Digitization of cultural heritage – towards the European Digital Library

Abstract

The common framework for the digitization of and online access to European cultural heritage, as well as for the preservation of European cultural materials in digital form was set out by two important EU documents issued in 2006. These documents lay down the principles for the creation of the European Digital Library. Over the past two years, the prototype of the multilingual portal called Europeana was established. It is expected that by 2010, 6 million digital records will be available through Europeana. However, we are only halfway towards ensuring the effective operation of the European Digital Library. EDL can only reach its full potential if a sustainable business model is elaborated for its future development. This paper gives an overview of the achievements in the field of digitization of cultural materials in Hungary and on the European level.