Search

Some considerations on information management and its teaching in the career of library science and Sciences of the Information are exposed from an interdisciplinary perspective. For this purpose, the notion of information management is undertaken, and the reasons that make it necessary, determining its focus from the perspective of interdisciplinarity. Finally, the implications of this vision for the teaching of information management are taken into consideration.

Taking into account the diverse definitions of the informative sciences: library science, archivology, bibliographology and information sciences, reflections are made on their points of contact as well as their divergences on the base of the theoretical outline of the bibliological-informative system, developed by the Doctor in Information Sciences Emilio Setién Quesada and other Cuban professionals.

This article posits a definition and theory for "Library 2.0". It suggests that recent thinking describing the changing Web as "Web 2.0" will have substantial implications for libraries, and recognizes that while these implications keep very close to the history and mission of libraries, they still necessitate a new paradigm for librarianship. The paper applies the theory and definition to the practice of librarianship, specifically addressing how Web 2.0 technologies such as synchronous messaging and streaming media, blogs, wikis, social networks, tagging, RSS feeds, and mashups might intimate changes in how libraries provide access to their collections and user support for that access.

The article is an analysis of three basic concepts concerning the organization and performance of information retrieval, i.e. “search strategy”, “search heuristics” and “search tactics”, discussed within the context of actions taken by the users of information retrieval (IR) systems. Definitions and interpretations of the terms used in Polish and foreign literature have been analyzed and considerable differences between various definitions have been observed. Finally, as a result of the analysis performed, a terminology solution is proposed with the specific nature of contemporary search methods performed in IR systems taken into consideration.

The present article suggests a comparison between the Ranganathan's PMEST categories and the categories of Vaisesika - one of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy - which is devoted to the analysis of the basic components of perceptible reality. Similar categories are present within the Indo-European linguistic and cultural context in different ages and regions. They seem to be strongly grounded in our worldview. Some considerations about the role of categories both as foundation of the knowledge structure of a certain culture and as possible signs of a deeper biological and cognitive dimension of the human being are also made.

Opinion article about libraries and information professionals role and its relation to cultural consumption

The pragmatic approaches have underlined a prolonged crisis of the informational disciplines that has impeded to meet the demands of the information society. In fact, these disciplines have gone a long way trying to sustain different theoretical foundations, but they have been seduced by a variety of preestablished philosophies instead of building an own philosophical field. The research conducted starting from the information philosophy, with contributions from prominent authors as Floridi, provides innovative methodologies to treat traditional problems from new perspectives. It is proposed to consider how, according to the philosophy of the information, a fundamental philosophy of information analysis and design, the construction of an appropriate intellectual environment can be explained and directed, offering a systematic treatment to the conceptual foundations of the contemporary society. Therefore, the Archival Science, as well as the rest of the informational disciplines should consider the place and function of the carriers and identifiers of semantic information in order to attain a more effective cognitive organization of the intellectual patrimony. The construction of informational ontologies is an example of it.

This work (which is part of the thesis of the same title: Documental information: an agenda for the Central American Women Movement, presented at the National University of Costa Rica on the Master Program of Intra Family and Genre Violence) presents a conceptual fusion of librarianship and violence against women. Its aim is to strenghten the functions of information management and to consider it dynamically oriented in favour of a democratic, decent and civilized society without violence against women. That is the reason why it open dialogues about the offer and demand of documental information among organizations which try to eradicate such violence and it makes proposals where these organizations have a stake.

This draft (For a critico-ontological epistemology from the dialectical cognoscitive realism in library and information science) was made for a seminar that invited me Miguel Angel Rendon Rojas but which never took place actually.

The analysis of the speech is an increasingly important method in different specialties of the social sciences. Its objective, which is to analyze the mark and the contextual meaning of the messages, is related to a set of interpretation strategies that are of great value at present. They are characterized by a high production of documentary information in every kind of settings. A series of theoretical elements on the analysis of the speech is approached: definitions, antecedents, functions, interdisciplinary nature and object of study. The speech analysis is a method that can complement the processing of information and of the analysis of the traditional content to represent certain knowledge stages and the experience of the text producers as functional models of semantic type.

Book review of: Palabras por la biblioteca / edition by Javier Pérez Iglesias. Madrid: Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha y Asociación Cultural Educación y Bibliotecas, 2004.

