We are READ-COOP

A European Cooperative Society with more than 100 Members globally.

The Origins of READ-COOP

READ-COOP SCE with limited liability was established on 1 July 2019, to sustain and further develop the Transkribus platform. Transkribus was developed within the Horizon 2020 “READ” EU project by a consortium of leading research groups from all over Europe, headed by the University of Innsbruck. See our milestones >>

What we stand for

Open to all institutions and individuals interested in historical documents

Democratically organized with a Board of Directors and a General Meeting

Discounts on all products and services for members

Direct benefits instead of shareholder value – stakeholders matter.

Customers can be owners and owners can be customers.

Download Brand Resources

Why a Cooperative?

We are convinced that the organisational form of a European Cooperative Society enables us to carry out our work in a highly efficient, open, and democratic way.

READ-COOP is based on the EU directive on the European Cooperative Society (SCE) but it is open to members outside of the European Community as well.

We have more than 80 Members

Organisationen Danske Arkiver (Organization of Danish Archives)

Stadtarchiv Zug

Leiden University Libraries

Zentralbibliothek Zürich (Central Library Zuerich)

Dominique Deslandres

Universität Rostock

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

University of Helsinki

University of Aberdeen

Günter Mühlberger

Universitätsbibliothek Basel

Melissa Terras

Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam City Archives)

Fundación Bunge y Born

Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland r.f. (Society of Swedish Literature in Finland)

Schiedam Municipality

University of Tartu

Private Member

Emily Kadens

Anistatia Miller

Rahvusarhiiv (National Archives of Estonia)

Universiteit van Amsterdam

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies

Marcus Bateman

Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg

Natural person (anonymous)

Kansallisarkisto (The National Archives of Finland)

intranda GmbH

University of Cambridge

Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives)

Walter Boente

RHC Groninger Archieven

Universiteit Antwerpen

Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Utrecht University

David Joseph Wrisley

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

National Library of Scotland

University of Iceland

INT – Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal (Dutch Language Institute)

Andrew Stuart Bergerson

Arkivverket (National Archives of Norway)

Picturae BV

Andy Stauder

Max-Planck Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e.V.

Université du Québec à Rimouski

Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici (Matej Bel University)

iui – innsbruck university innovations GmbH

Christine Zaborsky

British Library

Archives nationales de Luxembourg

Gemeinde Wien: Wienbibliothek im Rathaus

Suphan Kirmizialtin

Naver Labs Europe

Het Utrechts Archief (The Utrecht Archives)

Adam Sofronijevic

Nicole Merkel-Hilf

Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt

ZAMG Bibliothek

Frank Arens

Diözese Passau

Giorgos Sfikas

University of Bergen library

Stichting Tresoar

Josef Weißbacher

Rick Companje

Radboud University

Elisa Bastianello

Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin

Stadtarchiv Stockach

Universität Greifswald

YOYABA Technologies GmbH

UB Tübingen

Hervé Baudry

Noord-Hollands Archief

Kurt Rossacher

Private Member

Urs Leo Gantenbein

Stad Leuven

Staatsarchiv des Kantons Zürich

Universitat Politècnica de València (Technical University Valencia)

University of Copenhagen

Verein für Computergenealogie e. V.

Fondazione Banco di Napoli

Colin Greenstreet

Private Member

Initiative zur Erhaltung historischer Bauten e. V.

Jules van Laar

Diözesanarchiv St. Pölten

Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche lnstitute im Ausland

KB, National Library of the Netherlands

Private Member

Armin Bernauer

National Library of Norway

Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austrian Academy of Science)

Geneanet SA

Universität Bern: Walter Benjamin Kolleg

Private Member

Universität Bonn – Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek

Universität Wien

University of Maryland

Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg (Academy of Sciences Hamburg)

University of Edinburgh

Walter Hartmann

Technische Universität Wien

Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck

picturesafe management GmbH

See all Members >>

What is an SCE?

A legal entity that allows its members to carry out common activities, while preserving their independence
The principal objective is the meeting of its members’ needs and not the return on capital investment.
It enables members to benefit proportionally to their usage and practical contribution and not to their financial capital.

With this governance model we are able to

Support humanities scholars, archives, libraries and the general public in transcribing, recognising and searching historical documents with cutting edge technology

Run a community driven platform for gathering and sharing documents, transcriptions, technology, and knowledge among members and the public

Constantly improve technologies such as text recognition, layout analysis, and table recognition in close cooperation with research groups and technology providers

Board

READ-COOP is run by the board of directors consisting of

Günter Mühlberger

University of Innsbruck

Chair

Andy Stauder

READ-COOP SCE

Managing director

Melissa Terras

University of Edinburgh

Scholarly director

The board is supervised and elected by the General meeting of all members, which meets at least once a year.

Statutes of READ-COOP

The statutes of READ-COOP SCE are the legal basis for our work. Please read them carefully. They are compliant with the EU directive on European Cooperatives as well as with national Austrian legislation and related laws. They were carefully set up with support from the Raiffeisen Association and approved by the Landesgericht Innsbruck (State Court of Tyrol). The official registration number of READ-COOP SCE with limited liability is FN 520187g, our VAT ID is ATU74983823.

German and English version of the READ-COOP statutes

Official registration letter – in German

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We are READ-COOP

The Origins of READ-COOP

What we stand for

Why a Cooperative?

We have more than 80 Members

What is an SCE?

With this governance model we are able to

Board

Statutes of READ-COOP

Join us and become a member

The COOP

Products & Services

Useful information

Helpful resources

Community