FORMIST
Scientific and Technical Information Training
The French acronym FORMIST stands for Scientific and Technical Information Training. This division of enssib was created in 1999 to bring together and evaluate information training resources which were still in short supply at the time.
Rapid expansion of digital resources since then has increased overall awareness of the necessity for computer literacy training. This is now internationally recognised as a major concern, not only in libraries but in the world of education as a whole, with the result that the information training landscape has undergone radical change. And so FORMIST has changed too.
FORMIST changes
FORMIST continues in its role of referencer via the signalling of documents in SIBEL or the digital library. It also occupies a place as a referencer of teaching resources in InfolitGlobal, and thus provides improved visibility for French output in the field.
More information can be found on the Resources pages, which offer direct access to FORMIST.
FORMIST is currently expanding its publishing activity, already begun with the annual publication REPERE. Other printed material is now being published by the Presses de l'enssib in the two series Culture de l’Information (Information Culture, coordinated by Claire Denecker) and Usage du document (Document Use, coordinated by André Tricot).
And of course there is the FORMIST Conference – the annual information training get-together – at enssib in mid-June.
FORMIST's role, then, is a national one. The front-ranking actors in information training are :
- The Services Communs de la Documentation (Shared Documentation Services/SCD), which set up training within university programmes.
- The Regional Scientific and Technical Information Training Units (URFIST), which focus especially on educational materials in the scientific information domain.