Gabriel: Gateway to Europe's national libraries

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to look into Gabriel – the Worldwide web server for those European national libraries represented in the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), providing a single point of access on the internet for the retrieval of information about their functions, services and collections. Above all, it serves as a gateway to their online services. Three national libraries emerged as natural partners in setting up a pilot project on behalf of the CENL membership as a whole

Design/methodology/approach

Following the success of the Portico prototype, a development project was launched with the aim of creating a well‐founded service and building up coverage of British Library services and collections by adding home pages for directorates and departments.

Findings

The service has been developed through an international project involving the national libraries of the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Finland and Germany.

Originality/value

Gabriel has the potential of becoming a model for collaboration in the networking field across a wide geographical area and among diverse institutions.

Citation

Jefcoate, G. (2006), "Gabriel: Gateway to Europe's national libraries", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 325-333. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330610707908