The European Library is an Internet service that allows access to the resources of 49 European national libraries and an increasing number of research libraries. Searching is free and delivers metadata records as well as digital objects, mostly free of charge. The objects come from institutions located in countries which are members of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

and range from catalogue records to full-text books, magazines, journals and audio recordings. Over 200 million records are searchable, including 24 million pages of full-text content and more than 7 million digital objects. Thirty five different languages are represented among the searchable objects. The content of the European Library was frozen on 31 December 2016, with no new updates after that date.

History and concept

The European Library of today has evolved from a number of earlier projects. Its starting point was in 1997 when the GABRIEL (Gateway and Bridge to Europe's National Libraries) project set out to establish a joint web portal of European national libraries. At a basic level, the portal provided information about each library's collections and access to their online public access catalogues (OPACs). GABRIEL was followed by the TEL (The European Library) project, which ran from 2001 to 2004 and created a framework for access to key national and deposit collections within Europe. The project was part-funded under the

Fifth Framework Programme The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development, also called Framework Programmes or abbreviated FP1 to FP9, are funding programmes created by the European Union/European Commission to support and foster research in the Europea ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

. The national libraries involved in the TEL project were those of Finland, Germany, Italy (Florence), Italy (Rome), Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland and United Kingdom. This led to the launch of TheEuropeanLibrary.org portal on 17 March 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, the TEL-ME-MOR project helped to incorporate 10 more national libraries from new European Union member states as full partners of The European Library. By the beginning of 2008, a further nine national libraries within the European Union and the European Free Trade Association had joined the service. The European Library took a further step towards its enlargement with the EDLproject, during which national libraries continued to join The European Library. The project also focused on multilingualism, undertook the first steps towards a European Metadata Registry and created a roadmap for potential digitization efforts in the national libraries.

The European Library and Europeana

The European Library provided much of the organization and support required to launch Europeana – a European Commission initiative that makes millions of digital objects from libraries, museums and archives accessible to the public via the Europeana website. When the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

called for Europeana to be established, the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), under the auspices of the

National Library of the Netherlands The Royal Library of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek or KB; ''Royal Library'') is the national library of the Netherlands, based in The Hague, founded in 1798. The KB collects everything that is published in and concerning the Ne ...

and CENL's service The European Library, were asked to submit for a project under the eContentplus programme. Work began on a prototype in 2007 and Europeana was launched in November 2008. Europeana now operates independently but The European Library continues to work closely with Europeana. The European Library is the aggregator of digital content from national libraries for Europeana and delivers digital content from national libraries on a monthly basis to Europeana. As of July 2012, The European Library was the second biggest content provider to Europeana, with 3.45 million items added to the Europeana database. Some human and technical resources are also shared between Europeana and The European Library.

Virtual exhibitions

In addition to its search engine, The European Library pulls together themes from the collections of Europe's national libraries and displays them in virtual exhibitions. These exhibitions unite geographically disparate objects in a single online space, offering Pan-European sources on the topic. *Manuscripts and Princes in Medieval and Renaissance Europe: 34 manuscripts from the royal collections of the Carolingian Emperors, French King Charles V and his family, and the Aragonese kings of Naples. *Travelling Through History: Centuries worth of travel memorabilia from 13 European libraries, including photographs, sounds, maps and books. *Reading Europe: Almost 1,000 books selected by national libraries, with curatorial information and full-text versions in most cases. *A Roma Journey: Texts, photographs, paintings and recordings of traditional songs showing the heritage of the

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

in Europe. *Napoleonic Wars: A selection of portraits, military maps, city plans, letters, books and other material from the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. *Treasures of Europe's National Libraries: A collection of objects selected by Europe's national libraries as some of the most outstanding items in their collections. *National Library Buildings: Images of the National Libraries that are partners of The European Library.

Financing and ownership

The European Library is financed by its owners, the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL). The portal is maintained by The European Library Office located in the premises of the

Dutch Royal Library The Royal Library of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek or KB; ''Royal Library'') is the national library of the Netherlands, based in The Hague, founded in 1798. The KB collects everything that is published in and concerning the Ne ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. Its programme director is Jill Cousins.About Us
''TheEuropeanLibrary.org''. Accessed 18 January 2011.

