APENET - Archives Portal Europe

Archival materials are not exclusively held by archives. Other institutions, like libraries and museums, house these objects as well. APEnet will facilitate access to documents and records in a variety of cultural heritage institutions, both in the public and private sector.

APEnet will initially bring together the existing digital objects of 17 major archives across Europe.

• The first aim of the project is to build the APEnet portal: a website where users can find information about millions of digitised and not yet digitized documents, their creators and the European archives that hold them
• The second aim is to make the digital holdings of the 17 archives available in Europeana
• The final objective is to develop tools for archives to facilitate the transfer of their materials to the APEnet portal and from there to Europeana,

Coordinated by the National Archives of Spain, the project started on 15th January 2009 and will run for 36 months. It is partly funded by the European Commission.

APEnet and Europeana

The digital content in APEnet will be accessible via Europeana, particularly the digital images of documents and its associated description, enabling users to explore not only archival materials but also related holdings in Europe's museums and galleries, film-archives, libraries and audio-visual organisations.

Expected Results

• A single access point to the digitised and non-digitised collections of Europe's archives
• A set of converting engines and plug-ins for archives
• Access to Europe's archival heritage through Europeana
• Support and encourage cultural heritage institutions keeping archives to participate in the development of Europeana