Bibliothèque Publique d'Information

Bibliothèconomique
The National Centre d’Art et Cultures Georges Pompidou was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. It was opened in 1977 and renovated between 1998 and 2000. The Bibliotheque Public d’Information (BPI) occupies two and a half floors of the Centre Pompidou. It shares the building with the Musée National d’Art Moderne. The Centre Pompidou also includes an Institute of Musical/Acoustic Research and Coordination (IRCAM), which is housed in a separate building.



The BPI was one of the first libraries in France with open stacks. It is a national research library; its collection does not circulate. It is an agency of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.


The BPI uses the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) system, which was adapted from the Dewey Decimal System, and like Dewey organizes all fields of knowledge into a hierarchy of 10 classes. At the BPI the subject areas are color coded. Even the book trucks match each subject area’s color.


The BPI is very popular with students, who come because the university libraries are very crowded. The library would like to attract a broader audience, but crowding is a problem here, too. The BPI has a capacity of 2,134 persons. When it reaches capacity, people wait outside along the Rue du Renard and one person is admitted for each person who leaves. According to a recent survey, 70% of visitors wait 20 minutes or less, but the wait can be up to an hour and a half. And once inside, visitors have to wait in line again if they want to use one of the library’s 50 public access computers.

The BPI does not question its popularity, but constantly questions its purpose. It is undertaking a comprehensive review known as BPI 2012. Among other questions, it is asking if it should try to appeal to a different or wider audience and if so, how.

Directly inside the library is an accueil (information desk) staffed by two librarians. Behind the desk an attractive and recently installed display announces to visitors that it is the place where they can get renseignements (information) about employ- ment, health, housing, culture, leisure and other practical advice.

The press area offers 150 daily general inform- ation newspapers and 250 magazines from all over the world in print or on microfilm CD Rom or online. The library also maintains its own press database of selected French press articles on current cultural and social events.

Part of the library’s mission to provide access to everybody is to make access easier for disabled people. The library has five private study areas for blind or visually impaired people equipped with machines to read, write and print in Braille. They also have text scanners that transform written text into spoken words as well as text enlargers and tape recorders and microphones. For the hard of hearing, a onscreen video loop describes the library in sign language. Users must book these areas in advance. They are busy from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. Users don't come later because they worry that motorists won't see them after dark.

The BPI has an autoformation (self-learning) area with 120 audio-equipped work stations where visitors can learn any of 172 language and dialects, including some rare languages for which the BPI produced materials. The range of other subjects areas covered is wide. Visitors can even study the code de la route (rules of the road) if they are preparing to get their permit de conduire (driver’s license).


The library is very well outfitted electronically. In one area there are 16 televisions with headsets where visitors can listen to American, Chinese, Arabic, British, German, Spanish or Portuguese news channels. There are 40 work areas in the music room where visitors can listen not only to musique enregistrée (recorded music), but also document parlé such audiobooks, speeches and archival material. The music room also equipped with two headset-equipped pianos for public use.

In addition to télévision du monde, presse and autoformation, the first floor includes these UDC subject areas: sciences documentaries; philosophie, psychologie; religions, sciences socials; sciences and médicine. In addition to musique and documents parlé, the second floor include the subject areas: arts, cinéma, sports, loisir; langues, literatures and géographie, histoire.

La Vie à Paris
In many ways all of Paris is a work of art. On Saturday evening I ventured into the subway for the first time. There are many cool things about it – like the escalator with Plexiglas sides so you can see the moving parts. Many of the stations are decorated so as to “make an echo (faire un echo)” as the French would say, of what is going on above. The Arts et Métiers (Arts and Crafts) station, for example, is copper clad. At Chatelet I passed a man playing Middle Eastern music on a stringed instrument. A few steps further I happened upon an eight-piece ensemble, including bass, playing what sounded to me like Balkan music.

Just west of the Centre Pompidou is the Place Igor Stravinsky with a fanciful fountain created by French artists Jean Tinguely and Nike de St-Phalle.

I had lunch on Monday with two library colleagues. They had blue cheese quiche. I had penne au saumon. It was delicious. Add that to my culinary adventures, which, so far, include a sandwich du jambon de paye et emmenthal, a crepe complete and a gallette libanaise, which is like the bread you get in Indian restaurants rolled like a crepe. Mine was filled with sausage and a cheese much like feta. To make the crepe complete, the cook broke an egg onto a crepe after he flipped it and as it continued to cook. When the egg was set, he put grated cheese and a slice of ham on top and folded the crepe into quarters.

There was a suicide at the Centre Pompidou yesterday. Not the first, I’m told. A man jumped from the fifth floor to his death. It was the day after Nuit Blanche. It was rainy and it was Monday.