RLUK Introduces The European Library to Members
Blog by Elizabeth Joss, Editorial Officer of The European Library.
On 24 September 2013, the UK consortium of scholarly libraries, Research Libraries UK (RLUK), will host an event to introduce The European Library to its member libraries. This follows a recent announcement that RLUK has joined The European Library, a not-for-profit membership organisation providing researchers with access to more than 200 million records and digital items from all of Europe’s national and research libraries.
Details of the Event
The one-day event aims to impart information about the many advantages of this new partnership. It will also allow for greater cooperation between the two parties and will encourage ideas around the sharing of resources and data through The European Library portal.
The event will take place from 10:30–15:30 on 24 September 2013 in the Lutyens Room, RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London.
Linked Open Data To Be Ingested
'The first outcome of joining The European Library will be the release of a very large amount of linked open data (LOD),' says RLUK deputy director, Michael Mertens. 'This amounts to approximately 20 million bibliographic records that describe and point to some of the richest collections in the UK, covering subjects from anthropology to zoology.'
'Shared national research collections held at top research-level institutions in the UK, including the collections of the three national libraries, as well as items held by the V&A and the Welcome Trust Library, will be made available via The European Library site. The entire holdings of RLUK, some 50 million unique titles, will also be added. We hope to enrich what is already available on The European Library website, and thereby enrich the learning experience of citizens of Europe and beyond,' continues Mertens.
'In collaborating with The European Library, we will be augmenting a metadata aggregation that already totals around 200 million records, and this will lead to a strategic impact and relevance for our own future direction as a consortium of research-intensive organisations – the increased dissemination of scholarly output through closer cooperation with European partners and stakeholders. Openness of output and depth of network achieved through being part of The European Library will mean that the work of RLUK and its members will be both better known and more applicable to the pressing political and social issues of the day, which ultimately, only knowledge, wherever it is held, will solve for everyone.'
'Furthermore, RLUK will be able to achieve many of its strategic and tactical aims through our partnership with The European Library. We will be able to make available knowledge of national treasures to an even greater audience, in line with our principles of openness and accessibility.'
Additional Information
The European Library is steered by three influential library organisations: CENL (the original founder of The European Library), CERL, and LIBER.
Further details about The European Library.
RLUK (Research Libraries UK) is a consortium of 33 major research organisations in the UK and Ireland, including the three UK National Libraries, the Wellcome Trust and the V&A (Victoria & Albert). RLUK’s mission is to work with their members and partners, nationally and internationally, to shape and to realise the vision of the modern research library.