Sorbonne – Bibliothèques

We are experiencing a revolution in access to information and the university library is thus undergoing profound changes.

The hybridization of collections introduces a new relationship to the document and a diversity of uses and users. However, the library is always the bearer of the conditions of concentration, work and research. Through the presence of books it has an ability to recontextualize information and to offer a physical representation of knowledge. In this context, the library shows less its traditional dimension, to embody the renewal of knowledge, information, sociability, welcome and exchange. To organize this changeover and bring out the new values of the university library, we proceeded with a methodical approach.

First, we defined the “ideal” contemporary university library that puts into situation a diversity of consultation modes, relationships to collections, group work and “outside” uses.

We have highlighted a tendency to free up spaces for comfort and conviviality, and to offer a central place for information, reception and mediation. In order to define it, we have established a “repertoire” of uses by detailing and describing these different functions: different ways of consulting works, whether they are on paper or digital, as many ways of setting up, working in groups, making collections denser or available, opening up the library to the outside world, allowing new activities to be hosted…

Location : Université Paris Sobonne
Client : Cabinet Lambert Lénack
Surface : 5400m²
Budget : 787,045 (excluding tax)

Permanent exhibition

Photo credits : ©Cyrille Lallement