The European Commission has announced the launch of Europeana, a European multimedia online library, at www.europeana.eu. Internet users worldwide can now access more than 2 million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films from national libraries and cultural institutions of the EU's 27 member states. Europeana makes it possible to search and browse the digitised collections of Europe's libraries, archives and museums all at once. This means users can explore themes without searching for and visiting multiple sites and resources.
Europeana is seen to open up new ways of exploring the region's heritage. Those interested in literature, art, science, politics, history, architecture, music or cinema will have free access to Europe's key collections and masterpieces in a single virtual library through a web portal available in all EU languages.
Further expansion for the project is planned for 2010. In that phase, Europeana will give access to millions of items representing Europe's cultural diversity and will have interactive zones such as communities for special interests. Between 2009 and 2011, some €
2 million per year of EU funding will be dedicated to this. The Commission also plans to involve the private sector in the further expansion of the digital library. In September 2007, the European Parliament supported, in a resolution voted by an overwhelming majority, the creation of the library.
Initiated by the Commission in 2005, Europeana was brought to fruition in close cooperation with national libraries and other cultural bodies of the member states as well as with the strong support of the European Parliament. The library is run by the European Digital Library Foundation, which brings together Europe's major associations of libraries, archives, museums, audiovisual archives and cultural institutions. It is hosted by the Dutch national library, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek.
Over 1,000 cultural organisations from across Europe have provided material for Europeana. National libraries all over the region have contributed printed and manuscript material, including digitised copies of the great books that brought new ideas into the world. State archives have made important national documents available, and France's Institut National de l'Audiovisuel supplied 80,000 broadcasts recording the 20th century, right back to early footage shot on the battlefields of France in 1914.
In 2009-2010 around €
69 million will be available for research on digital libraries through the EU's research programme. In the same period, the information society part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme will allocate around €
50 million to improve access to Europe's cultural and scientific heritage.
