Portal:Library and information science

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The Library and Information Science Portal

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.

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Censorship is the removal or withholding of information from the public by a controlling group or body. Typically censorship is done by governments, religious groups, or the mass media, although other forms of censorship exist. The withholding of official secrets, commercial secrets, intellectual property, and privileged lawyer-client communication is not usually described as censorship when it remains within reasonable bounds. Because of this, the term "censorship" often carries with it a sense of untoward, inappropriate or repressive secrecy.

Censorship is closely related to the concepts of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. When overused, it is often associated with human rights abuse, dictatorship and repression.

The term "censorship" is often used as a pejorative term to signify a belief that a group controlling certain information is using this control improperly or for its own benefit, or preventing others from accessing information that should be made readily accessible (often so that conclusions drawn can be verified).

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“ So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court or the Senate or the House of Representatives or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries. ” — Kurt Vonnegut, In These Times(August 26, 2004)

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[[Image:‎|125px|Mayme Agnew Clayton]] Mayme Agnew Clayton (August 4, 1923 – October 13, 2006) was a librarian, and the Founder, President & Spiritual Leader of the Western States Black Research and Education Center (WSBREC), the largest privately held collection of African-American historical materials in the world. The collection represents the core holdings of the Mayme A. Clayton Library Museum and Cultural Center (MCL) located in Culver City, California.

Over the course of 45 years, Clayton single-handedly and with her own resources, collected more than 30,000 rare and out-of-print books. The collection is considered one of the most important for African-American materials. Her collecting grew from her work as a librarian, first at the University of Southern California and later at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she began to build an African-American collection. Clayton, an avid golfer, traveled for her sport, trolling for rare finds wherever she went. The centerpiece of the collection that grew this way is a signed copy of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, from 1773. First published by an American of African descent, the book was acquired for $600 from a New York dealer in 1973. In 2002 it was appraised at $30,000.

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In the news

April 4, 2007 - Noted information retrieval expert Karen Spärck Jones dies.(Univ. of Cambridge)

March 23, 2007 - University of Michigan School of Information announces first U.S. Master's degree specialization in Social Computing.(PR Newswire)

March 22, 2007 - Child Online Protection Act ruled unconstitutional by United States federal judge.(ZDNet)

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Image credit: Destitute

Known for its Romanesque architecture, which also incorporates elements of Moorish and Byzantine architecture, Powell Library is the main undergraduate library at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Did you know...

...that a design for the Hoyt Library (pictured) in Saginaw, Michigan, rejected as too monumental, wasteful of space, and not functional as a library, was used to build the Public Library of New Orleans in Louisiana?
...that the Church of Scientology attempted to ban the non-fiction book Scientology: The Now Religion in Canadian libraries during 1974?
...that the 22 Bodmer Papyri from a fifth-century Egyptian monastic library near Nag Hammadi contain three plays by Menander and fragments of the Iliad, as well as early versions of the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of John?
...that a major source for Greek mythology, the first Vatican Mythographer, survives in a single text in the Vatican Library?