KOPAL

Transparent and reliable access to digital information is being implemented as an integrated information acquisition and delivery service, serving the interests of our researchers, students, and information users. The involvement of the national archival library and an innovative university information center ensures that diverse conceptual perspectives and user needs are taken into account during implementation. The technical realization of the functionality within the *kopal* project builds upon preparatory work conducted since 2000 as a joint development project between the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and IBM. The KB’s eDepot for electronic resources—operational since 2003—is underpinned by IBM’s proprietary "Digital Information Archiving System" (DIAS), the core of which is being reused in *kopal*. IBM is responsible for the further development of the system into a cooperatively operated platform featuring standardized interfaces. The software developed by the consortium partners is intended to be released as open source.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek and the Göttingen State and University Library will feed extensive and heterogeneous sets of digital data into the system to demonstrate the concept's performance and reusability under real-world operational conditions. During the project term itself, the consortium partners will take steps to facilitate the system's adoption by other institutions.