News from the British Library
News from the British Library
Access to the collective resources of seven international libraries has received a major boost from the creation of a new organisation, the Open Network in Europe or ONE Association. Libraries across Europe can gain immediate economic benefits via free access to valuable resources for copy cataloguing and bibliographic resource sharing. The ONE Association includes BIBSYS in Norway,the British Library, Danish Bibliographic Centre (DBC), Helsinki University Library, Hungarian National Library, Italian Central Union Catalogue (ICCU) and Libris in Sweden (www.oneassociation.org).
The ONE Association provides access to the vast collections of books,serials, databases and bibliographic materials that are managed by the participating institutions. A distinguishing feature of ONE is the large amount of European materials and original bibliographic records available in different languages. These resources are often more difficult to obtain than materials in English. Membership of the ONE Association is also open to other institutions willing to share their resources on equal terms with the existing members.
The ONE Association builds directly on the results of the successful ONE-2 Project, which was sponsored by the European Union. The ONE-2 Project developed common software toolkits and service specifications based on international standards. The ONE-2 Toolkit, which is freely available, enables searching and information retrieval across different library systems.
For further information please contact: Colin Beesley, British Library Press Office, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, UK. Tel: +44(0) 1937 546 825; Fax: +44(0) 1937 546 571; E-mail: colin.beesley@bl.uk;URL: www.bl.uk
