European Library

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The European Library
The European Library exists to open up the universe of knowledge, information and cultures of all Europe's national libraries.
operator CENL (a consortium of 48 national libraries )
On-line March 17, 2005 (currently discontinued)
http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/

The European Library ( German : Die Europäische Bibliothek; abbreviated: TEL ) is an online service that provides access to the holdings of the 48 national libraries in Europe . Search is free and offers the possibility to access metadata as well as digital objects (most of which are free). The objects come from institutions in countries that are members of the Council of Europe . They range from catalog entries to full-text books to magazines, journals and sound recordings. The portal is available in 35 languages, although not all pages are consistently available in all languages.

The European Library has been in charge of the Europeana Libraries project since 2011, which collects, organizes and makes available over 5 million objects from 19 research libraries via Europeana . The participating research libraries also become partners of the European Library.

The project was discontinued on December 31, 2016. The website is still online but will no longer be updated. According to the “Newspapers” section, the offer will be migrated to another section of the Europeana project in 2017: “In the meantime, the service may be unresponsive at times and errors may occur”.

The pages are now no longer accessible. A cross-reference appears to Europeana, where you have migrated to.

Story and concept

The European Library in its current form has several predecessors. The starting point in 1997 was the GABRIEL (Gateway and Bridge to Europe's National Libraries) project, which aimed to establish a common web portal for European national libraries. At the beginning, the portal provided information about the respective library collections as well as access to their online library catalogs (OPACs).

GABRIEL was followed by the project The European Library from 2001 to 2004 . For the first time, access to the content of many large European libraries should also be possible. The project was partially funded by the European Commission's Fifth Framework Program . The national libraries of Finland, Germany, Italy (Florence), Italy (Rome), the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland and Great Britain were involved.

This resulted in the portal TheEuropeanLibrary.org, which went online on March 17, 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, ten more national libraries from new EU member states became full partners of the European Library with the help of the TEL-ME-MOR project. At the beginning of 2008, nine more national libraries from countries of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association joined the European Library.

With the EDL project, The European Library took further steps to expand, and other national libraries joined it. The project also focused on multilingualism, took the first steps towards European metadata registration and created a plan for potential digitization efforts in the national libraries.

Year of joining National Library
2005 Netherlands, Switzerland, Great Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy-Florence, Italy-Rome
2006 Malta, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Denmark
2007 Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Russia-Moscow
2008 Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Turkey, Russia-St. Petersburg, Ukraine
* San Marino, Vatican City (collections not searchable)

So far, the National Library of Belarus in Minsk, the Biblioteca Nacional d'Andorra and the National and University Library of Kosovo (BKUK) in Pristina have not been involved in the European Library . The Greenland National Library Nunatta Atuagaateqarfia is also not a member.

The European Library and Europeana

The European Library was significantly involved in the implementation of the Europeana project. Europeana is an initiative of the European Commission that makes millions of digital objects from European libraries, museums and archives available to the public through the Europeana website.

When the European Parliament called for the establishment of Europeana, the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), headed by the Dutch National Library and “The European Library”, was asked to submit a project under the eContentplus program. Work on the prototype began in 2007. In November 2008, Europeana went online.

Europeana is now acting independently, but there is still a close cooperation between the two projects. The European Library collects and organizes the digital content of the European national libraries. The results are made available on Europeana every month. In January 2011, the European Library was Europe's third largest data source with 1.2 million media made available. The two projects share some technical resources. Some employees also work for both programs.

Virtual exhibitions

In addition to the search function, The European Library shows virtual exhibitions. The objects gathered under a theme come from the collections of the European national libraries. Thus, the exhibitions combine geographically widely dispersed objects in a single online room that offers pan-European sources on the respective topic.

  • Reading Europe: Nearly 1000 books selected by national libraries , with curatorial information and in most cases full-text versions.
  • A Roma Journey: texts, photographs, paintings and traditional songs that show the legacy of Roma in Europe.
  • Napoleonic Wars: A selection of portraits, military maps, city maps, letters, books and other material from the Napoleonic Wars .
  • Treasures of Europe's National Libraries: A collection selected by European National Libraries that shows the most important objects in their collections.
  • National Library Buildings: Images of the national libraries that are partners of the European Library.

Finance and Ownership

The European Library was funded by the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL). The portal is maintained by The European Library Secretariat, which is located in the Royal Library of the Netherlands in The Hague . The program director is Jill Cousins.

