Library of Geneva

In Geneva, I worked mainly in four directions: Firstly, to renovate services to the public by increasing the hours of service to the public by 25% and by ensuring that new areas are created for users; to favor an approach to the collections that focus on content rather than media to facilitate research, while developing a new digital strategy; to work on the implementation of a new conservation and security policy, both for people and collections; to reach out to new audiences through a series of events in the buildings, outside the walls or in collaboration with other institutions in the city, in Switzerland and internationally.

Founded by Calvin in 1559, the library of the Academy is the oldest cultural institution in the city. Today it welcomes its visitors and readers at four sites that are emblematic of the life of the town: in the Bastions Park, a public and heritage library; in the Boulevard du Pont d’Arve, the Iconography Centre; in the Délices district, the Voltaire Museum; in the Maison des Arts du Grütli, the Musicale. The Geneva Library also manages the library of the villa La Grange. It has more than 60 km of books, 25,000 books on Voltaire, 50,000 scores, and more than 5 million images.

With more than 5 million images from the 15th century to the present day (engravings, maps, posters, photographs), the Centre d’iconographie holds portraits of Lyotard as well as the most beautiful collection of 19th-century pictures in Switzerland.