Europeana: Europe's Digital Library, Museum and

Archive

Ashley Carter and Dana Sagona

Background & Purpose• Launched in 2008• Primary focus: cultural

heritage from European Institutions

• Goal: "making Europe's cultural and scientific heritage accessible to the public”

• A "cultural project" not a "commercial undertaking”

Who owns, manages, and funds Europeana?• Owned by the Europeana Foundation• Separate institutions decide on what materials

they wish to contribute. • Around 1500 institutions have contributed to

Europeana▫ additional support (IT issues, etc.) from 180

heritage and knowledge organizations and IT experts across Europe

• The project is funded by the European Union/European Commission  ▫ based in the National Library of the

Netherlands• Funding programs normally only cover 50-100%

of the total costs and do not include overhead. ▫ Many European countries contribute to these

costs.▫ Other funds must be raised

Resources• Over 15 million digital resources from Europe's museums, libraries,

archives and audio-visual collections (and plans to reach 30 million resources by 2015):▫ Images - paintings, drawings, maps, photos and pictures of museum

objects▫ Texts - books, newspapers, letters, diaries and archival papers▫ Sounds - music and spoken word from cylinders, tapes, discs and radio

broadcasts▫ Videos - films, newsreels and TV broadcasts

• Examples: the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci and objects about the Berlin Wall. 

• Are resources downloadable?▫ Not directly from Europeana▫ Europeana consists of contributed materials from many institutions,

and thus access to downloading or using content is always dependent upon the guidelines of the institution which contributed the object.

Browsing Features

•Basic and advanced search on homepage•Browsing option on bottom to search what

others are currently searching

Advanced Search

Search Results

•Narrow results by:▫Provider (institution)▫Language▫Country▫Date▫Rights (free/paid access)▫Type (media)

Search Results

•"Browse through Time" retrieves your search results and returns them in the form of a timeline. - Berlin Wall

•  Registered users can:▫Save items and searches▫Tag items to organize in your "My

Europeana" interface

Metadata

•Standard Dublin Core elements plus several additional DC elements

•12 additional elements created by Europeana

Metadata

•Image/Video/Sound▫Title, Date, Creator, Description, Language,

Format, Source, Rights, Provider, Identifier (hosting URL), Subject, Type, Relation

•Text▫Title, Date, Creator, Description, Language,

Format, Source, Europeana rights, Rights, Data Provider, Provider,  Identifier, Publisher, Subject, Type, Relation

Image Metadata

Video Metadata

Text Metadata

Europeana Rights• “This item is protected by copyright and/or

related rights. This item is accessible without charge, but its use is subject to the licensing conditions set by the organization giving access to it.”

• “Unless expressly stated otherwise in the licensing conditions, you are free to make any of the acts permitted by your national copyright and related rights act, including browsing, printing and making a copy for your own personal purposes.”

AccessWho? How?

• General public▫ primarily in Europe

(though there is international appeal)

• Students• Historians• Researchers

• First returned item for searches on "Europe + digital library"

• Find Europeana on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (if you are a "cultural heritage professional")

Access

•Pros:▫Simple, user-friendly basic search box▫Simple advanced search▫Easy to browse search results▫Direct connection to hosting site

Access Issues•Searches only look at the languages in which

the objects are stored ▫For example, searching 'treaty' will only yield

English material•Language abbreviations not explained

▫Mul? (multi-lingual)•Being redirected to the hosting Web site may

be confusing•Refine search bar – confusing collapsible menu•Timeline search view has issues

Potential Issues

•Hosting site may no longer host the file•Hosting site may not allow users from

certain countries

Europeana and Our Class

•Think about Spanish speakers in Austin using our field guide (translating search results)

•Many institutions contributing to our site▫Need to provide accurate metadata▫Ensure rights are specified