Member libraries

National Libraries

List of the 48 national libraries that are members of the European Library, sorted by country:

European Union:

  1. Belgium: Royal Library of Belgium ( Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België )
  2. Bulgaria: National Library of Saints Cyril and Methodius
  3. Denmark: Danish Royal Library ( Det Kongelige Bibliotek )
  4. Germany: German National Library (DNB)
  5. Estonia: Estonian National Library ( Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu )
  6. Finland: National Library of Finland ( Kansalliskirjasto )
  7. France: Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)
  8. Greece: National Library of Greece ( Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη )
  9. Ireland: National Library of Ireland ( Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann )
  10. Italy:
    1. Florence: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze
    2. Rome: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma
  11. Croatia: National and University Library Zagreb (NSK)
  12. Latvia: Latvian National Library ( Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka )
  13. Lithuania: National Library of Lithuania ( Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka )
  14. Luxembourg: Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg
  15. Malta: National Library of Malta ( Bibljoteka Nazzjonali ta 'Malta )
  16. Netherlands: Royal Library of the Netherlands ( Koninklijke Bibliotheek )
  17. Austria: Austrian National Library (ÖNB)
  18. Poland: Biblioteka Narodowa
  19. Portugal: Portuguese National Library ( Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal )
  20. Romania: National Library of Romania ( Biblioteca Națională a României )
  21. Sweden: Stockholm Royal Library ( Kungliga biblioteket )
  22. Slovakia: Slovak National Library ( Slovenská národná knižnica )
  23. Slovenia: Slovenian National and University Library ( Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica )
  24. Spain: Spanish National Library ( Biblioteca Nacional de España )
  25. Czech Republic: National Library of the Czech Republic ( Národní knihovna České republiky )
  26. Hungary: National Széchényi Library ( Országos Széchényi Könyvtár )
  27. United Kingdom: British Library (BL)
  28. Republic of Cyprus: Cypriot Library ( Κυπριακή Βιβλιοθήκη )

Other European countries:

  1. Albania: National Library of Albania ( Biblioteka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë )
  2. Armenia: Հայաստանի Ազգային գրադարան
  3. Azerbaijan: Mirzə Fətəli Axundov adına Azərbaycan Milli Kitabxanası
  4. Bosnia and Herzegovina: National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine )
  5. Georgia: National Library of the Georgian Parliament ( საქართველოს პარლამენტის ეროვნული ბიბლიოთეკა )
  6. Iceland: National and University Library of Iceland ( Landsbókasafn Íslands - Háskólabókasafn )
  7. Liechtenstein: Liechtenstein National Library
  8. Macedonia: Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Sv. Kliment Ohridski
  9. Moldova: National Library of the Republic of Moldova ( Biblioteca Naţională a Republicii Moldova )
  10. Montenegro: Central National Library of Montenegro ( Centralna narodna biblioteka Crne Gore , CNB)
  11. Norway: National Library of Norway ( Nasjonalbiblioteket )
  12. Russia:
    1. Moscow: Russian State Library ( Российская государственная библиотека )
    2. St Petersburg: Russian National Library ( Rossiiskaya Natsionalnaya Biblioteka )
  13. San Marino: Biblioteca di Stato e Beni Librari
  14. Switzerland: Swiss National Library
  15. Serbia: Serbian National Library ( Narodna Biblioteka Srbije )
  16. Turkey: Turkish National Library ( Millî Kütüphane )
  17. Ukraine: Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine
  18. Vatican City: Vatican Apostolic Library ( Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana )

Research libraries

List of research libraries that will join the European Library in 2011 as a result of the “Europeana Libraries” project:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ European Library Mission The European Library Vision & Mission.
  2. Natasha Singer: Playing Catch-Up in a Digital Library Race . New York Times, January 8, 2011. Retrieved January 17, 2011 (subscribers only).
  3. Sally Chambers, Wouter Schallier: Bringing Research Libraries into Europeana ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Liber Quarterly , Volume 20, Issue 1 (2010). Accessed September 7, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / liber.library.uu.nl
  4. ^ "Europe's national libraries and CENL commit to collaboration and mutual support as they build on the legacy of The European Library". Press release, cenl.org.
  5. theeuropeanlibrary.org/newspapers , accessed March 18, 2018
  6. Last attempt on May 7, 2020
  7. ^ Theo Van Veen, Bill Oldroyd: Search and Retrieval in The European Library . D-Lib Magazine , Volume 10, Number 2 (2004). Accessed January 18, 2011.
  8. List of Europeana contributors ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Europeana.eu . Accessed January 18, 2011.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / europeana.eu
  9. Susanne Bjørner: Both Sides Now: “Thinking about Culture and Language: The European Library and Europeana,” Searcher (vol.17, no.6) June 2009, pp. 33–40 excerpt
  10. ^ Reading Europe: European Culture Through The Book TheEuropeanLibrary.org . Accessed January 18, 2011.
  11. A Roma Journey TheEuropeanLibrary.org . Accessed January 18, 2011.
  12. Napoleonic Wars TheEuropeanLibrary.org . Accessed January 18, 2011.
  13. ^ Treasures of Europe's National Libraries TheEuropeanLibrary.org . Accessed January 18, 2011.
  14. National Library Buildings TheEuropeanLibrary.org . Accessed January 18, 2011.
  15. About Us TheEuropeanLibrary.org . Accessed January 18, 2011.