/recur/direc/legis/espa.php 

Guidelines, standards, legislation (in Spanish): 

• Fundación Sidar - Acceso Universal 

http://www.sidar.org/recur/direc/norm/index.php 

• Information and Communication Technologies for Health 

http://www.cettico.fi.upm.es/aenor/indexeng.htm 

Other: 

• Social and employment policies for people with disabilities in Spain / M. A. 

Verdugo, A. Jiménez and F. Borja Jordan de Urries (European Journal of Social 

Security, vol. 2, 2000, p. 323-341). 

http://www3.usal.es/~inico/investigacion/invesinico/employment.pdf 

• Accesibility in libraries: Seminario "Bibliotecas accesibles en la web: un reto 

urgente" sponsored by SEDIC, the NATIONAL LIBRARY, and SIDAR 

http://www.sedic.es/gt_normalizacion_bibliotecas_accesibles.htm 

http://www.sidar.org/acti/cursos/2004/biblio/index.php#progra 

• Research on all the national and international guidelines for the development of 

national and international standards and technical documents in the areas of 

protocols, contents, tools, formats and languages in the Internet world - 

Fundación Sidar - Acceso Universal. http://www.sidar.org/ 

See also http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/ 

and 


Sweden 

See 




and 


Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002 

http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2002/20020033.htm 


• Museums, Libraries and Archives Council: Disability portfolio 

http://www.mla.gov.uk/action/learnacc/00access_03.asp 




Security 

SCOPE 

This guideline deals with the threats to digital resources, and covers 

Network security 

Firewalls 

Antivirus software 


Licences 

DRM (Digital Rights Management) 

Cryptography 

Digital signatures 

Digital watermarks 

Steganography 

Automated Payment Systems 

SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) protocol 

Authenticity and integrity 

Trusted digital repositories 

Domain names 

Information security 

RFID 


The EU recognises the importance of security. It is a key tenet of the e-Europe 2005 

action plan which focuses on “the widespread availability and use of broadband 

networks…and the security of networks and information” [1]. 

In June 2001 a communication on network and information security was adopted [2] 

which announced that support for research and development in security would be a 

key element in the 6th Framework Programme. As a result several security-related 

research projects are being supported, including BIOSEC, INSPIRED, PRIME, 

SECOQC, SEINIT and ECRYPT. Details of these projects can be found on the cordis 

website [3]. 

More recently the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) [4] 

has been set up to develop a culture of network and information security for the 

benefit of citizens, consumers, businesses and the public sector within the 

Community. 

Security is about making resources as safe as possible from a variety of threats. 

Users need to have trust and confidence in public services and the information they 

provide, and if take-up of online services is to increase they need to be sure that 

Calimera Guidelines 347 Security

systems are secure. However, a balance needs to be made between security and 

access. Too much security can adversely affect usability and the value of the 

resources needs to be balanced against the costs of security measures including 

software etc., staff time, and the goodwill of users. Not all resources will warrant the 

same level of security. 

Security procedures will be needed to: 

• safeguard against theft or loss; 

• protect resources from deliberate or accidental alterations, i.e. protect the 

authenticity and integrity of digital resources; 

• ensure compliance with any legal requirements, e.g. copyright, licences, data 

protection, privacy issues (see the guideline on Legal and rights issues); 

• provide an audit trail to satisfy accountability requirements; 

• deter potential internal security breaches. 


Network security Back to Scope 

Network security involves the use of middleware, a layer of software between the 

network and the applications. It provides services such as identification, 

authentication and authorisation, and includes encryption software etc. Much of this 

guideline deals with network security. 

A DMZ (“demilitarised zone”) is “middleware”, usually a firewall or multiple firewalls, 

which adds layers of security between a trusted internal network and an untrusted 

external network such as the public Internet. 

Firewalls Back to Scope 

A firewall can work two ways: it can protect the server and the resources from 

outside hackers and it can prevent users from inside the organisation from accessing 

certain sites. A decision must be made as to what traffic will be allowed through the 

firewall, for example only e-mail could be allowed in, and both e-mail and the results 

of web searches could be allowed out. Once the allowable traffic has been defined, 

the firewall can be set to block all undefined traffic. This will occasionally stop new, 

legitimate, traffic but this is preferable to allowing unknown traffic in which could 

cause damage to the network. 

