Information policy: challenges for national libraries and associations in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The urgency of studying the first experience of activity of the library-information institutions of the world in the period of the Coronavirus pandemic COVID-19, which engulfed the world in spring of 2020, is substantiated the importance of consideration of conclusions and forecasts made by libraries, archives, and other cultural institutions in terms of internally systemic organizations. The purpose of the article is to investigate the response of national libraries and archives of the world, national and interstate professional associations to the challenges faced by the world’s libraries and information institutions in the context of coronavirus pandemic and analysis of forecasts of changes in the forms and working conditions of these institutions. The study uses the methods of analysis, synthesis, and synthesis of information from open sources, the method of forecasting and evaluation of expert opinions.
The study, especially the formation of forecasted conclusions, is based on the COVID-19 Impact Survey conducted by the Conference of Directors of National Libraries of the World (CDNL), jointly with IFLA in April 2020. For the prediction of consequences for the library and information systems, it is necessary to monitor the state’s reaction, as the organization and support of the systems that provide the society with access to information is part of the state information policy. An important basis of such forecasting should be the analysis of activity and reaction of the most national institutions — libraries, archives, museums, and their professional associations. Collectively, the obtained information can provide a more or less complete picture of the views and crisis-release forecasts that are projected as a consequence of long-term quarantine, or more effective actions, in case the repetition of quarantine measures will take place yet.