Discover the buildings of the national libraries of Europe. More info...

You would like to explain what The European Library is about but you don't know where to start... More info...

In an effort to highlight The European Library partners and their unique role as national libraries, we have invited our colleagues across Europe to participate in our Newsletter editing process. In this issue, we have asked Elena Zimina, Deputy Director of International Communication Department of the Russian State Library in Moscow, to act as Chief Editor.

"The Russian State Library joined The European Library as a Full Participant on the 6th of August 2007" says Elena Zimina. "A tremendous amount of work has been done since. The RSL Electronic Catalogue is accessible and searchable through The European Library portal, along with the collections of other national libraries of Europe. Leading specialists from across Europe are participating in the creation of The European Library portal and, in particular, the development of its advanced technologies. At the same time, the RSL is building its own national electronic library and dealing with the same tasks in Russia as The European Library, that is why the shared experience is so valuable to us."

The Director’s corner is dedicated to directors and chief executives of national libraries across Europe. Dr. Victor V. Fedorov, Director of the Russian State Library, gives us a brief presentation of the role and position of the RSL in Russia and more widely in Europe

"The intellectual treasures gathered by the Russian State Library offer a unique and trusty opportunity to hold knowledge; the Library also offers a new vision of the world by providing permanent access to learning and understanding of the developments within our society" More info...

Aeroflot - Russian Airlines – celebrates its 85th anniversary. The Russian State Library, along with the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the Aeroflot Museum, the New Gallery Arts Fund and the "Contact-Culture" publishing house presents a unique exhibition featuring the history of Aeroflot in more than 60 posters. The collection provides colourful anecdotes depicting Aeroflot’s commercial and promotional campaigns over the years.

Aeroflot has become one of the most popular and successful commercial airlines; it represents Russia’s entire historical air transportation industry. However, its definitive branding was only adopted in 1932 following a number of previous names: "Dobrolyot" (Добролёт), "Rosavaikhim" (Росавиахим) and "Aviakhim" (Авиахим). More info...

Natalia N. Kasparova (Head of the Catalogue System Board) and Mikhail E. Shvartsman (Head of the Computer Systems Research Department) tell us more about the Russian State Library collections and their incredible holdings.

"The OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) of the RSL contains bibliographic information on rare and modern printed books, periodicals, maps, music, electronic resources and other documents – in total 3.8 million records" says Natalia.

"The bibliographic records give access to roughly 3 million titles in more than 200 languages – Russian, of course, but also 80 languages within the Russian Federation and 50 foreign languages. The material available in our OPAC covers a vast chronological period, from the XVI to the XXI century. The RSL electronic collections are available through the "Electronic Library" option on www.rsl.ru site and through The European Library Collections section.". More info...

EDLproject was a targeted project funded by the European Commission under the eContentplus Programme and coordinated by the German National Library. The project started in September 2006 and was successfully completed in February 2008.

In concrete terms, The European Library has benefited from a massive boost of collection integration through EDLproject; the National and University Library of Iceland for example presents an amazing digitised collection of antique maps. More info...

The European Library collection descriptions are currently available in English and in the native languages of the Full Participants. In an effort to extend the multilingualism of the portal, Lizzy Komen from The European Library Office will coordinate an ambitious task; to provide truly multilingual collection descriptions in 27 languages by July 2008, 35 languages by the end of 2008. More info...

The European Library & Europeana are seeking a highly motivated Project Leader.

Are you interested? Do you know the person who wants to work on one of the most exciting projects in the cultural heritage area ever? Are you allowed a secondment?

The job is based at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, The Netherlands. Interested? Then click on this link and send us your CV.

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