EROMM and the Registry of Digital Masters

Werner Schwartz, SUB GöttingenCopenhagen, 24 October 2007

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Looking back

Since its invention people aimed to make a profit from printing and distributing.

To achieve this they needed to make their produce and merchandise known as widely as possible.

They used the new medium for this purpose.

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Making books known . . . in 1628

The bookseller Grosius of Leipzig reprinted and updated his list of books.

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This book today

Nicolai Reymeris Geodæsia Ranzoviana, von Landrechnen und Feldmessen / in 4

Continuous advertising of this book printed in 1583 has helped to sell it widely.

Thorough searching might retrieve at least 20 copies in Europe, preserved to this day.

10 print copies are found by trying just one popular search tool and using the title “Geodæsia Ranzoviana” as search term.

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This book today6 hits (= 10 print copies + 1 microfilm) found at

BnF, ParisBSB, MünchenHAAB, Weimar lost?HAB, WolfenbüttelONB, ViennaSBB, Berlin lost?ThULB, JenaTIB/UB, HannoverZB, Zürich

One copy is probably lost through bombing in 1944, another is a likely loss caused by fire in 2004.

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Will your digitised book survive for 424 years? Will someone advertise it 45 years after

production?

What do you need to make it last?

– a digital format adaptable to never ending innovation in I T without loss of content or quality,

– a reliable digital repository, and

– sustained funding to keep things running and alive.

Will funding come forward and subsist?

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A way to secure fundingTo convince funding bodies you shall focus on,

Quality and user friendliness

Visibility for your product and user response

Uniqueness of your digitised works

Integrating your digital service with the local library and information system

Use of international cooperation to strengthen your position as provider of digital content.

Thus a funding body can be assured that investment in your project will not be lost.

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How to achieve visibilityN.B. True for most library material

(books, microfilms and digital media):

“Publications not known to the relevant audience will rarely be used.

Unused works tend to be neglected physically and are susceptible to get

lost.”The electronic catalogue is indispensable to answer most of the needs listed before. This is part of your preservation effort.

It must refer to the entire contents of the digital library and present it with holdings in other formats to secure its acceptance by users.

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Hidden benefits of recording digitised works in the library catalogue Through local, regional and international

networks your digitised product will be known.

Its use will increase,

Contact to other digitising projects will be eased,

Integrated services can be built,

. . . without any additional effort.

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Digitised works are absent from catalogues In spite of modern technology, the contents of

European digital libraries is only partly accessible through catalogues.

The European Register of Microform and digital Masters holds 15,966 records of digitised books and periodicals (995 of the total) from Euro-pean sources. This is less than half of what we estimate as having been created to date.

The total number of digital masters in EROMM is 46,248 (including 1.457 periodicals).

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Digitised works in EROMM The reason for a total of 46,248 digital

masters in EROMM is the contribution made by its American partners, RLG and now OCLC.

The Digital Library Federation observed that in America too, there is some delay in supplying catalogue information:

– What has been digitised ?

– What are the technical features of digital masters ?

– Who will care for long term preservation ?

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Digitised works in RDM

Experts called upon by the DLF proposed to create a Registry of Digital Masters as a special resource, open to everyone.

OCLC has accepted to create this bibliographic database, which is online since last year.

Just as for microform masters there is no sense in creating a national resource for American digiti-sation activity alone: Libraries world wide shall contribute to the RDM.

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EROMM & RDM (1) In 2006 OCLC, LIBER and EROMM signed an

agreement of cooperation: The mutual exchange of records that are present in the respective databases, free of charge.

– Digital masters now

– Microform masters later

This is the continuation and expansion of the very successful exchange of records between RLG and EROMM for the last ten years.

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EROMM & RDM (2) There remain a few technical issues to be

resolved but RDM records are visible in the EROMM database already.

In future networked solutions shall ensure that updating between the two nodes will be immediate.

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EROMM & RDM (3) Example of an EROMM record that will be

available through RDM.

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EROMM & RDM (4) Another example of an EROMM record that

shows the wealth of European resources, which will be visible through RDM.

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How EROMM is collecting European records At present EROMM is collecting data through

its 14 Partners from twelve European countries.

The EROMM Partners in turn are contributing their own records and those from library networks in their country.

In addition EROMM has received records from North and Latin America.

Today communication of files is achieved through ftp or through harvesting the file owner’s system.

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The EROMM community The present scope of data harvesting in

Europe is insufficient still, because

– it still does not include all countries on the continent, and

– EROMM Partners haven’t yet extended their activity over their entire country.

With the support of LIBER and other organisa-tions like the Consortium of European Research Libraries EROMM is working to expand its network.

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Technical options for RDM and EROMM ? Why don’t we – RDM and EROMM – use a search

engine to retrieve the same kind of information from library systems?

The answer: Because there is no sufficient uniformity and quality in records that describe digital masters.

Together with relevant bodies EROMM is working to improve this.

– So, one day EROMM may start to replace its database and substitute it by with cross-file searching.

– At this point EROMM itself might cease to operate as a special service.

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Development through cooperation

Digitisation is being done everywhere: In working with digitisation projects EROMM wants to ease retrieval and supply of information by digitisation projects.

The EROMM database can be used for cross-file searching:It can be integrated in portal searches at any level.

As an European resource the relevant section of its records should be addressed by TEL/EDL.

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Preservation through demand Request of all kinds are coming through EROMM:

– Questions about the availability of a work, which’s digitisation had been announced.

– Demands for copies of surrogates not available via direct web access.

– Questions about quality and production at a particular site including the offer of taking up direct contact.

It happens that a request coming via the EROMM system is alerting a library to the fact, that it owns a surrogate of a specific item.

Starting from this the holdings of surrogates are reviewed and perhaps reorganised to ensure their preservation.

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www.eromm.org

Thank you