European National Libraries and the CoBRA Forum of the EU Libraries Programme

The Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), conscious of its responsibility both to preserve and to provide access to books and information in an increasingly electronic world, is involved in two extensive European Commission (EC) programmes to serve these ends. These are managed by a Forum of eight national libraries. The first is CoBRA (Computer and Bibliographic Record Actions), which established four task groups to study respectively improved European bibliographic services, user needs for bibliographic products, networked record distribution and re-use, and promotion of data sharing. Three new task groups are looking at new models for bibliographic services, networked national bibliographic services, and the long-term availability of electronic publications. A new programme called CoBRA+ is due to run through 1996 and 1997; as well as continuing CoBRA work it is widening its focus to include collection-based services, with emphasis on resource sharing, user needs and the use of communications networks. There are two main task groups, one concerned with the area of metadata and bibliographic access, the other with electronic publications and digital resources, including legal deposit and storage. Eight specific projects, ranging from networking name authority files to the development of a new relationship between publishers and national bibliographic agencies for the control of electronic publications, are briefly described.