Barely one week after opening the reading rooms of the French National Library to the public, the library staff went on strike October 20, citing a below-standard work environment and a woefully inadequate automated system. The October 25 London Telegraph reported that, although the library was designed for 4,000 readers, the computer system malfunctions when more than a few hundred use it at once. Some researchers were forced to wait six hours just to register.
According to the October 28 Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace,library staff offices are in poorly lit, factory-like basement areas with interminable corridors; water leaks have been reported near the stacks; and the heat differential between nearby offices is as much as 16º C.
President Jacques Chirac has called the multibillion-dollar building, designed by architect Dominique Perrault with four glass towers shaped like open books, an "extravagant folly" unfit for its purpose.
The unions have asked for limited opening hours until the computer problems have been fixed.
Posted November 2, 1998.