In 1968, architectural training in France, hitherto the responsibility of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, was dispersed to a number of separate architectural schools. Cooperation involving their libraries resulted in the production of an architectural periodicals index, the Bulletin Signalétique, from 1974. Since the late 1980s, the index entries, with other data (including each library’s catalogue records, held locally on microcomputers using the ISABEL programme), have also constituted the ARCHIRES database. Although ARCHIRES complements the widely-available URBAMET, as yet it can only be accessed by members of the network, but current plans include not only extending its range to include Europe beyond France, but also the production of both a CD-ROM and a videodisc.