Consulting a document in the reading room
The Defence Historical Service reading rooms are open to all persons aged 18 or over, on presentation of a library card.
Registration procedures
Library cards are issued free of charge, upon presentation of a current, valid form of photo identification and a duly completed information form. Library cards are non-transferrable and compulsory and do not have an expiry date. However, you are asked to renew your card every year during one of your visits to the reading rooms.
At the Vincennes site, cards are issued at the Château de Vincennes reader registration desk located on the ground floor of the Pavillon du harnachement. Important: the reader registration desk is open Monday to Friday from 9.00 am to 12.00 noon and 1.30 and 5.00 pm and on Friday from 9.00 am to 12.00 noon and 1.30 to 4.00 pm .
At the Cherbourg, Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, Toulon, Caen and Châtellerault sites, library cards are issued in the reading rooms themselves.
To speed up the process, especially for the Vincennes site, you can pre-register online.
Making a request to consult a record
In order to consult one of the documents in the records, you will need to know the reference number (i.e. item reference number or ID) of the file, box or register containing the document. The reference number can be found using the research tools in the reading rooms (an increasing number of these tools is now being made available online).
Important: please be aware that the documents you request to view:
- in the case of public records less than 100 years old, may not have reached the legal time limit after which they are open to the public. These can only be viewed after applying for and obtaining an exemption;
- may need to be checked in order to determine the legal time limit that applies to them. This is the case with many contemporary documents.
- if they are private records or oral accounts, may be subject to authorisation, depending on the conditions stipulated by the depositor or donor;
- may be stored at a different site to that of the reading room in which they are consulted (this is the case at Vincennes and Toulon) and can therefore not be viewed on the same day;
- may have been temporarily withdrawn from public access for restoration or copying;
- may have been requested for viewing by another reader.
For the above reasons and to help your research progress smoothly, it is advisable to reserve documents several days in advance. Reservation is obligatory for most of the publicly available documents at Vincennes. Reservations can be made on-site in the reading rooms, by phone or online.
The number of records that can be consulted per research session can vary between the different reading rooms.
Making a request to consult a library document
As for the records, documents from the libraries are identified by means of a reference number, which can be found in the digital catalogues available on the website or in the card index catalogues available in the reading rooms.
The number of library documents that can be consulted per research session can vary between the different reading rooms.
In the reading rooms
The rules applicable in the SHD reading rooms are designed to protect the documents against theft and damage and to provide peace and quiet for people doing research.
You will be asked among other things:
- to leave your bags and coats in the cloakroom;
- to present your reader's card when you enter the room;
- not to bring in any food or drink;
- to use pencils for taking notes;
- to follow simple rules for handling documents (do not lean on the documents, use the book rests for reading registers, do not make any mark on the documents or trace them, keep to the order they are presented in, do not pick up a work by its cover);
- to allow your belongings to be checked on exiting;
- to maintain quiet by speaking in a low voice, turning your mobile phone to silent mode and disabling the sound on your laptop or camera.
It is permitted to take photos, provided this is done without a flash and using the room's lighting conditions. However, copying of certain documents is not permitted (records that need authorisation before viewing, documents covered by copyright...). The use of flatbed scanners is not permitted. The use of any photographs taken in the reading rooms is governed by certain conditions.
To find out more
Opening hours, addresses and conditions regarding consultation for each of the SHD reading rooms
Download the reading room rules
Conditions governing use of photographs of documents held by SHD