- EDLPROJECT BLOG -

EDLPROJECT REVIEW MEETING

2007-09-26T13:54:00.000+02:00

An EDLProject review meeting took place on the 11th of September in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National library of the Netherlands.

Two reviewers chosen by the Commission have assessed the EDLProject progress under EC Project Officer, Mr. Federico Milani. The Agenda featured a presentation from Britta Woldering of the German National Library covering work completed to date and a general overview. The conclusions of the reviewers were very positive and EDLproject activities can further proceed.

Improving Library Services - Outcomes of EDL project Knowledge Sharing Works

2007-03-28T13:14:00.000+02:00

Developing more web-services, recommending OAI-PMH compliance and using FRBR techniques in The European Library were all recommendations from the EDLproject Knowledge Sharing Workshop.

While formulating practical actions to further develop the web services of The European Library portal, the workshop also proved to be a good opportunity for EDLproject participants to work with members of The European Library network in a hands-on setting.

The Workshop, organised by The European Library Office, took place in The National Library of The Netherlands. View the full press-release in PDF format.

A Mini Searchbox for all EDLproject partners

2007-03-12T16:00:00.000+01:00

The European Library has developed a mini version of its searchbox that website owners can easily install on their own site. See
http://libraries.theeuropeanlibrary.org/minisearchbox_en.html

This mini library gives direct and centralised access to Europe’s national libraries. This means webmasters can offer their users:

quick check whether a national library has digitised a particular item

shortcut to reliable information and material (books, photos, maps, images, films, etc.) from all over Europe.

EDLproject 2nd Workshop / Vision statement

2007-02-07T16:18:00.000+01:00

During the EDLproject 2nd Workshop in Vienna 31 January to 1 February 2007 the participants started to work on the creation of a vision statement for the European digital library.
Two wordsmiths in the shape of David Dawson of the MLA and Hans de Haan of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands went to work and came up with the following for input and comment.

Click on the below thumbnail to view the Vision statement keywords.

Click on the below thumbnail to view the 4 version proposals of the Vision statement.

Persistent Identifiers publication

2007-02-06T12:08:00.000+01:00

During the 2nd EDLproject workshop in Vienna, Marian Lefferts, CERL (Consortium of European Research Libraries) Executive Manager promised to communicate the details of the report on Persistent Identifiers that CERL and ECPA published last year.

"Hans-Werner Hilse and Jochen Kothe, Implementing Persistent Identifiers: Overview of concepts, guidelines and recommendations. London / Amsterdam: Consortium of European Libraries and European Commission on Preservation and Access, 2006. ISBN 90-6984-508-3."

The PDF version is available at: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:7-isbn-90-6984-508-3-8

For further information, click here.

On Marian Lefferts' behalf, thank you.

WP1: the 2007 boost!

2007-01-18T14:22:00.000+01:00

WP1 assists Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain and Sweden in making their resources available through The European Library and becoming Full Participants of The European Library in a sustainable way.

EDLproject partners and The European Library Technical Working Group were invited to meet during the Joint Knowledge Sharing Workshop held in the National Library of the Netherlands on January 11th and 12th, 2007.

The aim of the meeting was to explain the DRAFT-ImplementationPlan, investigate the OAI compliance of EDLproject partners, elaborate the concept of web services in The European Library infrastructure and investigate FRBR implementation solutions.

The Joint meeting was a success in terms of networking, communication with experienced Full Participants of The European Library and a concrete opportunity to clarify technical issues related to collection implementation.

Highlights in pictures (Click on the thumbnails):

EDLproject video presentation

2006-12-01T12:13:00.000+01:00

Larger format available on YouTube
EDLproject video presentation by Olaf Janssen, WP1 leader.

The presentation was given in November 2006 in the premises of The National Library of The Netherlands.

EDLproject blog

2006-10-24T16:57:00.000+02:00

The European Library is currently looking at ways to improve/expand its services towards partners.

We are investigating the blog as a platform to exchange experiences, a communication channel within The European Library network. Note that it is not an information feed neither an agenda as both are taken care of in the separate EDLproject website.

