The library
The École nationale des chartes library was founded in 1846 and is famed for its wealth of material in French history and auxiliary sciences of history (palaeography, diplomatics, philology, history of books, history of law, archaeology, etc.).
Since 2016, the library has been housed in the renovated Quadrilatère Richelieu, offering readers ideal conditions for study and research.
The library is primarily intended for the students and academic staff of the École nationale des chartes and PSL University. However, it is also open to other users, including human and social sciences scholars and conservation professionals.
Magasins de la bibliothèque, au 12, rue des Petits-Champs © ENC - cl. Didier Plowy
The library provides its readers with
- A comfortable place for study and research
- A broad range of collections: research literature and manuals, journals, old printed books, offprints, prints, electronic resources, etc.
- Most of the collections are open to the public and can be borrowed.
- For the École’s students and doctoral candidates: courses in documentary research and assistance with submitting and circulating theses
- For teachers: access to books and a lecture room for document-based classes
- For researchers: assistance with submitting their publications to the HAL-ENC portal
- Promotion of the École’s history, collections and archives through the digital library
News
![Érasme, Didier (1469-1536). Adagiorum Des. […] (Cote : FR93)](https://www.chartes.psl.eu/sites/default/files/public/styles/card_landscape/public/media/image/2024-03/image1_2.png?h=d0a95d9c&itok=ZmQynx5d)
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Visit the Library
Visits can be organised on request.
Salle de lecture de la bibliothèque © Cl. Jean-Christophe Ballot
Contact :
bibliotheque @ chartes.psl.eu
Virtual Visit
The library was created by the Order of 31 December 1846 and was housed in one of the two rooms allocated to the École in the Hôtel de Soubise.
It moved with the École in 1897 to 19, rue de la Sorbonne, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The library then occupied the second (reading room, history room), third (‘horseshoe room’) and fourth (offices, warehouse in the attic) floors of the École.
Since 2017, the library has been located at 12 rue des Petits-Champs in the renovated Quadrilatère Richelieu, next to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art.
Partners and Networks
The library is involved in several documentary cooperation networks.
Key Partners of the Library
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) libraries and museums
- Richelieu - libraries, museum, galleries area including:
- Humathèque Condorcet
- The Archives Nationales
National networks
- ABES: Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Supérieur
- ACEF: Association des clients d'Ex libris France
- ADBU: Association Française des Directeurs et Personnels de Direction des Bibliothèques Universitaires et de la Documentation
- HAL Partners' Assembly
- CTLes: Centre Technique du Livre de l'Enseignement Supérieur
- CollEX: the library's collections have been awarded the national CollEx label (Collections of Excellence for Research), under the name ‘Sources et méthodes pour l'histoire de France’.
- Couperin: Unified consortium of academic and research institutions for access to digital publications
- KohaLa: Association of French and French-speaking players and users of the Koha open-source library management software
- Omeka.fr: Association of French-speaking Omeka users
- Shared conservation plan for medieval history