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Open to all institutions and individuals interested in historical documents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

Marcus Bateman

Adam Sofronijevic

Fondazione Banco di Napoli

Universität Bonn – Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek

Colin Greenstreet

Fundación Bunge y Born

picturesafe management GmbH

Picturae BV

Giorgos Sfikas

Jules van Laar

Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche lnstitute im Ausland

Arkivverket (National Archives of Norway)

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

Naver Labs Europe

Universität Greifswald

Schiedam Municipality

Rahvusarhiiv (National Archives of Estonia)

Universiteit Antwerpen

Natural person (anonymous)

Leiden University Libraries

University of Cambridge

University of Maryland

Andy Stauder

Akademie der Wissenschaften in Hamburg (Academy of Sciences Hamburg)

Dominique Deslandres

British Library

University of Aberdeen

Walter Boente

National Library of Scotland

University of Iceland

Riksarkivet (Swedish National Archives)

Private Member

Frank Arens

Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt

Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck

iui – innsbruck university innovations GmbH

Univerzita Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici (Matej Bel University)

Technische Universität Wien

Anistatia Miller

RHC Groninger Archieven

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

Zentralbibliothek Zürich (Central Library Zuerich)

Suphan Kirmizialtin

intranda GmbH

Gemeinde Wien: Wienbibliothek im Rathaus

Het Utrechts Archief (The Utrecht Archives)

Universität Wien

Emily Kadens

Universitätsbibliothek Basel

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Private Member

Rick Companje

University of Bergen library

Private Member

Urs Leo Gantenbein

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Verein für Computergenealogie e. V.

Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Stad Leuven

Armin Bernauer

Stadsarchief Amsterdam (Amsterdam City Archives)

NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust, and Genocide Studies

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

University of Edinburgh

ZAMG Bibliothek

Josef Weißbacher

Staatsarchiv des Kantons Zürich

Radboud University

University of Copenhagen

Universität Bern: Walter Benjamin Kolleg

Hervé Baudry

Noord-Hollands Archief

National Library of Norway

Walter Hartmann

Organisationen Danske Arkiver (Organization of Danish Archives)

Initiative zur Erhaltung historischer Bauten e. V.

KB, National Library of the Netherlands

Universität Rostock

Private Member

Kansallisarkisto (The National Archives of Finland)

Elisa Bastianello

Kurt Rossacher

Universiteit van Amsterdam

Diözese Passau

University of Helsinki

Universitat Politècnica de València (Technical University Valencia)

Private Member

YOYABA Technologies GmbH

Stadtarchiv Stockach

Nicole Merkel-Hilf

Andrew Stuart Bergerson

Christine Zaborsky

Geneanet SA

David Joseph Wrisley

Stadtarchiv Zug

Université du Québec à Rimouski

Günter Mühlberger

UB Tübingen

Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austrian Academy of Science)

Archives nationales de Luxembourg

Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg

Diözesanarchiv St. Pölten

Stichting Tresoar

University of Tartu

Utrecht University

Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin

Melissa Terras

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

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