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Library science
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Library science is an interdisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation and dissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information.
Historically, library science has also included archival science. This includes how information resources are organized to serve the needs of select user groups, how people interact with classification systems and technology, how information is acquired, evaluated and applied by people in and outside of libraries as well as cross-culturally, how people are trained and educated for careers in libraries, the ethics that guide library service and organization, the legal status of libraries and information resources, and the applied science of computer technology used in documentation and records management.
Academic courses in library science typically include collection management, information systems and technology, research methods, cataloging and classification, preservation, reference, statistics and management.
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Encyclopedia
Library science is an interdisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation and dissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information.
Historically, library science has also included archival science. This includes how information resources are organized to serve the needs of select user groups, how people interact with classification systems and technology, how information is acquired, evaluated and applied by people in and outside of libraries as well as cross-culturally, how people are trained and educated for careers in libraries, the ethics that guide library service and organization, the legal status of libraries and information resources, and the applied science of computer technology used in documentation and records management.
Academic courses in library science typically include collection management, information systems and technology, research methods, cataloging and classification, preservation, reference, statistics and management. Library science is constantly evolving, incorporating new topics like database management, information architecture and Knowledge Management, among others.
There is no generally agreed distinction between the terms library science, librarianship, library and information science and information science, and to a certain extent they are interchangeable, perhaps differing most significantly in connotation. The term library and information science (LIS) is often used; most librarians consider it as only a terminological variation, intended to emphasize the scientific and technical foundations of the subject and its relationship with information science. LIS should not be confused with information theory, the mathematical study of the concept of information. LIS can also be seen as an integration of the two fields library science and information science, which were separate at one point.
A view implied by some textbooks is that librarianship refers to the professional aspects of work as a librarian, such as certification, in-service training, and issues of gender equality.
History
Library and information science, it may be argued, began with the first effort to organize a collection of information and provide access to that information.
Early history
At Ugarit in Syria excavations have revealed a palace library, temple library, and two private libraries which date back to around 1200 BCE, containing diplomatic texts as well as poetry and other literary forms. In the 7th century, King Ashurbanipal of Assyria assembled what is considered "the first systematically collected library" at Nineveh; previous collections functioned more as passive archives. The legendary Library of Alexandria is perhaps the best known example of an early library, flourishing in the 3rd century BC and possibly inspired by Demetrius Phalereus.
Ancient information retrieval
One of the curators of the imperial library in the Han Dynasty is believed to have been the first to establish a library classification system and the first book notation system. At this time the library catalog was written on scrolls of fine silk and stored in silk bags.
19th century
Thomas Jefferson, whose library at Monticello consisted of thousands of books, devised a classification system inspired by the Baconian method which grouped books more or less by subject rather than alphabetically, as it was previously done. Jefferson's collection became the nucleus of the first national collection of the United States when it was transferred to Congress after a fire destroyed the Congressional Library during the War of 1812. The Jefferson collection was the start of what we now know as the Library of Congress.
The first texbook on library science was published 1808 by Martin Schrettinger, followed by books of Johann Georg Seizinger and others.
20th century
In the English speaking world the term "library science" appeared in the early 1930s, in the title of S. R. Ranganathan's The Five Laws of Library Science, published in 1931, and in the title of Lee Pierce Butler's 1933 book, An introduction to library science (University of Chicago Press). Butler's new approach advocated research using quantitative methods and ideas in the social sciences with the aim of using librarianship to address society's information needs. This research agenda went against the more procedure-based approach of "library economy," which was mostly confined to practical problems in the administration of libraries. While Ranganathan's approach was philosophical it was tied more to the day-to-day business of running a library.
In more recent years, with the growth of digital technology, the field has been greatly influenced by information science concepts. Although a basic understanding is critical to both library research and practical work, the area of information science has remained largely distinct both in training and in research interests.
Training in librarianship
Most professional library jobs require a professional post-baccalaureate degree in library science, or one of its equivalent terms, library and information science as a basic credential. In the United States and Canada the certification usually comes from a master's degree granted by an ALA -accredited institution, so even non-scholarly librarians have an originally academic background. In the United Kingdom, however, there have been moves to broaden the entry requirements to professional library posts, such that qualifications in, or experience of, a number of other disciplines have become more acceptable. In Australia, a number of institutions offer degrees accepted by the ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association).
