Section for Research and Development

The task of the Section for Research and Development is to carry through research on fundamentals and associated areas, to build up and secure know-how in that field so that current developments flow into the strategic planning of the Digital Library. In this section prototypical solutions are developed and pilot studies set up which form the basis for new developments or optimising services and processes in the regular functioning of the Austrian National Library. The Section for Research and Development cooperates internationally with several institutions and projects and is a partner in many European research projects.

The main focuses at present in the Section are in these areas:

• Optimising of the OCR of historic documents in the context of large-scale digitisation
• Evaluation and prototypical implementation of search engine technologies
• Implementation of web services for digital libraries and for digital long-term archiving
• Interoperability of metadata and digital objects in the context of the European Digital Library (Europeana).

Research projects

IMPACT
IMPACT (Improving Access to Text) is concerned with transforming digitised items into electronic text (full-text digitisation).

TELplus
TELplus aims at decisively improving the online portal of  The European Library. The contents of the portal are to be broadened and the user-friendliness enhanced. 

EDLnet
EDLnet (European Digital Library Network) is aimed at preparing The European Digital Library – Europeana.

PLANETS
PLANETS (Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services) is aimed at  securing solutions for long-term accessibility of digital resources.

EDLproject
EDLproject (European Digital Library Project) is meant to prepare the European Digital Library (Europeana) on the basis of The European Library.