Exposing historical collections in a renovated building: the “BNU Nouvelle” experiment

Exposing historical collections
in a renovated building:
the “BNU Nouvelle” experiment
Frédéric BLIN
Head of Preservation and Heritage Collections
National and University Library Strasbourg, France
1
F. Blin, IFLA-WLIC 2014, Lyon, August 17th, 2014
World Library and Information Congress 2014
Lyon, France
Session Special Places for Special Collections
Library Buildings and Equipment with Rare Books and Manuscripts
August 17th, 2014

The National and University Library
Strasbourg (BNU)
• 24/08/1870: Burning of the
2 historical libraries in
Strasbourg
• 1871: Creation of the new
German Imperial, Regional
and University Library
• 1895: Opening of the new
library building
• 1926: French National &
University Library
2
Today: Over 3M
documents, 2nd library
in France

The Building
3

The initial building
• Opened 1895 ; classic
wilhelminian
architecture
• Ornaments, statues, …
• Storage for 800,000
volumes
• A landmark cupola
• A central reading room
4
The library in 1895

The library in 1895 - Sketch of the reading room
5
The library in 1895

The reading room in 1895
6
Statues on the building

The renovation works (1950-1956)
• Bombed in 1944
• Need for more storage
space
• Extensive renovation
1950-1956
• New metallic structure
for stacks
• New reading rooms
7
The main hall in 1956

After the renovation works (1950-1956)
The 2 main reading rooms in 1956
8

The BNU in 2010
• 3M° documents
• 2 main buildings
• 550 seats, 30,000 books on
open shelves
• Exhibition room of ~200m² on
5th floor
• But old and not secure…
9
Under the cupola

The BNU in 2010
Three sorts of
stacks
10

The BNU in 2010
Storage room transformed into a reading room…
11
One of 2 inner courts

The Collections
12

The BNU: Unique historical Collections
Over 10,000 items dating
back as far as 5000 B.C.:
Papyrus, Ostraca, cuneiform
tablets, Palmyrean statues,
seals…
One of the 2-3 largest
collections in France, unique
in libraries 13

7,000+ manuscripts
2,000+ incunabula
Litterary and musical archival
materials…
14

Important oriental
and persian
collection
15

1,000,000+ books and
periodicals published
before 1920
16

150,000+ pictures (posters,
postcards, photographs, …)
50,000+ maps
17

Special collections:
• 19th C. German
Science
• Alsatica
• Medals and coins
(39,000 items)
• 1st World War
• Maritain; Gobineau;
Jaëll…
• Etc…
18

The “BNU Nouvelle” project
19
An architectural project,
with 10 main goals
Oct. 2010-Nov. 2014,
61M°€
Architect: Nicolas
Michelin (Paris)

The architectural project
20
A complete renovation:
• A safe and modern library, in a
historical building
• Preservation of parts of the
original building, e.g. 2
historical stacks =>
collaboration between the
architect and the administration
for heritage monuments
• +6,000 sqm, 45 km of stack
shelves
• Geothermy, climate control
With new facilities:
• Main architectural feat: built
around a central monumental
staircase, under the cupola
• 660 seats, 150,000 books on
open shelves
• An auditorium (146 seats)
• An 500m² exhibition room
• Open reserves
• New technologies
• A cafeteria

21
Columns hanging in the air, before
the reconstuction of 2 levels of
historical stacks (nov.2011) –
The historical stacks preserved with
first collections back (july 2014)

22
Walls of the historical building included in the new architecture

23
The central
staircase
Under the
staircase

24
A future reading room
View on the internal spaces
from one open reserve

The “BNU Nouvelle” project
25
Projects within the project:
• End of retroconversion of catalogues
• Integration of the library of the European Council
• Preparing 150,000 volumes for the open shelves
• Development of the scientific and cultural activity
• Regional collaboration
• International relations
• A modern digital library
• Preparing the heritage collections

The Digital Library
26
Numistral,
www.numistral.fr
• An innovative &
collaborative project with
the BnF
• Opened in oct.2013 with
40,000+ items
• To learn more, visit the
poster session (poster
n°23)

Preparing the heritage collections
27
Examples of preservation and conservation work conducted:
• Complete dust removal of the collections (45 km)
• Conditionning of periodicals (15,000+ boxes)
• Ostraca and antiques: dust removal, small repair,
chemical analysis, better storage…
• Light conservation work on books for the historical stacks
• Systematic preservation work on Reserve items

The museographical project
28

Main goals
29
• A reserve for the treasures of the library
• Showing these treasures to the public
• A reserve which is also a museum, a museum which is
also a reserve
Challenges:
• Preservation vs Exhibition
• Storage place vs Showcases
• Limited access vs public access

The location (5th floor)
30
Reading room
Reserve 2
Reserve 1
Reserves 3 & 4
Reserve 5
Reserve 6

A coherent circuit in the collections
31
• Reserve 1 : Antique collections
• Reserve 2 : Manuscripts and Incunabula
• Reserve 3 : 16th-19th C. books; The early years of the
BNU; R. Maritain’s bedroom;
• Reserve 4 : Medals and Coins, 16th-19th C. books
• Reserve 5 : Graphic documents
• Reserve 6 : Special collections
Open only for guided tours, once / twice a month

The methodology
32
• Definition of the project by the BNU
• Recruitment of a museum-planner (Natalia Moutinho
SARL., from Strasbourg)
• Dialogue between the curators and the museum-planner
(nov.2013-Feb. 2014)
• Writing of the technical specifications by the museum-
planner, validated by the BNU (March 2014)
• Contracting with a third compagny to acquire the furniture
• Installation of the rooms (nov.2014)
• Installation of the collections (nov.-dec.2014)

Points of attention:
33
• Conservation conditions of the documents: stronger
climate control (included in the architectural project),
light control, materials for the furniture, physical
security…
• Circulation of the public, norms for museums and
access to persons with disabilities
• Good practices for exhibiting books, graphic documents
and small objects
• Future management of collections
• Budget and planning…

First results
34
Sketch of a showcase for historical books, in the Reserve 2

First results
35
Cross-section of reserve 3

What still needs to be done
36
• Construction and installation of the furniture
• Final selection of items to be exhibited
• Physical preparation of some of the selected items
• Writting of the descriptive texts for the selected items
• Installation of the documents in the showcases and
stacks
End of the project: Dec. 2014 => fingers crossed…

Expected impact
37
• Greater visibility for our treasures
• Inclusion of the BNU in the touristic routes of Strasbourg
and the Alsace region => bringing new public to the
library
• Source for scientific and cultural dynamism and
creativity for the staff

Thank you for your
attention,
enjoy your stay in France,
and see you soon in the
BNU Strasbourg!
frederic.blin@bnu.fr
@BFL50
38

39
Thanks to:
N. Michelin
N. Moutinho
J.P. Rosenkranz
Slides available on:
Slideshare
Slides placed under CC-BY-NC

Exposing historical collections in a renovated building: the “BNU Nouvelle” experiment

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