“Antony Funnell: Which means the way in which people then use the material they access through Europeana will depend on the rights arrangements put in place by those individual institutions contributing to the site. And that could potentially be a significant issue at times given there are so many institutions involved. Jill Cousins says the project’s overall philosophy though is to try and promote an ethos that encourages the free use of material. It’s an interesting website and well worth a look.
“The online portal has only been operating since 2008, and if truth be told the French had quite a bit to do with its inception, fearful of American dominance of cyberspace. But it now seems the Americans are following suit with an announcement in October that Harvard University will coordinate efforts to establish an American equivalent of Europeana, to be called the Digital Public Library of America.
“But that doesn’t mean we should expect a sort of cyber culture arms race, because both services have already announced their intention to cooperate. For the good of art and culture vultures everywhere, no doubt.”
From Antony Funnell’s interview with Jill Cousins, Europeana’s Executive Director, on the ABC Radio National program Future Tense.