Madrid, Spain, March 1, 2013 - The award, which it won from among a field of 24 contenders, rewards pioneering projects and services run by research libraries all over the world.

The award for the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library (BMVC) marks recognition of its top-quality holdings, some of the most significant of which include its comprehensive critical editions used by the world’s research community.

The panel of judges of the Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries – overseen by Lady Lynne Brindley, former Chief Executive of the British Library– stated that the BMVC meets the challenges facing digital libraries through its open design that focuses on users, who can make their way around an architecture oriented towards services and based on open code development.

The Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library, headed by Mario Vargas Llosa, was created in 1999 as an initiative of the University of Alicante, Banco Santander and the Botín Foundation. The Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library Foundation was set up in 2001, and has worked ever since to turn this great digital storehouse into a leading centre for Hispanic writing on the Internet.

The European Library (TEL) portal has invited the National Library of Spain (BNE) to be “Library of the month” in March. This initiative, being held for the first time, will enable the BNE to bring its main collections to a wider audience, as well as showcasing some of its most important holdings.

Highlighted works, posts and social media will enable the BNE to make use of TEL’s dissemination channels in order to raise its profile. The project brings together Europe’s national libraries and some of the most important research ones. From its website, it is possible toaccess the catalogues of all these institutions, as well as their digital collections. The BNE became part of The European Library in 2007, and its involvement in this initiative has enabled it to participate in projects such as TEL Plus, Michael, IMPACT, ARROW and Europeana.

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