Talk in Oslo about Open Data and why Europeana thinks this is essential in order to get the most out of digitised cultural content. Also the issues and how Europeana is trying to solve them are discussed.

1. Bringing culture to all - Together
!
Europeana and Open Data
Joris Pekel
@jpekel
Hi
Oslo, Norway 06/01/2014

2. Content
à
à
à
à
à
à
About Europeana
About Open Data
Why Open?
What are the obstacles?
How are we trying to solve this?
Going forward
@jpekel
During the next 30 minutes I will tell you more about what Europeana exactly is and how we work, why we think this is important, and share some of the
results with you. I will also go a bit deeper into the concept of open culture, talk about the issues we are running into, and finally what our goals are for the
future

3. What is Europeana
@jpekel
The first time the idea for Europeana was mentioned was in 2005. Six countries wrote a letter to EU-president Barroso where they explained the need for a
European digital library where all European citizens can freely access all of Europe’s heritage from books, paintings, music, audiovisual, etcetera.
One of the goals of Europeana is to strengthen the sense of a ‘European Identity’. By giving wider access to culture from all the European countries, people
are able to construct their history and realise that their national culture is always interwoven with that of other countries. Borders have shifted, people have
migrated, pan-European events etc. It is impossible to say our identity is only from one nation, it is a much more complex gathering of different identities
through time which we can reconstruct through culture, and by that get a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
That is the more philosophical side of the project, but there is also a very practical one, and that is to bring together all of Europe’s cultural heritage and to
make it accessible from one point.
!
When I was an art history and film student, I would very often study people/films/plays that were not bound to one place, as art and people tend to move
around. Ran around into the gallery, Monet.
It was therefore incredibly difficult to get all the source material together for my research. Even if the material was to be found in the Netherlands, it would
take me a long time to get there and cost me. If I found the book I copied the parts I needed and went back for further studying. I was always really happy
with the expertise and willingness of the staff to help me find my relevant material. Institutions really want their information to be used and spread. When
something was not in the Netherlands I just had to be lucky that somebody would have put it online (illegal) or that the snippet version of Google books
would by accident show me the relevant pages.
!
This is obviously not ideal, and in the digital world we are now living in this is not necessary anymore, The cost of storage has reduced to almost zero and
through the internet we can connect and disseminate collections and objects more easily than ever. And it is even not expected. What is not to be found
online, does not exist. We risk as institutions to become obsolete if we do not make the transition in to the digital world.

4. What is Europeana
à Found in 2005
@jpekel
The first time the idea for Europeana was mentioned was in 2005. Six countries wrote a letter to EU-president Barroso where they explained the need for a
European digital library where all European citizens can freely access all of Europe’s heritage from books, paintings, music, audiovisual, etcetera.
One of the goals of Europeana is to strengthen the sense of a ‘European Identity’. By giving wider access to culture from all the European countries, people
are able to construct their history and realise that their national culture is always interwoven with that of other countries. Borders have shifted, people have
migrated, pan-European events etc. It is impossible to say our identity is only from one nation, it is a much more complex gathering of different identities
through time which we can reconstruct through culture, and by that get a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
That is the more philosophical side of the project, but there is also a very practical one, and that is to bring together all of Europe’s cultural heritage and to
make it accessible from one point.
!
When I was an art history and film student, I would very often study people/films/plays that were not bound to one place, as art and people tend to move
around. Ran around into the gallery, Monet.
It was therefore incredibly difficult to get all the source material together for my research. Even if the material was to be found in the Netherlands, it would
take me a long time to get there and cost me. If I found the book I copied the parts I needed and went back for further studying. I was always really happy
with the expertise and willingness of the staff to help me find my relevant material. Institutions really want their information to be used and spread. When
something was not in the Netherlands I just had to be lucky that somebody would have put it online (illegal) or that the snippet version of Google books
would by accident show me the relevant pages.
!
This is obviously not ideal, and in the digital world we are now living in this is not necessary anymore, The cost of storage has reduced to almost zero and
through the internet we can connect and disseminate collections and objects more easily than ever. And it is even not expected. What is not to be found
online, does not exist. We risk as institutions to become obsolete if we do not make the transition in to the digital world.

