Millions of resources freely accessible online

The National Library of France keeps on making available the wealth of its collections and the breadth of its digital offer. Ebooks in ePub format, digital items, podcasts, apps, learning sites, media… Millions of resources are freely available online to work, learn, relax and play.
 

For all: read, look, listen

Read
Les Travailleurs de la mer, Victor Hugo ; illustrations by Daniel Vierge – BnF

Thousands of books in ePub format

Several thousands of books can be downloaded freely in ePub format from Gallica, the BnF’s digital library. This format is especially suited to reading on mobile devices (smartphones, eReaders, tablet computers. From the 1876 edition of Les Travailleurs de la mer by Victor Hugo, illustrated by Daniel Vierge, to a selection of young adult literature (Jean de La Fontaine, Benjamin Rabier, Jules Verne…), we cater to the most diverse audiences.

 

Look, listen

Podcasts and video conferences

Follow philosophy courses by François Jullien, listen to Alan Lee, the illustrator of Tolkien or discover the most legendary theatre voices: the BnF’s conferences are available for replay through podcasts on all dedicated apps and and videos on bnf.fr.

“Les Essentiels de la BnF”

Les Essentiels de la BnF

Les Essentiels de la BnF website offers several thousands resources on various topics such as the Arthurian legend, the game of chess, the exploration of the world, secularism or Jules Verne works.

Designed from exhibitions and news from the BnF’s collections, they are enriched every day with new content on art, history, literature, society, sciences, books and writing.

Teachers will also find a space dedicated to educational tours around school programs. As for parents, a section filled with ideas for games, books and videos awaits them, for young and old!

 

Millions of images online

Several portals allow one to dive into the wealth of the BnF’s heritage thanks to selections in Gallica, Images Bank as well as bnf.fr, covering a range of topics such as travel, nature images, culinary heritage, globes in 3D or ancient artifacts

Image Fuji no numa. Hiroshige 1. 1841-1842. Estampe.
France - Chine - BnF

Travelling with Patrimoines partagés / Shared Heritage

The digital collection Patrimoines partagés / Shared Heritage brings together a set of digital libraries constituted by the BnF. It reveals the richness of the ties established by France and the rest of the world across the centuries and put in light the global dimension of France’s past.

 

Visit

For teenagers and adults: learn and play

Learn at home

Les Essentiels de la Littérature” is an introduction to French literary works and French authors of the 18th and 19th century.

From kindergarten to high school, Gallica’s enhanced selections bring together freely available educational resources.

To play and to escape

Colouring books and games

The BnF also gives access to Gallica’s coloring pages and coloring books, sorted by topic and category: alphabet books, animals, circus, fairy tales, image books, games, means of transportation, landscapes, plants, advertisements.

Various games invite users to follow the traces of Ulysse, to become King Arthur in a role-playing game or to pierce the mysteries of the Kingdom of Istyald in a video game.

Playful apps

The BnF has created apps to engage in a playful way with its collections through creating a pictorial narrative with BDnF, or kind monsters with Fabricabrac


For researchers and students

Avec Portal - BnF

Holders of the Research Pass can remotely access electronic resources, which consists of hundred thematic databases (press, law, sciences…) and 100 000 ebooks.

Tools to assist you in a search such as dedicated portals (sustainable development, Press and media) or selected bibliographies are available: from Jane Austen to preparing entrance exams for teaching jobs, CAPES and Agrégation, in history, geography or philosophy.

Gallica also regroups digitized reference works organized in disciplines.