Digital Libraries Initiative
i2010: Digital Libraries Initiative
Europe's cultural and scientific riches at a click of a mouse
In ancient times, the library of Alexandria was said to contain up to 70% of all human knowledge. The challenge for the digital age is to do even better than that – and make the result last longer.
The EU's digital libraries initiative sets out to make all Europe’s cultural resources and scientific records – books, journals, films, maps, photographs, music, etc. – accessible to all, and preserve it for future generations.
The
initiative will focus on two areas:
- cultural heritage – creating electronic versions of the materials in Europe's libraries, archives and museums, making them available online, for work, study or leisure, and preserving them for future generations;
- scientific information – making research findings more widely available online and keeping them available over time.
A further key goal will be to set up and develop Europeana – a single access point for consulting digital copies of the materials held by libraries, museums and archives. Currently, if you want to research a subject – Rembrandt, for instance – you may have to travel all over Europe to find material. But with the European digital library, you will be able to access all of it online – his works, books and films about him, drawings, photographs etc. – regardless of where the originals are held.
The digital libraries initiative is part of the Commission’s i2010 strategy for the digital economy.
Latest news and further information
- What's new?
- Next events
- Brochures
- What's new
-
- 20 November 2008 - Today the European Digital Library - Europeana - was launched in the presence of José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Christine Albanel, French Minister of Culture and Communication, Cultural Ministers from other Member States and representatives of European cultural institutions, in Brussels, Belgium. See the Press release
- November 17, 2008: Viviane Reding, Membre de la Commission européenne, responsable de la société de l'information et des médias. La bibliothèque numérique européenne: du rêve à la réalité - Forum d'Avignon 2008 – Culture, facteur de croissance, Avignon (fr)
- August 11, 2008: The Commission adopted a Communication on Europe’s cultural heritage at the click of a mouse - Progress on the digitisation and online accessibility of cultural material and digital preservation across the EU (EN, FR, DE; PDF files). The Communication describes progress towards the creation of the European digital library as well as the actions deployed by Member States to address organisational, financial, technical and legal issues, essential for making cultural material available on the internet. It calls on Member States and stakeholders to step up their efforts to make our common heritage more accessible, and confirms the Commission’s commitment to support this goal through its policy actions and funding programmes. A Staff Working Paper (EN, PDF file) accompanies the Communication. Read the accompanying press release and FAQs.
- June 4, 2008: Signature of Memorandum of Understanding on orphan works, meeting of the High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries.
- Next events
-
- Brochures
-
- See the EUROPEANA promotional video
- Quick guide through the DLI (PDF file)
- i2010: Digital Libraries brochure (PDF file)