Antivirus software Back to Scope 

Viruses, spam etc. can still get through legitimate “holes” in a firewall, for example 

via e-mail. One common way of spreading viruses is through attachments to e-mails, 

so all staff should be trained to be suspicious of attachments sent with unsolicited emails 

or from unrecognised senders. All staff should be trained: 

• never to open suspicious attachments and to delete them immediately, and then 

empty the “trash can” to double delete them; 

• never to forward any spam, or junk e-mail and to delete it immediately; 

• always to scan floppy discs/CD-ROMs for viruses before using. 

Downloading material from the Internet to a computer’s hard disk can also be a 

source of viruses, as can floppy disks brought in by users. Many organisations which 


provide public access to the Internet only allow downloading to floppy disks which 

they sell and which have been pre-formatted and checked for viruses, or else they 

require users to submit their disks for virus checking before use. 

Anti-virus software, anti-spam software and anti-spyware software are all readily 

available to purchase or as freeware and should of course be installed and kept upto-date. 

The EC has brought in a directive in an effort to control spam (Directive 

2002/58/EC on privacy and electronic communications, 12 July 2002) [5]. 

User authentication (see also the guideline on Personalisation) 

The first step in protecting resources is knowing who the users are. CCTV (Closed 

Circuit Television) can be installed to keep a physical watch on users. It is possible to 

install a Customer Relations Management System (CRM) which can log customers, 

track their usage, and store details of all their interactions with the organisation 

whether by e-mail or telephone. Originally used for marketing purposes by 

commercial organisations, CRM systems have many potential uses in the cultural 

heritage sector including keeping track of customers for security purposes by 

automating registration and licensing systems etc. 

A user registration system is useful to keep track of users of sensitive or valuable 

material or material whose use is restricted by copyright etc. An Acceptable Use 

Policy (AUP) can be incorporated into the registration system, which users are 

required to read and agree to (usually by ticking a box) before being allowed access 

to the network. If they accept the conditions of access they will normally be legally 

bound by any restrictions. If copyright or licensing is an issue it is useful to include 

this in the AUP. A typical AUP will include: 

• a description of the service provided and the resources accessible; 

• who is able to use the service; 

• information about any charges; 

• whether access is filtered; 

• ethical and legal information e.g. about copyright etc. 

Developing your Acceptable Use Policy [6] contains useful guidance and examples. 

Example policies can also be found on the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, 

Security) Institute web site [7]. 

A user registration system should be accompanied by a user authentication system 

which will check the user’s identity, e.g. by asking for an e-mail address and then 

issuing a username/ID and password which must be used to access the collection. 

This type of user authentication is relatively simple and cheap but is only really 

suitable for low level security since: 

• passwords may be distributed by users to their friends etc.; 

• passwords may be stolen or borrowed; 

• passwords can be guessed, particularly when users choose passwords such as 

birth dates; 

• users often write down their passwords; 

• some computer viruses can capture IDs and passwords; 

• passwords travelling over the network are becoming increasingly prone to 

"eavesdropping". 

To guard against these threats: 


• the number of times a user can attempt to login can be limited and/or the time 

allowed for typing in the password can be limited; 

• servers can be set so that the last login name is not displayed – this is important 

in public areas where someone could watch a user type in their password; 

• registered users can be required to change their passwords on a regular basis; 

• “guest accounts” can be disabled; 

• staff passwords used for administrative purposes should be changed regularly. 

There are other user authentication systems which offer greater security but are 

more expensive, such as : 

• encrypted passwords; 

• IP (Internet Protocol) filtering, in which the server compares the IP address of the 

user against a list of known IP addresses and no password is required. There are 

disadvantages to this system as the growth of dynamic IP addressing by many 

Internet Service Providers is making it very difficult to manage a list of approved 

IP addresses, and also IP authentication is difficult to check for mobile users and 

users behind firewalls; 

• a combination of password and IP filtering; 

• biometric authentication systems e.g. fingerprints or iris recognition; 

• smartcards – user authentication in the near future will probably be done by local 

or central government agencies which will issue members of the public with an 

all-purpose form of identification, probably some kind of smartcard containing 

biometric information, which will give holders access to a range of services 

including museums, libraries and archives. 

