RESOURCE(S)
INTRODUCTION
The (i)SDL Insight – Digital Lending pathways in Italy, Poland and Spain project, supported by Knowledge Rights 21 and coordinated by Deborah De Angelis, the KR21 Italian national coordinator, aims to analyse digital lending (eLending), with a particular focus on (independent) Secure Digital Lending, or (i)SDL, in libraries across three European Union countries: Poland, Spain, and Italy. Through the dissemination of a survey, the project examines the factors and barriers that affect the implementation of (i)SDL, as well as the current state of practice, including digital lending models, types of materials lent, user demand, and future outlook, serving as a starting point for developing strategies to overcome these challenges.
Participating in the project are:
- Project coordination: DDA Law Firm
- Italy: CLAKP – Copyright Law and Access to Knowledge Policies Group, a multi-stakeholder initiative coordinated by the Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems (IGSG) of the National Research Council (CNR) and of the “Dario Nobili” Library of the CNR Research Area, the Library and Scientific Documentation Center of the CNR Research Area in Pisa, and the DDA Law Firm
- Poland: Centrum Cyfrowe
- Spain: FESABID
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The project (i)SDL Insight – Digital Lending pathways in Italy, Poland and Spain, through a survey conducted in those three countries, reveals a desire to implement Independent Secure Digital Lending, or (i)SDL, but progress is hindered by legal uncertainty, technological limitations, lack of funding, and insufficient staff capacity. Libraries see the legal framework as unclear, making them hesitant to adopt (i)SDL services, while they also lack necessary digitisation equipment, DRM systems, and trained personnel.
Despite these barriers, the data collected emphasises libraries’ need for clear legal guidelines, dedicated funding, staff training programmes, and collaborative infrastructures to share resources and reduce individual burdens. They recognise that (i)SDL has significant potential to enhance digital transformation, improve user access (especially for remote and disadvantaged communities), and preserve cultural resources. The data provide an in-depth overview of the state of implementation of (i)SDL in the three countries and the related obstacles, offering valuable and relevant insights for the development of future strategies to implement the service in libraries.
AUTHOR(S)
Deborah De Angelis
Attorney at Law, KR21 National Coordinator for Italy, Attorney at Law
Deborah De Angelis is an attorney-at-law based in Rome, Italy. Deborah is a legal expert in international copyright law, cultural heritage, entertainment law and new technologies. She is currently the representative and legal lead of the Italian Chapter in the Creative Commons Global Network. She also worked as a legal advisor on copyright law to the previous Italian Minister of Culture in 2020. Deborah carries out teaching and training activities, has organised numerous conferences and events in copyright and entertainment law, and authored several publications. Since 2004 she is a fellow of the NEXA Center for the Internet & Society. She is a member of the working group “Digital Cultural Heritage” in ICOM ITALIA. Since July 2021, she has been the regional delegate for Italy for the project on the right to research in the field of international copyright law of the PIJIP group of the American University, Washington College of Law. From 1 December 2022, she is national delegate for Italy in the KR21 (Knowledge Rights 21) project on access to research, culture and knowledge. As of 13 June 2022, she was elected Councillor of ALAI, Italy for the term 2022-2025. From 12 January 2023, she has been a member of Europeana’s Copyright Steering Committee.
Laura Sinigaglia (Final Report & Italian Country Report)
Legal Consultant in Copyright Law DDA Law Firm | CLAKP
Graduated in law with honors and in piano with highest grade, she deals with copyright law, cultural heritage, and entertainment law. Since 2020, she collaborated with the DDA Law Firm and she’s part of the Creative Commons Italian Chapter. She’s the lecturer of the workshop “Copyright in the digital age, reflections and practical approaches for a subject in constant evolution” at the International Telematic University – Uninettuno.
Maja graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana (1996) and obtained her LL.M. from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana (1999, Economics), Harvard Law School (2000, Law) and Facoltà di Giurisprudenza di Torino (2005, Intellectual Property), and her Ph.D. from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana (2006, Copyright).
Silvana Mangiaracina (Final Report & Italian Country Report)
Head of Library, “Dario Nobili” Library of the Bologna Research Area of the National Research Council
Sociologist and researcher, investigating intersections between digital cultural heritage, open science, new technologies, and copyright law. Author of reports, analyses, and recommendations on the social impact of technology and related regulations on the culture, education, and science sectors.
Stefania Marzocchi (Final Report & Italian Country Report)
Research Fellow, “Dario Nobili” Library of the Bologna Research Area of the National Research Council
PhD in Law. Researcher at the Department of Intellectual Property Law at the Jagiellonian University. Expert in Intellectual Property at the Centrum Cyfrowe. Legal advisor to the Board of the Jagiellonian Center of Innovation. Lecturer at the H. Grotius Center for Intellectual Property Rights. He collaborates with the Kalecki Foundation. He completed doctoral studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and post-graduate studies in company law at the Warsaw School of Economics. He holds an LL.M. of the University of Turin in the field of intellectual property law. A graduate of the Top500 Innovators program at Stanford University on management and commercialisation of scientific research. Laureate of the 2010 Minister of Science and Higher Education award for best master’s thesis, organised by the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland. Author of “All rights reserved. The history of disputes over copyright. 1469 – 1928”. Co-author of the commentary to the Industrial Property Law Act (2016) and the Copyright and Related Law Act (2019).
