Oranguatans sipping tea (an image in Europeana) CC BY from the Wellcome Library
The online Digital Public Library of America, set up last year, can be of value in many fields of research. It enables us to search and view millions of items within America’s research libraries, archives, and museums, including books and manuscripts, photographs, sounds, and moving images.
Europeana, the European Digital Library, is comparable with the Digital Public Library of America. It enables us to search and view digitised materials of libraries, archives and museums from most European countries, including all 28 members of the European Union. Over 2,500 institutions have contributed records. Parts of Europeana, including Europeana 1914-1918, invite viewers to add their own family’s memories to resources from libraries and archives.
Both of these digital libraries are growing fast and have ambitious plans. Europeana’s plans are outlined in its Europeana Strategy 2015-2020.