Did you know that Francophonie is one of the six core values of the University of Ottawa Library? In our 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, we’ve committed to supporting the creation, dissemination and celebration of French-language knowledge, as well as Francophone cultural expression.
In this series of articles, we’ll look at different practical initiatives carried out by the Library in the following areas:
- Support of teaching with open educational resources in French
- Development of French-language collections
- Open science and knowledge dissemination in French
- Support services in French
- The Library as a hub for Francophone culture on campus
Part 2: Development of French-language collections
Due to their low volume (compared to the huge wave of scholarly publications in English), scholarly publications in French are one of our collection development priorities.
It’s simple: If a scholarly work exists in French, we try to purchase it! Our collections strategy librarians also carry out ongoing selection and research work to ensure that our French-language collection remains relevant, up-to-date and responsive to the needs of our University community.
For example, since 2020, we’ve acquired over 27,600 printed books in French. As well, through our membership in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, we receive all new French-language works published by Canadian university presses.
Through our subscription to the Prêtnumérique platform, you have access to over 1,200 eBooks, the majority of which are published in Canada. Through the Harmathèque database (Éditions L’Harmattan), you can also access over 3,060 eBooks in French in the fields of social sciences, arts and literature.
We’re also implementing innovative strategic partnerships with other university libraries to give you access to the fullest collection possible. Through our membership in the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), you have access to over 25 million academic resources through OCUL's shared provincial print collection.
Since 2022, you can also request documents from 18 Ontario university libraries that are members of the OMNI partnership. Thanks to the Pick-up Anywhere Service, documents can be picked up and returned through any partner library.
And to guarantee you increased access to documents in French, we’re also the only Ontario university member of the Partenariat des bibliothèques universitaires québécoises (PBUQ). This allows you to borrow documents from 19 Québec university libraries as well as from Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.
Finally, we also take part in various shared print document initiatives. That’s why we’re one of the 27 member libraries ofNorth: The Canadian Shared Print Network, a national partnership aimed at coordinating, consolidating and preserving print collections (monographs, government documents, etc.), with priority given to Canadian documents. Through this arrangement, we can optimize our collections while preserving access to printed content via interlibrary loans and other shared print initiatives.
Since 2014, we’ve also been a member of Keep@Downsview, a partnership between five large Ontario research libraries (University of Toronto, McMaster University, Queen’s University, Western University and uOttawa), as well as Memorial University of Newfoundland. This initiative has significantly enhanced user access to a broader range of materials through improved resource sharing and digitization efforts.
Don’t miss the next article in this series, “Open science and knowledge dissemination in French.”
Find out more
- Read our documentA uOttawa Library Collections Primer (January 2021)
- Read the article “How uOttawa librarians are safeguarding our print collection”
- Watch the presentation “La Bibliothèque : votre partenaire pour la recherche et l’enseignement en français” (in French) (September 25, 2025)
Download the University of Ottawa Library Strategic Plan 2025–2030