2. Introduction Pioneer in integrating “documentation” (better known today as “information science”) with librarianship One of the first three women to be appointed a librarian at the French national library (Bibliothèquenationalefrançaise / BNF / BN) Published Qu’est-ceque la documentation? (What is documentation?) Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
3. Agenda Early life and educational background Career and contributions Life after librarianship Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
4. Young Suzanne Born in Ardennes in 1894, grew up in Paris Came of age in WWI Was a teacher in England and Algeria Placed first on nationalcertification exam for librarians Appointed to the BN in 1924 Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
5. Career and contributions: The BN “Salle des Catalogues” – 1934-1954 Moved bibliographies from closed stacks into open room Organized indexing, cards Bibliographic Advisory / Reference Service Also indexed collections of publishers, other libraries Now Salle X in the new Bibliothèquenationale François Mitterand building Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
6. World War II in Paris Briet worked at the BN all through World War II and prepared a publication for UNESCO after the war assessing damage to libraries“In her memoir under the keyword Paix (peace) … she writes of the reading room with three hundred readers ‘peaceful with their books. Peace through books’” (Maack 733). Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
9. Founding Director of Studies of the Institut National de Techniques de la Documentation
10. First school of Documentation/Information Science worldwide when it was established in 1951
11. Vice President of the International Federation for Documentation (IFD)Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
12. Qu’est-ceque la documentation? (1951) What IS a document? Defines a document as “evidence in support of a fact” (Maack 743). A document must have materiality, intentionality, be processed, and be perceived as a document (Buckland). Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
13. Qu’est-ceque la documentation? (cont.) Pushed to accept more than just text A changing profession Argued for new and active information services (i.e. reference service) Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
14. Life After librarianship Left the profession at age 60 after 30 years at the BN due to resistance to new ideas Autobiography Entre Aisne et Meuse et au-delà(1972) organized alphabetically by keyword and without dates Established a women’s Rotary club of over 8,000 members President of Union of European Women Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
15. Life after librarianship (cont.) Became a historian and published many books Wrote more than 20 publications on Rimbaud, to whom she was distantly related Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
16. Resources consulted Buckland, M. K. (1995). The centenary of “Madame documentation”: Suzanne Briet, 1894-1989. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 46, 235-237. Fayet-Scribe, S. (2009). Women professionals in documentation in France during the 1930s. Libraries & the Cultural Record, 44(2), 201-219. Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
17. Resources consulted (cont.) Maack, M. N. (2004). The lady and the antelope: Suzanne Briet's contribution to the French documentation movement. Library Trends, 52(4), 719-747. Gena Chattin - May 24, 2010
