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European Library

{{short description|Web service providing access to resources of national libraries across Europe}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}

{{More citations needed|date=February 2008}}

{{Infobox website

| name = The European Library

| logo = Image:European Library logo.PNG

| screenshot = Image:European Library screenshot.PNG

| url = {{URL|https://www.europeana.eu/en/TEL|europeana.eu/tel}}

| commercial = No

| location = Dutch Royal Library, Netherlands"

| type = Portal to the content of Europe's national and research libraries

| owner = CENL (a consortium of 49 national libraries)[http://www.cenl.org CENL], Official Website of CENL. Accessed 9 October 2015

| launch_date = 17 March 2005

}}

The European Library was an Internet service that allows access to the resources of 49 European national librariesSinger, Natasha "[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/business/09stream.html?_r=1 Playing Catch-Up in a Digital Library Race]." New York Times, 8 January 2011. Accessed 17 January 2011. 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 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.cenl.org/wp-content/uploads/20161213-TEL-closure-press-release-final.pdf|title=Europe's national libraries and CENL commit to collaboration and mutual support as they build on the legacy of The European Library: TEL services to be discontinued from 31 December 2016|date=2016-12-13|access-date=16 December 2016|archive-date=12 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212110550/http://www.cenl.org/wp-content/uploads/20161213-TEL-closure-press-release-final.pdf|url-status=dead}}

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).

{{Rquote|left|The European Library exists to open up the universe of knowledge, information and cultures of all Europe's national libraries.| European Library Mission[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/organisation/about_us/aboutus_en.html#where_is_tel_going The European Library Vision and Mission]. TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011.}}

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 national libraries involved in the TEL project were those of Finland, Germany, Italy (Florence), Italy (Rome), Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland and United Kingdom.Van Veen, Theo and Oldroyd, Bill. "[http://www.dlib.org/dlib/february04/vanveen/02vanveen.html Search and Retrieval in The European Library]." D-Lib Magazine Volume 10 Number 2 (2004). Accessed 18 January 2011.

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.

class="wikitable"

! scope="col" width="75" | Year of Joining

! scope="col" width="650" | National Libraries

2005Netherlands, Switzerland, UK, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy-Florence, Italy-Rome
2006

|Malta, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Denmark

2007Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Russia-Moscow
2008Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Turkey, Russia Saint Petersburg, Ukraine
*San Marino, Vatican City (collections not searchable)
2011Wales

The European Library and Europeana

The European Library (TEL) 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 called for Europeana to be established, the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), under the auspices of the National Library of the Netherlands 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 librariesBjørner, Susanne. [http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-applications/12369091-1.html Thinking About Culture and Language]. Searcher, 1 June 2009. Accessed 18 January 2011. 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:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/virtual/regia Manuscripts and Princes in Medieval and Renaissance Europe] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 30 July 2012. 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:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition-travel-history Travelling through History] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 30 July 2012. Centuries worth of travel memorabilia from 13 European libraries, including photographs, sounds, maps and books.
  • Reading Europe:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition-reading-europe/index.html Reading Europe: European Culture Through The Book] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011. Almost 1,000 books selected by national libraries, with curatorial information and full-text versions in most cases.
  • A Roma Journey:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition/roma_journey/eng/index.html A Roma Journey] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011. Texts, photographs, paintings and recordings of traditional songs showing the heritage of the Romani people in Europe.
  • Napoleonic Wars:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition/napoleonic_wars/index.html Napoleonic Wars] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011. A selection of portraits, military maps, city plans, letters, books and other material from the Napoleonic Wars.
  • Treasures of Europe's National Libraries:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition/treasures/index.html Treasures of Europe's National Libraries] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011. A collection of objects selected by Europe's national libraries as some of the most outstanding items in their collections.
  • National Library Buildings:[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/exhibition/buildings/index.html National Library Buildings] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011. 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. Its programme director is Jill Cousins.[http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/portal/organisation/about_us/aboutus_en.html About Us] TheEuropeanLibrary.org. Accessed 18 January 2011.

Partner libraries

The 49 National Libraries who participate in The European Library project are:

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

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See also

{{Portal|European Union}}

References

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External links

  • [https://www.europeana.eu/en/TEL/ The European Library at Europeana]
  • [http://www.cenl.org Conference of European National Librarians (CENL)]
  • [http://www.europeana-libraries.eu Europeana Libraries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231001543/http://www.europeana-libraries.eu/ |date=31 December 2020 }}

{{National libraries of Europe}}

{{Authority control}}

Europe

Category:Dutch digital libraries

Category:Internet and the European Union

Category:Cultural policies of the European Union

Category:Aggregation-based digital libraries

Category:Multilingual websites