Identification systems can be bought off the peg e.g. the Athens Access Management 

System [8], an access management system controlling access to online databases, 

and Kerberos [9], a network authentication protocol which uses secret key 

cryptography. For an overview of user authentication systems see Authentication 

mechanisms – which is best? by Marilyn Chun. 2002 [10], or An Overview of 

Different Authentication Methods and Protocols by Richard Duncan. 2001 [11]. 

Licences (see also the guideline on Legal and rights issues) Back to Scope 

Another way of controlling who uses digital resources is by having a licensing 

system. Licensed users will usually pay a subscription; sometimes there are different 

levels of subscription based on the licensed use of the resources, e.g. educational 

use might be cheaper than commercial use. Licensing systems can be expensive to 

implement so it is sensible to ascertain that there is likely to be a sufficient number 

of people willing to subscribe to make this level of security a worthwhile investment. 

Licences might also govern access to resources not owned by the institution. For 

example a library might subscribe to the online versions of periodicals and reference 

works the use of which is controlled by a licence with the publisher. E-books could 

be supplied in a similar way. (See links.) 

User registration and authentication systems can also help to protect digital images 

while they are being transmitted over the network. If an encryption system such as 

Public Key Cryptography [12], which employs an algorithm using two different but 

mathematically related "keys," one for creating a digital signature or transforming 

data into a seemingly unintelligible form, and another key for verifying a digital 


signature or returning the message to its original form, is used, then the images will 

only be accessible by users who have the right “key”. 

Digital Rights Management Back to Scope 

DRM may be defined as the automated management of IPR (Intellectual Property 

Rights) and the secure delivery of digital content to users. A DRM system can: 

• prevent unauthorised alteration and copying; 

• deal with licensing arrangements; 

• support payment systems such as pay-per-view and subscriptions; 

• work effectively with all types of digital format. 

A DRM system may incorporate and make use of technologies such as digital 

watermarks, steganography, Self Protecting Documents (system owned by 

ContentGuard Inc.) [13], and Automated Payment Systems. 

A Digital Asset Management (DAM) system (see the guideline on Content and 

context management) can manage the entire process from acquisition of a digital 

entity through to long-term preservation, including description, retrieval and all 

aspects of security, and so can incorporate a DRM system. However DAMs are 

expensive and usually only feasible for large organisations and projects. 

Cryptography Back to Scope 

Cryptography uses mathematical techniques to scramble text or images into 

ciphertext (a process called encryption), then back again (known as decryption) so 

that: 

• the information cannot be understood by anyone for whom it was not intended; 

• the information cannot be altered in storage or transit between sender and 

intended receiver without the alteration being detected; 

• the sender of the information cannot deny at a later stage that they sent it; 

• the sender and receiver can confirm each other’s identity and the origin and 

destination of the information. 

Digital signatures Back to Scope 

Digital signatures are attached to electronic messages to verify that the senders are 

who they say they are. They are created and verified by Public Key Cryptography. 

For a description of how these work see the American Bar Association’s Digital 

Signature Guidelines Tutorial [14]. The World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet 

Engineering Task Force are working on an XML digital signature [15]. 

Digital watermarks Back to Scope 

Digital watermarks cannot stop images being downloaded but they can prove 

ownership and provenance of the images. They can be visible or invisible or a 

combination of both. Visible watermarks are easier and cheaper to implement, but 

also tend to spoil the look of the image, so are not ideal for works of art etc. They do 

however eliminate the commercial value of a copy to a potential thief without 

preventing legitimate use. Invisible watermarks are less of a deterrent to theft but 

increase the likelihood of proving that an image has been stolen after the event. 

More advanced invisible watermarking systems will place the mark on the image at 

the time of access by the user. Further information can then be added to the mark 

such as the name and contact details of the user, time of downloading, and agreed 


copyright details etc. Similar techniques can be used on audio and video media. 

Another type of watermark is a 'fragile' watermark. This is embedded in the image 

but is so 'fragile' that it will be lost if the image is in any way changed or modified, so 

its presence will prove that the image is totally original and has not been tampered 

with in any way. For information about digital watermarks and fingerprints see 

Purloining and Pilfering by Linda Cole [16]. 

Some simple alternatives to digital watermarks include: 

• putting a logo or URL on a corner of an image which shows origin or ownership of 

the image. Removing such a mark would not be difficult, but would break the 

copyright agreement and render the user vulnerable to prosecution if discovered; 

• automatically inserting a copyright notice and other relevant information 

whenever an image is downloaded. Again, removing this would not be difficult but 

would break the image copyright agreement. 

