The Centre national du livre and the university libraries

The French university libraries have been enjoying the CNL's aid since 1977. This aid, first attributed according to the same criterions as the operating budgets, has maintained the purchases during the shortage years. A reform has been opened a few years ago, which has led to organize a procedure of call for projects. The CNL intervenes now in favour of the creation or the extension of libraries or in favour of the development of thematic collections. If the support to the creation has revealed itself convincing, the aid to the development of thematic collections is suffering from a too short duration (two or three years), and from a too important scattering of the themes, which do not give these collections a real structure
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