5. What is Europeana
à Found in 2005
à Launch in 2008
@jpekel
The first time the idea for Europeana was mentioned was in 2005. Six countries wrote a letter to EU-president Barroso where they explained the need for a
European digital library where all European citizens can freely access all of Europe’s heritage from books, paintings, music, audiovisual, etcetera.
One of the goals of Europeana is to strengthen the sense of a ‘European Identity’. By giving wider access to culture from all the European countries, people
are able to construct their history and realise that their national culture is always interwoven with that of other countries. Borders have shifted, people have
migrated, pan-European events etc. It is impossible to say our identity is only from one nation, it is a much more complex gathering of different identities
through time which we can reconstruct through culture, and by that get a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
That is the more philosophical side of the project, but there is also a very practical one, and that is to bring together all of Europe’s cultural heritage and to
make it accessible from one point.
!
When I was an art history and film student, I would very often study people/films/plays that were not bound to one place, as art and people tend to move
around. Ran around into the gallery, Monet.
It was therefore incredibly difficult to get all the source material together for my research. Even if the material was to be found in the Netherlands, it would
take me a long time to get there and cost me. If I found the book I copied the parts I needed and went back for further studying. I was always really happy
with the expertise and willingness of the staff to help me find my relevant material. Institutions really want their information to be used and spread. When
something was not in the Netherlands I just had to be lucky that somebody would have put it online (illegal) or that the snippet version of Google books
would by accident show me the relevant pages.
!
This is obviously not ideal, and in the digital world we are now living in this is not necessary anymore, The cost of storage has reduced to almost zero and
through the internet we can connect and disseminate collections and objects more easily than ever. And it is even not expected. What is not to be found
online, does not exist. We risk as institutions to become obsolete if we do not make the transition in to the digital world.

6. What is Europeana
à Found in 2005
à Launch in 2008
à “Access to all of Europe’s heritage”
@jpekel
The first time the idea for Europeana was mentioned was in 2005. Six countries wrote a letter to EU-president Barroso where they explained the need for a
European digital library where all European citizens can freely access all of Europe’s heritage from books, paintings, music, audiovisual, etcetera.
One of the goals of Europeana is to strengthen the sense of a ‘European Identity’. By giving wider access to culture from all the European countries, people
are able to construct their history and realise that their national culture is always interwoven with that of other countries. Borders have shifted, people have
migrated, pan-European events etc. It is impossible to say our identity is only from one nation, it is a much more complex gathering of different identities
through time which we can reconstruct through culture, and by that get a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
That is the more philosophical side of the project, but there is also a very practical one, and that is to bring together all of Europe’s cultural heritage and to
make it accessible from one point.
!
When I was an art history and film student, I would very often study people/films/plays that were not bound to one place, as art and people tend to move
around. Ran around into the gallery, Monet.
It was therefore incredibly difficult to get all the source material together for my research. Even if the material was to be found in the Netherlands, it would
take me a long time to get there and cost me. If I found the book I copied the parts I needed and went back for further studying. I was always really happy
with the expertise and willingness of the staff to help me find my relevant material. Institutions really want their information to be used and spread. When
something was not in the Netherlands I just had to be lucky that somebody would have put it online (illegal) or that the snippet version of Google books
would by accident show me the relevant pages.
!
This is obviously not ideal, and in the digital world we are now living in this is not necessary anymore, The cost of storage has reduced to almost zero and
through the internet we can connect and disseminate collections and objects more easily than ever. And it is even not expected. What is not to be found
online, does not exist. We risk as institutions to become obsolete if we do not make the transition in to the digital world.

