Bokhylla: waar Noorse uitgevers en bibliotheken elkaar gevonden hebben

01 september 2012

Als het gaat over eboeken en bibliotheken gaat het meestal over de beperkingen en onmogelijkheden. Laten we daarom voor de verandering eens overschakelen naar Noorwegen. Uit de Norway Post:

Within five years, all Norwegian books that have been published between 1900 and 2000 will be available in a national library on the internet – for free. The website is called Bokhylla (“the bookshelf”), and already has 50,000 titles listed in its digital library. By 2017, the number will have increased to 250,000 books and include everything that has been published from 1900 until the year 2000.

All computers with a Norwegian IP address will be able to access Bokhylla. Books that are still protected by copyright will have to be read online, while older titles will be available for download.When the website was first established in 2009, certain publishers pulled their books out of its library in fear of decreased revenues. The option to pull out will still be there in the future, although Trond Andreassen in the Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association reports that most authors seem happy with the new arrangement.

“The writers will earn some income, but the most important aspect is that Norwegian books will now be available on a digital platform,” Andreassen tells Aftenposten. Director of Kopinor Yngve Slettholm, the site’s collecting society, remarks that this is not just a unique arrangement in Norway, but internationally. I don’t think anyone else has this type of agreement for the public’s access to books, he says.

“This shows that it is possible to achieve results with a well-functioning copyright system and rights organizations,” Slettholm explains.

Bokhylla (vertaling: boekenkast) ziet er nog niet verkeerd uit ook. Terug naar die beperkingen en onmogelijkheden dan maar weer: het gaat nooit om niet kunnen. Het gaat om niet willen.

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