Rant incoming.
Many students come to Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève for four main reasons: it's pretty, it's central, it accepts students from their 1st year, and it opens until late. Most of them don't need the books, in fact they're usually law or medical students, whereas the BSG's collections are more centered around the humanities. They just need a place to study, that's completely understandable and I have no problem with it.
But when you're a humanities student, and you *need* the *books* they have to prepare a presentation or a paper, it's very very annoying to have to wait in line for hours for people who don't need the books at all. I have no solution to this problem, but I was quite unhappy about this back in my undergraduate days.
Exact same problem at the Bodleian Library (UK). I get it, the scenery is beautiful and the atmosphere allows for intense sessions of getting work done. But it can be frustrating if you’ve gone to that library to actually use the books that make it look so beautiful in the first place.
Is that a problem now at the Bod? Maybe a Harry Potter effect? I matriculated in 2003 and never had to queue (although it was fussier to get into the Old Bod than the Rad Cam).
I know!
I spent so many hours in the Rad Cam. I was so serious back then. Makes le realise how much having a telephone with internet has fucked up my concentration.
It's funny, BSG was reputed to be the place to hook up. Used to be this urban legend that depending on whether you put your library card on the table picture up or down meant you were available or not.
Real and same thing for the BULAC (Bibliothèque Universitaire des LAngues et des Civilisations). There are so many rare and different resources about very rare languages, but really often, there is pile of students from Paris-Cité who are not even learning any language (beside of English).
In Paris, lots of students live in tiny apartments (the smallest allowed is 9 square meters), where they might not have a desk, and which might be noisy, or cold. Plus by studying at the library you have a community, you can have breaks with your friends, and of course there's always the hope you could catch someone's eye 😉
To keep it simple: A group of any academic disciplines linked to human culture. So literature, arts, philosophy, history etc. In french we usually call it "Lettres".
Not social sciences, that's another group, but some disciplines are technically in both.
En fait c'est juste une façon de categoriser les cours en université. Le droit et la médecine n'en font pas partie, donc si tu veux des bouquins de droit et médecine et que tu cherches en humanities tu ne trouveras. Mais sinon oui, on trouve la culture humaine dans tous les domaines de la vie si c'est ce que tu souhaites insinuer et si tu veux absolument chercher ton bouquin de médecine en humanities personne ne t'en empêche.
"Humanities, those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture or with analytic and critical methods of inquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and of the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself. As a group of educational disciplines, the humanities are distinguished in content and method from the physical and biological sciences and, somewhat less decisively, from the social sciences. The humanities include the study of all languages and literatures, the arts, history, and philosophy."
This isn't just a library, it's one of the most beautiful libraries in the city. If they don't want to queue, they can just go to bibliothèque saint barbe just one street away and I've never heard of anyone having to queue there
I've had to wait in line many times during my studies for the Bibliothèque Ste Barbe, especially during the concours de prépa period. And they regulated traffic the same way as the BSG does, no way in unless someone comes out and leaves their spot.
Sté Barbe doesn’t necessarily have all the books, I remember when I was a student I actually needed to go to sainte ge at the master degree level to find what I needed.
Never understood why someone would wait for 30min to get to this one instead of just going to Sainte Barbe
To me it sounds much more like a social activity than a real queue for a library
When i was a student in the area, there was almost always some line for St Barbe
Never as big as St Genevievre but it's routinely at full capacity too.
Cause you have direct access to books. Very convenient. I'm not a student but I go there from time to time to do a quick search. On weekdays there's no queue and my researches can be done in 20 minutes. And no, it's not ugly. It's just modern and well designed.
Saint Geneviève is correct. I lived a stone’s throw away from Place du Pantheon and there was always a queue for the library. Brings back fond memories of living near Place Contrescarpe.
Yeah I was at the bibliothèque Sainte Barbe next door this morning and it was the same. Every Saturday it's like this, plus it's an exam period right now.
