At the heart of Abes
L'Abes, the bibliographic agency for higher education
Reporting of information resources, a collaborative network activity
Abes provides higher education and research institutions with a range of tools and services dedicated to the reporting and administration of information resources available in their libraries.
TheAbes supports the professionals of the member institutions of its networks in their bibliographic reporting activities (training, assistance, coordination of quality projects, data migration, etc.). The main orientations are developed in close collaboration with the ADBU , in particular within the framework of the Reporting and Information Systems (SSI) commission.
As the national bibliographic agency for the ESR, theAbes carries out documentary standardisation missions. In this capacity, it collaborates with the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), and holds responsibilities within the main national and international bodies devoted to the development of standards necessary for the world of documentation. For more information
The reporting of doctoral theses, a national mission
In accordance with the decree of May 25, 2016 (art.24-25) - updated by the decree of August 26, 2022, doctoral theses, as official documents in digital format, are subject to strict regulations concerning their registration, permanent archiving and availability for consultation.
As part of this national mission entrusted to it by the MESR (the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research),Abes provides establishments authorized to award doctorates with a range of services and tools dedicated to reporting and depositing theses. range of services and tools dedicated to reporting and depositing theses and to promote doctoral research.
This mission is carried out in close collaboration with CINES, operator of thesis archiving, and CCSD, operator of theHAL theses open archive.
The other files are the responsibility of the MESR, in particular :
- the authorisations of institutions for the award of the doctoral degree
- the supervision of the partners involved in the dissemination and enhancement of theses
- legal issues, in particular those relating to intellectual property
Search interfaces to facilitate access to data
The data produced collectively by the member institutions of the ESR document networks are freely accessible from 4 search interfaces:
- Sudoc The Sudoc catalogue lists all the documentary resources available in the 3,500 member libraries of the Sudoc/Sudoc PS networks. For more information
- theses.fr theses.fr : the search engine theses.fr gives access to the descriptive metadata of French doctoral theses, defended or with the status "in preparation". For more information
- Calames The catalogue Calames lists and describes in an appropriate format the archives and manuscripts available in ESR libraries. For more information
- IdRef The IdRef repository provides access to authority data produced by the member libraries of the document networks (Sudoc, Calames and Theses) and in the framework of numerous institutional partnerships. For more information
Supporting document network professionals
To support ESR document network professionals,Abes deploys various strategies:
- the training professional users (online and distance learning)
- information sharing via various discussion forums and the monthly " L'actu des Réseaux " newsletter
- the publication of the quarterly magazine Arabesques
- the annual Journées Abes and various dedicated professional days( Sudoc PS days; study days)
- the Abes Tour system set up to reach out to establishments
L'Abes, an agency for the mutualisation of academic and research institutions
Abes makes its legal expertise and financing capabilities available to the ESR community within the framework of public procurement contracts, notably for the acquisition of electronic document resources or Library Management Systems (LMS).
Acquisitions of electronic resources
- porting of grouping of orders of electronic resources negotiated by the Couperin consortium
- negotiation and purchase of electronic resources under national licenses: as part of the program ISTEX program (2012-2018) and then the CollEx-Persée program
- participation in the MESR plan to support scientific publishers
- descriptive metadata of electronic resources available to libraries and discovery tools
Support for institutional projects
- legal support for the framework agreement mLMS - Library Management System Library Management System technical and methodological support for documentary establishments during their re-informatisation
- financial and logistical support for projects carried out by the libraries of the Sudoc PS network, in particular the projects of Periodicals Shared Conservation Plans
- financial and logistical support for retrospective reporting projects in Sudoc and Calames
L'Abes, the national agency for the allocation of the ISIL number for French libraries
The ISIL - International Standard for Identifier for Libraries (ISO 15511:2019 | June 2019 ) is used to identify libraries and related organisations. In France, the ISIL number has the same structure as the RCR number, preceded by "FR".
As theagency ISIL national agencyAbes is responsible for the allocation of ISIL identifiers at the request of any library, including those not participating in theAbes networks. This service is used in particular for the RFID equipment of libraries.
- Applications for the allocation of ISIL numbers must be submitted via the ABESstp
- consult the associated web services
- consult the list of French libraries with an ISIL number