WParis, the capital of France, has many of the country's most important libraries. The Bibliothèque nationale de France operates public libraries in Paris, among them the François-Mitterrand, Richelieu, Louvois, Opéra, and Arsenal.
WThe Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris has been part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 1934.
WThe Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne is an inter-university library in Paris, France. It is situated in the Sorbonne building. It is a medieval institution of the Sorbonne, which evolved over the centuries as part of the University of Paris. It is a common library of Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, Sorbonne University, Paris Descartes University, and Paris Diderot University. It is administered by Panthéon-Sorbonne University as per a governing agreement signed among these universities in 2000.
WThe Bibliothèque du cinéma François-Truffaut is a film library in Paris, France. It is located at 4 rue de Cinéma, in the Forum des Halles. Its collections consist of books, journals, film music, DVDs, and press reviews. It is named for the French film director François Truffaut.
WThe Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, commonly abbreviated with the acronym BHVP, is a public library specializing in the history of the city of Paris, France. Formerly in the Hôtel Saint-Fargeau, when it was also known as the Bibliothèque Saint-Fargeau, since 1969 the BHVP has been located in the Hôtel d'Angoulême Lamoignon at 24 rue Pavée, in the Marais in Paris.
WThe Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de Santé is a French medical library created in 2011.
WThe Bibliothèque littéraire Jacques-Doucet is a public library in Paris, France. It was established in 1929 upon the death of fashion designer Jacques Doucet.
WThe Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand is a specialized public library run by the Paris municipal library system.
WThe Bibliothèque Mazarine, or Mazarin Library, is located within the Palais de l'institut de France, or the Palace of the Institute of France, at 23 quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement, on the Left Bank of the Seine facing the Pont des Arts and the Louvre. Originally created by Cardinal Mazarin as his personal library in the 17th century, it today has one of the richest collections of rare books and manuscripts in France, and is the oldest public library in the country.
WSainte-Barbe Library is an inter-university library in Paris, France, that opened in March 2009. It is located in the buildings of the former College of St. Barbara, and has been registered as a historical monument from 9 December 1999. The BIU St. Barbara is led by François Michaud, chief curator of the library.
WThe Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC) is a major academic library located in Paris Rive Gauche and which has been open to the public since its 2011 opening. The library has a scope that includes all languages and civilisations that are not those of the Western World. It provides more than one million documents written in all languages, formed from the former collections of more than 20 libraries.
WThe Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra National de Paris is a library and museum of the Paris Opera and is located in the 9th arrondissement at 8 rue Scribe, Paris, France. It is no longer managed by the Opera, but instead is part of the Music Department of the National Library of France. The Paris Opera Library-Museum is open daily; an admission fee is charged.
WCujas Library, named after the French jurist and scholar Jacques Cujas (1520–1590), is an academic research library, and the largest law library in Europe. It is located in the Latin Quarter, next to the Panthéon and Sainte-Geneviève Library, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.
WThe Fondation Dosne-Thiers is a history library located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris at 27, place St-Georges, Paris, France. It is open to researchers who obtain recommendations from a member of the Institut de France.
WThe Human and Social Sciences Library Paris Descartes-CNRS is one of the most important French libraries concerning sociology, linguistics and science education. The library collaborates with BNF as an associated pole on topics such as health and public policy, Ethics and bioethics, Health sciences and society, drug use and abuse, social psychology.
WThe Library Božidar Kantušer, formerly known as International Library of Contemporary Music, is a non-profit association chartered under the French 1901 Law on associations. It was created in 1968 to promote contemporary music by facilitating access to published and unpublished scores from around the world. For this purpose, the library centralizes and lists the scores, and then facilitates their discovery by computerized means. At its inception the association was subsidized by the City of Fontainebleau and the French Ministry of Culture, further by the City of Paris and the Ministry of Culture. Since 2006, the collection of scores and recordings is available in Paris at the Médiathèque Hector Berlioz and through its OPAC.
WLa Petite Bibliothèque Ronde is a French children's library. It was funded by the association La Joie par les livres and located in a working-class area in Clamart. Since September 2009, it has been classified as an “Historic Monument” and hence protected by the State.
WThe Polish Library in Paris is a Polish cultural centre of national importance and is closely associated both with the historic Great Emigration of the Polish élite to Paris in the 19th-century and the formation in 1832 of the Literary Society, later the Historical and Literary Society. The Library was founded in 1838 by Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz and Karol Sienkiewicz, among others. Its first task was to safeguard all surviving books, documents, archives and treasures of national significance. It has become a historical and documentary resource open for the use of Poles and other researchers and visitors. The Library houses three museums related to significant Polish artists: the Salon Frédéric Chopin, the Adam Mickiewicz Museum and the Bolesław Biegas Art collection. UNESCO's Memory of the World Register rates it as an institution unique of its kind.
WSainte-Geneviève Library is a public and university library located at 10, place du Panthéon, across the square from the Panthéon, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. It is based on the collection of the Abbey of St Genevieve, which was founded in the 6th century by Clovis I, the King of the Franks. The collection of the library was saved from destruction during the French Revolution. A new reading room for the library, with an innovative iron frame supporting the roof, was built between 1838 and 1851 by architect Henri Labrouste. The library contains around 2 million documents, and currently is the principal inter-university library for the different branches of University of Paris, and is also open to the public.