The proliferation of electronic information via the Web has witnessed the unique characteristics of information distend yet further. With such seismic developments occurring in such a short period of time, it seems prudent to once again consider the very nature of information and to assess whether this accelerated growth has implications for the work of the informatics community and our information society. The paper begins by revisiting and refreshing the unique characteristics of information via a reappraisal of the relevant literature. These characteristics are then contextualised within the New Economy and traditional economic theory. Once these unique characteristics have been examined, the author discusses how the nature of information in the 21st century presents the informatics community with new and difficult challenges. The challenges posed by the unique nature of information demand a definite response on the part of the informatics community, including the creation of innovative new models to accommodate and check information’s inherent characteristics. Additionally, as the nature of information evolves yet further and ICT innovations accelerate, evermore adaptable skills will be required by the end user in order that value be derived from information. Outcomes and conclusions addressed in the paper may inform the informatics community generally, but will specifically inform the practice of information managers and librarians, and may assist them in arriving at holistic decisions with respect to service provision. The paper is a contribution to the debate on the precise nature of information and offers new perspectives on how the informatics community should view information in the 21st century.

During the 1960s the Classification Research Group explored the possibility of a general "freely faceted" classification scheme, based on the theory of integrative levels. We have experimented the application of such kind of scheme to a bibliography of local culture. Its notation, designed in order to allow efficient machine retrieval of bibliographic descriptions, is especially illustrated. The system has been tested through a Web search interface written in PHP language, extracting data recorded in a MySQL database. The levelled structure allows to express relations between concepts both by simple juxtaposition of the corresponding symbols, and by more sophisticated ways, including the relation of dependence holding between phenomena at different integrative levels, like "plants" and "woods" or "mountains" and "climbing".

The well-structured article analyzes librarianship, comparing it to other branches of science. The article underlines the complexities of study, measurement, intellectual connections, knowledge structures, and the significance of ideas. An important concern is raised about the scientific means of organizing information, and the effect information and information policy has on society. The author concludes that the activities of a library need coordination and structure, logic and understanding of contents -- all under the library management umbrella. Michael Buckland acknowledges that science and technology allows us to redesign the services of a library.

In order to know how information and communication technologies affect the librarian duties on a hybrid library; to analyse the librarian's profile and to identify the qualities, knowledge and skills a librarian should have to be considered a competent professional, different library science sites were explored using Altavista and Google search engines. A hybrid library conjugates elements of the traditional and the electronic library. In Mexico, in spite of the fact that it is heard about the virtual library and big information centres, mainly in the health field, most of them still keep the traditional physic space with its values. However, no one talks about hybrid library. Besides, a better technical training is necessary and the institutions require librarians capable of answering the present demand of users and services. The present paper is just the beginning of a research aimed at determining the function of the librarian in hybrid libraries, as well as his perception of the transformation of information management, starting from the introduction of new information and communication technologies into an information society.

Analytical study of film music and sound in two important movies in the history of Cinemas. Both films have different arguments but they show many artistic similarities in the staging of the music that provide a better sense of the narrative style.

In 1998, the IFLA revolutionized the idea of an accelerated, efficient and rational cataloging, simplifying the way to find information resources. The concept, method and algorithm is named "Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records" (FRBR) FRBR is an "object-related model" of metadata to describe information objects. To a certain extent, this means producing a piece of work through a single, distinct bibliographic record, thus FRBR constructively builds upon established cataloging standards. How do we put it into practice, will it really make it easier for both our work and consumer demand?!

In [an earlier essay, in Norwegian], I proposed that documents could be regarded as carriers of "memes", units of cultural transmission or imitation. I elaborated on some concepts connected with evolution, and tried to connect them with the concept of documents and documentation, as set forth by Lund (2001). In this essay I will continue along the same lines, but the main emphasis will be on an analogy to ecology, the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. It is very common for authors to borrow from the biological nomenclature; the terms “to evolve” and “evolution” seem to be the most popular. But these words are often used as mere synonyms for “change”, without any apparent regard for the theory behind them. Part of the rationale for my approach in this essay is to see what happens if one tries to take “evolution” and some of its attendant terms seriously, and apply them to the study of documentation in general, and the study of scholarly documentation in particular.

