The cultural heritage of Europe: building the value proposition for Europeana

Europeana was launched, as a prototype, in November 2008. It gives access to the cultural heritage of Europe held in the museums, libraries, archives and audio visual collections. The subsequent launch of the operational services in summer of 2010 necessitated a relook at the services Europeana could usefully offer to its partners and stakeholders, i.e. what the value propositions are. This paper presents a snapshot of the potential of Europeana through the story of Art Nouveau and the process of creating the value propositions to arrive at a Europeana strategic plan for the coming five years.