“Going Digital… Transforming lives” the annual virtual program launched by BAIFA and the BA Francophone Network, at the Information Institutions and Professional Skills department - Library sector at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, on the 9th of July 2020, under the theme of “Digital Transformation in the World of Information”. Through this program, we aim to highlight the role of digital transformation in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the status of digital transformation in African and Francophone countries; and the different opportunities and challenges these countries are facing in this domain. We will also shed the light on different success stories in this domain. In addition, we will emphasize how librarians are using digital technologies in developing different information dissemination tools.
Within this program, we shared a wide range of open access electronic resources, selected and evaluated by the librarians of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Also, different virtual activities were organized, including videos and webinars.
It's worth mentioning that this program comes in alignment with Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s educational and developmental role and its leadership in the areas of digital technology, as well as, the approaches of IFLA (International Federation of Library Association) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and with the Egyptian state's approach to implement Goal 9 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focusing on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Moreover, the “World Youth Forum”, held in Sharm El Sheikh in 2019, recommended that “digital transformation is the greatest opportunity for the continent of Africa”.
Download the program's visual
The first phase of the “Going Digital” program has been conducted through BAIFA and Francophone Network's different social media channels since the 9th of July 2020, aiming to promote the BAIFA and BA resources which best cover the program topics and greatly help the interested researchers and the postgraduate students.
Selective resources from BAIFA’s collection that best cover the topic:
- Applying a gender lens to science, technology and innovation
2011 , Bhalla, Praveen Report
- Rural women and the millennium development goals
2012] , Fact Sheet
- Gender and ICTs for development : a global sourcebook
2005 , E-Book/ E-Book Chapter
- Community mothers
2002 , Molloy, B. E-article
- What works for women : proven approaches for empowering women smallholders and achieving food security
2012 , Tripathi, R., Chung, Y.B., Deering, K., Saracini, N., Willoughby, R., Wills, O., Mikhail, M., Warburton, H., Jayasinghe, D., Rafanomezana, J., Churm, M. Report
- Women's land rights in southern Africa : consolidated baseline findings from Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
2009 , Kachika, T. Report
Download the full bibliography
During the program, eminent information specialists and experts shared interesting success stories in the field of digital transformation through recorded videos that have been published on different social media channels :
Dr Chinwe Anunobi
Digital transformation in Nigerian University Libraries
Eng. Youssef Eldakkar
LinkGate: Visualizing Linked Data at Scale
Dr. Heba Ismail
Digital Transformation in Arabic Libraries&Information Institutions
Eng. Samar Farrag
The digitization&Integration of Metadata with the BA Information System
Youssra Haggag-Heba Fahmy
Cultural activities for the BA Children's&Young People's Libraries
During the program, a number of webinars was organized in order to tackle different aspects of the digital transformation in different related fields
Dr. Golestan Radwan
Egypt’s Strategy of Artificial Intelligence
Dr. Farouk El-Baz
The Success of NASA’s “Apollo Program”
Prof. Sherif Delaware
The Augmented Individual: Human-Machine Partnership
Dr. Hala Bayoumi
Digital Humanities: Successful Models
Ahmed Esmat
Digital Transformation in the Media and Entertainment Industries