The Library of the Ecole des Mines, founded in 1783 along with the school, has now reached over 500 000 volumes. In 1979, the Earth Sciences collections were relocated in the building of the « Stables of the King's guard » which, after major renovation, now consists of two reading rooms (one on the ground floor and one on a mezzanine) and two underground storage rooms, amounting to more than 10 km of shelving overall.
This specialist's library gives priority to the researchers and students of the school but its doors are also open to foreign researchers, amateur geologists, students and schoolchildren. Consultation on site is free and requires no formalities (Location and opening hours).
In January 1999, the library of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris agreed to house and run the documentary material of the MAB France Committee on the Fontainebleau site.
The bibliographic references of the material are accessible via the on-line catalogue of the Ecole des Mines
Currently MAB documentary material amounts to 1500 books and 18 titles of journals accessible via internet. It includes:
reports produced by the MAB France committee but also by various foreign committees (Germany, South America, North America (Canada, United States) Norway, Russia, and so on) concerning MAN AND BIOSPHERE and UNESCO research programmes
The documents are organised according to the Dewey classification.
