[3] She was re-elected after her 4-year term (1997 to 2001) to serve for two more years as president (2001 to 2003), where she promoted the work of libraries in the global information age, education, and standards development.

[4][5] Before becoming president of the International Federation of Librarians, Deschamps held various positions at Parisian university libraries and also at the Ministry of Education in France.

[6] Deschamps called for libraries to be recognized at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society as key participants in closing the digital divide.

[8] Under her mandate, the First World Report on Libraries and Intellectual Freedom[9] was established and she made statements on electronic publications and copyright.

[12][13] She explained that she felt "that rebalancing power in the IFLA organization is necessary because there is a lot of influence from Europe and North America" and that developing countries should have a greater participation in the Federation.