Considers the meanings of the terms document, documentation, information, information retrieval, and information science. Discusses the theoretical orientations of the discipline and how they are linked to epistemological assumptions, as well as the concept of memory institutions. (Contains 38 references.) (Author/LRW)

Presents different aspects of library and information science (LIS) from a theoretical and philosophical perspective. Topics include attitudes toward LIS; knowledge production versus knowledge utilization; specialists versus generalists; institutional affiliations; technology-driven paradigms; theoretical models; related disciplines; and research…

This programmatic article formulates a new approach to information science: domain analysis. Highlights include a literature review of pertinent research; transdisciplinary tendencies in the understanding of knowledge, including artificial intelligence; domain analysis compared to other theories, including the cognitive approach; and examples of…

Analyzes the theoretical and the epistemological assumptions of information science. Topics include users and cognition; subject analysis; methods of classification; composition, semantics, and retrieval; the meaning of information; the typology of documents; information selection and research evaluation; and information specialists and…

Reviews the status of the concept of information in information science, with reference to interdisciplinary trends. Highlights include defining scientific terms; studies and sources of the word information; the concept of information in the natural sciences, and in the humanities and social sciences; librarianship; information retrieval; and the…

Argues that indexing and classification schemes rely on an understanding of "subject" and discusses several different conceptions of subject as epistemological positions. It is further argued that a theory of subject must be based in a theory of knowledge, and a theory based on a realistic/materialistic epistemology is proposed. (39…

In information science, it is important to consider the nature and meaning of theories of aboutness, subject analysis and related concepts, which are closely related to theoretical and metatheoretical issues in information retrieval (IR). A theory of IR must specify which concepts should be regarded as synonymous concepts and explain how the…

Presents a socio-cognitive perspective in relation to information science and information retrieval. Topics include differences between traditional cognitive views and socio-cognitive views; a comparison of behaviorism, cognitivism, psychoanalysis, and neuroscience as approaches in psychology; information needs; relevance criteria; and…