The Livre blanc des études français sur le Moyen-Orient et les mondes musulmans (Paris, September 2014), the first overview of existing documentation, highlighted the wide range of holdings dispersed in numerous French and, in particular, Parisian libraries. This situation does not facilitate the work of students, who tend to work in the library they know best, or of researchers, who have difficulty in locating collections or even knowing about available resources. In recent decades, numerous projects have sought to address this situation: establishment of a new library at the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l’homme (MMSH) in Aix-en-Provence with a substantial section dedicated to the Muslim world; constitution of libraries at the Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée (MOM) and, more recently, the Diderot University Library in Lyon; creation of the Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC – University Library of Languages and Civilizations) in Paris, which is part of an ongoing reorganization of available resources in Paris.
The Libraries’ section on the GIS MOMM site provides researchers and students with:
- a Library Guide, i.e. a synthetic tool for an overview of available resources in France;
- a list presenting each library;
- minutes of meetings and round tables of librarians involved in our field of study;
Available soon:
- a Document providing an in-depth overview of resources in Oriental Libraries, in collaboration with GIS Asia and GIS African Studies;
- Available soon: a Guide to French Archives and Orientalist Collections, covering the Middle East and Muslim World.