The European Library -- New Online Discovery Service For Researchers

“Research communities worldwide now have unrivalled online access to the collections of national and university libraries from 46 European countries following the launch of the new European Library portal. Providing a single point of access to over 200 million high quality sources, plus excellent search and retrieval tools, The European Library (www.theeuropeanlibrary.org) enables researchers to find, use and share a vast range of materials (including digital and multimedia content) with speed and ease. The service will be officially launched at the 41st Annual LIBER Conference in Tartu, Estonia in front of an audience of over 320 participants from across Europe. ‘The launch of the new European Library opens up exciting opportunities for researchers worldwide. For the first time, collections from university libraries can be cross‐searched alongside collections from national libraries. This means that an even larger critical mass of high quality materials can be cross‐searched simultaneously.’ From rare books and manuscripts to images and video, The European Library offers access to over 10 million digital items. There are also 24 million pages of full‐text content in every subject in addition to bibliographic records. ‘In order to maximize opportunities for access by researchers, content will also be made available free of charge for re‐use by research networks and websites through API feeds.  As a result, the new possibilities for research are staggering,’ added Louise Edwards, Director of The European Library. The new European Library is the result of an innovative partnership between CENL and three other leading library organisations: LIBER, CERL and the Europeana Foundation. It offers quick and easy access via a central index to the collections of Europe’s national libraries and an expanding range of university libraries. There are also tools and services for researchers, such as the ability to export records to reference management services and to download high‐quality metadata for data mining and exploitation. Finally, it is the library aggregator for Europeana.”