Profession: Librarian

• Co-operation Activities
• Collections and Services
• Studies and Research
  • Bpi's Public and Use
  • Libraries and Cultural Practices
• Training
• Bpi Founding Decree

Studies and Research

A library that is attentive to its public...
Open for everybody without any formalities, the Bpi respects the anonymity of its users. Nevertheless it regularly collects data about the profiles and expectations of its public, and the ways in which they use the Library.

Since 1976, the Library has a department dedicated to studies and research. This small sociological unit located inside the Library has a double mission.

To study the profiles of Bpi users and the ways they use the Library

The Bpi measures how the number of its users evolves, regularly surveys its public and observes the usage of its areas, collections and services, in order to be able to adjust what it offers accordingly. Opinion polls, analysis of statistical data, individual or group interviews, and observation are the methods most often employed in this work.

To explore cultural practices linked to books and reading

Beyond the confines of the Bpi itself, the researchers conduct or co-ordinate more general research about reading and the cultural practices that are associated with it, such as the use of libraries or of information and communication technologies (ITC). For some of these projects use is made of teams of external researchers, usually drawn from universities.

• You can find details of completed or current studies and research projects in the Report of Activities in 2009 (PDF file; in French) of the Studies and Research Department. 

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