Experience from using ARROW

Ready to be used

The ARROW system can, as at September 2011, be used to search for works published in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The ARROW pilot in France connects:
• Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) catalogue in The European Library
• Virtual International Authority File database
• Electre Books in Print database
• The French RRO Centre Français d’Exploitation du Droit de Copie (CFC) repertoire

The ARROW pilot in Germany connects:
• Deutsche Nationalbiliothek (DNB) catalogue in The European Library
• Virtual International Authority File database
• Verzeichnis Lieferbarer Bücher (VLB) Books in Print database
• The German RRO Verwertungsgesellshaft Wort (VG Wort) repertoire

The ARROW pilot in Spain connects:
• Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE) catalogue in The European Library
• Virtual International Authority File database
• DILVE Books in Print database lookup via CEDRO
• The Spanish RRO Centro Español de Derechos Reprográficos (CEDRO) repertoire

The ARROW pilot in the United Kingdom connects:
• British Library catalogue in The European Library (TEL)
• Nielsen Books in Print database lookup via RRO UK
• The UK RRO Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), the Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) and the Authors’ Licensing & Collecting Society (ALCS) repertoires and databases

Developments to connect new countries to the ARROW system are in progress.

Time and cost benefits of the use of ARROW

The following slides show the time and cost benefits of the use of ARROW (PDF)

Experience from using ARROW slides

User recomendations

On 15 September, the British Library published a study on rights clearance and mass digitisation which examines the issue of orphan works - works for which the rights holder is untraceable.

Seeking New Landscapes: A rights clearance study in the context of mass digitisation of 140 books published between 1870 and 2010’ found that more efficient ways of clearing rights and providing cultural institutions with legal certainty over their activities are needed to ensure that highly valuable research materials don’t remain out of reach of the vast majority of citizens.

The study can be found here.