Bibliography and bibliographers in France: journals for the circulation of science

Abstract

How do we participate, in France, in the dissemination of scientific and technical information? The bibliography is considered here in its historical dimension which makes it possible to evoke its definition, its theorization and its institutionalization. It has been considered since the 17th century, in the tradition of Gabriel Naudé, librarian of Mazarin, as a directory-making activity. As such, it is an indispensable assistant to researchers regardless of their academic discipline. For this purpose, a teacher researcher, Jean Meyriat, Director of Studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris) and Director of the Documentation Center at the National Foundation for Political Science, devoted a part of his work to the production of directories, mainly journals in the field of political science. Moreover founder of the French information science-documentation he theorized the separation of the art, the bibliography, of the science of the writing, the bibliology. Databanks and journal platforms, the current forms of bibliographic directories, are part of accelerating the dissemination of research results and are now produced by the major research institutions, the centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), or culture institutions, the National Library of France (BNF).