About BULAC
The library's primary mission is to create rich collections of documents published all over the world in many different languages. BULAC's holdings specifically cover the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, the Maghreb, the Near East, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, Asia, the South Sea Islands and Central and South America. BULAC aims to promote better understanding of these areas’ culture by covering linguistics, literature, history and other fields in the humanities and social sciences.

La BULAC vue de la rue des Grands Moulins, de nuit (Grégoire Maisonneuve / BULAC).
A place to study and research
The library is specialized in areal studies and humanities.
BULAC's goal is to provide a space for community, creation, reference and memory. It also aims to build strong connections to the world of research at every step of the scientific process. To achieve this, BULAC has partnered with many institutions to create a robust network with an accurate mapping of resources available in each field.
BULAC's collections bring together the holdings of around twenty libraries and collections specialised in languages and civilisations, for a total of 1.5 million documents. Nearly half of the original holdings were gathered by internationally-renowned researchers. The library's collections several types of documents: print (books and journals), archives, manuscripts, worldwide electronic resources in remote-access (online journals, e-books and databases)...
BULAC's collections are therefore the perfect resource to understand the way civilisations have evolved on geopolitical, environmental, religious and cultural levels. The library strives for the long-term preservation of its documents while consistently updating its collections to ensure their quality. It makes its collections and services available not only to students, teachers and researchers, but also to non-academic public, making BULAC one of its kind.
Research services
BULAC's research service provides a centralised point of contact for the researchers, with personalised assistance. It aims to galvanize exchanges between the library and the world of research into the geolinguistic sectors covered by BULAC.
Contact : services-recherche@bulac.fr

Atelier de formation pour le master « Histoire de l'Afrique du Maghreb et du Moyen-Orient », octobre 2023 (Maxime Ruscio / BULAC).
Scientific and cultural events
Part of BULAC’s mission involves organising cultural events in order to provide alternative ways for people to discover its unique and rich heritage collections, thus broadening their horizons.
BULAC's cultural events include exhibitions, conferences, roundtables and film screenings. These events aim to promote the remarkable specialised collections, notably the holdings of documents published in their original languages, which truly make BULAC stand out. They also promote transdisciplinarity and the sharing of knowledge by facilitating conversations between experts of different fields.
Contact : action-culturelle@bulac.fr

Exposition Écritures japonaises - galerie (Grégoire Maisonneuve / BULAC).
Auditorium booking
The “Pôle des Langues et Civilisations” has a 200-seat auditorium which regularly houses cultural and scientific events organized by Inalco, BULAC and their partners. The auditorium can be reserved for use by public or private sector organizations.
Scientific Committee
The Scientific Committee is an advisory board for the scientific activities of the library related to the current research needs (documentary policy, user services, partnerships, digital scholarship, etc.). Its members are:
- Ms. Sandra Aube
Research fellow (CNRS) - Mr. Marc Aymes
Research advisor (CNRS, EHESS) - Mme Elara Bertho
Research fellow (CNRS) - Mr. Étienne Boisserie
Full professor (Inalco) - Mr. Dmitry Bondarev
Head of West Africa projects (University of Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC)) - M. Pascal Bourdeaux
Associate professor (EPHE) - Mme Michela Bussotti
Research advisor (EFEO) - Mr. Damien Chatagnon
Library curator (Bibliothèque nationale de France) - Ms. Françoise Daucé
Research advisor (EHESS) - Mr. Nicolas Dejenne
Associate professor (Sorbonne-Nouvelle University) - Ms. Sylvie Denoix
Research advisor (CNRS) - Mr. Marc Gilbert
Librarian (Leiden University, Netherlands) - Ms. Anne Madelain
Associate professor (Inalco) - Mr. Philippe Pétriat
Associate professor (Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University) - Ms. Clara Royer
Full Professor (Sorbonne Université) - Ms. Claire Saillard
Full Professor (Paris Cité University) - Mr. Wolfgang Schmitt-Garibian
Librarian (Bavarian State Library's Oriental and Asian Department) - Ms. Rima Sleiman
Full professor (Inalco) - Ms. Giedrė Šabasevičiūtė
Researcher (Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences) - Ms. Jialin Christina Wu
Associate professor (Paris-1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University)