The European Library was an Internet service that allows access to the resources of 49 European

national libraries A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant ...

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; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

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 of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

. 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 (TEL) provided much of the organization and support required to launch

Europeana Europeana is a web portal created by the European Union containing digitised cultural heritage collections of more than 3,000 institutions across Europe. It includes records of over 50 million cultural and scientific artefacts, brought togethe ...

– 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 two 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 ...

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

National Library of the Netherlands The KB National Library of the Netherlands (legal Dutch name: 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 CENL's service The European Library, were asked to submit for a project under the eContentplus programme.

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

, 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 {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

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

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. *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 in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

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

Partner libraries

The 49 National Libraries who participate in The European Library project are: *Albania: Biblioteka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë *Armenia: Հայաստանի Ազգային գրադարան *Austria:

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek The Austrian National Library (, ) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vienna. Since 2005, some of the collection ...

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

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

*Georgia: საქართველოს პარლამენტის ეროვნული ბიბლიოთეკა *Germany:

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) 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 collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...

*Greece: Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη *Hungary: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár *Iceland: Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn *Ireland: Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann *Italy-Florence: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze *Italy-Rome: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale *Latvia: Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka *Liechtenstein:

Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek The Liechtenstein State Library (, ) is the legal deposit and copyright library for Liechtenstein. It was established by law in 1961 by the National Library Foundation. Legal basis and tasks The Liechtenstein State Library, locally known as the ...

*Lithuania: Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka *Luxembourg:

Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a p ...

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

Nasjonalbiblioteket The National Library of Norway () 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 in 2005. Prior to the ex ...

*Poland: Biblioteka Narodowa *Portugal:

Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal The ( Portuguese for ''National Library of Portugal'') is the Portuguese national library. History The library was created by Decree of 29 February 1796, under the name of Royal Public Library of the Court (). The library's objective was to ...

*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 *Spain:

Biblioteca Nacional de España The (National Library of Spain) is the national library of Spain. It is the largest public library in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1711, it is an autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Culture since 1 ...

*Sweden: Kungliga biblioteket *Switzerland:

Swiss National Library The Swiss National Library (, , , ) is the national library of Switzerland. Part of the Federal Office of Culture, it is charged with collecting, cataloging and conserving information in all fields, disciplines, and media connected with Switzerla ...

*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. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

*Vatican City: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana *Wales:

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in 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 books and periodicals, and the l ...

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

Bavarian State Library The Bavarian State Library (, abbreviated BSB, called ''Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis'' before 1919) in Munich is the central " Landesbibliothek", i. e. the state library of the Free State of Bavaria, the biggest universal and research libra ...

Belgrade University Library The University Library ''Svetozar Marković'' () is the main library in the University of Belgrade system, named after Svetozar Marković, a Serbian political activist in the 19th century. It is located on Bulevar kralja Aleksandra, King Alexande ...

* Hungarian Parliament Library *

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

Library *

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

* University of Berne *

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

University of Ghent Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

* University of Leuven *

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

* University of Sibiu * University of Tartu Library *

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

* Wellcome Trust Library *

Zentralbibliothek Zürich ''Zentralbibliothek Zürich'' (Zürich Central Library) is a library in Zürich, Switzerland. It is the main library of both the city and the University of Zurich, housed in the ''Predigerkirche Zürich, Predigerkloster'', the former Black Fria ...

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