Découvrez les bibliothèques de la Ville de Genève
Toute l'offre culturelle


  • La Bibliothèque de Genève déploie sur 4 sites un patrimoine écrit, imprimé, musical et iconographique unique qu’elle sélectionne, protège, valorise et transmet au grand public comme au public scientifique.
  • Site internet de la Bibliothèque de Genève


  • Les Bibliothèques municipales sont des lieux de rencontre, de découverte et de partage qui vous proposent de nombreux documents à emprunter ainsi que des activités gratuites pour petit-e-s et grand-e-s.
  • Site Internet des Bibliothèques municipales


  • Les musées d’art et d’histoire, le Musée d’ethnographie et le Museum d’histoire naturelle, les Conservatoires et Jardin botaniques et le Fond municipal d’art contemporain proposent un accès à leur bibliothèque scientifique .
  • Site internet


  • Vous avez une question et vous souhaitez une réponse personnalisée? Le réseau des bibliothèques genevoises vous offre, en moins de trois jours, un résultat fiable et des sources identifiées.
  • Service Interroge

Historique

The areas covered by the Bibliothèque de Genève are extensive but at the heart of its acquisitions, conservation, and promotion policy lie three especially important groups of works.

These centers of excellence are closely tied to the history of the library and Geneva generally, and naturally reflect the identity of both in part:

– Genevensia
– The Reformation
– The Enlightenment

The specialization in Genevensia includes all items published on paper in Geneva, subjected to the legal deposit law, regardless of the subject, as well as all items that do not fall under the legal deposit law whose author or subject has some connection with Geneva, regardless of where they were published. The city’s international vocation at the turn of the 20th century, for example, is one of this collection’s strong points.

The specialization in Reformation takes in all of the subjects that are useful to understanding that phenomenon fully. All of Protestantism, especially in its French-language versions, is certainly part of this center of excellence and includes the Huguenots, the Refuge (the French Protestant flight from France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes), the Desert (the years of clandestine practice of French Protestantism in France), and so on.

The Enlightenment, whose flame burned especially bright in Geneva, notably in literature and the sciences, is also one of the library’s centers of excellence with the full complement of subjects that help us to understand the “long 18th century.” And one of the strengths of this specialization is without a doubt Les Délices.

The idea of the center of excellence is horizontal. That is, with the library’s specialization in the Reformation readers will find studies devoted to Calvin as well as literary texts, historical studies (the history of mentalities, religion, books, etc.), and even science-related studies (the Copernican revolution).