7. What is Europeana
à
à
à
à
Found in 2005
Launch in 2008
“Access to all of Europe’s heritage”
European Identity
@jpekel
The first time the idea for Europeana was mentioned was in 2005. Six countries wrote a letter to EU-president Barroso where they explained the need for a
European digital library where all European citizens can freely access all of Europe’s heritage from books, paintings, music, audiovisual, etcetera.
One of the goals of Europeana is to strengthen the sense of a ‘European Identity’. By giving wider access to culture from all the European countries, people
are able to construct their history and realise that their national culture is always interwoven with that of other countries. Borders have shifted, people have
migrated, pan-European events etc. It is impossible to say our identity is only from one nation, it is a much more complex gathering of different identities
through time which we can reconstruct through culture, and by that get a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
That is the more philosophical side of the project, but there is also a very practical one, and that is to bring together all of Europe’s cultural heritage and to
make it accessible from one point.
!
When I was an art history and film student, I would very often study people/films/plays that were not bound to one place, as art and people tend to move
around. Ran around into the gallery, Monet.
It was therefore incredibly difficult to get all the source material together for my research. Even if the material was to be found in the Netherlands, it would
take me a long time to get there and cost me. If I found the book I copied the parts I needed and went back for further studying. I was always really happy
with the expertise and willingness of the staff to help me find my relevant material. Institutions really want their information to be used and spread. When
something was not in the Netherlands I just had to be lucky that somebody would have put it online (illegal) or that the snippet version of Google books
would by accident show me the relevant pages.
!
This is obviously not ideal, and in the digital world we are now living in this is not necessary anymore, The cost of storage has reduced to almost zero and
through the internet we can connect and disseminate collections and objects more easily than ever. And it is even not expected. What is not to be found
online, does not exist. We risk as institutions to become obsolete if we do not make the transition in to the digital world.

8. What is Europeana
à
à
à
à
à
Found in 2005
Launch in 2008
“Access to all of Europe’s heritage”
European Identity
Bring culture together and give access from one point
@jpekel
The first time the idea for Europeana was mentioned was in 2005. Six countries wrote a letter to EU-president Barroso where they explained the need for a
European digital library where all European citizens can freely access all of Europe’s heritage from books, paintings, music, audiovisual, etcetera.
One of the goals of Europeana is to strengthen the sense of a ‘European Identity’. By giving wider access to culture from all the European countries, people
are able to construct their history and realise that their national culture is always interwoven with that of other countries. Borders have shifted, people have
migrated, pan-European events etc. It is impossible to say our identity is only from one nation, it is a much more complex gathering of different identities
through time which we can reconstruct through culture, and by that get a better understanding of who we are and why we are here.
That is the more philosophical side of the project, but there is also a very practical one, and that is to bring together all of Europe’s cultural heritage and to
make it accessible from one point.
!
When I was an art history and film student, I would very often study people/films/plays that were not bound to one place, as art and people tend to move
around. Ran around into the gallery, Monet.
It was therefore incredibly difficult to get all the source material together for my research. Even if the material was to be found in the Netherlands, it would
take me a long time to get there and cost me. If I found the book I copied the parts I needed and went back for further studying. I was always really happy
with the expertise and willingness of the staff to help me find my relevant material. Institutions really want their information to be used and spread. When
something was not in the Netherlands I just had to be lucky that somebody would have put it online (illegal) or that the snippet version of Google books
would by accident show me the relevant pages.
!
This is obviously not ideal, and in the digital world we are now living in this is not necessary anymore, The cost of storage has reduced to almost zero and
through the internet we can connect and disseminate collections and objects more easily than ever. And it is even not expected. What is not to be found
online, does not exist. We risk as institutions to become obsolete if we do not make the transition in to the digital world.

9. Europe’s cultural heritage portal
à 30m records from 2,300
à
à
à
à
à
à
European galleries,
museums, archives and
libraries
Books, newspapers,
journals, letters, diaries,
archival papers
Paintings, maps,
drawings, photographs
Music, spoken word,
radio broadcasts
Film, newsreels,
television
Curated exhibitions
31 languages
So this effort resulted in Europeana. We currently aggregate the material from about 2300 institutions around Europe, leading to a database of a little over
30M records. A few things that are important to notice:

10. Preview & Digital Objects are licensed as
described in EDM: rights
!
CCO
!
Layer #3: Metadata (descriptive object information)
Layer #2: Previews (lower quality versions of #1)
!
!
EDM:rights
Layer #1: Digital objects (on the site of the provider)
!
!
@jpekel
!5
1. We only store metadata, the description. This in order to make the material to be found. All the metadata includes a link to the digital object on the page
of the providing institution.
2. This means we won’t store metadata when there is no digital object available. Our sister project The European Library does store complete
bibliographies.
3. All metadata is freely available without any restrictions by using the CC0 public domain waiver. I will get back to that later on.
4. It is up to the institution how to license their digital objects. But we want to know and show that to our users by using a rights statement. We do
encourage an open policy in the institutions in order to make everything that can be made openly available.