Steganography Back to Scope 

Literally “covered writing”, steganography in the digital arena involves hiding 

information inside something else, usually an image but it could be any digital format 

such as a piece of recorded sound. Two files are required, the cover image which 

will hold the hidden data, and the data to be hidden. The two files combine to make 

a stegoimage which requires a key to decode it. For a description of steganography 

see Johnson, Neil F. and Jajodia, Sushil: Exploring steganography: seeing the 

unseen. 1998 [17]. 

Other ways to protect images include: 

• disabling the right click mouse function or context menu, which contains a “save 

picture” option; 

• compressing the file format to reduce image quality; 

• using thumbnails of images which are visible to everyone, and making fullsize 

images available only to registered users and/or protecting the fullsize image by 

encryption, watermark etc. 

Automated Payment Systems (see also the section on e-commerce in the 

guideline on Legal and rights issues) Back to Scope 

If the institution sells goods or services over the Internet, by telephone or mobile 

device then a secure system which protects the details of a customer’s credit or debit 

card is essential. This will involve a Payment Gateway which communicates with the 

customer’s bank. There are many commercial suppliers of such systems. 

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Back to Scope 

SSL is a protocol that transmits data over the Internet in encrypted form. It is 

generally used for protecting sensitive data such as credit card details so is essential 

if goods or services are to be sold over the Internet. For details see Introduction to 

SSL [18]. S-HTTP (Secure HTTP) [19] also transmits data securely over the Web, but 

is designed for individual messages only whereas SSL can deal with huge amounts of 

data. TSP (Transport Layer Security) [20] is regarded as being even more secure. 

Authenticity and integrity Back to Scope 


There is no universally accepted definition of authenticity, but it broadly means that 

the preserved copy should be as much like the original as possible. This is a 

particularly important issue for archives, where the connections between documents 

must be preserved to assist with interpretation. For example, writers and academics 

need to be confident that references cited will stay the same over time, lawyers need 

evidence which is trustworthy in a court of law, and governments need to be able to 

trace how decisions were made, etc. For a discussion on the importance of 

authenticity see Gladney, H.M. and Bennett, J.L.: What Do We Mean by Authentic? 

What's the Real McCoy? in D-Lib Magazine, vol. 9, no. 7/8. July/August 2003 [21]. 

Archivists and historians are concerned that, with the proliferation of records only 

available in digital format, the ability to provide authentic sources might be lost to 

future generations. In the analogue world, the preserved item usually is the original, 

although copies may be made for use in order to prevent damage from handling etc. 

In the digital world the preserved item will be a copy of some sort since there is no 

physical artefact. As it is dependent on technology for access, over time this copy will 

be subject to many changes in order to ensure that it is still accessible on new 

technologies. It is therefore crucial that metadata is preserved with it to define its 

authenticity, and ideally this should be created simultaneously with the information. 

For discussions on the challenges posed by authenticity and integrity see Integrity 

and authenticity of digital cultural heritage objects. Digicult Thematic Issue 1, August 

2002 [22]. 

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has published BIP 0008:2004 Code of practice 

for legal admissibility and evidential weight of information stored electronically [23], 

which gives guidance on all aspects of Electronic Document Management (EDM) 

including: 

• whether or not to keep paper originals (where these exist); 

• how to ensure that all relevant evidence is captured from original documents, 

including metadata; 

• how to develop and implement a security policy; 

• what to do in the event of a breach of security; etc. 

There is a useful guide to this: Legal Admissibility and Evidential Weight of 

Information Stored Electronically–What are the benefits of implementing the Code of 

Practice? by Alan Shipman [24]. 

There is also an international standard ISO/TR 15801:2004: Electronic imaging -- 

Information stored electronically -- Recommendations for trustworthiness and 

reliability [25] , which describes the whole life cycle of a stored electronic document 

from initial capture to eventual destruction where the issues of trustworthiness, 

reliability, authenticity and integrity are important. 

Various methods of ensuring authenticity of digital resources exist, including: 

• hiding data in the object to reveal its source, such as digital watermarks and 

digital signatures (see above); 

• the creation of trusted digital repositories (see below); 

• registration of unique document identifiers (see the guideline on Digital 

preservation); 


• defining metadata structures to carry document authentication (see the guideline 

on Digital preservation); 

• registering specific domain names for websites (see below). 