This forum is specifically dedicated to EDLproject partners and their Full Participant partnership.

We are inviting late Full Participants (TEL-ME-MOR partners) to voice their experience, advices or perhaps comment their European Library collaboration during their Basic to Full Participant shift.

We are also inviting EDLproject partners to communicate their expectations or concerns, and to provide a brief overview of their library collections and user profile.

Your feedback is essential to us. We kindly invite you to provide your views and strong opinions on the EDLproject by clicking on “Comments”. Then follow the instructions on the following pop-up screen:
1. "Leave your comment" in the corresponding box
2. Click on "Other"
3. Enter your Name and Library/Organization name
4. Enter the coloured letters into the "Word verification" box
5. Preview then publish your comment.

EDLproject - Presentation

2006-09-20T16:56:00.000+02:00

The EDLproject initiative is a forward step in the direction of Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage on-line, a single "click" for a thorough collection search.

Based on the existing European Library and its TEL-ME-MOR extension, EDLproject aims to extend the current multilingual search capabilities of The European Library portal as well as initiate a partnership with other major cultural heritage institutions, such as museums and archives.

The European Library, a unique search tool
The European Library is an ambitious collaboration programme between European national libraries that offers internet access to combined resources (books, magazines, journals, etc.). Created under the authority of CENL and 46 national libraries across Europe, The European Library portal was launched successfully in March 2005, hosting over 500.000 visitors in a little more than a year. By offering a single access point for specific searches, the portal provides multi-lingual and cross-collections results through all Full Participant national libraries resources, a total amount of more than a 150 million entries.

TEL-ME-MOR, the search is extended
The TEL-ME-MOR project was launched in order to support the 10 national libraries from the EU New Member States in becoming Full Participants of The European Library. Initiated in February 2005, TEL-ME-MOR should end in January 2007 after all New Member State have joined succesfully.

Another step towards a European Digital Library
Next to the above TEL-ME-MOR project, The European Library's objective is to significantly extend its current collection records by adding 9 national libraries within the EU/EFTA to its Full Participants list. This collection boost would generate over 50 million records of objects (books, journals, etc.), all searchable through the same single access point, The European Library "Search" button.

EDLproject participating partners

2006-09-20T16:55:00.000+02:00

EDLproject participants on their way to Full Partners of The European Library

Royal Library of Belgium was founded in 1837. Its history really started however with the Library of Burgundy, a collection of 900 manuscripts acquired in the 15th century by the dukes of Burgundy. The Royal Library of Belgium is a scientific Institution of the federal State. Since 1966, under the Legal Deposit Law, it has been charged with collecting and cataloguing every Belgian publication.

National Library of Greece encompasses the concentration, organization and dissemination to the public of the written works of Greek science and culture. The NLG also develops and maintains the National Collection, which includes material that is produced in Greece, as well as material that is produced abroad, but is connected with Greece in any language and form.

The National and University Library of Iceland has already digitised about 1.1 million pages of documents that would qualify as Icelandic cultural heritage. This includes 500 old maps of Iceland, manuscripts and books related to the Icelandic Sagas (393.000 p.), Icelandic journals and newspapers published older than 1920 (270.000 p.), Morgunbladid, the main Icelandic newspaper 1913-2000, (400.000 pages), books and manuscripts (30.000 p.) and newspapers and journals from the Faroe Islands and Greenland (46.000 p.). All this is available and searchable through the web www.bok.hi.is.

National Library of Ireland focuses on developing collections relating to Ireland. Its current collections include books, newspapers, periodicals, manuscripts, photographs, and prints. It is currently examining the feasibility of collecting materials in other formats. The online catalogues of the Library include digitised items from its photographs and prints collections. Currently a project is under way that will add 40,000 photographs to the Library’s systems.

Liechtenstein National Library was established by public law as an independent foundation. Taking into account the special circumstances of a small state, the National Library comprises three types of libraries: a national library, a scientific library and a popular library. As the national library it collects, preserves and makes accessible Liechtensteinese literature as completely as possible. The legal obligation for domestic printers and publishers to provide the National Library with two items of each of their produced works facilitates the collection building.

