Public libraries

While more than 16,000 public libraries are currently listed in France, only the National Library of France (BnF) and the Public information library (BPI) are under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Communication.

The vast majority of other libraries (municipal libraries, departmental lending libraries) are the responsibility of local and regional authoritiesThese libraries have a wide range of resources depending on the size of the community they serve. In their regard, the action of the Ministry of Culture and Communication is multiple: definition of the legislative and regulatory framework, statistical evaluation of their activity, technical inspection provided for by the Heritage Code, technical and financial support through various mechanisms.

Municipal libraries: some figures (2012 data from thePublic reading observatory):

• 17% of the population
• €147.1 million in documentary expenditure
• 247.4 million in loans
• 156 million pounds
• 12.7 million audio documents
• 4.1 million video documents

Libraries are monitored by the Ministry of Culture and Communication Library Department of the Book and Reading Service (CMIB).

For more information on territorial libraries, please visit:

• the National Library and Holdings Directory
• the complete library address database, available on the French open public data platform (Open Data).

For more information on the university libraries and the research libraries, which fall under the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, see:

• the site of the Department of Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation Network (Ministry of Higher Education and Research)
• the Library Directory of theBibliographic Agency for Higher Education.