11. Who submits data to Europeana?
Domain Aggregators
National initiatives
Libraries
National Aggregators
e.g.
Culture
Grid,
Culture.fr
e.g. The
European
Library
Regional Aggregators
Archives
e.g. APEX
Audiovisual
collections
e.g. EUScreen,
European Film
Gateway
Thematic collections
e.g. Musées
Lausannois
e.g. Judaica Europeana,
Europeana Fashion
At a working level, we operate in a network of aggregators. We can’t work directly with 2,200 organisations, so we rely on aggregators to
collect data, harmonise it, and deliver to Europeana.
Aggregators are important because they share a background with the organisations whose content they bring together, so there is close understanding.
The aggregation model enables Europeana to collect huge quantities of data from thousands of providers, through only a handful of channels.
.

12. Open?
http://opendefinition.org
@jpekel
So you’ve heard me mention the word open now for a couple of times, but what does that really mean? In this context it means making the data available
in an open way. Here is the definition we use for open, taken from the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Open Definition’
“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or sharealike.”

13. Open?
“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to
use, reuse, and redistribute it — subject only, at most,
to the requirement to attribute and/or share-alike.”
http://opendefinition.org
@jpekel
So you’ve heard me mention the word open now for a couple of times, but what does that really mean? In this context it means making the data available
in an open way. Here is the definition we use for open, taken from the Open Knowledge Foundation’s Open Definition’
“A piece of data or content is open if anyone is free to use, reuse, and redistribute it — subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and/or sharealike.”

14. Twelve Rights Statements available for
EDM: rights
!
@jpekel
!8
So this ranges from material that is in the public domain, which means it is completely out of copyright - often due to the age of the object so can be used
without any restrictions- to the requirement to attribute the original source, or share the new work under the same open license (share alike). For this we
use the set of Creative Commons licenses which allow you to decide what kind of rights are reserved. Due to time I will not go into all Creative Commons
licenses in this presentation, you can have a further read at their website.

15. Twelve Rights Statements available for
EDM: rights
!
@jpekel
!9
So this ranges from material that is in the public domain, which means it is completely out of copyright - often due to the age of the object so can be used
without any restrictions- to the requirement to attribute the original source, or share the new work under the same open license (share alike). For this we
use the set of Creative Commons licenses which allow you to decide what kind of rights are reserved. Due to time I will not go into all Creative Commons
licenses in this presentation, you can have a further read at their website.

16. @jpekel
What I do want to highlight is the CC0 public domain dedication. Note that it is not a license. By applying CC0 you dedicate the data to the public domain
and take all restrictions away from it. When Europeana started the metadata was licensed in such a way it would only allow for non-commercial re-use.
After a lot of research, and simply experiencing it like this, we have come to the conclusion that this does not work for metadata from a variety of sources.
In order to stimulate maximum re-use the data has to be re-usable without any restrictions. For this reason all of Europeana’s metadata was released as
CC0 in September 2012, which led to a massive uptake of our API that allows you to re-use the data in new ways. So all the description data in Europeana
can be used by anyone for any purpose without asking. Note again that this is only for the metadata! The facts about the object. The digitised object is
licensed in a way the institution decides to.

17. Open culture on culture
@jpekel
So to come back to my earlier point about Europeana’s aim to make all culture available to anyone - this is why we encourage an open approach to making
culture available online. We ask institution to keep digital representations of objects that are in the Public Domain, in the Public Domain. So not to claim
new copyright over scans because you consider it as ‘your new creative work’ for example. Also, when you have the rights to open up collections, please
do so. We have collected quite a lot of evidence by now that shows that open collections get far more views than non open material and it gets used in
places where far more users are, like Wikipedia. Besides we believe that it is the goal of any cultural institution to let as much people as possible enjoy and
benefit from their work as possible.

