Distributed collections and central repository in France: Competition or complementarity?

Purpose ‐ Aims to assess and identify the main trends of shared conservation of library collections in France. Design/methodology/approach ‐ Presents two co-existing approaches to the subject: first, an approach based on the principle of distributed conservation, spread around a certain number of establishments; and second, a centralised approach in which a given network of libraries shares pooled conservation. Compares drawbacks and advantages of these two approaches. Findings ‐ The drawbacks of the "distributed" system are as follows. Sometimes the participating libraries' lack of experience causes problems for the physical transfer of documents from one library to another. There is the risk of the scheme slowing down or stopping altogether. The advantages of this approach are that it can be launched without major initial investment. The "centralised" shared conservation system also has drawbacks. It requires an initial investment in terms of a building, capital equipment and job creation. However, this system has numerous advantages. The CTLes is seen as a real participant in the inter-library cooperation network. Originality/value ‐ A new project in France will probably provide an opportunity to combine the two approaches. This is the shared conservation scheme for medical periodicals among university libraries in the Paris region (Ile de France). If it succeeds, the methodology used could be adopted or adapted to other disciplines and other regions.