Gallica. The beautiful age of the BNF's digital library

Last updated on 12 February 2025

Gallica, the digital library of the BNF is about to celebrate its 20th anniversary in a few months. I just read it. to my friends in Archimag. I blow candles in advance to invite you to visit its incredible shelves. It is a real favorite and a must-have favorite to slip into your browser.

Gallica is the dream of every student, researcher and culture lover. be able to freely access all the resources of the great library of France. We are not far from it. Nearly four million documents are made available free of charge to Internet users around the world. We are far from 20 000 works proposed at the opening.

More than one million images, as many press leaflets and several hundred thousand books make Gallica a unique and valuable resource. Most of this high-definition material comes from the collections of the BNF, but also from several hundred institutions (libraries, research centres, learned societies) with which it has been able to establish partnerships.

Visiting the Gallica site is a real pleasure with well thought-out sections: selections, collections, news or the latest documents digitized and put online on Gallica's virtual shelves.

Most of the proposed documents allow enlargements and zooms to appreciate the finesse of each detail. The sheets accompanying them complete them. Gallica also offers ebooks to download with a click on your computer or e-reader in EPUB format.

Gallica is supported by a powerful and fast search engine which will allow you to find the pearl in this immense and infinite haystack. Practical.

Also practice mobile versions of Gallica available on iOS and Android which will allow you to slide the heavy shelves of the BNF to the bottom of your pocket!

The average time for a visit to the Gallica site is around 15 minutes! A record in these times of permanent zapping. A record and a compliment, visitors like to take a walk or even get lost in the pleasure of a discovery. Congratulations.
(I would not say the same thing about the BNF institutional site, where you get lost for real and where the pages dedicated to teachers and youth are for absent subscribers and these days displayed ) error messages.

Gallica turns 20 next year. The site is already a daily gift. I invite you, if you have not already done so, to find out.

Link: Gallica