The French public libraries in the eighties : a spectacular but uncompleted development

Statistics given each year by the public libraries to the Direction du livre et de la lecture build up a rich and consistent whole of data. The expansion of public libraries during the eighties is analysed through this source : figures show real dynamics in means (budget, jobs, library premises) and results. In prospect statistics give the new aspect of public libraries : the increasing professionalisation of the staff, the coming of multimedia collections, new users practices. They help to note down the weak points - districts annexes, hours of service - and the fields about which they don't say anything, such as library network, cooperation, partnership. If statistics sources are irrepleacable, they are nevertheless insufficient, just as the development of public libraries, though it is undeniable, proves to be uncompleted and precarious.
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