The European Library
The European Library is designed to meet the needs of the research community worldwide, our online portal offers quick and easy access to the collections of the 48 National Libraries of Europe and leading European Research Libraries.
Users can cross-search and reuse over 26,394,274 digital items and 168,238,832 bibliographic records. The objects come from institutions located in countries which are members of the Council of Europe and range from catalogue records to full-text books, magazines, journals and audio recordings. Thirty five different languages are represented among the searchable objects.
Featured collections
Discover by disciplineReading Europe (1099)
European culture through the book offers a rare opportunity to view some of the hidden literary gems from the national libraries of Europe
Humanities (10,612,363)
The academic disciplines that study the human condition using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative.
Social Sciences (6,131,871)
The study of society and social behavior.
Biomedical sciences (1,120,719)
The study of activities and applications of the principles of natural science, especially biology and physiology, to clinical medicine.
Technological sciences (1,579,862)
Sciences which have human-made rather than natural objects as objects of study, and define their objects of study in functional terms.
Manuscripts and Princes (34)
These were the books that once belonged exclusively to emperors and kings.
Natural sciences and mathematics (1,225,614)
The study of the rules that govern the natural world.
Exhibition Foyer
The European Library Exhibitions
History and concept
The European Library of today has evolved from a number of earlier projects. Its starting point was in 1997 when the GABRIEL (Gateway and Bridge to Europe's National Libraries) project set out to establish a joint web portal of European national libraries. At a basic level, the portal provided information about each library's collections and access to their online public access catalogues (OPACs).
GABRIEL was followed by the TEL (The European Library) project, which ran from 2001–2004 and created a framework for access to key national and deposit collections within Europe. The project was part-funded under the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission. The national libraries involved in the TEL project were those of Finland, Germany, Italy (Florence), Italy (Rome), Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland and United Kingdom. This led to the launch of TheEuropeanLibrary.org portal on 17 March 2005.
The Vatican Library
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
National Library of Spain
Biblioteca Nacional de España
National Library of Portugal
Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal
National Library of the Republic of Moldova
Biblioteca Nationala a Republicii Moldova
National Library of Romania
Biblioteca Naţională a României
The Central National Library of Florence
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze
The Central National Library of Rome
Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma
National Library of Albania
Biblioteka Kombetare
National Library of Poland
Biblioteka Narodowa
National Library of France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
National Library of Luxembourg
Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg
The National Library of Malta
Bibljoteka Nazzjonali ta’ Malta
British Library
National Library of Denmark
Det Kongelige Bibliotek
German National Library
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
National Library of Estonia
Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu
The National Library of Finland
Kansalliskirjasto
Royal Library of the Netherlands
Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Royal Library of Belgium
Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België
National Library of Sweden
Kungliga Biblioteket
National University Library of Iceland
Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn
National Library of Latvia
Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka
National Library of Ireland
Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann
National Library of Liechtenstein
Liechtensteinische Landesbibliothek
Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania
Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka
National Library of Azerbaijan
M.F. Axundov adina Azerbaycan Milli Kitabxana
National Library of Turkey
Millî Kütüphane
National Library of Montenegro
Naciocalna biblioteka Crne Gore “Djurdje Crnojevic” – Cetinje’
National and University Library in Zagreb
Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica u Zagrebu
National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka
National and University Library St. Kliment Ohridski
Nacionalna i Univerzitetska biblioteka Sv. Kliment Ohridski
National and University Library of Slovenia
Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, NUK
National Library of the Czech Republic
Národní knihovna Ceské republiky
National Library of Norway
Nasjonalbiblioteket
National Library of Hungary
Országos Széchényi Könyvtár (OSZK)
National Library of Austria
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
Swiss National Library
Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek
Slovak National Library
Slovenská národná knižnica
National Library of Greece
Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Ελλάδος
Cyprus Library
Κυπριακή Βιβλιοθήκη
National Library of Serbia
Народна библиотека Србије
St.St. Cyril and Methodius National Library
Национална библиотека „Свети Свети Кирил и Методий
V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine
Національна бібліотека України імені В. І. Вернадського
Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library
Президентская библиотека имени Б. Н. Ельцина
Russian State Library
Российская государственная библиотека
National Library of Russia
Российская национальная библиотека
National Library of Armenia
Հայաստանի Ազգային Գրադարան