Libraries in Dijon, France
After a recent stint of living in Dijon, France I got to know my local library there and inevitably compared it to our own CBCPL. Dijon is a city of 150,000, so it isn’t really fair to compare the two systems, but just for fun I will anyway.
Since I was in France with my kids I noticed one difference right away: the children’s collection is housed in a separate building from the adult materials. Another major difference is that French public libraries are not free to local residents. Although you are not required to show proof of residency in the city, you do need to pay an annual fee to get a library card. Adults pay approximately $10 a year, minors and unemployed persons pay half that amount.
Unlike CBCPL patrons, library card holders in France are limited in the number of materials they can check out. In Dijon you can check out only 12 items at one time, including 6 books, 2 magazines, 2 DVDs (no videos in sight), 6 CDs, and 2 CD-ROMs. In the summer, when already limited open hours are even more restricted, you can check out 18 items at one time and keep them for two months.
I was glad that a wallet-sized schedule of hours for the branches was handed out with my library card, because with different hours every day it was not easy to remember when I could go. Both the main adult branch and the children’s branch was open Tuesday through Saturday approximately 33 hours a week compared to CBCPL 69 hours seven days a week.
The entrance to the library
During the year I lived there, the main adult branch moved shop from its crowded location just off the central square to an old church a short walk away from its old location and just up the street from where I lived. Renovating an ancient church to accommodate a modern library must not have been easy, but the high ceilings and spaciousness gained with the new space was worth it. Although the new library does not have a café, right outside its doors are two bustling café/restaurants open morning through evening with outdoor seating year round. Vive la France!
Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian
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