General Inspection of Libraries
General Inspection of Libraries is a control and advisory service placed under the direct authority of the Minister for Higher Education and Research and put available to the Minister of Culture for libraries under his jurisdiction.
Among other things, the Inspectorate exercises the State technical inspection of public libraries (municipal libraries, departmental lending libraries), permanent mission defined by the decree of 9 November 1988 (art. 7) [repealed]. This mission is being conducted in close liaison with the Book and Reading Service.
By decision of the Minister for Education, Higher Education and Research, or the Minister for Culture, these monitoring, evaluation and advisory tasks may be extended to other documentary bodies under their authority. The members of the Inspectorate may, by joint decision of the Minister responsible for Higher Education and the competent Ministers, be responsible for the supervision, evaluation and study of libraries belonging to other ministerial departments.
Each year of the thematic studies are requested from the Inspectorate by the Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research, or the Ministry of Culture and Communication, within the framework of the annual programmes laid down by the Inspectorate.
Since the abolition of the General Inspectorate of Libraries (1992), the General Inspectorate of Libraries has been composed of General Curators or Chief Curators of Libraries, responsible for inspection missions.
The experience of inspectors in terms of personnel and their availability have led the directorates managing library staff to appoint inspectors to preside over the majority of recruitment juries, to associate them with the monitoring of bodies, to instruct them to investigate disciplinary cases.