LONDON, ENGLAND.-Minister for Culture David Lammy today launched a new Action Plan to make Europe's cultural heritage more accessible through the internet. Speaking after a conference in Bristol on e-Learning - and following Monday's Ministerial Council in Brussels where digitisation was high on the agenda.

David Lammy said: "The Action Plan will guide the future coordination of digitisation activity within European Member States, with the vision of creating a European Cultural Information space. This will provide rich and diverse cultural resources to support education and research, tourism and the creative industries, and to enable digital access by all citizens to the national, regional and local cultural heritage of Europe."

The development of this Plan has been one of the Culture Department's priorities for the UK Presidency. It is the result of work by the Netherlands, Luxembourg and UK Presidencies, and represents a major landmark in collaborative working by European Member States in the cultural and heritage fields.

The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) represented the UK in the development of the Plan.

David Dawson, Head of Digital Futures at MLA, added: "Digitised cultural resources are essential to help transform teaching and learning in our schools. At today's conference, we have heard about the impact of leading-edge examples from the South-west, and looked at the latest policy developments in the UK and across Europe. We debated the ways in which the Action Plan will enable everyone, young and old, to access digital content that reflects the diverse languages and cultures of today's Europe."

The Action Plan outlines six objectives:

Providing strategic leadership in a time of rapid technological change.
Strengthening co-ordination and forging stronger links between Member States' digitisation initiatives, EU networks and projects.
Avoiding fragmentation and duplication of digitisation activities.
Identifying appropriate models, funding and policy approaches to sustain development and to ensure digital content is preserved.
Promoting cultural and linguistic diversity through digital content creation.
Improving online access to European cultural content.
Paul Barnett, Head of Cultural Services for Bristol City Council, commented:

"Digitisation of cultural resources is vital for providing improved access to culture for everyone. Bristol and the south-west are renowned for their strong, leading roles in the digital and creative industries and we are delighted that the DCMS and MLA have decided to bring these conferences to Bristol."