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The spreading of digital libraries, the nature of and access to their services has changed the composition of library users and library usage patterns to a large extent. Traditional, first of all physical barriers have ceased. Nevertheless, new barriers appeared as a result of the presence or eventual lack of IT tools both hardware and software and IT literacy. The content and its manifestations transmitted to the reading public by digital libraries can be extremely diverse. It is absolutely necessary to provide tools for orientation, information and for evaluating search results, in order to use the services of digital libraries as efficiently as possible. It is the primary objective of the article to present the opportunities offered by selected foreign-language digital libraries for access to the content they are offering. The article also informs about the essential IT knowledge as well as the hardware and software tools that are needed by users to make an efficient use of content in various file formats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of information societies depends on publicly available content. In these societies libraries are more and more frequently called upon to care for equal access to citizens in order to implement lifelong learning initiatives. Library services are most influenced by copyright regulations: what kinds of services can they provide to library users, and under what conditions can they allow access to the works under copyright protection? Digitisation is considered as reproduction according to copyright terminology, because digitisation is but transforming analogue works into digital ones, by copying as necessary. Library digitisation serves a dual aim: preservation and document provision (availability). As regards preservation, the article analyses the problems of providing electronic legal deposit and web harvesting, while regarding document provision, it discusses the Creative Commons license and the eBooks on Demand (EOD) service. It presents the exceptions in the law no. LXXVI of 1999 relating to libraries providing services for the public, as well as the problems of copyright arising during digitisation, conceming orphan works and out-of-print materials, for example. It also deals with the recent developments of the EU initiative relating to digital libranes, the Green Paper on copyright issued by the European Commission, as well as the responses of IFLA and EBLIDA to the Green Paper in question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the series "Scrutiny of Hungarian databases" independent experts evaluate various Hungarian online content services from the point of vies of their use by libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]