Preparations for an EC Action Plan for Libraries: a resumé of the published studies
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040430 |
| Pages | 20-24 |
| Published date | 01 January 1990 |
| Author | David Fuegi |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
20 -
VINE
78
Preparations for an EC Action Plan for
Libraries: a resume of the published
studies
by
David Fuegi
Head of Southend-on-Sea Public Library
[The following article is the first of a pair of
articles on the activities recently undertaken by
the Commission of
the
European Communities
in the field of
libraries.
Readers will no doubt
be aware that a Plan of Action for Libraries in
Europe is proposed, aimed at stimulating cost-
effective cooperation between libraries in the
EC to the benefit of users, through the appro-
priate and efficient application of new informa-
tion technologies. The following article de-
scribes the published studies undertaken
principally in the preparatory
stages,
prior
to
the
definition of the Plan. A future article will
describe briefly the Plan itself and give an over-
view of current actions and projects. These
artices are the first of what will be a continuing
'European' focus in VINE, covering not only
the activities arising out of the Plan of Action
but relevant automation developments in li-
braries in Europe. Ed.]
Introduction
Since 1986, DGXIIIB of the European Com-
mission has commissioned a number of studies
on libraries. The published studies are the sub-
ject of this article, which aims to present an
outline of those completed and published up to
the end of 1989. A number of other small scale
studies were also undertaken but none were
published and are not described here. None of
these studies is concerned with the Com-
mission's own internal library services but with
libraries in
general.
They have their origin in the
Resolution of 27.9.85 of the Council of Minis-
ters with responsibility for Cultural Affairs.
This Resolution on "Collaboration between li-
braries in the field of data processing"(1) re-
quested the Commission to consider the desir-
ability of swift action to help libraries and laid
down a basic framework to which such action
should conform. According to the Resolution,
the full potential of libraries can be realised only
through:
• the appropriate application of the new tech-
nologies
• increased cost-effective co-operation be-
tween libraries
• greater harmonisation of relevant initia-
tives.
Charged with responsibility for responding to
the Resolution, DGXIII assembled
a
small team
to examine the issues and formulate proposals.
Funds for this first investigative phase were
made available from the Community pro-
gramme for the development of the specialised
information market in Europe. It soon became
clear, and is not really surprising, that little if
anything had been written on European Com-
munity libraries as a whole. Because libraries
are a national or sub-national responsibility,
they are generally studied at this level. Where
international studies existed they did not cover
the 12 EC Member States and touched on only
specialised aspects of the library scene.
Obviously some basic facts needed
to
be assem-
bled to provide a foundation on which more
specialised proposals might be supported and it
was clear that the previous literature would
have to be expanded through specially commis-
sioned studies.
General Outline of the Studies
The need for the various studies was determined
by desk research influenced by the Resolu-
tion(1) the Luxembourg workshop(2) and later
by the Hearing(3) They were codenamed for
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