Employment outlook and opportunities
According to U.S. News & World Report, library and information science ranks as one of the "Best Careers of 2008." The median annual salary for 2007 is reported as $51,400 USD in the United States, with additional salary breakdowns available by metropolitan area, with San Francisco coming in the highest with an average salary of $64,400 and Philadelphia the lowest at $48,200. This is up from the median salaries in 2006 as $49,060 reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase can basically be attributed to keeping pace with inflation. A $49,060 salary in 2006 was adjusted to $50,457.33, and while data is not yet posted for 2008, adding the same rate of inflationary increase for 2008 (1.028%) one could project an inflationary salary adjustment as $51,894.46 for the 2008 fiscal year. In December of 2007, the BLS projected growth for the field at "4 percent between 2006 and 2016", which is "slower than the average for all occupations", because, its authors assert, "As electronic resources become more common and patrons and support staff become more familiar with their use, fewer librarians are needed to maintain and assist users with these resources."
Subdisciplines
Subdisciplines of library science include the study of:
- Human Information Behaviors (information-seeking, search strategies, and use)
- Knowledge Organization (which includes bibliographies, cataloging, classification, indexing & abstracting, metadata, semantic & syntactic analysis (controlled vocabularies, etc.))
- Digital libraries
- Collection development
- Personal information management (PIM) (this is becoming an important area of study in library science as more information resources easily flow into personal information spaces)
- Preservation
- Public reference and other services
- Scholarly communication (includes bibliometrics, informetrics, scientometrics, webmetrics)
Types of library science professionals
Librarians in different types of libraries
Public
The study of librarianship for public libraries covers issues such as cataloging; collection development for a diverse community; information literacy; community standards; public services-focused librarianship; serving a diverse community of adults, children, and teens; intellectual freedom; censorship; and legal and budgeting issues.
School
The study of school librarianship covers library services for children in schools up until (including) university. In some regions, the local government may have stricter standards for the education and certification of school librarians (who are often considered a special case of teacher), than for other librarians, and the educational program will include those local standards. School librarianship may also include issues of intellectual freedom; pedagogy; and how to build a cooperative curriculum with the teaching staff.
Academic
The study of academic librarianship covers library services for colleges and universities. Issues of special importance to the field may include copyright; technology, digital libraries, and digital repositories; academic freedom; open access to scholarly works; as well as specialized knowledge of subject areas important to the institution and the relevant reference works.
Some academic librarians are considered faculty, and hold similar academic ranks as professors, while others are not. In either case, the minimal qualification is a Master's degree in Library Studies or Library Science, and, in some cases, a Master's degree in another field.
Archives
The study of archives covers the training of archivists, librarians specially trained to maintain and build archives of records intended for historical preservation. Special issues include physical preservation of materials and mass deacidification; specialist catalogs; solo work; access; and appraisal. Many archivists are also trained historians specializing in the period covered by the archive.
Special
Special librarians include almost any other form of librarianship, including those who serve in medical libraries (and hospitals or medical schools), corporations, news agency libraries, or other special collections. The issues at these libraries will be specific to the industries they inhabit, but may include solo work; corporate financing; specialized collection development; and extensive self-promotion to potential patrons.
Preservation
Preservation librarians most often work in academic libraries. Their focus is on the management of preservation activities that seek to maintain access to content within books, manuscripts, archival materials, and other library resources. Examples of activities managed by preservation librarians include binding, conservation, digital and analog reformatting, digital preservation, and environmental monitoring.
Theory and practice
Many practicing librarians do not contribute to LIS scholarship, but focus on daily operations within their own libraries or library systems. Other practicing librarians, particularly in academic libraries, do perform original scholarly LIS research and contribute to the academic end of the field.
On this basis, it has sometimes been proposed that LIS is distinct from librarianship, in a way analogous to the difference between medicine and doctoring. In this view, librarianship, the application of library science, would comprise the practical services rendered by librarians in their day-to-day attempts to meet the needs of library patrons.
Whether or not individual professional librarians contribute to scholarly research and publication, many are involved with and contribute to the advancement of the profession and of library science and information science through local, state, regional, national and international library or information organizations.
Other uses of these terms do not make the distinction and treat them as synonyms.
Powell's widely used introductory textbook does not make a formal distinction, but its bibliography uses the word librarianship as the heading for articles about the library profession.
Library science is very closely related to issues of knowledge organization, however the latter is a broader term which covers how knowledge is represented and stored (computer science/linguistics), how it might be automatically processed (artificial intelligence), and how it is organized outside the library in global systems such as the internet. In addition, Library science typically refers to a specific community engaged in managing holdings as they are found in university and government libraries, while knowledge organization in general refers to this and also to other communities (such as publishers) and other systems (such as the internet). The Library system is thus one socio-technical structure for knowledge organization
Current issues in LIS
Technical handbooks and guides
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- The Oxford Guide to Library Research (2005) - ISBN 0195189981
See also
External links
- Librarian and Information Science News
- Librarian and Information Science Wire
- Library and Information Science listings
History
- - Exhibition including a sample page from "Catalog of Library of Thomas Jefferson"
- - From the 17th to the 20th century
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- - Biographies of pioneers and famous information scientists
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