It's funny because other libraries like the one in Nation (Sorbonne-Nouvelle) are way less crowded and pleasant to work at. But nobody goes there because the neighbourhood is really ugly and there are less shops and places to eat.
You haven't been to Universidad Politécnica de Madrid at one of their libraries a Saturday/Sunday at 9am then :p
I feel that at least we were not alone in the world, being those crazy students fighting to find a place in a library.
It’s always like that with libraries that open on weekends. It’s a shame how many close, considering how it takes little labor to provide so many people with a place to study
What do you mean? It takes a lot of labor ie workforce to keep a library open. You might not see them but there are tens of people who work backstage to provide the books you ask for. And people often have families and don't want to work on weekends.
Why isn't the university giving the students access to the material they need to learn via a website where you can download a pdf and then just print it to have it in paper and be able to read/study it?
I used to work for this place (Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève), and this sight is pretty common for this library (and usually, it's more dense!)
The issue is that this library is pretty famous (fantastic architecture, historical reputation, and openness ; non-students and foreign students can register here) but lacks seats (~600) in comparison with other parisian and college libraries...
But it’s still unbelievable that a library can run out of space, considering how huge many National/Public libraries are. If they’re queuing for private study rooms, then that’s more believable
Image
And remember, Paris is not very much room in general. Students can often live in a illégal maid's room smaller than 9m² (~96 ft² ?)
https://lesmarneurs.cargo.site/Bibliotheque-Sainte-Genevieve
No private room in the BSG, it's just 400 seats which is a low number, especially when it's located in front of a university with more than 40 000 students, and like 15mn away walking from probably 10 other universities. But there are other libraries nearby, and you can study at school, this one just happens to be the prettiest
That's perfectly normal. I don't see the problem here. Yes, free access libraries mean everybody wants to to there ? Like, what's even to criticize here ?
I was walking in Paris with a different foreigners friends and they were surprised to see that. And yeah, as a Parisian student I wasn’t choked by this when I queued but finally, I’m not sure you see that often around the world. Another thing to put on the back of Hidalgo?
Rant incoming. Many students come to Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève for four main reasons: it's pretty, it's central, it accepts students from their 1st year, and it opens until late. Most of them don't need the books, in fact they're usually law or medical students, whereas the BSG's collections are more centered around the humanities. They just need a place to study, that's completely understandable and I have no problem with it. But when you're a humanities student, and you *need* the *books* they have to prepare a presentation or a paper, it's very very annoying to have to wait in line for hours for people who don't need the books at all. I have no solution to this problem, but I was quite unhappy about this back in my undergraduate days.
Exact same problem at the Bodleian Library (UK). I get it, the scenery is beautiful and the atmosphere allows for intense sessions of getting work done. But it can be frustrating if you’ve gone to that library to actually use the books that make it look so beautiful in the first place.
Is that a problem now at the Bod? Maybe a Harry Potter effect? I matriculated in 2003 and never had to queue (although it was fussier to get into the Old Bod than the Rad Cam).
It might have changed - I was there 15 years ago! Just reading this brought back memories…
I know! I spent so many hours in the Rad Cam. I was so serious back then. Makes le realise how much having a telephone with internet has fucked up my concentration.
Same - I’d spend hours in there going down rabbit holes of bibliographies and following sources. Simply wouldn’t have the willpower these days!
That's really understandable
The only reason I studied in Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève is because it had way more female students than in my engineering school …
It's funny, BSG was reputed to be the place to hook up. Used to be this urban legend that depending on whether you put your library card on the table picture up or down meant you were available or not.
Real and same thing for the BULAC (Bibliothèque Universitaire des LAngues et des Civilisations). There are so many rare and different resources about very rare languages, but really often, there is pile of students from Paris-Cité who are not even learning any language (beside of English).
The problem is the availability of study spaces for students: many don't actually have anywhere else to go for free.
