Collections as Data: collaborating across data spaces for cultural heritage and open science

The Europeana Foundation is thrilled to join the KBR (Royal Library of Belgium) in organising an event in Brussels on 19 - 20 February 2024, marking the conclusion of the DATA-KBR-BE project.

Event highlights

Through engaging plenary and workshop sessions, the goal of the event is to offer European national libraries a unique opportunity to explore and discuss their potential to acquire a more central role in the common European data space for cultural heritage, the European Open Science Cloud, and beyond.

The event’s programme will facilitate extensive knowledge and experience sharing, featuring lightning talks by representatives from national libraries on key themes such as digital strategies, labs, cross-institutional collaboration and aggregation flows in data spaces. 

Focus on Collections as Data

A special emphasis will be placed on the reuse of digital cultural heritage in academia and research. In response to the growing importance of computational methods, Europeana Research has actively aligned itself with the ‘Collections as Data’ international movement, embracing its principles in conjunction with the deployment of the common European data space for cultural heritage. The synergy with DARIAH (Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities) recently led to the development of a Workflow to publish Collections as Data, as a practical tool to further enhance the reusability of cultural heritage data.

Travel stipends available (Please note that the deadline has passed)

Recognising the importance of the event, the Europeana Research Community is pleased to offer three travel stipends (up to 500 EUR each) to representatives from European national libraries interested in attending in person.

Each travel stipend is intended to cover overnight stay and transportation to/from Brussels, facilitating participation from approximately 12.30 PM on 19 February to approximately 3 PM on 20 February 2024. Reimbursement will be processed upon submission of valid invoices and tickets.

Application Process

Interested applicants are encouraged to submit a cover letter (max 600 words) to research@europeana.eu by 31 December 2023, outlining their institutions’ digital strategy and expressing their motivation for attending. Only community members who are national library professionals are considered eligible.

Results will be communicated to the applicants in early January 2024. Selected participants commit to delivering a brief report about the event, exploring potential collaboration and ways to open up their institutions’ collections.

For any enquiries about the event, please send an email to research@europeana.eu.