Representatives of DARIAH-EU and LIBER have met in Lausanne, Switzerland, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The MoU defines corner stones for a closer cooperation of the two organisations. “In DARIAH we know that advancing digital research is a joint effort with those organisations who provide essential primary sources for scholarly content, said DARIAH-EU’s Director Laurent Romary. We are thus very happy to deepen our cooperation with LIBER, an association that represents more than 400 european libraries”
DARIAH’s CEO Mike Mertens is the main contact person for this cooperation with LIBER, and will be representing DARIAH in working groups of the association. “This is an excellent opportunity for both LIBER and DARIAH to shape future services for humanities scholars. Research Libraries are increasingly the place where advice on digitally enabled arts and humanities research methods and the advantages they bring is given and support offered”, Mertens emphasised.
Areas of cooperation
LIBER and DARIAH-EU agreed to promote the use of digital collections and digital techniques together. Amongs others the MoU mentions the following areas of collaboration:
- Cooperation on important initiatives to the European Commission and
- other relevant parties.
- Working together to advocate on areas of special interest, especially the
- enhancement of digital collections and research infrastructure for the arts and humanities, and the
- enhancement of competencies and skills for eResearch.
- Submitting joint project bids for funding with other parties.
- Creating in LIBER and DARIAH working groups dedicated to the co-operation of libraries and Digital Humanities
- Organising joint workshops and other events.
- Sharing information and best practice on advocacy tools and activities.
First outcomes
One of the first outcomes of the new cooperation will be a meeting in Berlin, which is part of an IFLA-sponsored international workshop in August on optimal access to cultural heritage collections.
LIBER
LIBER is the main network for research libraries in Europe. The association was founded in 1971, and has since steadily grown. Today it includes more than 400 national, university and other libraries from over 40 countries.
LIBER, CLARIN and DARIAH
LIBER additionally signed a similar MoU with CLARIN ERIC. DARIAH-EU’s Director Laurent Romary said, “the MoUs make clear that we share a common vision, and they are an important step towards a more connected research infrastructure for digital research in Europe”.
Further reading:
LIBER Website: http://libereurope.eu/
CLARIN Website: https://www.clarin.eu/
CLARIN Announcement of it’s MoU with LIBER: https://www.clarin.eu/news/spring-starts-new-partnership
DARIAH-EU Website: http://dariah.eu
IFLA Satalite Meeting “Digital Humanities – Opportunities and Risks: Connecting Libraries and Research”: https://dh-libraries.sciencesconf.org/
