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Library and information science (LIS) is the study of issues related to libraries. This includes academic studies (most often surveys) about how library resources are used and how people interact with library systems. These studies tend to be specific to certain libraries at certain times. The organization of knowledge for efficient retrieval of relevant information is also a major research goal of LIS. Basic topics in LIS include the acquisition, cataloging, classification, and preservation of library materials. In a more present-day view, a fervent outgrowth of LIS is information architecture. LIS should not be confused with information theory, the mathematical study of the concept of information.
LIS is distinct from librarianship, which is the practical services rendered by librarians in their day-to-day attempt to meet the needs of library patrons. Librarianship tends not to create new LIS knowledge, nor to strive to advance any field or discipline. Librarians only rarely engage in LIS research, and then usually outside their jobs as librarians. But the study of LIS is part of the requisite training of librarians. This difference between LIS and librarianship creates tension between academics and practitioners in that the academicians stress original research and the publishing of that research while the people hiring librarians want someone who can run a library efficiently. The balance of theory and practice differs from one educational institution to the next.
The term library and information science should not be broken into these separate pieces. LIS is a hybrid academic field that grew from library schools' fight for survival in the electronic age. The politics of academia, issues of status and prestige, issues of perceived obsolescence and other forces created these programs. Programs in LIS are interdisciplinary, overlapping with the fields of computer science, various social sciences, statistics, and systems' analysis.
The field of LIS is not defined by its output of information specialists (usually librarians), but by the "information specialists" who remain in academia teaching and doing research, by its literature, its journals and all the other ways in which an academic discipline is defined, the study of which, by the way, falls within the scope of LIS.
Important LIS institutions and resources:
- American Library Association, http://www.ala.org/
- OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), http://www.oclc.org/
- Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/
- International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), http://www.ifla.org
- Council on Library and Information Resources, http://www.clir.org/
- University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/
- Long Island University Palmer School of Library and Information Science, http://palmer.cwpost.liu.edu/
- University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies, http://www.slis.ualberta.ca/
- University of Texas at Austin School of Information, http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/
- Digital Library of Information Science and Technology http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/
- The National Information Standards Organization (http://www.niso.org)
- Indiana University School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), http://www.slis.indiana.edu/
- McGill University Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, http://www.gslis.mcgill.ca/
- Syracuse University School of Information Studies, http://www.ist.syr.edu/
- University of Michigan School of Information, http://www.si.umich.edu/
- University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, http://www2.sis.pitt.edu/
- Clarion University of Pennsylvania Department of Library Science, http://www.clarion.edu/libsci/
- University of California, Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems, http://sims.berkeley.edu/
- University of Washington Information School, http://www.ischool.washington.edu/
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, http://www.ils.unc.edu/
- University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences, http://www.unt.edu/slis/
- Dominican University (River Forest, IL) Graduate School of Library and Information Science, http://www.dom.edu/gslis/
- University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/
- Simmons College Graduate School of Library & Information Science, http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/
- University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science, http://www.sir.arizona.edu/
- Emporia State University (KS) School of Library and Information Management, http://slim.emporia.edu
- University at Albany, State University of New York School of Information Science & Policy, http://www.albany.edu/sisp/
- University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/index_MSIE.htm
- Canadian Library Association, http://www.cla.ca/
- Australian Library and Information Association, http://www.alia.org.au/
- American Society for Information Science and Technology, http://www.asis.org/
Some current LIS issues:
External links
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