From the JISC release:
The German National Library, Oxford University and Europeana have signed an agreement to digitise family papers and memorabilia from the First World War. The collaboration will bring German soldiers’ stories online alongside their British counterparts in a 1914-18 archive.
JISC planted the seed in 2008 when it funded the The Great War Archive which is run by Oxford University Computing Services. People across Britain contributed family letters, photographs and keepsakes from the War to be digitised. The success of the idea has encouraged Europeana, Europe’s digital archive, library and museum, to bring the German National Library into an alliance with Oxford University to roll out the scheme in Germany.
Alastair Dunning, JISC digitisation programme manager, says: “We are delighted that its initial funding in the Great War Archive has now blossomed to expand on the European dimension of the original project. The inclusion of German narrative in this current will not only provide valuable material for teachers and researchers, but help strengthen the joint understanding of the Great War.”
There will be a series of roadshows in libraries around Germany that will encourage people to bring documents and artefacts from family members involved in the First World War to be digitised by mobile scanning units, and to tell the stories that go with them. There will also be a website allowing people to submit material online if they are unable to attend the local events. Everything submitted will also be available through Europeana, where it will add a new perspective to collections of First World War material from institutions across Europe.
More info at the site.
So it hasn’t rolled out ? An agreement to start the process has been signed ….
I look forward to seeing it when it eventually rolled out.