Documentalist

History, function and missions

The trade of documentalist is relatively recent. It goes back to one century and was built compared to the trade of Bibliothécaire him even much older.

the precursors Paul Otlet and Henri the Fountain are the first to use the term of documentation. The trade of documentalist develops with the industrial revolution and the creation of new sectors of economic activities which generate the development of the documentary activities, the data processing and the creation of information centers. The profession starts to be structured thanks to the librarians.

In 1926, to Prague are provided the foundations of IFLA (International Federation off Libraries Associations and Institutions).

In 1931, the French Union of the Organizations of Documentation is set up. The UFOD is a true research laboratory which specifies the terminology, the rules and the standards of the profession; it is also a place of exchanges and formation between librarians, conservatives, documentalists and archivists.

In 1950, is created the National institute of the techniques of documentation (INTD), first national school entitled to train the technicians of documentation and to deliver diplomas for the occupation of documentalist.

In 1963, the ADBS (Association of the professionals of information and documentation) is born; today main association of the professionals of information and documentation, the ADBS counts 6.100 members.

From the Years 1970, there was a true boom of the profession in particular with the arrival of the documentary information retrieval, Internet and information technologies of course.

The denominations change but what always characterizes the trade remains: data processing. In the companies and the specialized centres

The important company and information centers many, administrations and press agencies have their own information center. In the contrary case, they are addressed to companies or independent professionals of which it is the speciality. Certain sectors are well represented: banks, insurances, chemical drug company and, law firms…). Are added to it associations and international agencies (OECD, UNESCO…), foundations and governmental organizations.

Whatever its place of activity, apart from the opening hours of its service to the public, it, or, documentalist works primarily on computer.

Communication and information technologies (TIC) evolving/moving very quickly, documentation is in constant evolution, and the professionals must be formed regularly.

Statutes

The trade of documentalist is exerted in the private sector or the public sector. In the private sector, the statute of documentalist is defined by the contract of recruiting: the documentalist can form part with whole share of the executives holding a role then of decision maker or project manager. But it can be also only one executant. In the public office of State, two statutes (of A) category exist from now on for the professionals of documentation, that of in charge of documentary studies and more recently that of engineer of studies documentalist. He is divided into 3 bodies dependant on different managers: the ministry for the equipment (interdepartmental body), the ministry for the culture and the general secretary of the government. There is also, of course, of the professors certified in documentation exerting mainly in the colleges and colleges. In the territorial public function, there exist several contests concerning the documentalists: the assistance of territorial librarian (category has, Bac level + 3) with a Documentation speciality, the contest of territorial assistant qualified of the inheritance and libraries (category B, Bac + 2) and the contest of territorial assistant of conservation of the inheritance and libraries (category B, Bac level).

Professional associations played and play still a great part in the recognition of the statute of the documentalists: they are the interlocutor privileged between the State, the company and the documentalist. ADBS, for example, created in its center a commission “Statute” which worked much with the installation of the interdepartmental contest of in charge of documentary studies and which works from now on for the category B. The ADBS proposes also a certification to promote the professional assets of the documentalists, who do not have professional diplomas but which exert their trade for a very long time: it enables them to validate their assets. It is the recognition of a “know-how”, by the profession “apart from any fixed framework”. Certification will become even European thanks to the CertiDoc project.

Librarians and documentalists

One opposed a long time (and one opposes always) the two trades, the documentalists wishing to differ from their colleagues librarians and to make recognize their specificity (treatment and analyzes contents, information circulation, day before). In the facts, the difference is important compared to the question of the statute of the two professions and exercise of the trades, the librarians having a statute of civil servant of state or territorial collectivities better assured. This question evolved/moved favorably for the documentalists since 1998 and also with the Capes of documentation. However the executives of exercise are very different and perhaps more “precarious” for the documentalists in general. At present, the convergence points are increasingly obvious: by the arrival of technologies first of all, the libraries proposing the same research tools of information as information centers (data banks, cédéroms, Internet,…) ; by the arrival in force of the economy in the two sectors (management, performance of the service, profitability, quality,…) ; by the emergence of concerns common having milked to the world of information (validity and relevance of disseminated information, right of information, company of information). Lastly, the major factor of convergence is certainly the awakening of the central role of the user/reader/user (raises, student, teacher, public specialized or broader) what trains librarian and documentalist with better clarifying their action, to transmit their know-how. The complementarity really exists and on several levels: funds and collections, spaces and technologies suggested, competences that the two trades can exchange. Their interest (and their future) rest besides on this exchange: it is in this direction that work main associations, ABF and ADBS.

