A Parisian Oddity: la Bibliothèque Publique d'Information (BPI)
- Le Nerd Librarian
- Apr 20, 2019
- 2 min read
Welcome to the Breathtaking Bookshelves series!
The goal here is to showcase some cool libraries, French or otherwise.
The building: The BPI is located within the Centre Georges Pompidou, which probably automatically makes it the coolest-looking library in the world.
This project was a long time in the making. Discussions began in the early sixties, and the library as we know it today opened in 2000.
Originally, the idea was to create a library that was as general as possible, open all the time, so that people could find any information, at any time. This is why the decision was made not to allow users to borrow documents, which I found very strange at first (especially novels!).
This was also one of the first libraries in France to give its users free access to the Internet.
« Les gens viennent, et j’ai l’impression qu’ils sont, je ne dirais pas comblés, mais bien ; que vraiment, ils trouvent un accueil, un abri, un enrichissement ». Jean-Pierre Ségui, founding director of the BPI
Library users are also strictly forbidden from putting books back on the shelves. To insure this, the librarians cover the labels of all the books that are parts of thematic selections!
The library is run by the Department of Culture. As such, it is closed on Tuesdays, like national museums in France.
The collections: the BPI has some cool resources! For instance, you can access all of the INA [Institut National de l’Audiovisuel] archives for free, as well as ALL of the newspapers. They also have a comprehensive Comic Book database! Que demande le peuple?
Fun facts! The library is open on Christmas day and On January 1st. There is no indirect access: the library takes up three open floors, where everyone has access to everything.
All photos mine except for the Brazil screenshots
Source: Imdb, Bnf.fr
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