Overview
France has developed a national programme for the coordinated management and long-term preservation of print serials (journals, magazines, annuals and other continuing publications). The programme, known as the Plans de Gestion des Périodiques (PGP – Serials Management Plans), aims to ensure sustainable access to research collections while reducing duplication of preservation efforts across libraries.
The programme was launched in 2026 as part of a broader national policy for the preservation and description of serial publications. It follows the reorganisation of the former Sudoc PS network, which had coordinated serials information across French libraries for several decades.
The new national system is based on cooperation between the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space, the Ministry of Culture, the French Bibliographic Agency for Higher Education (Abes), the National Technical Centre for Higher Education Libraries (CTLes), and the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).
The framework is organised around two complementary components:
PGP (Plans de Gestion des Périodiques): discipline-based programmes covering academic and research serials. They are funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and coordinated by Abes and CTLes.
PCP (Plans de Conservation Partagée): regional shared preservation programmes for local, regional and heritage serial collections. They are coordinated by the Ministry of Culture.
Objectives
The programme seeks to:
- preserve complete and reliable collections of serial publications;
- distribute preservation responsibilities among participating institutions;
- improve the visibility and discoverability of holdings through shared cataloguing;
- optimise storage space and reduce preservation costs;
- create a national reference collection for serial literature.
How the PGP Works
Each disciplinary PGP is coordinated by a lead academic institution with recognised expertise in a particular subject area. Participating libraries agree to retain, preserve and document specific serial titles on behalf of the wider community. Rather than every institution attempting to maintain complete collections, responsibilities are shared across the network.
The programme covers not only preservation but also collection management, bibliographic description and, where appropriate, coordination with digitisation initiatives. This broader scope distinguishes the PGP from earlier preservation-only schemes.
Current Challenges
Discussions held during the first national study day on PGPs in June 2026 highlighted several challenges:
- convincing researchers of the benefits of transferring low-use collections to shared storage facilities;
- integrating highly specialised serials that do not easily fit within existing disciplinary plans;
- preserving important non-academic serials that nevertheless constitute primary research sources;
- determining responsibility for multidisciplinary or discontinued titles;
- improving coordination between preservation programmes, digitisation projects and national bibliographic systems.
Towards a National Reference Collection
A key ambition of the programme is the creation of a distributed national reference collection of serial publications. Through coordinated preservation, improved metadata quality and stronger cooperation among libraries, France seeks to guarantee long-term access to serial literature for future generations of researchers.
Video of the presentations from the first study day on PGPs (June 16, 2026): https://www.youtube.com/live/-OEVduDN5MY