The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems 

(InterPARES) Project has produced a report on authenticity [26]. 

Trusted digital repositories Back to Scope 

These aim to provide reliable long term access. Some institutions will be in a position 

to build their own repositories; others may decide to deposit material with a third 

party, which could be a national legal deposit library or archive which has the 

organisational, technical, structural, legal, professional and financial resources to be 

able to take responsibility for the long-term maintenance of digital resources on 

behalf of depositors and for the benefit of current and future users. For an overview 

see Trusted Digital Repositories: attributes and responsibilities: an RLG-OCLC 

[Research Libraries Group - Online Computer Library Center] Report. RLG, 2002 [27]. 

Domain names Back to Scope 

To help users identify the authenticity of the content being delivered on websites, 

domain names should be registered on the Domain Name System (DNS) [28] and 

should contain the name of the organisation and/or project. Museums can register 

with the Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma) [29] created by the 

International Council of Museums (ICOM), using “.museum” as a top level domain. 

Resolvers are programs that can look up IP addresses (the process is called DNS 

resolution). 

Information security Back to Scope 

Any organisation dealing with information knows that it is a valuable asset. Although 

museums, libraries and archives are primarily interested in making information 

available to users, there will nevertheless be sensitive information which must be 

protected from misuse. This includes personal information about users which is 

protected under Data Protection legislation (see the guideline on Legal and rights 

issues). 

Information systems and networks can be threatened by fraud, espionage, sabotage, 

vandalism, fire or flood, computer viruses, hacking etc. It is advisable for information 

in all formats (paper, digital, film/video, audio, transmitted by post or using 

electronic means, etc.) to be managed in accordance with the following international 

standards, which should be regarded as complementary: 

• BS ISO/IEC 17799:2000, BS 7799-1:2000 Information technology. Code of 

practice for information security management [30]; and 

• BS 7799-2:2002 Information security management specification for information 

security management systems [31]. 

All digital information, including system configurations, should be regularly backed-up 

and stored securely, preferably off-site. 

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Back to Scope 


Although this guideline deals with security of digital resources, it is worth mentioning 

that there are technological ways to protect physical objects. For example RFID tags 

and labels can be used: 

• to guard against theft; 

• to track objects in transit; 

• to track visitors to an exhibition or heritage site. 


The European Commission has announced that security research will be a key topic 

in the IST 7 th Framework Programme [32]. 

The growth in the use of mobile devices will encourage research into the 

development of technology to ensure transactions can be carried out securely 

wherever and whenever people need them. In fact such research has already 

started, for example: 

• the IST FP6 InspireD project is carrying out research into a new generation of 

smartcard technology for Trusted Personal Devices (TPD) [33]. 

• the OCCULT project is developing a technique which employs synchronised laser 

emitters and receivers to encrypt information at the hardware level [34]. 


[1] The eEurope 2005 Action Plan 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2005/index_en.htm 

[2] Network and Information Security: Proposal for a European Policy Approach. 6 

June 2001. 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/eeurope/2002/news_library/new_document 

s/index_en.htm 

[3] ICT for Trust and Security. FP6 Projects. 

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_d/trust-security/projects.htm 

[4] European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) 

http://www.enisa.eu.int/ 

[5] Directive 2002/58/EC on privacy and electronic communications, 12 July 2002. 

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/ecomm/useful_information/library/leg 

islation/index_en.htm#dir_2002_58_ec 

[6] Developing your Acceptable Use Policy. DfES (UK Department for Education and 

Science) and Becta (British Educational communications and Technology Agency). 

http://safety.ngfl.gov.uk/ukonline/document.php3?D=d6 

[7] SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute 

http://www.sans.org/newlook/resources/policies/policies.htm 


[8] Athens Access Management System http://www.athens.ac.uk/ 

[9] Kerberos http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/ 

[10] Authentication mechanisms – which is best? by Marilyn Chun. SANS Institute, 

2000-02. 

http://www.giac.org/practical/gsec/Marilyn_Chun_GSEC.pdf 

[11] An Overview of Different Authentication Methods and Protocols by Richard 

Duncan. SANS Institute, 2002. 

http://www.sans.org/rr/papers/index.php?id=118 

[12] Scottish Middleware Project: PKI Resources. 

http://www.gla.ac.uk/projects/scotmid/publications/pki.shtml 

[13] US Patent and Trademark Office: Self-protecting documents. 

