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Calames is the online catalogue of archives and manuscripts held by French higher-education and research institutions. It is a finding aid, not a researcher identifier: you search it to locate a document, a fonds or a collection, and you do not register in it to obtain an ID. This guide explains what Calames is, who runs it, how to search it in English, and how it connects to the identifiers research offices work with, such as IdRef, ORCID and ISNI.
What Calames is
The name stands for Catalogue des Archives et Manuscrits de l’Enseignement Supérieur, the catalogue of archives and manuscripts of higher education. The operator is Abes, the bibliographic agency for higher education in France. According to Abes, the agency developed the tool with a working group of experts and hosts and maintains its interfaces. The public site presents itself as “Calames – Catalogue en ligne des archives et des manuscrits de l’enseignement supérieur.”
The catalogue gathers descriptions from roughly sixty institutions that belong to the Calames network, according to the Abes catalogue page. Abes also states that, as of May 2024, 19 institutions had their own branded Calames interface that shows only their own collections.
The interface is in French, so the label table below is the practical way in for English-language readers.
Who runs it and which institutions take part
Abes operates Calames and coordinates the network. The Abes page on member institutions describes a network devoted to cataloguing archives and manuscripts in higher education and research, with 64 institutions as of 1 January 2023. Members catalogue with the Calames cataloguing tool and describe their holdings in EAD (Encoded Archival Description), the XML standard used for archival finding aids. Check the Abes member page for the current list, since membership changes.
Institutions that want to join are directed to the “Adhérer au réseau” (join the network) section of the Abes site. The steps are not set out on the page used for this guide, so contact Abes through that section rather than relying on a third-party description.
How to search Calames
No account is needed to search. Open the public catalogue at calames.abes.fr and use either the simple search or the advanced search. The labels below are the ones shown on the French interface, with English glosses.
| French label | What it means |
|---|---|
| Recherche simple / Recherche avancée | Simple search / advanced search |
| Mot(s) clé(s) | Keyword(s) |
| Bibliothèque(s) | Library or holding institution |
| Cote (actuelle ou ancienne) | Shelfmark, current or former |
| Fonds | Archival fonds, a body of records from one creator |
| Mots du titre | Words in the title |
| Index, 2ème Index | Index terms (subject, person, and so on) |
| Rôle, Entrée secondaire | Role of a person or body, secondary entry |
| Année, Langue, Provenance | Year, language, provenance |
| Type de document, Technique | Document type, technique |
| Numérisation | Digitisation (whether a digital copy exists) |
Refining and browsing
After a search you can change it with “Modifier la recherche” (modify the search), widen it with “Elargir la recherche” (broaden the search), or start over with “Nouvelle recherche” (new search). Results can be sorted by “Pertinence” (relevance), title or date, and filtered by “Bibliothèques”, “Type de document”, “Langues”, “Sujet” and “Propriétaire préc.” (previous owner). The “Feuilleter” (browse) function lets you move through the indexes directly.
Abes lists several uses of the catalogue: locating a document in a library of the network, identifying it within a corpus, fonds or collection, viewing it on site or online when it has been digitised, and managing results by printing them or citing a record through its permanent URL.
What the records and indexes contain
Calames lets you identify a document within a corpus, a fonds or a collection. The index categories visible in the interface are “Sujet” (subject), “Personne physique” (person), “Collectivité” (organisation), “Lieu” (place), “Titre d’oeuvre” (title of work) and “Famille” (family). These indexes let you search by person, place or subject across the network’s institutions.
For research evaluation or funding, Calames matters mainly as a discovery and citation tool. A record’s permanent URL gives a stable way to cite an archival source in a publication or a data management plan. Calames is a discovery and citation resource; it is not a researcher profile or a metrics source.
Links to IdRef, ORCID and other identifiers
Abes states that network members identify and share authority data through the common reference system IdRef. That shared reference system is how member institutions keep names of people and organisations consistent across their catalogues.
IdRef is the Abes authority service, and it is separate from Calames. CASRAI covers it in detail in IdRef: France’s National Researcher Identifier and Its ORCID/ISNI/VIAF Links. The chain to follow is: a name in a Calames index leads to an IdRef record, and an IdRef record can carry cross-references to other identifiers such as ISNI. See ISNI Explained: What It Is and How It Differs From ORCID for how the two compare.
If you are a researcher who wants your own work linked to your identifiers, Calames is not the place to do it. Create or maintain your ORCID iD and your IdRef record, then connect other identifiers such as a Scopus Author ID by following How to Link Your Scopus Author ID to Your ORCID Record. For the wider picture of why identifiers matter, see Researcher Identifier.
Common problems
- The interface is in French. Use the label table above to match each field to its English meaning.
- Cote versus fonds. A “cote” is a shelfmark; a “fonds” is a wider body of records from one creator. Enter each in its own field.
- Looking for a specific institution’s material. Use the “Bibliothèque(s)” filter, or the institution’s own branded Calames interface if it has one.
- Expecting an identifier. Calames does not issue researcher IDs. If you need one, see the IdRef and ORCID guides above.
- Possible change of platform. The Abes member page states that on 10 July 2026 the Abes board approved a public tender to replace Calames, in two lots: the production tool and the public interface. The status and timing of any replacement are not covered here, so check the Abes site before relying on current URLs or interfaces.
FAQ
What does Calames stand for?
Catalogue des Archives et Manuscrits de l’Enseignement Supérieur, the catalogue of archives and manuscripts of French higher education.
Who operates Calames?
Abes, the bibliographic agency for higher education in France.
Do I need to register to use Calames?
Searching is open on the public site. Registration is not part of the search steps described by Abes. Institutions that want to contribute catalogue records join the network through Abes.
Is Calames a researcher identifier like ORCID?
No. It is a catalogue of archival and manuscript descriptions. Its link to identifiers runs through IdRef, which Abes operates separately.
Can I cite a Calames record?
Abes lists citing a record by its permanent URL among the catalogue’s functions. Check the record page for the URL to use.
Sources
- Abes, Catalogue Calames: abes.fr/en/reseau-calames/outils-et-services-calames/catalogue-calames/ (read 29 October 2026)
- Calames public catalogue: calames.abes.fr/pub/ (read 29 October 2026)
- Abes, Calames network member institutions: abes.fr/en/reseau-calames/le-reseau/etablissements-membres-reseau-calames/ (read 29 October 2026)
Descriptions of the interface and the network reflect the pages above on the date read. Check the official Abes site for current details.
