How to use the Cujas Library
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The Cujas Library, an Academic and Research library is operating under the joint supervision of Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1) and Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2) Universities.
You can have access to the Cujas library after you have registered and received a library ID. You are required to show your Cujas ID card when entering the building.
Most of the building dates from the end of the 19th century and the 1950s. Library services are dispensed according to its layout. Hence, most documents are shelved in closed stacks in the building basement.
No food or drink is permitted in all areas of the library. Cell phones should be turned off when entering the building.
You can read more about our collections and opening hours on the Cujas Web site, where you will also find a map of the premises.
People with disabilities
Cujas’ main reading room is accessible to wheelchair users by means of a special lift. Should you need help, please send us an email.
How to request an item from the stacks
In our online catalogue, you will find bibliographic records for books and periodicals. To make a request, you first need to activate you reader’s account. Then, you ask for a number which will be assigned to you for the whole day. Finally, you request your item online*. Please check your number on the boards above the Circulation Desk to see when your item has arrived.
If you want to read your item on the premises, you will receive a ticket with your number in exchange for your library ID. You may leave the library for a while only if you have a ticket received from the Circulation Desk in the main reading room.
Current journal issues are not held in the closed stacks. They are not recorded in the library database. You need to go to the periodicals room on the first floor and request them at the counter. (Stairs to the periodicals room are located at the back of the main reading room.)
Monday-Friday 11h45-14h 3 requests at a time
Saturday 9h30 -11h45 and 13h-17h 5 requests at a time
Advance requests for delivery from special collections
- half a day for « Réserve » material, books that do no circulate outside the library
- one day for « Salle du patrimoine » material (rare book collection, and documents published before 1870), items that do not circulate outside the library
- 3 days for « CTLES » material, stored offsite for Paris University libraries.
The library has been holding mimeographed drafts and the official documents issued by the main bodies of the United Nations for about fifty years. These documents may be requested in the periodicals room. See (in French)
You may request the items in advance and remotely. You will need to set up a date for reading your documents.
Grouped requests
Requesting more than 5 items at a time
Lecturers and professors, PhD students, and readers with a one-day ticket may request more than 5 items :
- 20 successive volumes of a journal or 20 volumes of a monographic series
Such requests should be placed at least 24 hours in advance at the counter for dissertations or by email.
How to borrow an item
All borrowed items must be returned to staff before exiting.
Three days before your item is due, you will be notified by an email. You will then be asked to return the item or renew it (once only) via your online reader’s account. We advise you to check your account.
You may return the item(s) to staff near the exit door or at the Circulation Desk.
Some documents do not circulate outside the library: items published before 1914, reference collections, open stacks materials, journals. You can check their status in the catalogue under “Obtenir un document” ("Requesting an item").
It is not possible to place an item on hold.
Cujas librarians select and acquire about 10,000 books a year. You may ask us to buy a new book when you click on “Suggestion d’achat” ("Purchase request") on the Web site. We will let you know by email as soon as your book has arrived. It will be held for you.
Interlibrary loan
If you are a Paris 1 or Paris 2 affiliate, you may request an item from another French library or from a foreign research library. You need to fill out a form at the Reference and Information desk in the main reading room. You will be able to find out which library holds it in the Sudoc catalogue (which describes the collections of French academic libraries). For some foreign libraries, you may search the KVK - Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog, or WorldCat. This interlibrary loan service is free when you request books and dissertations from French libraries. However, you will be charged a fee for photocopies of journal articles and for books and dissertations from abroad.
Searching databases and e-journals
We have many electronic resources that are accessible at all library workstations. If you are a Paris 1 University affiliate or a PhD student or lecturer or professor of Paris 2 University, you may also get offsite access.
Moreover, digitized books selected from our Rare Book collection are freely available on the Cujas Web site (Cujasnum).
How to get information
A librarian is available at the Reference and Information Desk in the main reading room. At the desk and in a display case, you will find a map of the main reading room and a handout with the Cujas classification by subject.
If you need advice about your research, you may also ask a librarian, by sending an email to the following address : CujasFormation[at]univ-paris1.fr .
Subject guides, online tutorials and bibliographies have been created by Cujas librarians and placed on the library’s Web site. Please do not hesitate to use them in your research.
In addition, bibliographic instruction sessions are regularly scheduled for you.
You can send in your queries. You will get an answer within 48 hours.
Web services
News on the home page cover information about the library, academic events and newly acquired books.
If you wish to be informed about updates to our website, you can select relevant information and subscribe to an RSS feed. Our catalogue enables you to be alerted about newly-acquired books by email. This requires that you save your current query (as key words and/or authors' names) when you are logged into your account. Your reader’s account enables you to see your current requests, your current loans. You may renew your loans (once only). You can save your citation results in EndNote, Connotea, RefWorks, Delicious or Zotero.
Reading rooms
needs. In our online catalogue, such items are listed under the rubrics Salle de lecture (Reading room) or Salle des périodiques (1er étage) (Periodicals room, 1st floor). When the documents are available online as well, a sign on the shelf informs you of it.Across from the entrance to the room are displayed new publications of faculty members (Paris1 or Paris2) and colloquia from these two universities. The circulating collection is located on the left when you enter the room, in front of the photocopy room.
On the first floor, in the periodicals room, you may request current issues before they are sent to binding and shelved in the stacks. To retrieve an issue, you need to fill out a form at the counter. Moreover, here you can find the last ten years of selected major journals. In exchange for your Cujas ID card, you will get a control card which does not allow a temprary exit.
In the periodicals, the library keeps a collection of about fifty main journals with a range of 10 years.
On the first floor, lecturers and professors may use the Paul Viollet room, which is limited to their use. One may set aside some books on racks for a few days (please check the procedure).
On the second floor, you will find the instruction room (called the François Saleilles room) also available for everyone provided there is no bibliographic instruction session going on. Please check the schedule on the sign on the first-floor sign.
The Rare Books room is accessible from the hall (at the entrance to the library) to readers who have made an appointment (from 1 pm to 5 pm, from Monday to Friday).
There are no group study rooms.
Access to closed stacks
Some lecturers and professors are allowed into the closed stacks. They need first to go to the cloakroom (“vestiaire”, please check the map for location). They will leave their reader ‘s ID, bags and coats. They take the items they need from the
shelves themselves and leave a form with their name in place of the items. In the cloakroom, staff will record whether the item is being read on the premises or being checked out.
You can connect to the network with your own computer via wifi or wired network (the library does not provide Ethernet cables).
For connection procedures, see Services> Intramural Internet Access
For anti-virus security reasons, the USB ports are disabled.
Photocopying and printing
In the main reading room, you may find a photocopy room (and printing server for online resources or USB stick). Two scanners are also available for photocopying only; they are quicker and safer for bindings. You will find other photocopy machines on the first floor and in the closed stacks. Card dispensers are indicated on this map.
Help in using and refilling the cards is available from 2 pm to 5 pm.
Student employment
Lost property
If you think you have left something in the library, please go to the Welcome Desk. Give us as much information as you can to help us locate your property.