Digitisation at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and investing for the future: A public-private partnership in practice

The BnF launched a highly costly mass digitisation programme in 2007, partly in reaction to Google’s similar project. To implement the project, the French government set up a national fund for the digital society as part of its national loan for future investment. This national fund is run on “smart investment” lines, including management practices comparable to those of private enterprise. The BnF launched a call for partners to finance the digitisation programme via its subsidiary BnF-Partenariats, set up specifically for this purpose.
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