Ginevra Peruginelli (Final Report & Italian Country Report)
Senior Researcher, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems of the National Research Council (IGSG-CNR)
She is CNR senior legal researcher. Her work focuses on copyright law, open access, and digital scholarly communication. She participates in several European and international projects on free access to law. She is the author of many scientific works and editor of books on ICT and legal information. ORCID: 0000-0002-9331-4476
Silvia Giannini (Final Report & Italian Country Report) Librarian ISTI-CNR
Librarian, ISTI-CNR
Graduated in Book and Archive Sciences, she has been working at the CNR since 1987. She is responsible for the Library Service and Scientific Documentation Centre of the Institute of Science and Information Technologies “A. Faedo” (ISTI) and the Research CNR Area CNR in Pisa. She is responsible for the scientific production management activities in ISTI and is involved in copyright issues, secondary publishing rights and rights retention strategy. She is a member of the permanent Coordinating Committee for the management of CNR libraries, the CNR Group Centralised Acquisitions and Open Access, and coordinates the CNR Communication Working Group. ORCID: 0000-0001-7323-3786
Debora Mazza (Final Report & Italian Country Report)
Librarian, “Dario Nobili” Library of the Bologna Research Area of the National Research Council
Graduated in History, she has been a librarian at the Dario Nobili Library since 2019. She is involved in digital communication and graphic design, user services, and she collaborates on the development of the user-interface of the free resource-sharing management system TALARIA… finding time to crochet and take pictures as well! ORCID: 0000-0001-7842-2922
Manola Cherubini (Italian Country Report)
Researcher, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems of the National Research Council (IGSG-CNR)
She is CNR researcher. She obtained a degree in Law and a PhD in Telematics and Information Society. Her main research areas involve: techniques and methods for legal documentation and legal information systems; structural and semantic analysis of legal language; tools and standards for access to legal information; Artificial Intelligence for law; copyright law; open access. ORCID: 0000-0002-0242-6633
Sara Conti (Italian Country Report)
Senior Technologist, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems of the National Research Council (IGSG-CNR)
She graduated in Law and received her Master’s degree in “Indexing of printed, digital and multimedia documents in a digital environment”. She obtained a PHD in Information engineering.
Her current research interests deal with indexing techniques in a digital environment, implementation of legal database, advanced digital conservation procedures; open research data protection and privacy; digital forensics, exchange of digital evidence, copyright law, open access. ORCID: 0000-0001-8181-8565
Sebastiano Faro (Italian Country Report)
Research Director, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems of the National Research Council (IGSG-CNR)
He is a CNR Research Director. He obtained a degree in Law and a PhD in Administrative Law. His work focuses on public IT law and legal informatics, including methods and techniques for legal documentation, the design of legal and administrative information systems, as well as law and computational social sciences. In 2019-2025, he served as director of the Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems (IGSG-CNR).
Maria Drabczyk (Polish Country Report)
Chair of the Board | KR21 National Coordinator for Poland Centrum Cyfrowe | KR21
Sociologist and researcher, investigating intersections between digital cultural heritage, open science, new technologies, and copyright law. Author of reports, analyses, and recommendations on the social impact of technology and related regulations on the culture, education, and science sectors.
Dr. Konrad Gliściński (Polish Country Report)
Researcher | Intellectual Property Expert, Jagiellonian University | Centrum Cyfrowe
PhD in Law. Researcher at the Department of Intellectual Property Law at the Jagiellonian University. Expert in Intellectual Property at the Centrum Cyfrowe. Legal advisor to the Board of the Jagiellonian Center of Innovation. Lecturer at the H. Grotius Center for Intellectual Property Rights. He collaborates with the Kalecki Foundation. He completed doctoral studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and post-graduate studies in company law at the Warsaw School of Economics. He holds an LL.M. of the University of Turin in the field of intellectual property law. A graduate of the Top500 Innovators program at Stanford University on management and commercialisation of scientific research. Laureate of the 2010 Minister of Science and Higher Education award for best master’s thesis, organised by the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland. Author of “All rights reserved. The history of disputes over copyright. 1469 – 1928”. Co-author of the commentary to the Industrial Property Law Act (2016) and the Copyright and Related Law Act (2019).
Ana Ordás García (Spanish Country Report)
Librarian | KR21 National Coordinator for Spain, FESABID | KR21
A librarian with a strong background in digital transformation projects, especially consultancy in digital lending for libraries, I’m committed to exploring innovative ways to raise awareness of the role libraries play in bringing culture and knowledge closer to the public. My work focuses on digital communication, marketing, and the use of play, game-based learning, and gamification to engage communities.
Daniel Cócera Saló (Spanish Country Report)
Librarian/Research Assistant, FESABID
Graduated in History and in Information Management, I’ve been working in the library field since 2004, combining roles in the private sector, specifically document management in the press, with public institutions like the National Library of Catalonia and the Barcelona Provincial Library Network. My experience includes cataloging materials of all kind, serve as a trainer in document cataloging, managing digital repositories such as Catalonia’s Digital Heritage, which focuses on capturing, preserving, and disseminating web pages, and Trencadís, a Diputació de Barcelona repository that digitizes, preserves, and disseminates heritage collections from local libraries.
