• 1 The Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography

Professionally edited open access online encyclopaedias enable a systemic and reliableorientation within the ever-increasing amount of data and information on the Internet.Providing access to scientifically verified information, they represent an important part of theresearch and didactic infrastructure.This paper demonstrates the activities of Croatia’s Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicographyaimed at exploring the new encyclopaedic concept in the digital age. The Institute’s digitaltransformation is shown, which involves the digitisation and online publishing of archivaleditions, publishing of the permanently updated online general encyclopaedia, and thetransformation of specialised encyclopedias to the encyclopaedic portals. Encyclopaedic portalscould represent a new concept of encyclopaedias in the digital realm by serving as platforms fordata networking and sharing, a sort of ‘junction points’ that connect diverse digital content on aspecific topic.Institute’s publicly available repository of encyclopaedic knowledge enables the linking to thedigital data and collections of other research and cultural institutions; therefore thecollaborative projects aimed at reinforcing digital research and cultural infrastructure will bedescribed.Thanks to the properties of the digital media and increasing connectivity, a closer collaborationTowards a New Concept of Open Access Online Encyclopaedia : A Case Study from...between professionally edited online encyclopaedias across Europe (and beyond) is enabled. Thispaper elaborates a range of initiatives seeking to build connections across individual Europeanand North American national encyclopaedias, focusing on the role that Croatianencyclopaedistics plays in this endeavour.