The German National Library has close links with Europeana, the European digital library. We contribute content to Europeana and play a leading role in cooperation with the German Digital Library, which is one of Europeana’s most important partners.

The German National Library was involved in the formation and establishment of Europeana right from the start. We were partners in the EU projects that contributed to the development of Europeana: the European Library (TEL), TEL-ME-MOR, the European Digital Library (EDL), TELplus, Europeana Net, Europeana v1.0, Europeana Connect, and finally, as a pilot project for Europeana Awareness, “World War I in everyday documents: Europe's virtual memory – Europeana”.

Retired Director General Dr. Elisabeth Niggemann was the first chairperson of the Europeana Foundation Governing Board, a position that she still holds today.

• Launch: In 2003, the DNB began participating in projects that form part of Europeana (launch of the Europeana prototype: 2008)
• Objective: Change the world through culture. Europe’s rich cultural heritage is made digitally accessible via Europeana, and can thus be used for people’s own work, for learning, or simply for fun. Europeana’s work contributes to an open, intelligent and creative society.
• Role of the German National Library: Project partner in preceding projects (GABRIEL, TEL) and founding member of the Europeana Foundation.
• Additional partners: Over 1,700 institutions
• https://www.europeana.eu