Staff at the new French National Library in Paris have rejected a call by their managers to end a twelve-day strike and return to work.

The librarians are protesting at poor working conditions, including a computer system that loses books, and sometimes even prevents readers from leaving the building.

The strike has closed down facilities for up to two-thousand academics and researchers.

The BBC Paris correspondent says that even if the computer difficulties are resolved, the flaws in the one-and-half billion dollar building will remain -- the huge distances staff have to walk; creeping damp; and a lack of natural light.