Editorial

Al-Tadwin Journal returns with its annual issue, Volume 14, Issue 01 for the year 2022, carrying a diverse collection of specialized articles and studies by academic researchers from various national universities. This issue is dedicated to the proceedings of the international conference titled "Human Sciences and Crisis Management in the Twenty-First Century," organized by the Systems, Structures, Models, and Practices Laboratory in November 2021.

In this issue, you will also find the proceedings of the national conference titled: "The Librarian and Open Access to Information," held at the University of Annaba in coordination with the Systems, Structures, Models, and Practices Laboratory at the University of Oran 2.

We present to you the preamble for both conferences to outline the central problems addressed within each.

1. International Conference: Human Sciences and Crisis Management in the 21st Century

Anyone contemplating the accelerating passage of time from the middle of the last century to the beginning of the third millennium soon realizes the magnitude of the massive "upheaval" in the historical human experience. Features of a new era have begun to take shape within the global condition of human existence—features that, despite their diverging lines and contrasting colors, converge in a single domain: "the domain of crisis."

While it is certain that every era has its crises, it is equally certain that each era possesses alternatives created by its sciences. However, the paradox arises when these crises impact both the state of science and humanity simultaneously, leading to a new—and perhaps unprecedented—problematic sphere regarding the nature of crises that extends beyond mere theoretical reflection to practical management. Perhaps the most prominent historical event signaling this troubled sphere is the opening scene of the twenty-first century, marked by growing discourse at its turn surrounding "global crises" (health crisis, environmental crisis, terrorism crisis). These crises almost entirely evade the control of technology-driven sciences at their most advanced stages, as evidenced by the state of confusion experienced by twenty-first-century humanity when attempting to make appropriate decisions for managing such crises guided by experts in health, environment, biotechnology, and other fields. The intense debates constantly witnessed on social media platforms and across media outlets regarding the global health crisis following the spread of the COVID-19 virus serve as living proof of the stalemate encountered by medical and life sciences in finding solutions and discovering alternatives.

2. National Conference: The Librarian and Open Access to Information

With the major scientific developments the world has witnessed since the emergence of the Internet in the 1990s, the importance of information has grown at an accelerating pace. Information has given a new definition to global power, where survival belongs to those who possess information, and major global economic powers compete to acquire information of all kinds. Consequently, societies evolved into information societies and subsequently knowledge societies.

Although the construction of new knowledge relies on prior knowledge, this process faces a major hurdle: the ability to access this information and knowledge, which has become restricted and attainable only by paying exorbitant prices imposed by commercial scientific publishing houses.

Amid this broad global openness, many international bodies and organizations seek to provide information free of charge to maximize its benefit. Thus emerged the concept of "Open Access," signifying the acquisition of information at no cost by enabling researchers and organizations to publish their research and reports on the Internet for free, adhering to the principle of "information for all."

Information institutions in general, and libraries in particular, find themselves facing a major challenge: how to acquire information and make it available to users with minimal time and effort. In light of this new shift in the library environment, information specialists must also confront challenges that have reshaped the roles and functions of librarians as the primary intermediaries between information and users, tasking them with overcoming obstacles that impede access to information. These evolving roles further require a distinct set of skills that specialists must possess.

Finally, we hope these studies receive their share of critical reading and prove beneficial to our researchers and students.

Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Larbi Miloud