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Purpose - This paper seeks to look into Gabriel -- the Worldwide web server for those European national libraries represented in the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), providing a single point of access on the internet for the retrieval of information about their functions, services and collections. Above all, it serves as a gateway to their online services. Three national libraries emerged as natural partners in setting up a pilot project on behalf of the CENL membership as a whole Design/methodology/approach - Following the success of the Portico prototype, a development project was launched with the aim of creating a well-founded service and building up coverage of British Library services and collections by adding home pages for directorates and departments. Findings - The service has been developed through an international project involving the national libraries of the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Finland and Germany. Originality/value - Gabriel has the potential of becoming a model for collaboration in the networking field across a wide geographical area and among diverse institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]