The CENL (Conferencia de Directores de Bibliotecas Nacionales de Europa / European Library Directors Conference) came into being as an informal forum of the directors of European National Libraries. Since 1998, it has been operating as an independent foundation that brings together the directors of National Libraries of the Council of Europe member states. The foundation currently has 45 members that represent 43 countries.
The Conference holds an annual meeting which hears proposals on its projects, all co-operative in nature, and its courses of action.
Among its main aims, we can highlight its efforts to:
- Improve and enhance the role of National Libraries in Europe
- Boost national library services
- Promote collaboration between the National Libraries and with other institutions to ensure users' access
- Create and maintain an efficient information network
- Harmonise and introduce new aspects into national policies concerning libraries
- Implement new information technologies in libraries
- Standardise communication interfaces in Europe
- Preserve and conserve important European collections
The Foundation has a standing committee in charge of controlling and monitoring the co-operation projects between countries and with international institutions and organisations. Co-operation projects covers issues ranging from multilingual access to collections, to the development of digital libraries and new technological tools for information dissemination and management.
The most noteworthy of the projects sponsored by the CENL is The European Library, which is a portal that provides access to the collections of all the European National Libraries.
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