Information technologies and access to information

The users seek themselves now what they want: they can have various information on the majority of the subjects and for this reason a documentalist is not necessary for them. However, within the framework of more complex requests, the documentalist is and will remain essential. According to the complexity of the request, the documentalist will hold a simple role of assistantship or will become a true partner. The user will do without the documentalist as long as he will see in the Internet only the ludic aspect but when research becomes complicated, he calls upon the documentalist. All depends on the level of complexity of research itself. One speaks about the announced death of the trade each time new technologies appear; the same thing was said when the Minitel appeared. But the trade of documentalist parallel to evolves/moves technology, it does not die. On the contrary, the TIC (Communication and Information Technologies) give access to billion information. The documentalist operates a sorting, on Internet or in databases, via formulas of interrogation and methods of research quite specific, clean to each database. He chooses a panel of documents relevant and adapted to the goal and the time the user has to consult them. In the same way, within a company, it is him which is capable to indicate the databases for which it is worth the sorrow to pay an access: its function of regulator thus starts well before the moment when a request is made to him. In addition, to determine the request of the user also requires smoothness, psychology, adaptability, as well as a good general culture; just like to keep an open “radar” in any time. As long as there will be producers of information, novel methods, the documentalist will be there to allow the end user to find what it seeks. For the documentalist, to find good information was always the priority whatever the support: the trade always evolved/moved with technologies.

The documentalist mediator

Mediation evokes the idea of bond, of link. The mediation is declined differently according to the public ones but it always passes by a discussion, a dialog, a contact with the user.

The mediation allows the pooling of the knowledge of the user and the documentalist.

The triptych information, documentalist, user imply a mediation.

The documentalist who knows well his field and the needs for his users, can anticipate them.

What seeks the users?

In general they seek information which to them is quickly given, which is relevant, which is brought up to date, which is checked. Once they have information, they want way also fast the primary education document and also to have access to sources and multiple supports.

They are not satisfied with a paper document, they want a “net furnished”, varied documents (paper, video, cédérom.), of information coming from various sources (discussion, forum, interrogation of a base of data, etc). An information center must be multimedia and multiport today.

The professor documentalist

More and more, in many courses, a teaching with the information retrieval is organized by the documentalists who became aware of this need.

The documentalists form with the use of the documentary tools and more generally with the principle and the methodology of the information retrieval: to know the information sources, Trier, to even validate them to criticize them are the basic stages of these formations.

This is why there exists, in France, a CAPES of documentation in State education. The professor-documentalist deals thus with the management of the TDCI while having a teaching role near the pupils as regards information retrieval and control of information.

Their " missions" are always controls by the circular n° 86-123 of March 13rd, 1986. An update of these missions is claimed by the profession, in particular because of evolution of technologies.

Work in network

The concept of network was very quickly integrated by the documentary world (libraries and information centers). It now underlies all the logic of the system biblio-economic and documentary, local, national and international. The main aim is the diffusion and the exchange of information: the loan between libraries, shared cataloguing, the shared indexing, the consultation of remote catalogs are examples of the possibilities that the network offers. The exchange also occurs in a less formal way on the lists of professional discussions and the forums. The membership at a professional community is reinforced by the network. Thus, even if it is insulated in its company, its college or its library, the professional feels less solitary, but interdependent of a trade, a profession. The network gears down the access to information. The concept of network also highlights the mutualisation of the means. It is on top that the idea of consortium rests discussed at present in professional environment.

The documentalist and the Internet

Since the arrival of the Internet, the practices documentary were modified. The products are created in a different way, and they are adapted to the new user's needs.

The other great innovation is the email. The documentalists work on line with the most distant users even: finished times of station or stamping. The professional exchanges between colleagues are facilitated and the mailing lists an inexhaustible information source.

It is also possible to reach directly the primary education documents, which was the wish expensive of the librarians, the documentalists and the users.

It should be added that information technologies worked the trade of documentalist, by gradually removing the barriers which separated it from sciences sisters the such Bibliothéconomie or the Archivistique. Indeed today, it is not only any more question for the professional of managing the documents, but rather of managing the information independently of its support, its nature, etc Moreover, the documentary structures, because precisely of information technologies which they use, are at the same time information centers, centers of files and libraries. The professional became general-purpose. This is why one speaks today about professional of documentary information to appoint at the same time the archivist, the documentalist or the librarian.

Internal bonds

External bonds

Official site of the ADBS (Association of the professionals of information and documentation)
Official site of the FADBEN (Association of the professionals of the information and the documentation of State education)
official Gate of occupational resources for the teachers documentalists)

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