French Audit Criticizes National Library
Cost Overrun
France's new national library was among agencies criticized by the national auditing office for poor use of public funds.
In its annual report, released January 20, the Cour des Comptes said the French Bibliothèque Nationale, which opened in 1995 but didn't go into full operation until last October, cost 7.9 billion francs ($1.4 billion)—700 million francs ($125 million)—over budget.
The report blamed the overrun partly on the late President François Mitterrand's insistence that the ambitious project be completed in five years. When the reading rooms were finally opened to the public last year, the library experienced computer system malfunctions, and attendance was only 5,000 readers a day instead of the expected 9,000. The inadequate automated system, as well as a poor work environment, prompted the staff to go on strike for two weeks.
The report also criticized the Paris police authority and the public television system.
Posted January 25, 1999.
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