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The Library and Information Science Portal

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Introduction

Library science and information science are two closely-related and often intersecting disciplines that deal primarily with the organization and retrieval of information.

Library science is an interdisciplinary social science incorporating the humanities, law and applied science and studying topics related to libraries; the collection, organization and dissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information. Library science has also historically included archival science, although a conceptual distinction between libraries and archives has evolved over time.

Amongst the varied topics of study that fall within library science: 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. Library science is constantly evolving, incorporating new topics like database management, information architecture and knowledge management.

Information science (also referred to as information studies) is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information. Information science studies the application and usage of knowledge in organizations, and the interaction between people, organizations and information systems. It is often, though not exclusively, studied as a branch of computer science or informatics and is closely related to the cognitive and social sciences.

...More about library science More about information science...
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Selected article

The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) comprise a thesaurus (in the information technology sense) of subject headings, maintained by the United States Library of Congress, for use in bibliographic records. LC Subject Headings are an integral part of bibliographic control, which is the function by which libraries collect, organize and disseminate documents. LCSHs are applied to every item within a library’s collection, and facilitate a user’s access to items in the catalogue that pertain to similar subject matter. If users could only locate items by ‘title’ or other descriptive fields, such as ‘author’ or ‘publisher’, they would have to expend an enormous amount of time searching for items of related subject matter, and undoubtedly miss locating many items because of the ineffective and inefficient search capability.

The Subject Headings are published in five large red volumes, which are typically displayed in the reference sections of research libraries. They may also be searched online in the Library of Congress Classification Web, a subscription service, or free of charge at Library of Congress Authorities. The Library of Congress issues weekly updates. Once a library user has found the right subject headings, they are an excellent resource for finding relevant material in your library catalogue.

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Selected quote

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

T. S. Eliot, Choruses from 'The Rock'
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Selected biography

Thomas Bodley
Sir Thomas Bodley (March 2, 1545January 28, 1613), was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. He determined, he said, "to take his farewell of state employments and to set up his staff at the library door in Oxford." In 1598 his offer to restore the old library was accepted by the university. Bodley not only used his private fortune in this undertaking, but induced many of his friends to make valuable gifts of books. In 1611 he began its permanent endowment, and at his death, the greater part of his fortune was left to it.
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In the news

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Selected picture

Image credit: West London Dweller
Over 2500 Carnegie libraries, such as this one in Brentford, United Kingdom, were built with funds granted by Scottish-American businessman Andrew Carnegie.
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Topics in library and information science

General Structure Storage/ retrieval Society


Institutions Scientometrics Informatics Preservation




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