The University Library of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) is celebrating its 60th anniversary. A press conference was held on November 20th to mark the launch of commemorative activities. Academic events are planned for April and May to further celebrate the milestone. Library Director François Malick Diouf took the opportunity to highlight the strategic role of the library. He explained that the central library is distinguished by its broad reach, serving all faculties, schools, and institutes of UCAD.

This anniversary comes at a time when libraries are facing profound changes linked to the evolution of digital technology and artificial intelligence. Hence the theme: "University Libraries Facing Artificial Intelligence," to illustrate the contemporary challenges the institution must address. "Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly integrated into everyone's activities. It is present in almost all human activities, and university libraries are no exception," emphasizes Professor François Malick Diouf.

Today, after 60 years, the library has evolved considerably. It has fully embraced digital technology with digital resources available on its website, as well as resources from other platforms that library users can access through strategic partnerships. The library also collects all theses, dissertations, and other publications from the academic community.

However, it faces a number of challenges, including the challenge of increasing student numbers. At the laying of the foundation stone, the ambition was to build one of the world's largest libraries, spread over 14 levels, Diouf recalls. But financial constraints limited it to 6 floors at the time. From 400 seats at its construction, its capacity increased to over 1,700 seats in 2000. But 25 years later, it is once again struggling to cope with the growing student population (100,000).

As a result, the library is full from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. as soon as it opens. "We only have 1,700 seats. This means the library is only operating at 1.7% of its capacity, which is extremely insufficient. According to our estimates, we need 1,500 additional seats," explains the director. Since the library has some spare space, the director is appealing to the Head of State to support the second phase of the library's expansion. Beyond the President, the message is also addressed to patrons and especially to UCAD graduates (Senegalese and African) who succeeded in their studies thanks to the knowledge available at the library.

The other problem facing the library is the aging of its collections and the high cost of materials. “Science is evolving at a considerable pace, and the documentation that supports research must keep up with or anticipate these developments. However, books are expensive. The works that researchers need most are published outside of Senegal. It’s too expensive,” he laments. The university library can, however, count on the support of the Rector who, in addition to the institution’s annual budget, has agreed to allocate 1,000 CFA francs from each student’s registration fee to support the library.