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Elisabeth Freyre from the French National Library accepted to act as narrator in a video featuring The European Library and the BnF cooperation. View the video...

First time visitors can now view The European Library Video Tutorial. The tutorial is designed to help visitors discover all search possibilities offered by the portal. More info...

The editorial content of the Newsletter was gathered with the kind cooperation of Elisabeth Freyre, Danielle Maricar, Hélène Richard, Nathalie Beau and Jean-Didier Wagneur from the BnF & put together by Magali Mermet, Tiziana Fazio, Justine Maybank, Louise Edwards and Aubéry Escande from The European Library Office. More info...

To celebrate the French EU presidency, this month’s newsletter has the French National Library (BnF) as its focal point. Overseeing our guide through Gallica, Globes and Europeana is The French National Library’s Elisabeth Freyre, who’s on hand as guest Chief Editor. And as well as our French focus, we’ve also slipped in a survey to help better inform our readership.

Elisabeth Freyre: Partnerships, Plans and Projects "My role in the Bibliothèque nationale de France centers around the Department of International Relations where I oversee and manage the BnF’s European projects" says Elisabeth.

"As the contact person for The European Library I coordinate, with the assistance of a team, the input in areas such as metadata, collection description and technical issues. The BnF’s work for The European Library is vital in providing access to BN-OPALEplus, the bibliographic database containing more than 10 million records, as well as Gallica, its digital library" More info...

The Director’s corner is dedicated to directors and chief executives of national libraries across Europe. Mr. Bruno Racine, BnF President, gives us a brief presentation of the role and position of the BnF in Europe

Embracing The European Library & Europeana "The BnF joined The European Library in 2004 at a time when the other founder members were deeply committed to building this portal, which aimed to give concrete form to the Europe of national libraries."

"After five years of existence, The European Library represents a real asset for my establishment. By allowing teams to compare their bibliographical, technical and normative choices, it ensures a more effective interoperability of our systems. It enhances the wealth and diversity of our collections by making them accessible to an ever wider public. Finally, The European Library strengthens and underlines the importance of multilingualism. More info...

Kings, Cartography and Culture: The Globes of Louis XIV Exhibition

The Bibliothèque nationale de France is offering the public a rare chance to catch a glimpse of the magnificent globes of Louis XIV. In their latest exhibition visitors can view the stunning spheres at close quarters as well as discovering the incredible story behind their amazing images. With details on the history of the period and progress in geographical sciences, the exhibition promises to be both a visual and educational treat. More info...

Children’s Choice: The Tour of Europe in 27 Picture Books Exhibition

This exhibition takes the visitor on a virtual tour through some of Europe’s best and brightest children’s literature. The 27 books on display (one for each country) highlight the remarkable talent of local authors and illustrators, while reflecting the historical and cultural background of each country. More info...

Gallica gets to grips with giving the public access to some of France’s vast cultural heritage from the comfort of their own computer. As one of the major French-language digital portals, it puts a plethora of BnF resources at the public’s fingertips. From maps to music scores, a wealth of information can be accessed online and with user friendly features it couldn’t be more fool proof.

Gallica BnF’s scientific coordinator, Jean-Didier Wagneur reveals all "Gallica has been on line since 1997 and offers Web access to several hundred thousand documents, covering all fields of knowledge from antiquity to the First World War. Just some of the gems on offer include the complete works of major French authors, periodicals (nearly 2,000 titles, including the daily press from the 19th century to 1944), music scores, early maps such as the Cassini Map, engravings, medieval manuscripts and sound recordings of the languages of France." More info...

The launch of the Europeana.eu prototype moves interoperability onto a new level. Never before has it been possible to search across such a range of digital formats from different institutions across Europe. The next step is to scale the prototype up to a full service and make 10 million objects available in 2010.

In 2007, Horst Forster, Director, Digital Content & Cognitive Systems Information Society Directorate, European Commission defined the vision as, "A unique resource for Europe's distributed cultural heritage… ensuring a common access to Europe's libraries, archives and museums." More info...

The European Library/Europeana Office is seeking highly motivated employee for the following position:

• Senior Developer

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 send us your CV.

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