This article is an introductory work to the qualitative research methodologies and methods aplied to the Library and Information Studies (LIS) field, as a way to expand the horizons of librarians so they might be able to explore different roads to improve the common telology of LIS which is basically to fuse the library (informational - cognitive) services with the needs and issues, wishes and dreams of society in its respective communities. It argues for the demystification of LIS research which is impregnated with an halo and cult almost mystical that far from motivating librarians both practical and teorethical to carry out research work in a daily basis, it plays an inhibitor role affecting not only the development of LIS research, but the LIS profession itself; this demystification implies that research could be for everyone who wants it to. It also argues that it is necessary to study in depth the epistemological debate in LIS to promote LIS research as a sub-discipline and the education and training of LIS researchers in order to transform such a plausible activity into an attractive one that becomes even a fun thing to do. [NB: History of publication of this article. [NB: History of the publication of this article. This was originally written on the 10th of May 2004. It was requested by Saul Armendariz Sanchez, the president of the Mexican Association of Librarians (AMBAC) of that time (2003-2005) to be published in the journal of such association, Liber. AMBAC's coordinator of publications of 2004, Carlos Curiel Rivera informed the author that this article should be published in Liber in the Vol. 6, No. 2, in June 2004. However such publishing never took place, 27 months later since its publishing must have taken place )(today is 26.07.2006) neither Saul Armendariz Sanchez, nor Carlos Curiel Rivera have delivered a copy of the article to the author in any format: paper, PDF, online URL in HTML or whatever with the collated pages of the Vol. 6, No. 2. A year later, in July 2005, the new president of AMBAC --for the period 2005-2007--, Felipe Becerril Torres informed the author that such Vol. 6 No. 2 issue of Liber was still waiting to be printed. But such president stepped down his charge as president of AMBAC due to illness on the 8th of May 2006, so this article was not published during his term. On the 18 of May 2006 Hortensia Lobato Reyes replaced Felipe Becerril Torres as new president of AMBAC and until today she has not informed the author if this article has been actually published. Recently it has been shown on the Website of AMBAC that the Vol. 6 with numbers 1 to 4 has been published (see: http://www.ambac.org.mx/publicaciones.htm), however this article of this author has not appeared anywhere on that site and when tracked on the databases which index Liber such bibliographic record does not exist either. Therefore, with the current evidences, it is a fact tha this article was never actually published by the 2003-2005 president of AMBAC Saul Armendariz Sanchez, as it was either published by the 2 subsequent AMBAC's presidents. And today 27 months later since suppossedly was published it is highly likely that never will be published by any Liber - AMBAC's officers. Thus, the Mexican Association of Librarians requested this article exprofesso for the celebration of AMBAC's 50th anniversary through its president in turn, Saul Armendariz Sanchez, it was approved by him and the Association's publications team and peers, they promised to be published on the Liber Vol. 6, No. 2, June 2004, but they never actually published it. Finally, this article has been fully published as it was originally written in 2004 by the Peruvian journal BiblioDocencia: Revista de Profesores de Bibliotecología (Library-Teaching: journal of faculty and lecturers of library and information science) in the Vol. 2, No. 12, quarter January-March 2006, pp. 4-12. And from now on it should be cited from this definitive 2006 bibliographic record. Note written by the author on the 26 July 2006, Sheffield, UK]

The Italian Public Administration both at local, regional and national level, according to its mission and objectives, is "de facto" an author. In spite of the fact that the editorial production of the public body is very large and of the highest quality, it's rarely registered and taken into the right consideration. The article presents some relevant experiences in cataloguing and develops final reflections about this topic.

A rapid survey on the historical development of ocumentation points out the basic unity in origin of librarianship and documentation, especially in the procedures and operating techniques, and their elaboration, expansion and improvement through the action of documentalists. Technical and technological innovation in information resources management was developed in information centres, i. e. outside the libraries, before and soon after the Second world war. The information explosion, in the second half of the 20th century, needed a best subject control of periodical literature and a different technical organisation of the institutions providing access to recorded knowledge. The attention of international organisations and national governments was so focussed mainly on the area of scientific research, especially for solving the problems of information transfer and its retrieval. At international level documentation is now placed within information science. Considerable debates in library and information science literature about whether information science is a discipline, what kind of discipline ecc. have put on the table again the rivalry between the terms information science and librarianship, documentation and information or knowledge management. Discussions among information professionals show that a real interest exists in defining a new profile for a profession which seems to involve challenging competences.

