Monthly Archives: May 2020

Tackling the pandemic situation in French academic libraries: ADBU’s initiatives

©G.Gouret

Tackling the pandemic situation in French academic libraries: ADBU’s initiatives

ADBU is the French Association of Academic Libraries and Documentation (https://adbu.fr). In the transforming ecosystem of knowledge and information, ADBU carries the vision of a university library with a strong societal role. ADBU is concerned with questions of strategy and the evolution of scientific and technical information and constantly questions, with openness and audacity, the place of academic libraries in society. ADBU fights against preconceived ideas and fully reaffirms the role, missions, ambition and values of university libraries. Places of sharing and expression, of effervescence of ideas, of intellectual wealth, of achievement and innovation, academic libraries are the pioneers, within higher education and research, of the dissemination of digital knowledge and the sharing of knowledge. They are a key player in student success and research.

Facing Covid-19, France is under confinement since March 17, 2020. The situation disrupts our daily lives: students, teachers, researchers, administration staff, IT staff, librarian. We all have to deal with this injunction of continuity and manage our own personal lives. ABDU regularly releases episodes written from academic librarians point of view, all CC-BY: https://adbu.fr/covid-19-france/

ADBU also launched the “Decrypting disinformation with my library” initiative, which offers an analysis of disinformation via an infographic, which regroups a series of useful definitions, links to some reliable sites, and free tools accessible online when facing conspiracy theories, rumors, fake news and deep fake that are developing on the Internet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This initiative and others taken by those involved in higher education, including documentary and library support, are listed on the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research website https://services.dgesip.fr/I19/T17/

In an uncertain and changing legislative environment, ADBU also provides a valuable forum for its members for information exchange and reflection at a time when dialogue is essential to allow academic libraries to operate in a coherent manner.

More information can be found on www.adbu.fr, you can also contact us at infos@adbu.fr

Sophie Valade, ADBU