ABSTRACT
With more than 10 million volumes and an annual increase of about 50,000, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is one of the biggest libraries in the world. It is also one of the oldest and since the sixteenth century, it has been entrusted with the mission of collecting, cataloging, preserving, and providing access to the French print heritage. Although the library's history consists of several turning points, the last decade of the twentieth century has brought an unprecedented change in the life of the institution: new information technologies, new buildings, new collection management politics, and new services. More than ever, today the library is part of a national and international network of libraries and other cultural institutions whose goal is both to share the wealth of their resources and assert their identities.
