The Danish Digital Library

Jakob Heide PetersenHead of division, Danish Agency of Culture

NAPLE Assembly Copenhagen 2012

Contents

• The Danish library sector• Library developments• The Danish Digital Library

– The challenge– The Ting project– The solution

• Implementation• Related developments• Issues

Some Danish public library key figures

• Population 5.56 million• Local authorities 98, • 500 public libraries (main and

branches)• Total budget: 355 million euro

(64 euro per. capita) • Staff: 4.500 (2.100 librarians)• 36 million visits, 45 million

loans (8,2 loans per capita)• Population library usage:

– 1/3 frequent users (several times a moth)

– 1/3 occasional users (several times a year)

– 1/3 non-users

Act regarding library services

• Cooperation between research and public libraries

• The extended library concept (all media)

• Free access to all primary services

• Few services at a charge• Framework for the library

structure: regionalisation, inter-municipal payment

Recent library developments

• Reform of municipalities in 2006 – from 275 to 98 municipalities

• 300 service points closed from 2000 to 2008• 130 service points closed in 2007 following reform of

municipalities • Report on the public libraries after the reform of the

municipalities in the fall of 2008• Debate in parliament on the development of libraries• Commission on the Public Libraries in the Knowledge

Society

5

Commission report – April 2010

Recommendations with five action lines:

1. Open libraries

2. Inspiration and learning

3. The Danish Digital Library

4. Partnerships

5. Professional development

6

Use of library e-resources (20 public libaries 2011)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Audio books

Articles

Music

E-books

Movies

Games and media

Not relevant Don't know Know but don't use Know and use

Awareness of web-based library materials

The Danish Digital Library

• The challenges– Competitive web-based library services.

– Highly visible web-based materials.

– Consolidated it-solutions

– Collaboration

• The solution– “A joint solution for digital presentation that can be used by all municipal

libraries and libraries in other sectors”

• Collaboration between Ministry of Culture and Local Government Denmark (LGDK)– Work started in spring 2011 and report published in March 2012

– Use of it consultants to evaluate existing library collaboration

8

Approach

• Focus on infrastructure (not portals)• Modular and open source• Evaluation of existing initiative – TING• Focus on public libraries• Use of it consultants to evaluate existing library

collaboration• Negotiation with municipalities

9

The TING project

• Open source collaboration with additional focus on open data and innovation

• Modular service oriented infrastructure• Collaboration between

– DBC (Public limited company owned by government and local government)

– Aarhus municipal library– Copenhagen municipal library

• DBC technical partner (infrastructure, data well)• Started in fall 2008• Used by a number of large public libraries

10

Service Oriented Architecture

Many user interfaces

Assessment of TING

• Favourable assessment – Open source, scalable– Best practise architecture– Good experiences with

practical use

• National solution means increased need for:– Organisation – Governance– Technical integration

The Danish Digital Library

• Presentation + access to materials

• Additional technical components

• Purchasing– Consortia– Joint negotiations– Administration of the

purchasing process

Assessment by it-consultants (Devoteam)

Data wellData well

WebservicesWebservices

CMSCMS

ERMSAcquisitionPaymentAccessAdministrationStatistics

ERMSAcquisitionPaymentAccessAdministrationStatistics

Access management

Access management

CMSCMS CMSCMS

The technical solution

The Danish Digital Library

• Organisation– Multiple vendors, use of tenders – Contract management and purchaser/supplier models– Coherent infrastructure

• Technical elements– Data well that handles enriched data (user generated content,

recommendations, book covers)– Search– National and local presentation on the internet– ERMS– Access and rights management

Development and presentation

It-developmentPurchasing

Secretariat

Coordination group

Steering Committee

Organisation

Implementation

• Budget– National government: 2,3 million euro – Local government: max. 3,7 million euro (max. 0,69 euro pr.

capita)

• Membership– Implementation costs estimated at 3,75 million euro in 2-3 years– Voluntary for the individual municipality– Goal: within three years 80-90 % of the population should be

covered by the solution – The implementation should result in net savings for the individual

library (positive business case)

Related developments

• National tender of library system– Not an OPAC– Open modular service oriented system– Focus on transactions and administration– Mediation and user interface to be handled by CMS– Almost all municipalities participating

• E-books– National service started in November 2011– Huge success

• Mobile platforms– A lot of projects on apps and mobile solutions

Issues

• Opportunities– New service delivery strategies (channel migration) from printed books

to e-books

– Joint thematic presentations

– Other sectors school libraries, research libraries

– Partnerships and international collaboration

– Library advocacy

– Mandate to act as representative for all public libraries

• Challenges– Equal access

– Transaction based or relation based services

– Free commercial services (e.g. music, YouTube, Google Books)

Questions?

• jhp@kulturstyrelsen.dk • Presentation available on www.slidehare.net • The Ting project: http://ting.dk/ and

http://www.slideshare.net/hernvall/tingconcept-elag-conference-presentation-20100609