Expert View - Antonella De Robbio

I am reading the European Union’s document A Digital Agenda for Europe - COM(2010) 245 – Brussels, 19.05.2010 and I think that it could be useful for the DL.org Technology and Methodology Cookbook.*

Take a look at the Key Priority Areas in the Action Plan for the European Digital Agenda. The Agenda outlines seven priority areas for actions; the second one concerning “improving the framework conditions for interoperability between ICT products and services”.
This key priority foresees that it is essential to enhance interoperability between devices, applications, data repositories, services and networks inside a framework where the conditions for interoperability can be improved in various ways. One important means to that end is to ensure that good ICT standards are available and used, notably in public procurement and legislation.
The Digital Agenda also provides some examples:

• “Propose legal measures to reform the rules on implementation of ICT standards to allow the use of certain ICT fora and consortia standards. But the Commission will also address situations in which standards do not help because significant market players do not support them. A further aim is better coordination between public administrations through a new European Interoperability Strategy and Framework to ensure interoperability between eGovernment and other public services across Europe.”

The first priority is defined as “Single Market”, stressing the need to simplifying copyright clearance, management and licensing. In order to reply to this first priority, the Commission, by the end of 2010, will propose a Framework Directive on collective rights management to enhance the governance, transparency and pan European licensing for (online) rights management.
Another point of the Agenda (in the First priority) is make sure consumers are protected in cyberspace by issuing a digital code that summarises the rights of citizens in the online world in a clear and accessible way. Currently many consumers find it difficult to know what their digital rights are, especially when these are scattered across various complex legal documents. I think we have same problems with digital libraries. While this is far worse in the digital world, significant issues could also apply to digital libraries.
A domain policy could serve as a high-level container that specifies performance goals for work processed in resource and actors domains. The domain policy contains all different policies, at different levels, organisatiional, technical and semantic.
Recommendations for DL.org investigations:
Key Action 1: Simplify copyright clearance, management and cross-border licensing by:

• Enhancing the governance, transparency and pan-European licensing for (online) rights management by proposing a framework Directive on collective rights management.
• Creating a legal framework to facilitate the digitisation and dissemination of cultural works in Europe by proposing a Directive on orphan works, to conduct a dialogue with stakeholders with a view to further measures on out-of print works, complemented by rights information databases.
• Reviewing the Directive on Re-Use of Public Sector Information, notably its scope and principles on charging for access and use.

Key Action 5: As part of the review of EU standardisation policy, propose legal measures on ICT interoperability to reform the rules on implementation of ICT standards in Europe to allow use of certain ICT fora and consortia standards

Antonella De Robbio, University Centre for Libraries of the Library System, University of Padua, Italy

Useful Links: http://www.dlorg.eu/index.php/publications/ec-policy

* The Cookbook is an innovative artefact that collects and describes a portfolio of best practices, patterns
and solutions to common issues faced when developing large-scale interoperable Digital Library Systems
(DLSs). It proposes an interoperability model that can be used to characterise – in a systematic way – facets
of interoperability challenges, as well as existing, forthcoming solutions and approaches so as to have a framework to select and assess them. A Request for Comment version will be available in late summer
2010. The final version will be informed by feedback from the Digital Library community and published in late 2010.

5th International Open Repositories Conference

The talk explained the different levels of policy interoperability – the higher business level that is instantiated at a lower process level, explaining why quality interoperability is a dynamic concepts with several subjective facets, how DL.org is investigating existing solutions while pinpointing new research that is needed, as well as defining a policy and quality framework. The approach adapted aims to be as pragmatic as possible so as to bring real value-add to professionals operating in the Digital Repository and Library space. The guidelines produced by the European project DRIVER with regard to digital preservation were highlighted as a key document for practitioners and policy makers. Another key document is the EC’s Interoperability Framework for eGovernment Services.

DL.org Policy & Quality Presentations on 6 July at Open Repositories 2010 (OR2010), 6-9 July 2010, Madrid, Spain – “Interoperability for digital repositories: towards a policy and quality framework”

Giuseppina Vullo, University of Glasgow

The presentation, which will be led by Giuseppina Vullo, University of Glasgow and co-ordinator of DL.org Quality Working Group, is scheduled at 16:45 within the General Session 3.B (Room 2). The talk is co-authored by Perla Innocenti, University of  Glasgow and coordinator of the Policy Working Group and Prof. Seamus Ross, University of Toronto, and will be focusing on:

• Policy and quality within the DELOS Digital Library Reference Model, an expanded and enhanced version of which was published in November 2009.
• Core policy & quality aspects affecting digital repositories.
• The DL.org policy & quality interoperability frameworks.
• Real-world cases & surveys on policy & quality interoperability.

Birds of a feather on Interoperability

On 7th July morning, a Birds of Feather Session will also be dedicated to an open discussion about the DL.org project issues and outcomes (Room Reino Unido A, 11.00-12:30). The session is hosted by

Madrid

University of Glasgow & Trust-IT with support from two members of DL.org’s Working Groups (Content, User & Functionality) from the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISTI) and the University of Athens.
The Open Repositories Conference brings together individuals and organisations responsible for the conception, development, implementation, and management of digital repositories, as well as stakeholders who interact with them for achieving the widest possible integration in theoretical, practical, and strategic matters.

Giuseppina Vullo @ Policy & Quality Workshop, ECA2010

The workshop was led by Dr Giuseppina Vullo (pictured left), who presented the DL.org research and activities towards policy and quality interoperability. The audience actively and fruitfully interacted on the key issues being addressed by the DL.org Policy Working Group and DL.org Quality Working Group, spanning the main challenges affecting digital libraries on policy and quality interoperability, to cross-domain user scenarios.

Attendees at the Policy & Quality Workshop, ECA2010

Another success factor was participation in the policy and quality interoperability survey targeting international digital libraries and archives on the part of several attendees.

DL.org – On the Road – coming soon!

1) 2nd International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries (QQML), 25-28 May 2010, Chania, Crete, Greece. The talk draws on the interim findings of the six thematic Working Groups focusing on content, functionality, user, policy, quality and architecture that DL.org co-ordinated. The talk, entitled “Paving the way for Interoperability in Digital Libraries: The DL.org Project”, is based on a paper by Katerina El Raheb and co-authored by members of the DL.org Consortium.

2) DL.org presentation on Policy & Quality Interoperability Challenges & Approaches for Digital Libraries on 2 June at Archiving 2010, The Hague, Netherlands. The DL.org Policy and Quality Working Group co-ordinators are presenting a paper on DL interoperability challenges and approaches on 2 June 2010 during the Archiving 2010 conference in The Hague.
The presentation, co-authored by Perla Innocenti, Seamus Ross and Giuseppina Vullo, is entitled “Towards Policy and Quality Interoperability: Challenges and approaches for Digital Libraries”. Perla Innocenti (pictured) leads the presentation with a focus on:

• Policy and quality within the DELOS Digital Library Reference Model
• Core policy and quality aspects affecting information systems
• The DL.org policy and quality interoperability frameworks
• Real-world cases on policy and quality interoperability