3 Million orphan works exist in Europe - EC report issued

According to a report recently published by the European Commission about 3 million orphan books exist in Europe. These are works still in copyright but that cannot be digitised because their rights holders are unknown or cannot be traced to grant permission.

The report is the result of a survey carried out amongst 22 cultural institutions involved in digitisation, including national libraries and national film collections. The surveyed orphan works include not only books but also photographs and audiovisual materials.

The issue of orphan works is of key importance to Europeana, whose main goal is to provide on-line access to Europe's digital resources.

Europeana is currently cooperating with the ARROW project to facilitate the process of rights clearance for orphan works.

Read more:

European Commission's report on Orphan Works

Orphan works and rights information - ARROW Project.

Orphan works, European orphan works

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