Introduction: Along with leading to growth in the numbers of people doing information work, the increasing role of information in our contemporary society has led to an explosion of new information professions as well. The labels for these fields can be confusing and overlapping, and what does and does not constitute an information profession has…

Although cited reference studies are common in the library and information science literature, they are rarely performed in nonacademic institutions or in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences. In this paper, we analyze more than 400,000 cited references made by authors affiliated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration between…

The purpose of this study was to explore and investigate the ways faculty at The School of Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh, obtain information to support their academic tasks. Library and Information Sciences faculty at the University of Pittsburgh were chosen as the population for this study. The study matched e-journals,…

Discusses a variety of topics and their implications for library and information science professionals and their education. Highlights include the nature of science; contingency theories; the assumptions of sociology; the approach of symbolic interaction; recent scholarship on organizations; and the advantages of qualitative research methods.…

The library and information science field is currently confronted with difficult decisions about how best to allocate acquisition expenditures among increasingly expensive journals. This article measures the return-on-investment of serial expenditures through the use of citation analysis, which is a widely used approach to ascertaining journal…

While increasing the diversity of the library profession has been a long-running concern of Library and Information Science (LIS), the diversity of LIS doctoral students and faculties has received far less attention. This paper argues that libraries will be best equipped to provide inclusive services and outreach to diverse populations when LIS…

Reviews the goals and methods of research and development in documentation, stressing research which aims to improve the communication between the information user and source. Research is discussed within the context of the documentation system rather than by specific results. (JVP)

Reviews literature on digital libraries (DLs) by examining its conceptions; concepts related to social informatics; researchers exploring DL social informatics; methods of DL design; social aspects of DL infrastructure and use; and research approaches to DL social informatics. Presents questions for further research and discusses social and…

Describes three aspects of the roles of Canadian schools of library and information science in international programs: (1) foreign students in Canadian programs; (2) international collaborative projects by Canadian schools; and (3) projects of individual Canadian faculty. Cooperative projects in the areas of libraries, archives, information…

For well over a decade, the "graying" of the library profession has been the subject of much discussion. To examine this issue the Library Research Service (LRS) initiated the study, "Retirement, Retention, and Recruitment: The Future of Librarianship in Colorado." During the last quarter of 2003, 1,241 librarians,…

Describes a variety of institutions and groups that affect promulgation of library standards, including standards organizations (American National Standards Institute, International Organization for Standardization); library associations (American Library Association); national and international committees, government agencies (National Bureau of…

Describes British Library's work on Systems Dynamics, a set of techniques for building simulation models based on analysis of information feedback loops. Highlights include macro-simulation modelling activities of social science disciplines, systems analyses and models of information retrieval processes and library services, policy models, and…