Resources for Research in French Polynesia and New Caledonia

Abstract

French Polynesia and New Caledonia library and archives collections are typically in French and tend to be organized according to French institutional and scientific methods. Recent transfers of power from the French State toward certain territorial institutions have not significantly changed this fact. This particular situation is, on the one hand, a source of enrichment because it creates diversity within the Pacific region and because these sources of documentation and the way they are organized link these territories to larger repositories of knowledge in France and elsewhere in Europe. On the other hand, it is also an isolation factor in the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, whose inhabitants are mainly anglophone, and in an academic world that is also dominated by the growing use of English. After a listing and presentation of all the libraries and media centers existing in French Polynesia and New Caledonia, the focus of this essay moves on to the question of partnerships to be built between the various institutions of these two territories, metropolitan French libraries and networks, and English-language institutions of the Pacific region.French Polynesia and New Caledonia library and archives collections are typically in French and tend to be organized according to French institutional and scientific methods. Recent transfers of power from the French State toward certain territorial institutions have not significantly changed this fact. This particular situation is, on the one hand, a source of enrichment because it creates diversity within the Pacific region and because these sources of documentation and the way they are organized link these territories to larger repositories of knowledge in France and elsewhere in Europe. On the other hand, it is also an isolation factor in the expanse of the Pacific Ocean, whose inhabitants are mainly anglophone, and in an academic world that is also dominated by the growing use of English. After a listing and presentation of all the libraries and media centers existing in French Polynesia and New Caledonia, the focus of this essay moves on to the question of partnerships to be built between the various institutions of these two territories, metropolitan French libraries and networks, and English-language institutions of the Pacific region.