The Hand Press Book File in RLIN: the development of a European unified database

A unified database to record all printing of the hand press period in Europe (from the beginning of printing until 1830) is being developed by the Consortium of European Research Libraries. The problems encountered in designing this multi‐file, multinational and multilingual database and the solutions adopted, in using the Research Libraries Information Network, are described. Future plans to include relevant holdings from many of Europe’s national library collections are outlined.