18. Open culture on culture
à What is in the Public Domain stays in the Public
Domain
@jpekel
So to come back to my earlier point about Europeana’s aim to make all culture available to anyone - this is why we encourage an open approach to making
culture available online. We ask institution to keep digital representations of objects that are in the Public Domain, in the Public Domain. So not to claim
new copyright over scans because you consider it as ‘your new creative work’ for example. Also, when you have the rights to open up collections, please
do so. We have collected quite a lot of evidence by now that shows that open collections get far more views than non open material and it gets used in
places where far more users are, like Wikipedia. Besides we believe that it is the goal of any cultural institution to let as much people as possible enjoy and
benefit from their work as possible.

19. Open culture on culture
à What is in the Public Domain stays in the Public
à
Domain
If you have the rights to openly license content, do so
@jpekel
So to come back to my earlier point about Europeana’s aim to make all culture available to anyone - this is why we encourage an open approach to making
culture available online. We ask institution to keep digital representations of objects that are in the Public Domain, in the Public Domain. So not to claim
new copyright over scans because you consider it as ‘your new creative work’ for example. Also, when you have the rights to open up collections, please
do so. We have collected quite a lot of evidence by now that shows that open collections get far more views than non open material and it gets used in
places where far more users are, like Wikipedia. Besides we believe that it is the goal of any cultural institution to let as much people as possible enjoy and
benefit from their work as possible.

20. Decrease of the Public Domain
@jpekel
Public Domain is decreasing

21. Decrease of the Public Domain
à Re-licensing of digital reproductions of Public
Domain works
@jpekel
Public Domain is decreasing

22. Decrease of the Public Domain
à Re-licensing of digital reproductions of Public
à
Domain works
Extensions of copyright duration
@jpekel
Public Domain is decreasing

23. Decrease of the Public Domain
à Re-licensing of digital reproductions of Public
à
à
Domain works
Extensions of copyright duration
Public Private partnerships
@jpekel
Public Domain is decreasing

24. Decrease of the Public Domain
à Re-licensing of digital reproductions of Public
à
à
à
Domain works
Extensions of copyright duration
Public Private partnerships
Unclear legal situation
@jpekel
Public Domain is decreasing

25. Decrease of the Public Domain
à Re-licensing of digital reproductions of Public
à
à
à
à
Domain works
Extensions of copyright duration
Public Private partnerships
Unclear legal situation
Digitisation and storage not for free - new business
models are needed
@jpekel
Public Domain is decreasing

26. Open culture on culture
@jpekel
Very interesting research that shows that older in copyright works tend to disappear.

27. Why Open?
à Public Mission
à Larger Audience
à Connect and contextualise collections
à The digital dream
@jpekel

28. Public Mission
"Enable access to everyone who wants to do research"
- British Library, Our Mission and 2020 Vision
!
"Our core values are: accessibility, sustainability, innovation and cooperation."
-National Library of the Netherlands, Our Mission and Vision
!
"To provide diverse audiences with the best quality experience and optimum
access to our collections, physically and digitally."
- the Victoria & Albert Museum, Mission and Objectives
!
"The Federal Archives have the legal responsibility of permanently preserving
the federal archival documents and making them available for use."
- German Federal Archives - Responsibilities
!
The National Gallery of Denmark is Denmark’s premier museum of art. Through
Accessibility, education, and exhibition
- Danish National Gallery - Mission
@jpekel
We work with almost solely public institutions. This means they are publicly funded (tax) and have the duty and mission to serve the public. I have copied
here a couple of the mission statements of some cultural institutions. As you can see, giving access to a wide audience is in all a major element. As I
mentioned earlier, the people working at the archives/libraries I visited during university did everything they could to give me what I was looking for. By
opening up your collection your potential audience increases in a way previously not imaginable and helps you a great way completing your public
mission.

29. Why Open?
à Public Mission
à Larger Audience
à Connect and contextualise collections
à The digital dream
@jpekel

30. Larger Audience
à Put your material where the users are
!
@jpekel
By opening up not only more people can get access to your material, it can also be used in other platforms. The data can be used where the people are,
like in Wikipedia articles, online courses, mobile apps etc. This radically grows your audience. There are now quite a lot of case studies where institutions
that opened up their collection saw a great increase in website hits because people started using their material in other platforms and places. (for example
Netherlands institute of Sound and Vision that opened up old newsreels that were used in Wikipedia. This led to millions of monthly views and thousands
of trackbacks to their own website.) Tim O’reilly described this is ‘The real problem for most artists is obscurity, not piracy’. This goes the same way for
cultural institutions. Opening up can make you known to a much wider audience.

