Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Julien Cammas
Institute for Policy Studies, International Fellows Program, Johns
Hopkins University
Institut for Urban Planning and Development of the Paris Ile-de-
France Region
Purpose
According to the INSEE1, the French Institute of Statistics, one French
people out of four uses Internet daily. Internet is the first source for
practical information (do-it-yourself, kids’ needs, duties, personal
development …), and one household out of four has an Internet
connection. The French government promotes the development of
Internet by equipping public spaces with Wireless, or by disseminating
civic information and downloadable reports on Internet. Recently, the
French Government decided to stop the printed edition of the “Official
Journal of Laws”. Now, it is available online only. This Website proposes
many services : documents available by topics, full-text search, last
published documents…
This example illustrates the evolutions that happened recently with the
development of the Internet technologies : users can now reach
instantaneously the full-texts documents from house without any help.
Therefore, the first purpose of my study is to draw up the current
assessment of the Internet’s offer in term of content management. The
second purpose is to know how is the impact of this technological
development on libraries : about users’ statistics frequentation ; about
librarians’ daily practices. The last purpose is to try having a prospective
vision of the future of information sciences, while taking as a starting point
the practices of Americans libraries.
This report also gives me the opportunity to bring new ideas to the
IAURIF’s library and to develop the Urbamet network towards the USA.
1
Internet au quotidien : un Français sur quatre.- Insee Première, n°1076, Mai 2006.
www.insee.fr/fr/ffc/docs_ffc/IP1076.pdf
The analysis of the online survey with 19 French librarians in the FNAU4
network shows that :
French librarians use the Internet mostly for searching information.
They don’t use the Internet to manage information. They
communicate with users by e-mail
Librarians think that new technologies could help them to improve
there work
But technologies have to be improved to fit with their hopes
Librarians are aware of the profession’s changes : repositioning
librarian in the company, needs training in new technologies
3
Les nouveaux horizons de l’infodoc. Etude prospective sur l'évolution des différentes fonctions de
l'information-documentation.- Archimag, 2006 .- Communiqué de presse :
http://www.forumdelageide.com/fileadmin/Forum_2006/Espace_Presse_actu_EXPOSANTS/CP_horizon
s_infodoc_forum_geide.pdf
4
Fédération Nationale des Agences d’Urbanisme
5
www.ala.org
However, users ask for librarians less frequently, and the questions are
more technical : how to look for information on online databases, how to
search on the Internet ? Users are more autonomous.
As it is also the case in France, books are not attractive enough to keep
users in libraries. That’s why American public libraries are developing new
services. The libraries are becoming places of socialization, “civic open
spaces”6.
6
Denise Hibay, New York Public Library
7
www.worldcat.org
Thanks :
Lynn Stuart, Jim Gillispie and David Reynolds – Sheridan Library, Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore MD
Mary Logan – Baltimore Metropolitan Council, Baltimore MD
Matt Cook – Illinois Institute for Technology, Chicago IL
Shannon Paul – American Planning Association, Chicago IL
David Deckelbaum – University of California, Los Angeles CA
Denise Hibay and Robert Armitage – New York Public Library
Luc Declerck - University of California, San Diego CA
Joan Campbell and Rick Davis– Urban Land Institute, Washington DC
Nancy Minter – Urban Institute, Washington DC