The interview to Maria Bruna Baldacci retraces the steps of her career as a documentalist. In particular, it is highlighted the approach to Information Science, and described the automation systems implemented (REPER and ATLAS).

The path of AIDA national conferences in its first twenty years of activity is examined. The analysis is carried on in the light of the FID and ASIS conferences organised in the same years. The topics of the AIDA conferences are further examined with respect to events and publications resulted seminal and meaningful in both the Italian and international developments of the discipline of Information Science.

This is the original pre-print written on the 17 November 2003 which eventually got published in 2006 –see its history of publication inside the actual document--, and since the article got originally reduced by the editors of Liber of the Mexican Association of Librarians then this original pre-print includes many examples excluded there by Liber's editors. This is an introductory work to the qualitative research methodologies and methods aplied to the Library and Information Studies (LIS) field, as a way to expand the horizons of librarians so they might be able to explore different roads to improve the common telology of LIS which is basically to fuse the library (informational - cognitive) services with the needs and issues, wishes and dreams of society in its respective communities. It argues for the demystification of LIS research which is impregnated with an halo and cult almost mystical that far from motivating librarians both practical and teorethical to carry out research work in a daily basis, it plays an inhibitor role affecting not only the development of LIS research, but the LIS profession itself; this demystification implies that research could be for everyone who wants it to. It also argues that it is necessary to study in depth the epistemological debate in LIS to promote LIS research as a sub-discipline and the education and training of LIS researchers in order to transform such a plausible activity into an attractive one that becomes even a fun thing to do. The author considers that the examples of applicabilities of qualitative research in LIS given here, but which they could not be included in the published version due to the barriers impossed by the editors of Liber the journal of the Mexican Association of Librarians, are worthwhile to be known by the community interested in these methodologies and it is for them that this original draft is open to the public, thanks to the request of a colleague. This draft, after many unexplained acts of negligence and censorship by the Chairs of the Mexican Association of Librarians and the other editors of their association journal Liber, during the period of 2004-2005, finally was partly published by this Peruvian journal: Muela-Meza, Zapopan Martín (2006) Una introducción a las metodologías de investigación cualitativa aplicadas a la bibliotecología. BiblioDocencia : Revista de Profesores de Bibliotecología 2(12):pp. 4-12. http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00006732/

The recent death of Claude E. Shannon, one of the most representative and innovative figures of the theory of information, has to make us reflect on the several theorical contributions he brought in this field. In the first place, the quantitative formalization of information, apart from the semantic contents of the transmitted message, expressed by the binary system 0/1, the “bit”. Of equal importance are the analysis of the elements common to all the informative processes – source, transmitter, channel, receiver – and the recognition of the relation between noise effect and redundancy, through the notion of entropy. Shannon’s communication theory has several applications, and not only in the informatic field.

Editorial of the journal Library and Information Science Critique: Journal of the Sciences of Information Recorded in Documents of its second issue of the fourth volume (Jul-Dec 2011)

This paper attemps to explain my ideas on a new concept of the integration of sciences in a systemic unity of greater complexity than considered before. An ascending or descending vertical integration, looking it from the systems science theories, might help in interpreting questions created by mankind and provide answers that are urgently required. Impairment of all orders and classification methods should be checked. Solutions should be found for the organization of knowledge and intellectual culture. Solutions are needed, so let us look for them from a new perspective. A study of the vertical integration of sciences, with all its complexity, might provide a small answer.

Artikel ini medeskripsikan secara rinci apa hambatan, tantangan dan peluang dari program pendidikan perpustakaan dan kajian Informasi di Indonesia. Sampai saat ini (2001) penulis mencatat ada 19 program pendidikan tingkat universitas di Indonesia. Terbagi dari program D2, D3, S1 dan S2.

The singularity and independence of Archival Science within the Information Sciences makes it necessary to clarify fundamental concepts and definitions, considering the legal and administrative tradition and the history of a Science which is shown to be vital for the Democracy and the Constitutional State.

