The history of French libraries: an assessment

Library history, although laid claim to by several disciplines, remains marginal in the French university world. Furthermore, the concept of the library is ambiguous, as the author of the article underlines when distinguishing between private libraries and institutional libraries. Undertaking the history of libraries does not mean having the same approach to the subject whichever period is being addressed. Dominique Varry accentuates the pioneering and/or innovative texts which have informed the history of libraries in France, and notes that there are still many fields of research lying fallow.
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