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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies

Part2:Country studies

Denmark

Publishers'involvement

Publishers provide original files for conversion. As part of the agreement with the Danish Publishers Association, digital files distributed to clients by DBB carry DRM protection. As a trusted environment DBB guarantees that digital material is not distributed via unauthorised channels. All library users have an ID number which is integrated into the digital materials as part of the process of production on demand. Materials on CD are marked with the postal address of the receiver. If materials are found to have been inappropriately distributed, the ID number can be used to identify the source of the problem.

From 2006, digital watermarks and encryption will also be used in audio materials. These standards are developed by the Daisy consortium.

With one major exception, DBB is able to source content in digital formats from major publishers without difficulty. The exception is that of dictionaries and encyclopedias which the publishers regard of sufficient value as to require particular protection. They require as part of the overall agreement that such material can only be made available electronically it has to be encrypted.

Access to content from smaller publishers is more problematical because of their fear of misuse. Where source files cannot be obtained, DBB has to scan and reformat the content as necessary.

The existing agreement with the Publishers' Association has to be renegotiated every 2years.