The collections held by the FMSH’s library grow by roughly 5,000 titles every year. Half of them come from specific or regular donations from institutions and French and foreign researchers.
In 2007, the library received 2,762 new titles from donations, including:
Donations from Pierre Souyri’s library, a specialist of Marxism: 470 works;
Donations from Jean Ménéchal’s library, clinical psychologist: 500 works;
900 works were given by the IRD’s library (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement).
In 2008,
Werner Ackermann’s library, including more than 2,800 books and volumes of periodicals;
hundreds of works on Haiti and the Caribbean given by Jean-Claude Schlumberger.
Out of the 1,800 regularly received periodicals, 550 are free of charge thanks to grants, services, or ongoing exchanges. Each year, some 700 fascicles of periodicals are also donated.
These generous donations contribute considerably to enriching the library’s collections.
Donations from individuals’ libraries or specialized collections given by a researcher or his/her assign are given special attention:
First, the library evaluates, along with the donator, the nature and the scientific and material value of the intended donation in order to determine how it will be handled.
As examples, significant donations have been made by:
Raymond Aron, François Balmès, Philippe Besnard, Yvon Bourdet, Pierre Bourdieu, Jean-Louis Flandrin, François Furet, Lucien Goldmann, Georges Haupt, Yves Pélicier, Denis Richet, Ignacy Sachs, Lucette Valensi…
These donations are classified in a specific collection by the name of the donator in the Babylone catalogue.
