Bibliothèque François-Mitterrand

The story

The François-Mitterrand site of the BnF is split into two libraries. The public library, open to anyone from age 14, arranges its free-access collections by subject across lettered rooms, from audiovisual media and the press to world and French literature, philosophy and history. Room I houses the National Centre for Children's Literature, La Joie par les livres. The research library lets readers book a seat and request documents from the stacks. The building is part of the visit. A belt of steps climbs on three sides to the esplanade, where the four book-shaped towers hold seven floors of offices behind movable wooden shutters and eleven floors of storage. Inside, an observation area looks out over the architecture, and the programme runs to exhibitions, concerts and shows, with a café and a bookshop selling postcards of artworks from the archives.