Press release
February 2006
European national libraries and publishers have completed the
successful revision of the Statement on the Development and
Establishment of Voluntary Deposit Schemes for Electronic Publications.
In a meeting in Brussels in December 2005 a Committee of the Federation
of European Publishers (FEP) and the Foundation Conference of European
National Librarians (CENL) welcomed the news that both their annual
assemblies had endorsed the Statement.
The Statement is a revision of an earlier statement, issued in 2000,
that provided guidance for national libraries and publishers on the
voluntary deposit of electronic publications. The revision reflects the
experience of, and progress made by, national libraries and publishers
in the acquisition of, and provision of access to, electronic
publications. Best practices could be particularly useful in the
framework of the European Commission's i2010 initiative on digital
libraries.
The aim of deposit is to ensure that a nation's published output (and
its intellectual record and future published heritage) is collected
systematically and made available to current researchers within the
premises of national libraries and, importantly, to preserve the
material for the use of future generations. Most nations have laws
requiring publishers to deposit their publications with national
libraries. This practice of legal deposit dates back several hundred
years and has been a vital element in preserving and making available
the published record of previous generations for researchers of today
and tomorrow.
The CENL/FEP Committee has also received a mandate to: Monitor deposit
practices and legislation; Give advice on deposit practices; Function
as a platform for discussion and as an exchange of information on
matters of common interest; Produce clarifications, definitions,
agreements on issues of mutual interest to national libraries and
publishers. The Committee will continue to investigate acceptable
methods of working together to meet societal needs in ways which are
acceptable to both national libraries and publishers.
The full statement is available at www.fep-fee.be and www.cenl.org.
FEP represents 25 national associations of book and learned journal
publishers of the European Union and of the European Economic Area
Member States. The European book publishing industry forms the leading
cultural industry of the European Union.
CENL is the Foundation Conference of European National Librarians,
representing 45 national libraries from 43 European countries. This
body puts forward a collective voice for Europe's national libraries,
at the most senior level, and strives to facilitate co-operative
actions and agreements between the members.
Contact:
Gerard van Trier, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the
Netherlands
e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], tel. +31 70 31 40 463
CENL / FEP Statement on the Development and Establishment of Voluntary
Deposit Schemes for Electronic Publications
URL: http://www.cenl.org/
Statement and press release under the heading `working groups'.
_______________________________________________
Bib_virtual mailing list
[email protected]
https://listas.ibict.br/mailman/listinfo/bib_virtual
