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Discourse analysis is powerful tool for improving the efficiency of library and information science-based systems. This approach is capable of characterizing the structure of the language used in such systems in two forms, namely, as a code and as a social phenomenon. Discourse analysis can therefore be employed in the study of a wide range of disciplines. including political and social topics.

The American Chemical Society (ACS), led by past-president William F. Carroll, Jr., undertook a major analysis of the present and future of the chemical enterprise. Carroll presented the preliminary findings [...]

This article describes the chemical properties, discovery, and research into lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.

This poster presents the preliminary results of the study on information needs and information seeking behavior of Mongolian scholars, which was conducted in the summer of 2006

The concept of social capital has become a popular area of research in many social science fields, including public policy, political science, economics, community development, sociology, anthropology, and education. Increasingly, it has been used as the conceptual framework for research in the area of information studies including such topics as knowledge integration Bhandar, Pan & Tan, 2007, knowledge sharing Huysman & Wulf, 2006, access to information by the homeless Hersberger, 2003, community informatics Williams and Durrance, in press, and information seeking behavior Johnson, in press. The concept has an ideological foundation in the theories of Pierre Bourdieu 1980, with two divergent approaches to its study emerging during the last two decades: one focusing on social capital as a collective asset and the other regarding it as an individual asset. The main proponent of the first approach is political scientist Robert Putnam who defines social capital as inhering in the “dense networks of social interaction” which foster “sturdy norms of generalized reciprocity and encourage the emergence of social trust” Putnam, 1995, p. 66. Social network analysts, on the other hand, view social capital as resources to which individuals have access through their social relationships. Nan Lin, who is the main proponent of this approach, defines social capital as “resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed andor mobilized in purposive actions” Lin, 2001a, p. 12. While the concept of social capital may be operationalized differently depending on the point of view of the researcher, its value to information science research is in providing a framework within which to understand the relationship between social structure and information access.Participants in this panel will discuss social capital from various vantage points, including the role of social capital in solidifying power relationships, the effect of recent government policies on reducing social capital, and the relationship between social capital and the use of libraries and information technology. The intent of the panel is to clarify the meanings of social capital and to demonstrate how the concept may be used in information science research.