The material in the Library's collection of over 120,000 items is composed primarily of works by American and other English-language authors, and features significant holdings in American history and civilization, literary criticism, poetry, popular culture, fine arts, humanities, and the social sciences. Law, Medicine, and the Sciences are presented on an introductory level only.

The Library also offers the best of classic and contemporary fiction; English translations of world literature; English-language literature on artists and their artworks; business information, and an extensive collection of reference materials, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, basic reference works in all fields, bibliographies, and periodical indexes.

The Library welcomes and encourages suggestions for purchases. These suggestions are used to help the Library's staff in developing collections that serve the interest and needs of our members and the community.

Search the Catalog

Use our online catalog search to find books, music and videos from our general and children's collections. Locate items by keyword or use the Advanced Search page to search by phrase, author, title, subject, or series. Members of the Library can also log into the online catalog to renew items, place items on hold, create lists and more.

• Children & young adults collection
  With more than 10,000 volumes, The American Library in Paris has one of the largest collections of English-language books for young readers in continental Europe. The collection includes board books for babies and preschoolers, a wide selection of classic and contemporary picture books, juvenile fiction and chapter books, an extensive non-fiction collection for school age children and a diverse Young Adult collection, along with a variety of English-language magazines. Over 500 children's films are available on DVD. We also offer audiobooks, music CDs for children and CD-ROMs.
• Audio-visual collection
  The Library's collection of CDs and audio tapes includes jazz, pop, classical works, and audiobooks. American and international films, as well as documentaries and popular TV series, are available on DVD. Also available: Language learning methods, on audiotape and CD.

Search the Library catalog for books, music, videos, and more.

Recommended Reading

Need help finding an award winning book? A book by an author from your home country? Just looking for a good read?

Check out some great suggestions from our staff, as well as a host of recommended reading lists.

Digital Databases

We are pleased to offer our members and users two leading digital content databases, EBSCO’s MasterFILE Premier and JSTOR’s Arts and Sciences, containing full-text articles from more than 2,500 periodicals - multiplying our current paper holdings by a factor of ten. We also provide access to EBSCO's NoveList, an electronic readers' advisory resource which assists fiction readers in finding new authors and titles.

You can access the JSTOR and EBSCO's MasterFILE Premier databases at two dedicated computer stations in the Library, or when you are hooked up to the Wi-Fi system on your laptop in the Library. You can download selections from the databases to your laptop's hard drive or USB key.

View the list of digital databases available onsite to Library members.

Journals, Magazines, Newspapers

The Library holds an extensive periodicals collection with more than 500 newspaper, magazine and journal titles avaliable, some of which date back to the 19th century, including The International Herald Tribune which is available on microfilm from 1888 to the present. Current periodicals are also available, ranging from weekly and monthly magazines on entertainment, the arts, and lifestyle issues, to specialty publications focusing on specific areas of business, creative writing and literary criticism. 80 currently subscribed titles are available for consultation and/or circulation in the magazine area. All other archived titles can be requested at the reference desk.

We also provides onsite access to the JSTOR and EBSCO's MasterFILE Premier digital databases containing full-text articles from more than 2,300 periodicals. For more details, see Digital Databases above.

View an A-Z list of periodicals currently available and their location in the Library.

Bibliographic Indexes

The Library's collection includes eleven bibliographic indexes. Use them to locate the citations (title, author, name of the periodical, date, volume, page numbers) and in some cases annotations of relevant magazine or journal articles, book reviews, plays, short stories and more.

View detailed descriptions of the bibliographic indexes available at the Library.

Agrégation d'Anglais

Agrégation d'Anglais is the French civil service exam English majors take to be certified to teach English in French universities/high schools. This exam requires the study of literary works by English-language authors, as well as humanities topics relevant to the study of the English-speaking world. In response to the need for study materials, the Library staff has developed a special collection targeted at each year's exam questions.

Explore the Library's list of specially compiled resources for Agrégation d'Anglais students.

Special Collections

Members and users of the Library have access to unique special collections including materials donated by Olivia de Havilland, an Honorary Lifetime Trustee of the Library, Marlene Dietrich, Sylvia Beach, and others. The Library also partners with Parsons Paris School of Art + Design to host the school's art related collection.

Find out more about the Library's special collections.