The European Research Library Organisation LIBER and OCLC have agreed to exchange bibliographic records about digital masters. By this agreement, full information about digitized print material from both European and US libraries will be united in a central Registry of Digital Masters, which will be freely accessible for online searching. This collaboration is the first step toward a global registry. The next step is to involve libraries and groups in more regions of the world to ensure comprehensive coverage in this new registry.
“This is a significant step in building a global infrastructure to support digital preservation,” said Phyllis Spies, OCLC Vice President of Collection Management Services. “OCLC’s collaboration with LIBER and EROMM to broaden the scope of the Registry of Digital Masters benefits all libraries involved to build trust in each other’s commitment to digital preservation, and to provide more visibility to the unique digital resources in the world’s libraries.”
The idea of a central database for metadata about digitized print material is not new. The need for the construction of such a central registry arose in Europe in the context of EROMM (now called European Register Of Microform and digital Masters). Work on this online database started in 1991, and it has been hosted by the State and University Library of Göttingen (Germany) and the library computing centre of GBV since 1994.
EROMM member libraries, who contribute records either directly or through their country's EROMM partner, are called upon to help supply copies of materials. At present, the EROMM partners (most of which are national libraries) are in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. All libraries and individual users from those countries can search the database and send requests for copies of the materials.
The Digital Library Federation (DLF) has also recognised the need for a global registry as an important part of the infrastructure that is required by the Digital Libraries of the Future. The DLF set up a working group to define the functional requirements of such a registry. OCLC was asked to develop a prototype that would embed registry records in their WorldCat database and present them as a distinct subset. The scope of the registry was originally limited to reproductions of print-based materials, but has been extended to include born-digital material as well. The working group and the OCLC-based registry have been built through the contributions of a number of US university libraries and the Library of Congress.
Recognising the need for a global approach to the registry, OCLC approached LIBER to find a way to collaborate on this project. A working group with representatives from LIBER and OCLC PICA discussed which working model would facilitate European co-operation in a global registry. It was obvious that the EROMM database would be the intermediary for delivering Europe’s contribution, because of EROMM’s existing and successful role in Europe.
About EROMM
EROMM has been created as an international database to help libraries to coordinate microfilming and other reformatting activities aimed at the preservation of printed information, which is threatened by brittle paper. At the same time EROMM serves as an instrument for ordering Service copies of reformatted books. More information is available at www.eromm.org.
About LIBER
The Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche (LIBER) is the principal association of the major research libraries of Europe. It was founded in 1971 under the auspices of the Council of Europe. Its current membership includes research libraries in more than thirty countries. LIBER membership is not restricted to the area of the European Union, and membership of research libraries outside the European Union is encouraged. LIBER represents and promotes the interests of research libraries in Europe. The LIBER Website is at www.kb.dk/liber.
For more information, please contact OCLC PICA Communications by e-mail or by telephone at +31-(0)71-524 65 00.
