1. Europeana Collections 1914-1918 and the
Great War Online : the set-up of a huge
thematic portal
The European Library Annual Meeting
Amsterdam, 17th September 2013
Frédéric Lemmers, Head of Digitization Programs
Royal Library of Belgium (KBR)

2. 2
Summary
1. EC14-18 : key figures and objectives
2. The enlargement of the network
3. The set up of a huge thematic portal

3. 3
Summary
1. EC14-18 : key figures and objectives
2. The enlargement of the network
3. The set up of a huge thematic portal

4. ONB
SBB & Clio
NLS
BNCRM
ICCU
BNCF
KB
KBR
BNF
BL
BNUS
Ten national libraries
from eight European
countries
+ 2 technical partners
1. Key Figures and objectives (1)
36 months (1st May
2011 – 30th April 2014)
400.000 documents:
-Books
-Manuscripts
-Pictures, postcards
-Maps, prints, posters,
-Leaflets, music, …

5. 5
• Making Europeana the first stop for
content on the First World War
• Integrating different collections
relating to First World War
• Creating a high-quality collection of
First World War material which goes
far beyond any digital online
collection available so far in terms of
• Size
• Quality
• Diversity
1. Key Figures and objectives (2)

6. 6
• Making a vast amount of sources
publicly available that are
• spread across Europe
• often only accessible in the reading
rooms of libraries
• often highly fragile
• often only accessible for experts
1. Key Figures and objectives (3)

7. 7
• Providing quick and easy access to
the material:
• no need to contact different
libraries or memory institutions
• no need to travel to different
capitals
• no need to concern oneself with
the opening hours of reading
rooms
• 107 collections will be provided
within this project via TEL and
Europeana
1. Key Figures and objectives (3)

8. 8
Summary
1. EC14-18 : key figures
2. The enlargement of the network
3. The set up of a thematic portal

9. 9
The enlargement of the network (1)
•Collaboration with other European Digitization Projects
to provide WWI content to Europeana
•Collaboration with other European projects: Linked
Heritage, Cendari, 1914-1918 online, ....
•Presence of other national libraries and University Libraries
•Joining the network stays possible till end October 2013!!!!

10. ONB
SBB
NLS
BNCRM
ICCU
BNCF
KB
KBR
BNF
BL
BNUS
Rybinsk State Museum
(Russia) (308)
Russian State Library
(Moscow) (250)
University Library of Osnabrück
(3000)

11. 11
Summary
1. EC14-18 : key figures
2. The extending of the network
3. The set up of a huge thematic portal

12. •What do we want?
• A single portal dedicated to WW1 which would offer access to
user-generated content and content from institutions
• Answer to the search and browsing needs of researchers and
local and family historians
• Offer curated metadata according to the specificities of the
domain
• Offer diversity of material (image, text, sound, video)
• How to achieve a result at European level ?
• With the help of TEL & Europeana technical teams who designed
the portal prototype and specified special metadata requirements
The set up of a huge thematic portal dedicated
to WWI

13. 13
The set up of a huge thematic portal dedicated
to WWI

14. 14
The set up of a huge thematic portal dedicated
to WWI

15. 15
The set up of a huge thematic portal dedicated
to WWI

16. Thank you for your attention!
Email : frederic.lemmers@kbr.be
Phone: +32.2.519.56.64