Bibliothèque Louis Notari

Overview

The Bibliothèque Louis Notari (Louis Notari Library) is the national library of Monaco, forming part of the Médiathèque de Monaco network operated by the Mairie de Monaco. It is located at 8 rue Louis Notari and has served as Monaco's legal deposit and copyright library since 1925.

History

The library was established in 1909 at the wish of Prince Albert I, who sought the creation of an institution devoted to study and discovery. Léon Honoré Labande, curator of the Palace Archives, was tasked with organizing the new institution and selected 7,000 reference works spanning history, geography, literature, and science to form its founding collection. The library, then called the Bibliothèque Communale, was administered by an eleven-member committee chaired by Mayor Émile De Loth, and Gaston d'Adhémar de Lantagnac was appointed its curator on February 23, 1909. In 1933, Prince Louis II bequeathed the library the 7,000-volume private collection of journalist and literary critic Paul Ginisty, consisting of author-dedicated original editions. The library moved to its current premises in 1980 and was renamed in honor of Monegasque poet and grammarian Louis Notari. A related sound archive, the José Notari sonothèque, was added in 1989, and a video library in 1992, both housed at the Villa Lamartine. In 1997 the library received the archives and correspondence of writer and musicologist Boris de Schloezer, donated by his niece, and in 2003, at the request of Roxane Notari, Louis Notari's own working library and literary archives were bequeathed to the municipal institution.

Collections, Holdings, and Publications

The Médiathèque de Monaco network, of which the Louis Notari Library forms the main public reading site, holds close to 450,000 documents across its sites, including books, DVDs, CDs, French and foreign newspapers, magazines, dictionaries, encyclopedias, manuscripts, prints, photographs, musical scores, and correspondence. The Louis Notari site itself holds more than 400,000 books and offers 166 periodical subscriptions across subjects including local and regional news, arts and literature, history and heritage, and technology and science. Since 2014, the network's heritage holdings, including legal deposit material, regional collections, and the Fonds précieux of avant-garde and rare editions, have been kept at the Hélios site.

Access and Usage

The library is open to the public and offers direct-access collections of fiction, essays, documentaries, and biographies alongside a substantial research collection in French literature, humanities, visual arts, and music, much of which is held in reserve and available on request. Registered readers can access digital periodicals and their archives online through the LeKiosk service.