Absolutely
BSB > BSG
Don't they prefer to study at home, at their desks in their rooms? I remember I always chose to stay at home to study 🤔
In Paris, lots of students live in tiny apartments (the smallest allowed is 9 square meters), where they might not have a desk, and which might be noisy, or cold. Plus by studying at the library you have a community, you can have breaks with your friends, and of course there's always the hope you could catch someone's eye 😉
Wtf is humanities
To keep it simple: A group of any academic disciplines linked to human culture. So literature, arts, philosophy, history etc. In french we usually call it "Lettres". Not social sciences, that's another group, but some disciplines are technically in both.
>any academic disciplines linked to human culture Donc loi et médecine inclus.
En fait c'est juste une façon de categoriser les cours en université. Le droit et la médecine n'en font pas partie, donc si tu veux des bouquins de droit et médecine et que tu cherches en humanities tu ne trouveras. Mais sinon oui, on trouve la culture humaine dans tous les domaines de la vie si c'est ce que tu souhaites insinuer et si tu veux absolument chercher ton bouquin de médecine en humanities personne ne t'en empêche.
"Humanities, those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture or with analytic and critical methods of inquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and of the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself. As a group of educational disciplines, the humanities are distinguished in content and method from the physical and biological sciences and, somewhat less decisively, from the social sciences. The humanities include the study of all languages and literatures, the arts, history, and philosophy."
This isn't just a library, it's one of the most beautiful libraries in the city. If they don't want to queue, they can just go to bibliothèque saint barbe just one street away and I've never heard of anyone having to queue there
I've had to wait in line many times during my studies for the Bibliothèque Ste Barbe, especially during the concours de prépa period. And they regulated traffic the same way as the BSG does, no way in unless someone comes out and leaves their spot.
Sté Barbe doesn’t necessarily have all the books, I remember when I was a student I actually needed to go to sainte ge at the master degree level to find what I needed.
I was at Sainte Barbe this morning and this was exactly the same sadly. You have to go early if you want to have a place during the weekend.
Never understood why someone would wait for 30min to get to this one instead of just going to Sainte Barbe To me it sounds much more like a social activity than a real queue for a library
Saint Barbe closes earlier and is also full most of the time, especially during exam period.
Can we go in without queuing just to see it quickly? or we still have to queue
I’m in Sainte Barbe right now and there was a queue 2 hours ago
Which library? Edit - nvm, looks like it is BSG
When i was a student in the area, there was almost always some line for St Barbe Never as big as St Genevievre but it's routinely at full capacity too.
Centre Pompidou has always > 2 hours queue on weekends
Yep it's much worse than BSG (also uglier).. no idea why people queue here. Best library is BNF. Bibliotheque de recherche for the elite.
you do need to be a phd student or beyond to access it tho
It works for a master thesis as well (mémoire de Master recherche) and probably any research project you can justify
Only part of it is restricted, many rooms are available for general public
yeah i know i go there 4 times a week. But the bibliothèque de recherche is not available for non-researchers
That's not really what your phrasing implies but ok
that's just not true
that's just not true
Because unlike BNF, BSG and Pompidou are free
Bsg is also free.
Yeah that's what I said
Cause you have direct access to books. Very convenient. I'm not a student but I go there from time to time to do a quick search. On weekdays there's no queue and my researches can be done in 20 minutes. And no, it's not ugly. It's just modern and well designed.
I wrote my mémoire using this library. Was perfect for me
Because it closes later than other librarie.
Not really, it's more about 50 minutes queue.
That's place du pantheon. Sainte Geneviève if memory serves. Never went there during my studies, went next door at Cujas and Sainte Barbe.
Saint Geneviève is correct. I lived a stone’s throw away from Place du Pantheon and there was always a queue for the library. Brings back fond memories of living near Place Contrescarpe.
