LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal ISSN 1058-6768 March 31, 1995 Volume 5 Issue 1 Quarterly LIBRE5N1 BROPHY _____________________________________________________ European Column by Peter Brophy All eyes are currently on the current Call for Proposals of the European Commission's *Libraries Programme*, published on 15th March with a three month lead time. The EC organises its R&D activity into four year Framework Programmes, and this is the first such Call under the Fourth Framework Programme. Greater emphasis is being given to the end-user perspective and projects are to be funded in three areas - internal library systems, inter-connection between libraries, and library access to world-wide networked resources. Because the Libraries Programme is part of the *Telematics* area, the emphasis is on IT-based applications. Funding runs into several million pounds sterling. Collaboration with some non-EU countries (e.g. Australia) is now possible in these projects. While this Call is live, projects from the Third Framework Programme are still under way, and indeed some have just started. A cluster of projects are looking at IT-based library performance measurement and quality management systems, while other interesting projects include an analysis of the potential for self-service library systems, work on filtering Internet resources and the development of integrated systems for academic libraries based on a core reading list database. Studies of library use of smart-cards, the process of migration to client-server systems and open/distance learning in public libraries are also under way. Details of current Projects can be obtained in a publication called "Synopses of Projects" available from the EC's Libraries Programme office (Fax +352-4301-33530: no email yet). This office can also provide other information on the Libraries Programme. Another Europe-wide initiative is a series of workshops on the problems of copyright, with particular reference to library development, being run by the European Bureau for Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA), based in the Netherlands. These workshops are seeking to examine the issues, make recommendations and develop a base for lobbying from the library/user perspective. We are all too aware that publishers tend to wield much greater influence than librarians in this area. The orkshops are particularly relevant to R&D activity since many projects are being hampered by the tightness of copyright restrictions. Nationally, the UK academic library sector is now into the implementation phase of actions arising from the Follett Report. Considerable funding has been made available, and a senior co-ordinator appointed (Chris Rusbridge) to give UK academic libraries a boost in IT-related developments. Activities will include Electronic Document and Article Delivery, Retrospective Conversion, the development of new electronic journals, digitisation, on-demand publishing, dataset development and access to multi-media resources. In a separate, though linked, development an Arts and Humanities Dataservice is being set up by the Information Services Sub-Committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils, and looks like breaking new ground. This is particularly interesting because it will use a distributed model. The British Library Research & Development Department remains a key player. February 1995 saw the retirement of long-standing Director, Brian Perry, who had steered the Department through many choppy waters. Currently the appointment of his replacement has not be announced, but is imminent. Recent projects from BLRDD include benchmarking for libraries, a review of electronic journals, stakeholder approaches to performance measurement and a study of the effect of email on library communication and structures. Professor Peter Brophy is the University Librarian, and Head of the Centre for Research in Library & Information Management, at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, U.K. Tel: +1772-892261; Fax: +1772-892937 p.brophy@uclan.ac.uk ________________________________________ This document may be circulated freely with the following statement included in its entirety: Copyright Peter Brophy, 1995 This article was originally published in _LIBRES: Library and Information Science Electronic Journal_ (ISSN 1058-6768) March 31, 1995 Volume 5 Issue 1. For any commercial use, or publication (including electronic journals), you must obtain the permission of the author: p.brophy@uclan.ac.uk To subscribe to LIBRES send e-mail message to listserv@kentvm.kent.edu with the text: subscribe libres _ ________________________________________