Abstract
At present, a diverse range of business models are employed for the production and distribution of digitised versions of rare documents. Based on data gathered through an empirical survey of digitisation projects, this chapter explores business models currently employed by EU memory institutions in digitising collections of rare documents and their influence in determining the extent of exclusivity claimed over digitised versions by producers and distributors.
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Notes
- 1.
Page-turner refers to the flip animation function that is applied to digitised versions. The flip function allows a user to view multiple digital images in a way that simulates flipping through the pages of a book, thereby bringing the experience of reading a digitised version of a book closer to the actual experience of reading a book in print form.
- 2.
The project took place from April 2007 to March 2009. This outline is based primarily upon the views expressed by Michael Popham (Head of Digital Initiatives at the Bodleian Libraries) and Christine Madsen (Manager—Infrastructure and Innovation at the Bodleian Libraries) during an interview held with the author on 2nd September, 2013 (interview transcript in possession of the author). It is to be noted that the views expressed by them are their personal opinions given in their professional capacity and do not represent the official view of the Bodleian Libraries, UK. The outline also incorporates views and data taken from the Bodleian Libraries Website, <www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/johnson/about> and <www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/johnson/projects/proquest> accessed 31 January 2019, and from the Final Report published by the Jisc on this project see David Tomkins, Electronic Ephemera: Digitised Selections from the John Johnson Collection (JISC 2009).
- 3.
Ephemera is defined as a class of collectible items not originally intended to last for more than a short time, such as tickets, posters, postcards or labels. ‘Ephemera’ Collins English Dictionary (Collins March 2018) <www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ephemera> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 4.
Formerly known as the Joint Information Systems Committee, more information available from the Jisc website <www.jisc.ac.uk/> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 5.
Tomkins (n 2) 4.
- 6.
This outline is based primarily upon the views expressed by Stefano Casati of the Digital Library, Museo Galileo, Italy during an interview held with the author on 1 February, 2014 (interview transcript in possession of the author).
- 7.
Museo Galileo, ‘Ancient Mathematics’ <www.museogalileo.it/en/explore/libraries/digitallibrary/digitalcollections/en-802.html> 31 January 2019.
- 8.
The approximate payment being € 1.10 per colour image and € 0.65 for a black and white image. An additional fee is charged for providing a digital image on a CD-Rom see Museo Galileo, ‘Digital Reproduction’ <www.museogalileo.it/en/explore/libraries/library/services/digitalreproduction.html> 31 January 2019.
- 9.
Reproduced from interview transcript (n 6).
- 10.
This outline is based primarily upon the views expressed by an Official of The National Archives, UK during an interview held with the author on 3 April, 2013. Participation in the interview was on grounds of anonymity (interview transcript in possession of author).
- 11.
Nancy L Maron, ‘The National Archives (UK): Digitisation with Commercial Partnerships via the Licensed Internet Associates Programmeme.’ (Ithaka S+R 2011) <www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjxj4rjq7bgAhVRbBoKHSWzD7EQFjAAegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsr.ithaka.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F08%2FSCA_BMS_CaseStudy_NatArchives.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2ZhpvPFsxrQhWyBddukpvY> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 12.
The National Archives website < www.gov.uk/government/organisations/the-national-archives> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 13.
Reproduced from interview transcript (n 10).
- 14.
Maron (n 11) 3.
- 15.
Refers to the ‘Information Fair Trader Scheme’ (IFTS) that set and assessed standards for public sector bodies. Since 2017, the IFTS has been superseded by statutory arrangements put in place by the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations n°1415 of 2015 (UK PSI Regulations). For more information see The National Archives, ‘Closure of the Information Fair Trader Scheme announced’ <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/closure-of-the-information-fair-trader-scheme-announced/> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 16.
Reproduced from interview transcript (n 10).
- 17.
ibid.
- 18.
ibid.
- 19.
In the ‘Old Weather Project’ the TNA-UK partnered with several other institutions in carrying out the crowd-sourced transcription of information from digitised versions of nineteenth century and early twentieth century ships’ log-books. More information available from <https://classic.oldweather.org/about> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 20.
