Euro library re-opens

THE EU'S Europeana digital library has reopened after crashing within hours of its launch last month.

The minders of the online archive thought it had more than enough servers to cope with demand, but the website went tits up after a few hours thanks to 10 million user hits per hour.

European Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr said the library's server capacity has been quadrupled and the setup has been stress-tested.

Obviously not tested enough, as a message displayed on the site warns that the user experience might not be optimal while testing continues.

Selmayr has also limited the maximum number of users who can visit the arcology during peak traffic times.

The online collection of Europe's cultural heritage was launched on November 21st. Visitors can access films, paintings, photographs, sound recordings, maps, manuscripts, newspapers, and documents as well as books kept in European libraries.

The mostly French collection is supposed to rival the cultural resources provided by Google.

Selmayr promises that more material will be added to the site in February. µ

L'Inq
Europeana