 reading room of the bibliothÃ¨que sainte-geneviÃ¨ve|thumb sainte-geneviÃ¨ve library () is a public and university library in paris, which inherited the collection of the abbey of st genevieve. the library contains around 2 million documents.sainte-geneviÃ¨ve library, retrieved 1 april 2013 ==holdings==  the abbey of st genevieve, one of the largest and oldest abbeys in paris, was founded in the sixth century by clovis i and subject to the rule of st benedict. as part of a reform of its practices in 1148, the canons regular of st augustine were installed at the abbey. until the french revolution, they maintained its library and a school of copyists. the oldest known manuscript from the library of the abbey, now preserved at the public library of soissons (ms 80) is an ex-libris of the twelfth century: iste liber is sancte genovefa parisiensis. as was the custom in ecclesiastical libraries, this mark of ownership warns that stealing the book or masking the ex-libris carries a penalty of excommunication: quicumque furatus eum fuerit, vel celaverit, vel ab ecclesia subduxerit, vel titulum istum deleverit, anathema sit (whoever steals this, or uses the offices of the church to withdraw it, or removes or otherwise conceals its title, he is anathema).sainte-geneviÃ¨ve library: history, retrieved 1 april 2013 the library catalogue, executed in the thirteenth century (bibliothÃ¨que nationale de france, ms lat. 16,203, fol. 71v) listed 226 volumes. only a few now in the collections of library sainte-genevieve can now be traced to that enumeration. that manuscript inventory included collections of sermons, canon law, the works of the fathers of the church, the glosses and commentaries on the scriptures of rabanus maurus and those of the venerable bede. the abbey had other books, bibles, missals or graduals earmarked specifically for worship. during the sixteenth century, a weakening of community and misrule resulted in the dispersal of the library's volumes. many manuscripts that the library of the abbey tried to recover the next century were then sold, sometimes for the value of their paper alone. later reform resulted in the foundation of the royal library sainte-genevieve, inherited by present institution. ==architecture== between 1838 and 1850, a building for the sainte-geneviÃ¨ve library was designed and constructed under the direction of the architect henri labrouste. the glass and iron reading room has been described as "magisterial" and the building itself as a seminal work in the creation of the moder
5th_arrondissement_of_Paris Libraries_in_Paris