See Sect. 2.3.1.
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
See Sect. 4.3.
- 24.
More information about Europeana available from <www.europeana.eu/portal/en/about.html> accessed 31 January 2019. See also Sunimal Mendis, ‘Europeana’ in Marie Cornu, Fabienne Orsi and Judith Rochfeld (eds), Dictionnaire des Biens communs (PUF 2017).
- 25.
The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project, that hosts an online platform over which digitised versions of public domain content is made available either free of restrictions or under an open license. More information available from <https://publicdomainreview.org/> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 26.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit library, based in the United States. More information available from <https://archive.org/about/> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 27.
The online library includes digitised versions of rare documents from several European memory institutions including the National Library of Scotland, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (National Central Library of Florence). The Internet Archive, European Libraries <https://archive.org/details/europeanlibraries> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 28.
For more information on the digitisation project see C Barbieri, A Omizzolo and F Rampazzi, ‘Digitisation of the Archive of Plates of the Asiago Observatory and of the Specola Vaticana’ (2003) 74 Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana 430.
- 29.
More information available at ‘Polonsky Foundation Digitisation Project’ <http://bav.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 30.
More information available from, Sprint for Shakespeare, ‘The Project’ <http://shakespeare.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/the-project/> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 31.
Opinion expressed during interview held with the author on 2 September 2013 (n 2). This is the personal opinion of Christine Madsen and does not necessarily reflect the official view of the Bodleian Libraries, UK.
- 32.
More information available from, Georeference ‘About this project’ <https://www.bl.uk/georeferencer/georefabout.html> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 33.
For example, the Cooperative Agreement entered into between Google Inc. and the University of Michigan Library (USA) includes a provision that grants Google Inc. ownership of the rights, title and interests over its copy of the digitised version. Clause 4.5 of the ‘Cooperative Agreement between Google Inc and the University of Michigan/University Library’ <https://www.lib.umich.edu/files/services/mdp/um-google-cooperative-agreement.pdf> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 34.
- 35.
See Sect. 1.2, Example 2. See also Philippe Aigrain, ‘Nous Devons Empêcher La Privatisation Du Domaine Public’ Communs 16 January 2013 <http://paigrain.debatpublic.net/?p=6333> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 36.
For example, under the 2012 Partnership Agreement between ProQuest LLC and the National Library of France (BnF) all digitised versions produced by ProQuest are made available to users within the BnF premises free of charge under open access terms. See Aurélie Filippetti, Louis Gallois and Bruno Racine, ‘Investing in the Future: Two Major Partnerships Have Been Concluded to Digitize and Make Available Collections Held by the BnF’ <http://www.bnf.fr/documents/cp_accords_proquest-believe_eng.pdf> accessed 31 January 2019. Similarly, digitised versions produced under the LIA programme launched by the TNA-UK are made available free-of-charge to users within the TNA-UK premises. See Sect. 3.1, Example 3 above.
- 37.
See Sect. 2.3.1.
- 38.
- 39.
‘The primary objective of public-private partnerships for the public institution is access to funding to digitise their collections.’ High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries: Subgroup on Public Private Partnerships, Final Report on Public Private Partnerships for the Digitisation and Online Accessibility of Europe’s Cultural Heritage (i2010 European Digital Libraries Initiative 2008) 11. <https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=2ahUKEwiR_uTRqZjgAhXE2OAKHV_YBqgQFjABegQICRAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.europeanwriterscouncil.eu%2Fimages%2Fpdf%2Fdigitallibraries%2F1ppp_final.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2yakysL8qhvPfrSjcjzJIh> accessed 31 January 2019.
- 40.
For instance, entering into a PPP with Google Inc. would mean that a rare book collection held by a memory institution would be accessible to the public over the Google Books platform. This would increase its public visibility and accessibility as users are already familiar with the Google Books platform.
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Mendis, S. (2019). An Overview of Business Models Currently in Use. In: A Copyright Gambit. Munich Studies on Innovation and Competition, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-59454-4_3
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