es specifies:

"Public libraries have now established a presence on the Web which compares well
with the networked services which have been available for some time from
academic libraries and national libraries. Services include sophisticated
catalogue access for their users as well as links to other items of interest
(local services, general reference, distance education, external resources).
While it is difficult to keep track of developments, there are now probably some
1,000 public libraries from at least 26 European countries on the Web. This
trend can be expected to continue as most countries now have firm plans in
support of libraries in the Information Society.

There is, of course, a vast amount of networked information on libraries,
initially from North American sources but now increasingly from Europe and the
rest of the world. Not only have sites been created for most of our 99 EU
projects, but the eLib projects in the UK and some of the Autoroutes de
l'Information [information highways] projects in France have contributed
significantly. And last but not least, concerted efforts in the area of public
libraries, have added a wealth of accessible resources in a wide variety of
languages."

As for the 1,000 public libraries in 26 European countries, the leaders are
Finland (247), Sweden (132), the United Kingdom (112), Denmark (107), Germany
(102), the Netherlands (72), Lithuania (51), Spain (56), and Norway (45).
Newcomers are the Czech Republic (29) and Portugal (3). Russia maintains on the
Web a list of public reference libraries with 26 names. Sites vary significantly
between rudimentary information on addresses and opening hours to full access to
OPACs (on-line public access catalogs) and/or to a variety of local and external
services.

Compiled by Sheila and Robert Harden, Public Libraries of Europe is a
country-by-country listing of European public libraries on the Web.

I'm Europe, the site of the European Union, has a section General Library
Resources on the Web, with the following contents: library indexes; general
library resources; public library information; individual public libraries;
publishers and the book trade; other EU projects; and other sites of interest.

Library and Related Resources is maintained by Ian Tilsed on the site of the
Library and Information Service of the University of Exeter, United Kingdom. It
comprises: library information servers; library catalogues; library and
info