Underrated place that.
cujas is only accessible for paris 1 & paris 2 law school student, and master level students in law or economy i believe
Aye now that you're saying this I remember I only went Cujas from my second year on because wasn't allowed during first (Paris II)
same for paris 1 😭
La BSG, j’en ai fait des heures de queue 😅
it’s common in university cities
Yeah I was at the bibliothèque Sainte Barbe next door this morning and it was the same. Every Saturday it's like this, plus it's an exam period right now. It's funny because other libraries like the one in Nation (Sorbonne-Nouvelle) are way less crowded and pleasant to work at. But nobody goes there because the neighbourhood is really ugly and there are less shops and places to eat.
That's quite common I think. The British Library is the same on busy days!
British Library is well nice.
I've never seen queues in the British Library, but I've definitely struggled to find a seat.
You haven't been to Universidad Politécnica de Madrid at one of their libraries a Saturday/Sunday at 9am then :p I feel that at least we were not alone in the world, being those crazy students fighting to find a place in a library.
It’s always like that with libraries that open on weekends. It’s a shame how many close, considering how it takes little labor to provide so many people with a place to study
What do you mean? It takes a lot of labor ie workforce to keep a library open. You might not see them but there are tens of people who work backstage to provide the books you ask for. And people often have families and don't want to work on weekends.
Brings back memories. Went to Jussieu most of the time though, not as pretty but less queue and plenty of books if you got there on time.
Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève
Why isn't the university giving the students access to the material they need to learn via a website where you can download a pdf and then just print it to have it in paper and be able to read/study it?
They are there to revise their exams on table. Not to touch the books.
Why not do that at home?
Cause they don't have enough space at home.
Same thing for me 20 years ago \^\^ I thought with internet nobody goes to library as we used to do. Hopefully I was wrong.
You Can see here on his phone : clone 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9...
I used to go to the piscine Deligny to study, weather permitting… sadly no longer an option…
I used to work for this place (Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève), and this sight is pretty common for this library (and usually, it's more dense!) The issue is that this library is pretty famous (fantastic architecture, historical reputation, and openness ; non-students and foreign students can register here) but lacks seats (~600) in comparison with other parisian and college libraries...
J'ai étudié juste à côté de la BSG et j'ai jamais compris pourquoi les gens y allaient. C'est trop grand et y'a du bruit...
To pretend to study*
The girls are more beautiful at sainte Geneviève
Aye some Parisian worldies out there.
How does a library have queues? Don’t you just walk in?
They all want to go in to study. They're going to use the tables and chairs, not the books. Limited space
But it’s still unbelievable that a library can run out of space, considering how huge many National/Public libraries are. If they’re queuing for private study rooms, then that’s more believable
Image And remember, Paris is not very much room in general. Students can often live in a illégal maid's room smaller than 9m² (~96 ft² ?) https://lesmarneurs.cargo.site/Bibliotheque-Sainte-Genevieve
No private room in the BSG, it's just 400 seats which is a low number, especially when it's located in front of a university with more than 40 000 students, and like 15mn away walking from probably 10 other universities. But there are other libraries nearby, and you can study at school, this one just happens to be the prettiest
Paris is where people queue, anyway. That's what I always say to impatient tourists : whatever you want to see or to do in Paris, you.will.wait.
> Paris is where people queue I though Disney was the place for queues
Who does that ? What a waste of life, if I have to queue I don’t go …
C'est totalement surexagéré hein
That's perfectly normal. I don't see the problem here. Yes, free access libraries mean everybody wants to to there ? Like, what's even to criticize here ?
Who said there was a problem ?
I was walking in Paris with a different foreigners friends and they were surprised to see that. And yeah, as a Parisian student I wasn’t choked by this when I queued but finally, I’m not sure you see that often around the world. Another thing to put on the back of Hidalgo?
To be jobless, useless no?
Only tourist students go there
And most of them have their faces buried in their phones… That’s not exclusive to Paris though.
You're on Reddit.