The singularity and independence of Archival Science within the Information Sciences makes it necessary to clarify fundamental concepts and definitions, considering the legal and administrative tradition and the history of a Science which is shown to be vital for the Democracy and the Constitutional State.

The Open Content Alliance (OCA) is a network of libraries and similar organizations committed to digitizing and providing broadest possible access to books and other materials; over 1.6 million books are already online under OCA principles. OCA is analyzed in contrast with Google Books (as per the preliminary Google Books Settlement, November 2009), using Castell’s network theory and theories of an emerging global public sphere, based on the work of Habermas and Fraser. OCA is seen as a superior network to Google Books, with particular strengths in connectedness, consistency (shared goals), flexibility, scalability, survivability, networking (inclusion / exclusion) power, and network-making power, including the ability to form strategic alliances. The lawsuit against Google Books, and the settlement, illustrate some of the limitations of Google Books as a network, for example the lawsuit per se is a challenge to Google Books’ rights to make decisions on inclusion and exclusion, and illustrates poor connectedness and consistency, two attributes Castells points to as essential to the performance of a network. The respectful, law-abiding approach of OCA is a good fit for a global public sphere, while the Google Books Settlement takes a key issue that has traditionally been decided by governments (orphan books), and brings the decision-making power into private contract negotiations, diminishing democracy. The current Google Books Settlement is fractured on a national (geographic) basis; consequences could include decreased understanding of the rest of the world by a leading nation, the U.S. This works against the development of a global public sphere, and has potential negative economic and security implications for the U.S.. OCA is presented as one node of an emerging library network for the global public sphere, a global public good increasing access to knowledge everywhere, increasing the potential for informed public debate towards global consensus.

This paper presents an overview of the mission that has a librarian for the society it serves by providing information resources and provide services through various means, in order to cover the needs of individuals and groups in areas of education, information and personal development.

The importance of information systems, including dialectic ones, has become increasingly patent in the new economy. A study of the changes which have taken place in the concept of information, highlighting its value as an economic factor, has turned it into one of the pillars of market economy. The concept of enterprise has also undergone changes, basing its modus operandi on information as a factor of production. Information system are enterprises and are, therefore, affected by the same changes. The study of information systems is viewed from the systems science standpoint, establishing parameters, variables, working conditions, etc. a very brief historic overview of the definitions given to dialectic will serve as an introduction to the dialectic systems. Dialectic Information systems are those which undergo great transformations. The links between information systems and the economy establish interactions between one and the other. Information becomes a production factor, consumer goods, a factor of well-being, etc. the assumption is, for instance, that “matter” and information change into consumer goods and services and that manufacturing is a process in which information is replaced by goods. We live in a society which is interconnected, mainly though Internet, thereby, affecting the economy and leading to great changes.

The simple expansion of the telematic infrastructure would not be enough to overcome the grave problems of information services proivision, in accordance with the requirements of the sustained development process that would be more just and equitable for all of society. In truth, more emphais is being placed on information flow rather than on its effective use; the simple existence of information is no guarantee of its being disseminated in socially and politically correct terms, while the possession or privation of the right to information would constitute a type informational imperialism (according to Roberta Lamb). Information becomes a value, something abstract, independently of its support and calls for new theoretical and methodological approaches, new practices and new tecnologies for its life cycle and transformation. The article discusses the problem of information as ideology, its globalization and the rise of “virtual libraries” in cyberspace requiring widespread social adaptations, with its consequence in thye political sphere, within and among the countries and regions of the world, according to the concept of “informational feudalism” (Peter Drahos), with the overcoming of ideology by technology. Conclusions are drawn regarding some defense strategies for the users’ rights and for safeguarding the values and interests of less-favored groups, institutions, and regions.

Mankind is passing through historical moments of great change and transformation. The human being, from the centre of his own world, is trying to get to know and analyse the surrounding macrocosmos and microcosmos, also part of his environment, in order to discern and create his own mesocosmos. This process of anaysis and synthesis affects human activities related to the human intellect to such an exent that there is not an abstract or real idea, intellectual or mechanical action that does not undergo examination and evaluation. Information, as part of the mesocosmos, within the neosystems, is likewise thrown into confusion.