14 DAY TRIAL // More than six million books, films and photographs will be available on the Internet in a single Web portal by 2010, the European Commission said on Thursday.
An E.U. executive said it would help this project by funding part of a network of digitations sites and analyze copyright issues that might appear.
The library will be based on the infrastructure of an already existing network that allows access to digital resources held in national libraries.
The commission, which first announced plans for the library last September, said it should have the full support of national libraries by the end of the year.
Two million books, films, photographs, manuscripts and other works should be online through the library by 2008 and the amount will rise to six million by 2010 as more and more libraries, archives and museums will join the project.
The European Digital Library will connect the Internet libraries of the European Union's 25 member states. Any library, museum or archive will be able to link its digital content to the central European library, the EU executive said.
The project aims to promote the cultural heritage of Europe in a digital format. The estimated cost of building this digital library is estimated at about 200- 250 million Euros (US$238-298 million). Around 138 million readers are currently registered to libraries across the EU.