Their role was to transform the print originals into microfiches and thus to contribute to the editing and reproduction of theses[4] In 2011 the two centres merged into one structure, located in a facility on the campus Pont de Bois of the University of Lille III at Villeneuve d'Ascq.

In 2017, the Ministry of Higher Education decided to discontinue the production and dissemination of PhD theses on microfiches and terminated the national mandate of the service.

As part of its national mandate, the ANRT provided university libraries with PhD theses on microfilm (microfiche).

Based on a non exclusive license with authors, over 7,600 theses are available through a print on demand service (POD) called Thèses à la Carte.

Under the tutelage of the French Ministry, ANRT participated in the national project of a Digital Scientific Library called Bibliothèque Numérique Scientifique (BSN).