EU library collects the world’s knowledge
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AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Kasım 20, 2008 00:00
BRUSSELS - Inspired by ancient Alexandria's attempt to collect the world's knowledge, the EU has launched its Europeana digital library, an online digest of Europe's cultural heritage.
Using the latest technologies, the European Union aims to draw together millions of digital objects, ranging from film, photographs, paintings, sound files, maps, manuscripts, newspapers, documents and, of course, books.
From its opening, users will be able to find major literary works like Dante's "Divine Comedy," or masterpieces such as Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring," or the manuscripts of famous composers including Beethoven.
The Internet and digitalization techniques will "enable a Czech student to browse the British library without going to London, or an Irish art lover to get close to the Mona Lisa without queuing at the Louvre," said Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner responsible for new technologies. Europeana is a chance to "give greater visibility to all the treasures hidden deep in our libraries, museums and archives," said Reding, and "compare masterpieces until now spread around the four corners of the globe."
With 14 staff members and at an annual cost estimated at around 2.5 million euros, Europeana Ğ which can be found at www.europeana.eu Ğ is set for humble beginnings. The prototype to be launched Thursday will contain around two million digital items, all of them already in the public domain, as the most recent items are plagued by problems linked to copyright and their use online.
By 2010, the date when Europeana is due to be fully operational, the aim is to have 10 million works available, an impressive number yet a mere drop in the ocean compared to the 2.5 billion books in Europe's more common libraries.
From its opening, users will be able to find major literary works like Dante's "Divine Comedy," or masterpieces such as Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring," or the manuscripts of famous composers including Beethoven.
The Internet and digitalization techniques will "enable a Czech student to browse the British library without going to London, or an Irish art lover to get close to the Mona Lisa without queuing at the Louvre," said Viviane Reding, the EU commissioner responsible for new technologies. Europeana is a chance to "give greater visibility to all the treasures hidden deep in our libraries, museums and archives," said Reding, and "compare masterpieces until now spread around the four corners of the globe."
With 14 staff members and at an annual cost estimated at around 2.5 million euros, Europeana Ğ which can be found at www.europeana.eu Ğ is set for humble beginnings. The prototype to be launched Thursday will contain around two million digital items, all of them already in the public domain, as the most recent items are plagued by problems linked to copyright and their use online.
By 2010, the date when Europeana is due to be fully operational, the aim is to have 10 million works available, an impressive number yet a mere drop in the ocean compared to the 2.5 billion books in Europe's more common libraries.