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An ideal space for reading and working, the Jan Michalski Foundation library offers a vast panorama of modern and contemporary literature.

© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

© Tonatiuh Ambrosetti

An ideal space for reading and working, the Jan Michalski Foundation library is free and offers a vast panorama of modern and contemporary literature. The aim of its multilingual and multicultural collections is to reflect all fields of literary creation and learning.

Today the library’s five levels house around 75,000 books in their original language – English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Russian, and Polish are currently represented – as well as in French translation.

The fourth and last floor features a singular convergence of writing and other forms of artistic expression, notably including a selection of artists’ books and works on typography, calligraphy, and photo-literature.

Finally, completing this impressive range of materials, there is a large selection of literary reviews in a range of languages, as well as dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Items may also be borrowed but a valid library card is required (see Borrowing).

Catalogue

Consult

For all of the titles that are available in the library, consult our online catalogue. This research tool gives you access to detailed descriptions of all of the library’s monographs, periodicals, and individual articles, as well as their location.

The catalogue also enables you to keep up on the most recent titles to be added to the collection and, if you have a library card, to manage your account online, suggest new titles for acquisitions, place a hold on a book, or renew borrowed items.

Current

The Jan Michalski Foundation would like to share with you various reading suggestions, in the form of walks through the library’s stacks, insights into new books or thematic selections… All the contributions can be consulted in the archive Reading suggestions.

Collections

A true world panorama of modern and contemporary literature, the library’s collections, in original languages and in French translation, are classified by major language zones from the ground floor to the 3rd level. 

The 4th and last level features the Varia collection, in which the written word resonates with other forms of artistic expression.

Each zone of the map below corresponds to a specific color that you will find on the shelves. You can explore the details of the classification system further on.

Read

The library is free and open to all. Library areas are accessible to all people with disabilities or reduced mobility.

Consultation

All of the library’s resources are freely available to readers on the open-access shelves. Part of the collections, however, is conserved in special storerooms. If you want to consult any of these materials, you can submit a request at the circulation desk.

Loan

If you wish to borrow library materials, you must be a member of the library. Joining is easy. You will need to show valid ID and any other document justifying reduced pricing, and pay the appropriate membership fee.

For minors requesting a library card, their parents must fill out and sign a specific authorization.

The library card is good for one year from the date it is issued and gives the holder unlimited access to all the exhibitions mounted by the Foundation.

Library card fees

  • Full price: CHF 60.-

  • Residents of Montricher, retirees, unemployed, disabled persons: CHF 30.-

  • Students, children under 25: CHF 10.-

Loan terms

The library card allows you to borrow up to three books for three weeks with the possibility of renewing the loans once, if the books have not been placed on hold.
Only items found on the ground, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors can be borrowed. Reviews and works that are part of the Varia collection on the 4th floor may not be taken out of the library.

Contact the librairians