La Cinematheque Francais

La Cinematheque at Bercy in Paris 12 contains a shockingly gorgeous collection of early film making equipment - the collection contains donations from Charlie Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock, among others, so it obviously means a lot to people in the film industry.  Old polished wooden cameras & early optical instruments, costumes and short films from silent black and white to present day adorn the exhibition space.  This is the reportedly the largest film archive in the world and to add to the divine experience, its building is a Frank Gehry creation.

I was unable to gain clearance to the library as it was closed on the day I visited (great planning ahead on my part there) - if I wanted to visit this library I needed to make an appointment with them for a guided tour, and I have the impression they'd prefer in a group.  I had been searching around Paris for a film library, however, didn't find this one until after I arrived, so an in-depth library visit is definately on my cards for the next trip.

If the exhibition is anything to go by, who knows what treasures lurk at the top of the security pass elevator  among the 22,500 books, 21,000 posters, 12,000 drawings digitized models of sets or costumes, 40,000 digitized photographs, 20,700 digitized journals,  8500 movies - 20's or Nouvelle Vague anyone?





If youre not a French reader, put their address into Google Translator - its a digital treasure trove! :
http://www.cinematheque.fr/

Royal College of Music Library - London, UK.

The RCM Library is open to the public for reference purposes - though takes a little more doing than just visiting your local regular public library.

Making your way through security and navigating  through the corridors of practice rooms that shower you with the sounds of trumpets, cellos and opera singers practicing.. and being one of the most definitive music libraries in the world - its an essential journey for a music librarian.

The collection contains 500 000 items spanning across the past 400 years or more, including standard texts for instruments, historical works such as 16th century manuscripts of early music, ensemble and orchestral scores and parts, original manuscripts, choral and vocal works contemporary works, recordings and audio visual materials in various formats.

Their facilities include an Audiovisual listening area and the majestic Donaldson reading room, which contains reference books, collected editions and journals.  There is also an instrument museum containing over 1000 items and the College's archives are managed by the Library.

Their catalogs use indexes, card systems and online and subscribe to online databases for recordings, and electronic reference sources  (e-resources), which can be accessed via their website below.

And they were having a sale!!  One was greeted at the door with a trolley full of scores and CDs to rat through - what joy!.

Peruse their catalogues and see pictures of their facilities at their website:

http://www.rcm.ac.uk/library/

Bibliotheque Opera Garnier, Paris

 Thanks to the lovely librarians at Bibliotheque National de France - Richelu, I was given a day pass to the Music library and the Opera Library in Opera Garnier.  C'est privilege!



The Opera Garnier Library houses information collections of its operas and ballets performed over the past 300 years, history of dance and music, and history of the opera house itself.  Information in the form of documents, paintings, photographs, drawings, programs, and of course, scores and parts to operas can be found, particular to each production held at Garnier.  Set design plans and mock ups, costume sketches, original scores, directors notes of any given production at Garnier are amongst the holdings in the collection.

There are pictures and information of various dance genres, and photographs of the Opera area from the building's construction and standing through major historical events (such as world wars) to the present day.

Periodicals and encyclopedias contained in this library specialize in opera and dance.

Card catalogues are in use and some digital catalogue access via Bibliotheque National de France Online.  Access to this library is gained by paying a membership fee.

A very special place to do research amongst the gold chandeliers and wreaths of green palm leaves decorating the walls and ceiling.  The photographs below are of the areas for tourist access, where photography is permitted - sadly I can't share the tranquility of this gorgeous venue with photos of inside the actual library.

Tourist access:

   

.. and thats as good as it gets until you go there with your pass!

See the official description at the BF website below:
http://www.bnf.fr/en/collections_and_services/dpts_eng/s.opera_library.html?first_Art=non

Castle Saint Vincennes

The most convenient real castle Ive found within Paris (you can get there on the Metro) - has a library - however, Ive concluded that it may be just for display purposes - a fake!  but its lead to discovering another library...

Vincennes castle dates back to 12th century when it was built as a hunters lodging amongst woodland for French royalty.

The stone room of the 'library' is small, on the ground floor and is next door to the prison. It contains a model of the shelves and types of huge manuscripts that may have been stored there. (Can anyone confirm if the kind of documents in these pictures are likely for a 12th century castle?  The whole thing - including the giant volumes are all carved from wood)  

On the second floor above, Charles V (1364 -1380) had his study chambers, where he kept his gold, received visitors and worked with the assistance of two secretaries in the turrets, so there was very likely some serious mediaeval archival record keeping going on close by.

The French writer and philosopher Denis Diderot (1713 - 1784) was imprisoned in the donjon of Vincennes in 1749 and wrote the following essays whilst imprisoned there:

'Lettre sur les aveugles a l'usage de ceux qui voyent'  (Essay on Blindness)

'Lettre sur les sourds et muets, a l'usage de ceux qui entendent et qui parlent'  (Letter on thé deaf and dumb, for those who hear and speak)

'Des Lettres de cachet et es prisons d'Etat'   (Detention without trial and State prisons)

'Theorie de l'impot' (Theory of Taxation).

BUT!!!
The weaponry pavilion behind the castle, however, is now a library of the Ministy of Defence's Historical Service archives - and this is where the fun begins - but they explain it so much better than I do - please visit their great site and have a read:

http://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/Records-held-by-the-SHD.html

   

Weapons pavilion housing the Ministry of Defence archives - the castle is in the background ...

Visit the website for the Castle Vincennes:
http://en.chateau-vincennes.fr/

The intrepid Librarian.....

As I write this, Im in Paris and have scored an appointment with a librarian at the Francois-Mitterand library branch near Bourse, and want to be ready with loads of questions for her.  Im hoping it will lead to being able to get into other branches of the library, particularly at Opera, where there will be a delicious number of original composers manuscripts and performing arts related materials, such as Njinskys costumes, or recordings of goodness knows what.  The F-M library is closed until 17th Sept, so I have to play a little waiting game until then.  Im hoping to gather some suggestions from the library world before this appointment.

Other libraries Ive tried on this trip have required clearance (such as the Cinematheque, Conservatoire and Cite de la Musique), so is it annoying to ring up and ask for an appointment just to be guided around a library, just because you're passing by and have a library related piece of paper?

I am a trained orchestral flutist and music teacher and am hoping to combine my arts related background with information management - so far the skills have been extremely helpful for clearing up my own library of scores, music, recordings and programs - but I want to be able to explore the world with them....  the intrepid librarian !

I ended my Information Management degree last year with questions on the class blog about what to look for when we visit a library when traveling - and Im on a quest for the answers people!  

What do we look for?
What do we ask for?
What are we allowed to see?
How does one actually be a librarian tourist?

Your thoughts and experiences please!!

Bibliotheque Francois-Mitterand - one quadrant and just one branch of...  

* All images on this blog are my own photographs taken in permitted areas - links are provided that lead to other images belonging to the institutions.