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Purpose: This paper seeks to clarify the research trend of library and information science (US) in Japan from 1970 to 2009. Methods: Of all the articles published from 1970 to 2009 in Library and Information Science and Journal of Japan Society of Library and Information Science, 826 research articles were examined. For each article, (1) authors, (2) topics, (3) research methods, and (4) the use of theories were analyzed. For (1), the number of authors of each article and the first author's affiliation and occupation were examined. Topics were classified into 14 US topics and these topics were further classified into "library science" and "information science". Empirical research methods were further divided into "data collection method" and "data analysis method". The number of research articles and the transition of the number of pages were also investigated. Results: Our findings indicate that in the US field over the last 40 years in Japan, (1) the number of authors whose affiliation is "university" has increased, (2) the number of "information science" articles has gradually decreased, and the majority of articles are now about "library science", and (3) the proportion of empirical research methods has increased. There were no major changes or distinctive trends in the topics discussed by articles. Due to the adoption of a strict peer-review system in both journals, the number of research articles decreased from the 1990s to 2000s; however, the number of articles has increased in recent years due to the increase in the number of graduate students and the enhancement of research grants in the US field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper clarifies the characteristics of theories on the strategic management of libraries in the United States, focusing on: 1) how strategic management concepts have been applied to operations or tasks in libraries, 2) the degree to which strategic management theories have an impact on them, and 3) whether library staff place a high value on the results of applying the theories. Methods: First, a set of strategic management theories to be investigated was selected from standard text- books of business administration and library management. Second, for each theory in the set, bibliography and bibliographic databases, Library Literature, LISA and LISTA, were searched in order to identify documents discussing it. Third, cases studies and bibliometric analysis were attempted based on the documents. In case studies, some actual cases of applying the theories to library management were extracted from documents, and how the theories were implemented in library operations and how they were evaluated by library staff were analyzed. On the other hand, in bibliometric analysis, the numbers of documents were counted by year, and chronological trends of popularity of the theories in libraries were empirically clarified. Results: The cases studies show that library managers in the US are particularly concerned about `planning' and `evaluation'. However, in most cases, it would have been difficult to progress from planning to practice. Also, library managers tend to select theories on administrative organization rather than those oriented toward the external environment. Although most management theories were not adequately implemented in the cases, only theories on core competence would have been accepted positively and incorporated adequately into practice in libraries. The bibliometric analysis clarified that the impact of management strategy theories is increasing each year, and new theories are being applied in library situations more quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]