31. Why Open?
à Public Mission
à Larger Audience
à Connect and contextualise collections
à The digital dream
@jpekel

32. Connect and Contextualise
Now this is what I think is one of the greatest potentials of open culture data, and that is to combine objects and collections and show them in new
contexts. Not a single archive or library has everything about a particular event/artist/author etc. Very often the material is scattered all over the country or
even the world. Because it is digital and open we can now combine these different materials and tell new stories about our histories. On the slide you see
the Europeana 1989 project which is about the fall of the Iron Curtain. Many countries were involved or affected by this event and by collecting and
combining the material from these countries you can have a look at different viewpoints about this important part of history. This project is a combination
of curators and crowdsourcing, which again shows the possibilities of working together, instead of for example a government or a textbook deciding how
the countries history should look like. It very much democratises our tellings of history.

33. Why Open?
à Public Mission
à Larger Audience
à Connect and contextualise collections
à The digital dream
@jpekel

34. The Digital Dream
!
A world in which our shared cultural heritage, the map of
humanity, is open to all regardless of their background
A world in which people are no longer passive
consumers of cultural content created by an elite, but
contribute, participate, create and share
!
@jpekel
This one is a bit more up in the air. But I wanted to summarise the ultimate dream of the digital world.
A world in which our shared cultural heritage, the map of humanity, is open to all regardless of their background
A world in which people are no longer passive consumers of cultural content created by an elite, but contribute, participate, create and share

35. Some context…
@jpekel
Europeana’s goal is to ‘make all of Europe’s heritage available’. That is quite an ambitious statement and definitely not an easy task. Just for a little
perspective. We now include material from around 2300 institutions. The total amount of institutions in Europe lies around 60.000. Als only about 7% of
the total amount of material is actually digitised, where in some countries this stays below 1%. Digitisation and storage is not Europeana’s core business,
we care about making the material available to a wider audience.
So even if the material is digitised and available, we’re not there yet. Many institutions are still afraid to make the move, or are simply not able to. The main
issues mainly come down into two things: Copyright and technical issues.

36. Some context…
à 2300 institutions
@jpekel
Europeana’s goal is to ‘make all of Europe’s heritage available’. That is quite an ambitious statement and definitely not an easy task. Just for a little
perspective. We now include material from around 2300 institutions. The total amount of institutions in Europe lies around 60.000. Als only about 7% of
the total amount of material is actually digitised, where in some countries this stays below 1%. Digitisation and storage is not Europeana’s core business,
we care about making the material available to a wider audience.
So even if the material is digitised and available, we’re not there yet. Many institutions are still afraid to make the move, or are simply not able to. The main
issues mainly come down into two things: Copyright and technical issues.

37. Some context…
à 2300 institutions
à 60.000 in total in Europe
@jpekel
Europeana’s goal is to ‘make all of Europe’s heritage available’. That is quite an ambitious statement and definitely not an easy task. Just for a little
perspective. We now include material from around 2300 institutions. The total amount of institutions in Europe lies around 60.000. Als only about 7% of
the total amount of material is actually digitised, where in some countries this stays below 1%. Digitisation and storage is not Europeana’s core business,
we care about making the material available to a wider audience.
So even if the material is digitised and available, we’re not there yet. Many institutions are still afraid to make the move, or are simply not able to. The main
issues mainly come down into two things: Copyright and technical issues.

38. Some context…
à 2300 institutions
à 60.000 in total in Europe
à 7% of all material digitised
@jpekel
Europeana’s goal is to ‘make all of Europe’s heritage available’. That is quite an ambitious statement and definitely not an easy task. Just for a little
perspective. We now include material from around 2300 institutions. The total amount of institutions in Europe lies around 60.000. Als only about 7% of
the total amount of material is actually digitised, where in some countries this stays below 1%. Digitisation and storage is not Europeana’s core business,
we care about making the material available to a wider audience.
So even if the material is digitised and available, we’re not there yet. Many institutions are still afraid to make the move, or are simply not able to. The main
issues mainly come down into two things: Copyright and technical issues.

