1. Europeana Collections 1914-1918
National Libraries and further partners digitising
materials from World War One
Thorsten Siegmann, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
siegmann@eu1914-1918.eu
Europeana Projects Group Assembly, The Hague, 2013-09-25

2. Structure of the presentation
1. Aims and Objectives
2. Cooperations
3. Discovery and further
activities

3. 1.) Aims and objectives

4. 1. Aims and objectives
• Digitisation of more than 425.000 items from
World War One times, contributed by European
National Libraries and further partners to
Europeana.eu
• Project is associated with the upcoming
centenary of World War One
• 12 partners from 8 European countries, most of
them National Libraries
• Project duration: May 2011 – April 2014
• CIP ICT-PSP Pilot B, co-funding of 50%
• Website: www.europeana-collections-1914-
1918.eu/

5. Österreichische
Nationalbibliothek
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Narodna biblioteka Srbije, Serbia
Biblioteca Nazionale
Centrale di Roma
Det Kongelike Bibliothek
Bibliothèque Royale
de Belgique
Bibliothèque nationale
de France
British Library
Biblioteca Nazionale
Centrale di Firenze
Bibliothequè nationale et
universitaire de Strasbourg
Partner’s network

6. 1. Aims and objectives: focus on everyday life in wartime
Within many others, these kinds of items
will be digitised:
• books
• trench journals and periodicals
• diaries, personal letters and postcards
• maps
• children‘s literature
• propaganda leaflets, caricatures & cartoons
• songbooks
• handbooks & manuals
The digitised collections focus on
everyday life in wartimes. The project
aimes to give insight into life between
1914-1918 at the fronts as well as at
home.

7. 112.000 items available on Europeana
Find all the items on Europeana:
proxy_dc_relation:"Europeana Collections 1914-1918„

8. 2.) Co-operations

9. 2.) Co-operations: 3 Europeana projects on WW1
USER GENERATED
CONTENT,
PRIVATE PERSONS
FILM & FILM-RELATED
MATERIALS, ARCHIVES
CONTENT FROM
INSTITUTIONS,
MAINLY LIBRARIES &
ALSO
MUSEUMS AND
ARCHIVES

10. 3.) Discovery and further activities

11. 3.) Discovery: thematic portal
Thematic portal
• www.europeana1914-1918.eu/ will be
extended to a full access portal for
WW1 content
• Showing content from
• Europeana 1914-1918
• EFG1914
• Europeana Collections 1914-1918
• and further providers
• Launch in January 2014
• Display of jointly tagged items with
• LoC subject headings (selection)
• Object types / Media types
• Further features, e.g. user annotations…

12. Unlocking Sources
The First World War
online & Europeana
30./31.01.2014
AT BERLIN STATE LIBRARY
4.) Discovery: Conference Unlocking Sources

13. 4.) Discovery: Conference Unlocking Sources
Conference topics:
• How do digitized materials fit into
research and teaching?
• How can different online activities
contribute to the "digital humanities"?
• What ideas for the teaching of history
in schools, museums, and media are
developed?
• What are the strengths, and what are
the weaknesses of the existing and
newly created offers?
In addition to the critical discussion and
reflection at the panels, innovative
projects will present their results to a
broader public.
Organisers:
• Europeana Collections 1914-1918
• EFG1914
• Europeana 1914-1918
• Humboldt-University of Berlin

14. 4.) Discovery: Learning Microsite
A web-based learning site dedicated to
the project
• Concept developed by the British
Library and applied to several topics
• Targeting learners to develop skills
they need to use primary source
material
• Showing a selection of several
hundreds of items provided by the
project partners
• giving consideration to the
international use of the resource with
multilingual features and content
provided by all partners
• Structured: by topic, by time, by
document type and language
• Launch: Beginning of 2014

15. 4.) Discovery: Virtual Exhibition
Virtual Exhibition
The Europeana Collections 1914-
1918 contributes a Virtual Exhibition
to the Europeana Exhibition platform
in 2014.
• Topic: Places of transition
• Based on a selection of
significant items from each of
the project partners.
• Target group: Internet users
with general interest, looking for
an entry point to the thematic
complex
• Edited by project partners and
co-operation partners from
Humboldt-University of Berlin

16. 4.) Discovery: Exhibitions
Launch Exhibitions
• presentations of physical
objects which are part of the
digitised collections
• hosted in Berlin, Brussels,
London, Paris and Belgrade
• organised to take place in
the first year of the
centenary, in the beginning
of 2014 with the aim of
engaging a wide range of
potential users

17. Thank you!
Thorsten Siegmann
siegmann@eu1914-1918.eu
www.europeana-collections-1914-1918.eu/

19. 3.) Linking of heterogenous collections on Europeana

20. 3.) Linking of heterogenous collections
Initial challenge:
• Project partners‘ collections based on
individual libraries‘ classifications in only
(one) national language.
• Aim: transnational joint indexing for
Europeana‘s WW1 collection to enable
searching beyond of one partner‘s
collection on Europeana
Approach chosen:
 Development of a minimum
classification based on
 51 Subject Headings out of Library
of Congress Subject Headings
 43 object types
Query:
Subject: World War One
Object type: Postcard
The National
Library of
Denmark
Istituto centrale per
il catalogo unico, Italy

21. 3.) Minimum Classification
Some of the supported subject
headings
EC1418 LCSH
1. Western Front World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--Western Front
2. Eastern Front World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--Eastern Front
3. Italian Front World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--Italy
4. Home Front World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns
5. Trench Life World War 1914-1918--Trench warfare
6. Aerial Warfare World War, 1914-1918--Aerial operations
7. Naval Warfare World War, 1914-1918--Naval operations
8. Prisoners of War Prisoners of war + World War, 1914-1918
9. Propaganda World War, 1914-1918--Propaganda
+ 42 further LCSH-Kategorien
+ 43 object types (e.g. book, diary, cookbook, trench magazine, photo, postcard etc)
EC1418 Minimum classification  http://www.europeana-collections-1914-1918.eu/wp-content/
uploads/2012/04/Classification-of-content-in-EC1418.pdf