On the proposal of Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, Laurence Engel is reappointed as President of the National Library of France (BnF) as of April 7, 2021.
During her first term in office, Laurence Engel launched a proactive policy to make the BnF more accessible, not only to French and foreign students and researchers, but also to a younger and sometimes culturally remote audience.
In order to follow the new expectations of users as closely as possible, it has ensured the constant adaptation of research tools and mediation actions, which make it possible to value all the richness of the collections and to feed the research work, especially around the issues of memory. While the accessibility of the rooms was greatly reduced during the health crisis, the BnF’s millions of digital resources were heavily requested, allowing the continuity of its missions and confirming the relevance of the vast digitization work.
This new mandate will allow Laurence Engel to complete the work in progress: the reopening of the Richelieu site, the development of the BnF’s digital strategy and the strengthening of the institution’s positioning within the international network of libraries.
She will be keen to put at the service of readers and the public the know-how and expertise of the Library to better understand the world, especially around the challenges of memory and the transmission of knowledge.
About Laurence Engel
A former student of the ENS and the ENA, a master adviser at the Court of Auditors, Laurence Engel has devoted most of her career to the cultural sectors. Director of the office of Jérôme Clément, President of Arte and La Cinquième, advisor for audiovisual and cinema to Catherine Tasca at the Ministry of Culture and Communication, advisor for culture from 2003 to 2008 to Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, she managed the cultural affairs department of the City of Paris for five years before becoming Chief of Staff to Aurélie Filippetti. She was then mediator of the book, president of the board of directors of the National Institute of Art History and president of the financial commission of AFP. She has been President of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since April 2016.