39. Some context…
à 2300 institutions
à 60.000 in total in Europe
à 7% of all material digitised
@jpekel
Europeana’s goal is to ‘make all of Europe’s heritage available’. That is quite an ambitious statement and definitely not an easy task. Just for a little
perspective. We now include material from around 2300 institutions. The total amount of institutions in Europe lies around 60.000. Als only about 7% of
the total amount of material is actually digitised, where in some countries this stays below 1%. Digitisation and storage is not Europeana’s core business,
we care about making the material available to a wider audience.
So even if the material is digitised and available, we’re not there yet. Many institutions are still afraid to make the move, or are simply not able to. The main
issues mainly come down into two things: Copyright and technical issues.

40. Copyright Issues
à Copyright not made for the digital world
à Fear of doing it wrong
à Expect curators/librarians/archivists to become ‘amateur
lawyers’
à Unclear for (re-)user what is allowed
!
@jpekel
Copyright is by far the topic we have the most discussions about. Currently there are 28 countries in the European Union, and each and every one of them
has its on copyright law. This makes it extremely hard to work towards a unified approach and many cases have to be dealt with on a case by case basis.
Many institutions are hesitant with opening up their collections as they are simply not aware of the copyright status of the work, or they are afraid that
something will go wrong. The difficulty is that curators, librarians, archivists etc. are not trained in law, and here they suddenly have to all become amateur
lawyers, which is not to be expected either. For this reason Europeana provides a lot of documentation and best practices on copyright. We also provide
workshops to our partners were we deal with copyright and give personal advice on collections. And besides that we

41. Rights Statements & Issues
!
• We have our own licensing policy
• Our collection is very complex
• Europeana Rights Statements don t apply to our collection
• We don t need to provide a Rights Statement, that information
is clear from our website
• We don t know which Rights Statements applies
@jpekel
!24
Some of the questions and comments we hear

42. Rights Statements & Solutions
!
• Europeana have clearly defined Rights Statements;
• Published at www.europeana.eu/portal/rights/terms-and-policies
• Europeana provide tools for determining the Rights Statement;
• Public Domain Calculator
• EDM Rights Selection Tool
• Europeana deliver workshops and bespoke advice
• Europeana advocate via publications such as The Public Domain Charter
• Europeana monitor the usage and appropriateness of the Rights
Statements
@jpekel
!25
Here are some of the efforts we do to work towards this.

43. Looking for content to reuse
!
!26
One of the most important things of our work is to make sure it is clear to the end user what can and can not be done with the material. So I will quickly
take you through this proces. So first there is the search query.

44. Refining content by types of reuse allowed
!27
The user can filter on the type of licensing
!

45. How can you reuse this object?
!
!28
If you wonder what the possibilities and restrictions are of an object you can click on the statement

46. What does Rights Reserved … mean?
!
!29
And get the explanation

47. !30
Very recently we added an even more simple filter called ‘can I use it?’ which filters your search results on ‘Open content’ so ranging from Public Domain to
CC-BY-SA, open with restrictions so content with the non-derrivatives and non-commercial restriction, and finally ‘you have to ask permission.’ Cause
don’t get me wrong, very often it is not up to the institution to decide if something is open or not due to the work still being in copyright, or third party
rights. This is fine, but it is important that the institution is clear about this.

48. Europeana’s vision and mission
à Europeana is a catalyst for change in the
world of cultural heritage.
à Our mission: The Europeana Foundation
and its Network create new ways for
people to engage with their cultural history,
whether it’s for work, learning or pleasure.
à Our vision: We believe in making cultural
heritage openly accessible in a digital way,
to promote the exchange of ideas and
information. This helps us all to
understand our cultural diversity better and
contributes to a thriving knowledge
economy.
@jpekel

49. Europeana going forward
@jpekel

50. Europeana going forward
à
à
à
à
à
à
à
More data will be added
Quality vs Quantity
Focus on making available content
Less focus on portal, more on platform
Growing the Network
Push for copyright reform
Research possibilities for Cloud based infrastructure
!
!
@jpekel

51. Questions?
@jpekel

52. Thank you
Joris Pekel
@jpekel
Joris.pekel@kb.nl