Regional Library Restoration and Acquisition Fund (FRAB)

History of the FRAB

Normandy has an exceptional written heritage, most often preserved in public libraries, sometimes in certain writers' houses or in municipal or departmental archives.
A Regional Acquisition Fund for Libraries was established in Haute-Normandie in 1994 and in Basse-Normandie in 2006 respectively, financed on a par basis by the State and the Regional Council.
From the outset, the Bas-Normand fund included in the scope of its aid the restoration operations previously validated by the National Technical Committee for Restoration (CTR), but also the preventive conservation of collections and actions aimed at enhancing and improving the knowledge of heritage holdings held by public libraries.
This broad scope of actions in favour of the written heritage was also adopted by the Haut-Normand fund, so that it was quite natural to harmonize and then merge the two schemes in 2017, on the occasion of the merger of the two regions of Basse and Haute-Normandy.
In 2019, at the end of its triennial agreement concluded between the State and the Regional Council, the latter did not wish to renew its commitment to this fund of support for the written heritage which now becomes Fund for the restoration and acquisitions of Libraries (FRAB), fully subscribed by the State (Normandy DRAC).

 FRAB objectives and scope of intervention

The FRAB aims to support the policy led by the local authorities and the EPCI of Normandy for the enrichment, restoration and development of the heritage funds of their public libraries. The documents concerned are diverse: manuscripts, ancient books, iconographic documents, artists' books, bibliophilia, etc. reflecting the incredible wealth of funds held in our region.
Priority shall be given to the acquisition of significant documents, regardless of the type and medium, the cost of which exceeds the normal budgetary possibilities of the communities. The minimum unit purchase cost to apply for FRAB assistance is €500.
 

PRECIOUS ACQUISITIONS

In the case of valuable acquisitions, three main directions are chosen:
• supplement the funds in the sense of their regional or local specificity, and their complementarity with other funds held in the regions;
• Acquire old, rare and valuable documents
• develop the entry of contemporary documents (artists' books, books of contemporary bibliophilia, authors' papers, collections, prints, etc.) into public collections.
 

CATERING

As regards restoration operations, FRAB is involved in:
where these restoration actions are part of an overall conservation and valorization policy, resulting in a multi annual programme,
are conducted in anticipation of a valuation of the documents concerned, for example in the context of a future exposure or a loan,
respond to an emergency situation in which the integrity of a record would be threatened in the short term.
 
Restoration projects must have received a favourable opinion from the CTR to be eligible for FRAB.
In the case of preventive conservation projects, priority must be given to financing the General Decentralisation Allocation (DGD), especially when it comes to large-scale operations (full repackaging of a fund, etc.) and/or using the use of temporary workers for their implementation (dust collection.). However, one-off purchases of packaging and small storage equipment may be eligible for FRAB if their importance does not justify the filing of a DGD file.
NB: conservation operations following a disaster (disinfection, dust removal, repackaging, relocation, etc.) are taken into account by the DGD and are not eligible for FRAB.
 

VALORIZATION

With regard to the development of heritage funds, FRAB only intervenes for operations not covered by DGD. FRAB can support expenditure related to development operations such as exhibitions, exceptional mediation operations, performances, installations, etc. The production of catalogues or exhibition scenography, the call for artistic companies, speakers, graphic designers and other providers of the cultural artistic field are thus eligible; on the other hand, the expenses of guarding, transportation or insurance of works are not.
It should be noted that projects relating to upgrading are not given priority over acquisition and restoration operations, which remain the core of the FRAB system. The possible financial support for development operations will depend on the number and amount of priority dossiers submitted to the Technical Committee in the same year.
The construction, expansion and fit-up of the premises dedicated to heritage conservation, as well as their furniture and permanent equipment are investment operations. As such, they are eligible for DGD and not FRAB.
Similarly, all operations related to the reporting and digitization of heritage collections must be the subject of a DGD file and/or the filing of a request for support with the BnF within the framework of the BnF/DRAC/NL&L regional associated pole.»

To download:

- FRAB Normandy Regulations 

- Annex to the Normandy FRAB regulations

- FRAB Criteria Table

 - FRAB 2023