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph- 

Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1 

&f=G&l=50&s1=6763464.WKU.&OS=PN/6763464&RS=PN/6763464 

[14] American Bar Association: Digital Signature Guidelines Tutorial. 

http://www.abanet.org/scitech/ec/isc/dsg-tutorial.html 

[15] The World Wide Web Consortium and the Internet Engineering Task Force: XML 

digital signature http://www.w3.org/Signature/ 

[16] Cole, Linda: Purloining and Pilfering. 

http://www.wdvl.com/Authoring/Graphics/Theft/ 

[17] Johnson, Neil F. and Jajodia, Sushil: Exploring steganography: seeing the 

unseen. 1998. http://www.jjtc.com/pub/r2026.pdf 

[18] Introduction to SSL. 

http://docs.sun.com/source/816-6156-10/contents.htm 

[19] S-HTTP (Secure HTTP) http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2660.txt 

[20] TSP (Transport Layer Security) http://www.treese.org/ietf-tls/ 

[21] Gladney, H.M. and Bennett, J.L.: What Do We Mean by Authentic? What's the 

Real McCoy? in D-Lib Magazine, vol. 9, no. 7/8. July/August 2003. 

http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july03/gladney/07gladney.html 

[22] Integrity and authenticity of digital cultural heritage objects. DigiCULT Thematic 

Issue 1, August 2002. http://www.digicult.info/pages/Themiss.php 

[23] BIP 0008:2004: Code of practice for legal admissibility and evidential weight of 

information stored electronically. British Standards Institution (BSI), 2004. 

http://bsonline.techindex.co.uk/ 


[24] Shipman, Alan: Legal Admissibility and Evidential Weight of Information Stored 

Electronically–What are the benefits of implementing the Code of Practice? 2004. 

http://www.bsi-global.com/ICT/Legal/bip0008.pdf 

[25] ISO/TR 15801:2004: Electronic imaging -- Information stored electronically -- 

Recommendations for trustworthiness and reliability 

http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/CatalogueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUM 

BER=29093&ICS1=37&ICS2=80&ICS3 

[26] The Long-term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Records: Findings of the 

InterPARES Project. Part 1: Establishing and maintaining trust in electronic records. 

Authenticity Task Force Report. [2001]. http://www.interpares.org/book/index.htm 

[27] Trusted Digital Repositories: attributes and responsibilities: an RLG-OCLC 

[Research Libraries Group - Online Computer Library Center] Report. RLG, 2002. 

http://www.rlg.org/longterm/repositories.pdf 

[28] Domain Name System (DNS) http://www.dns.net/ 

[29] Museum Domain Management Association (MuseDoma) 

http://musedoma.museum/ 

[30] BS ISO/IEC 17799:2000, BS 7799-1:2000: Information technology. Code of 

practice for information security management. 

http://www.bsi-global.com/ICT/Service/bsisoiec17799.xalter; 

[31] BS 7799-2:2002: Information security management specification for information 

security management systems. 

http://www.bsi-global.com/Business_Information/Standards/top/bs7799-2.xalter 

[32] Security research a “key topic” in next Framework Programme. 19 July 2004. 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/security/news/article_1282_en.html 

[33] InspireD project http://www.inspiredproject.com 

[34] OCCULT project 

http://istresults.cordis.lu/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/BrowsingType/Features/I 

D/70227 

Australia 


eBook Library (EBL) 

eBooks Corporation delivers eBooks to libraries using a DRM system and a licence 

arrangement. http://www.ebl.ebooks.com/ 


Macedonia 

MAIIS - Macedonian Archival Integrated Information Systems 

The system for technical protection of archives has 6 subsystems: video supervision, 

access control, fire prevention, burglary protection, movement detection and 

intervention communications with computer output for each subsystem and server. 

http://www.arhiv.gov.mk 

Russia 

d’ArtDot 

Uses systems to guarantee authenticity of objects, and to deter theft, counterfeiting 

etc. http://www.datadot.ru 

Spain 

Pacifico II 

This portal incorporates a virtual shop where users may buy surrogates of different 

materials using a secure payments system. http://www.pacifico.csic.es/ 

Software ADEA 2000 

This application has been developed by archivists and combines the used of radio 

frequency and barcodes to provide control of over 10,000,000 archives references. 

http://www.adea.es

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