National Library of Luxembourg is open to the public and the foremost research library of Luxembourg. Two thirds of its collections are non-Luxembourg material. The BnL is home to the national union catalogue and the associated library network (ca. 30 members). The national library will merge in the medium-term with the academic library of the newly created University of Luxembourg.

The National Library of Norway aims to be a multimedia centre of knowledge which already forms the core of the Norwegian Digital Library. It is the premier source of information about Norway, Norwegians and Norwegian culture, and it is Norway's main resource for the collection, archiving and distribution of Norwegian media. Its functions include establishing, preserving and making available a wide variety of collections.

National Library of Spain was founded by the Spanish king Felipe IV in 1712 as the Palace Public Library. In 1836, the Library stopped being the property of the crown and came under the control of the Ministry of Government, receiving the name of Biblioteca Nacional for the first time. In 1957 has been approved the Legal Deposit Law. Since 2003 the National Library has began their own digitalisation policy, and nowadays there are near a million of images from its own collection, including books, maps, posters, Spanish iconography, etc.

Kungl. biblioteket, National Library of Sweden collects, describes and preserves all Swedish printed materials according to deposit law since 1661 and makes its collections available to the public. It collects Swedish e-publications and started collecting web pages on a regular basis as early as 1997. As a research library within the humanities it has extensive older collections of printed books, manuscripts, pictures and maps. The Royal Library is a central library authority with responsibility for coordinating Sweden's research libraries and for the Library Information System LIBRIS, a database with records representing about 300 Swedish libraries, and other central services.

EDLproject hosts

The National Library of Germany - Co-ordinator undertakes financial coordination, provides a direct link with The CENL and European Library management boards, brings experience of other projects and acts in a representative role for the project.

The National Library of the Netherlands was named Koninklijke Bibliotheek in 1806 and was declared the National Library in 1982. The KB, through the European Library office, leads WP1, integrating the target libraries into The European Library. The main mission of the National Library of the Netherlands is to preserve the national printed and written heritage. As a depository library the KB collects and preserves all publications that are issued by officially registered Dutch publishers, and in addition a good deal of Dutch grey literature.

The Eremo Srl is an Italian SME specialised in project management in the Cultural Heritage sector at the national, European and international level. Eremo provides the scientific management and coordination for EDL and is responsible for dissemination.

The National Library of Switzerland is part of the Federal Office of Cultural Affairs. In EDL it supports the Slovenian National Library on multilingualism. The new law of 1992 has enabled the scope of Helvetica to be extended to include the new media. It brings experience of other relevant projects and provides a link to the wider CENL membership. It is very active in promoting and improving cross-language access both within Switzerland with its four national languages and abroad, with expertise in language linking and character set management.

The National Library of Austria is the main scientific library of the Republic of Austria and can look back on a history rich in tradition dating to the 14th century. As an information centre for providing services, the ONB offers access to and professionally competent advice on its own holdings (around 7,5 million objects), and links to international electronic resources and digital library services.

The National and University Library of Slovenia (NUK) leads WP2 of EDL (multilingualism), a role which it has also successfully carried out in the TEL-ME-MOR project. The Library carries out the tasks of both the Slovenian National Library and Ljubljana University Library, and provides at the same time advisory and supervisory services to the national library network. The Library's collections and other activities support the education and research processes at the University. The Library's collections comprise 2,200,000 bound volumes as well as other media.

11+12 January 2007 : WP1 Startup Workshop

2006-09-13T19:23:00.000+02:00

The WP1 Startup Workshop (M1.1) will be held on 11+12 January 2007 at the KB, National Library of The Netherlands, The Hague

Aims of the workshop
* Inform participants about TEL access methods, TEL collection descriptions, TEL metadata, multilingual issues, marketing etc.
* Validate and explain the (draft) implementation plan
* Identify, discuss & resolve problem areas
* Get to know people face-to-face, networking

This event will be held in conjunction with The European Library Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting on 10+11 January.