A webinar on the social role of professions and libraries in crises was held on June 11 by ILISA. This webinar was held in three panels on education (learners, librarians, users, and library administrators); future literacy (new techniques and methods, Identifying signs of change in planning for environmental and social changes, innovation); user orientation and service orientation (library, social interaction, social and individual psychology).
The issues raised at the individual and group, psychological and social, educational and research, intra-organizational and extra-organizational levels, were considered critical situations and unforeseen events. Essential guidelines in this forum for planners and information science and knowledge, health information technology, medical librarianship experts are as follows:
- Participation of departments of information science and knowledge and management and medical information in virtual courses with the methods of teaching e-learning and educational preparation and psychological fields of faculty members and students;
- Involvement of national institutions and associations in strategic planning and preparation of crisis management instead of individual and scattered programs;
- The necessity of training librarians in skills such as media and technology and information literacy in equipping the necessary skills to identify fake and inaccurate news and information in connection with critical community situations due to the community’s trust in libraries and protection against fake and inaccurate information in archives and libraries sources, as well as librarians’ familiarity with new information and communication technologies, including blockchain and cloud computing, and taking advantage of their capabilities;
- Playing the role of public libraries in promoting individual and social awareness;
- It is expanding scientific communication on social media and emphasizing the provision of virtual library services in times of crisis.