Partner libraries

The 48 National Libraries who participate in The European Library project are: *Albania: Biblioteka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë *Armenia: Հայաստանի Ազգային գրադարան *Austria: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek *Azerbaijan: Mirzə Fətəli Axundov adına Azərbaycan Milli Kitabxanası *Belgium: Koninklijke Bibliotheek België *Bosnia and Herzegovina: Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine *Bulgaria: Национална библиотека „Свети Свети Кирил и Методий *Croatia: Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica u Zagrebu *Cyprus: Κυπριακή Βιβλιοθήκη *Czech Republic: Národní knihovna České republiky *Denmark:

Det Kongelige Bibliotek The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countrie ...

*Estonia: Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu *Finland: Kansalliskirjasto *France:

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

*Georgia: საქართველოს პარლამენტის ეროვნული ბიბლიოთეკა *Germany:

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

*Greece: Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη *Hungary: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár *Iceland: Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn *Ireland: Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann *Italy-Florence:

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze The National Central Library of Florence ( it, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, BNCF) is a public national library in Florence, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe, one of the two central libraries of Italy, alon ...

*Italy-Rome: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale *Latvia: Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka *Liechtenstein:

Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek The Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek (in English: ''Liechtenstein State Library'') is the legal deposit and copyright library for Liechtenstein. Legal basis and tasks The Liechtenstein State Library, locally known as the State Library, was est ...

*Lithuania: Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka *Luxembourg:

Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg The National Library of Luxembourg (french: Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg), abbreviated as BnL, is Luxembourg's national library. It was founded in its current form in 1899, as a result of a series of different institutions originating in ...

*Macedonia: Национална и универзитетска библиотека „Св. Климент Охридски" *Malta: Bibljoteka Nazzjonali ta' Malta *Moldova: Biblioteca Naţională a Republicii Moldova *Montenegro: Centralna narodna biblioteka Crne Gore *Netherlands: Koninklijke Bibliotheek *Norway:

Nasjonalbiblioteket The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened i ...

*Poland:

Biblioteka Narodowa The National Library ( pl, Biblioteka Narodowa) is the central Polish library, subject directly to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. The library collects books, journals, electronic and audiovisual publicat ...

*Portugal:

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal The (Portuguese for ''National Library of Portugal'') is the Portuguese national library, fulfilling the function of legal deposit and copyright. History The library was created by Decree of 29 February 1796, under the name of Royal Public L ...

*Romania: Biblioteca Naţională a României *Russia-Moscow: Российская государственная библиотека *Russia-St.Petersburg: Rossiiskaya Natsionalnaya Biblioteka *San Marino: Biblioteca di Stato e Beni Librari *Serbia: Народна библиотека Србије / Narodna biblioteka Srbije *Slovakia: Slovenská národná knižnica *Slovenia:

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica The National and University Library ( sl, Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, ), established in 1774, is one of the most important national educational and cultural institutions of Slovenia. It is located in the centre of Ljubljana, between Aue ...

*Spain:

Biblioteca Nacional de España The Biblioteca Nacional de España (''National Library of Spain'') is a major public library, the largest in Spain, and one of the largest in the world. It is located in Madrid, on the Paseo de Recoletos. History The library was founded by ...

*Sweden:

Kungliga biblioteket The National Library of Sweden ( sv, Kungliga biblioteket, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish a ...

*Switzerland: Swiss National Library *Turkey: Millî Kütüphane *Ukraine: Національна бібліотека України імені В.І. Вернадського *United Kingdom:

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

*Vatican City:

Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

Research Libraries who have also contributed content to The European Library as a result of the Europeana Libraries project include: * Bavarian State Library *

Belgrade University Library The University Library ''Svetozar Marković'' ( sr, Универзитетска библиотека Светозар Марковић) is the main library in the University of Belgrade system, named after Svetozar Marković, a Serbian politica ...

* Hungarian Parliament Library *

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

* Romanian Academy Library * Trinity College Dublin * Universidad Complutense de Madrid *

University of Berne The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comp ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

* University of Ghent * University of Leuven * University of Lund *

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

University of Sibiu A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ro ...

University of Tartu Library Tartu University Library is an academic library in Tartu, Estonia, belonging to the University of Tartu. It is the largest academic library in the country. The library was founded in 1802 (with its forerunner from 1632). Holdings include appro ...

* University of Uppsala *

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

* Wellcome Trust Library * Zentralbibliothek Zürich

References

External links

The European Library at Europeana

Conference of European National Librarians (CENL)

Europeana Libraries
{{Authority control Europe Dutch digital libraries Internet and the European Union Cultural policies of the European Union Aggregation-based digital libraries Multilingual websites