Information Science at City University London

Purpose – The paper seeks to introduce a special issue of Aslib Proceedings, which contains a series of papers written by staff and research students at the Department of Information Science, City University London. Design/methodology/approach – This introductory paper introduces the other papers in the special issue and sets them in context. Findings – This editorial argues that the information science discipline, which has always been the focus of City's research and scholarship, is a valid academic discipline with a positive future. Originality/value – The paper points out the particular strengths and historical continuity of the City Information Science Department

Healthcare libraries in Saudi Arabia: Analysis and recommendations

Purpose – The paper aims to gain a detailed understanding of the current health library/information environment in Saudi Arabia, to identify problems, issues, and areas for improvement, to make recommendations for improvement, and to instantiate these in models and prototypes. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed method empirical approach is used in 11 health libraries, including literature survey, institutional profiling, questionnaire, interviews, non-participant observation, and examination of documents. A model for supporting change management in Saudi health libraries is proposed, and a prototype for a Saudi Health Information Network is developed. Findings – The healthcare libraries are well-used, and appreciated by their users, and the staff are generally satisfied with their work. Problems and issues are identified: use of information communication technologies and digital resources; lack of proactive information services; education, training and continuing professional development for health library work; limited strategic planning and policy for these services. Recommendations are made for improvements. Research limitations/implications – The empirical research is limited to health sciences libraries in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The prototype health information network has not been evaluated by users. Practical implications – Recommendations are made to enable the government of Saudi Arabia and its various agencies to support improvements in the existing health sciences libraries and information provision. Originality/value – This is a detailed study of the health library environment in Saudi Arabia, illustrating factors typical of the situation in many other countries. The paper outlines a novel organisational change model and prototype national health information network

Encountering on the road to Serendip? Browsing in new information environments

Considers the continuing relevance of the ideas of browsing, serendipity, information encountering, and literature discovery in a digital information environment

Storing the wisdom: chemical concepts and chemoinformatics

The purpose of the paper is to examine the nature of chemical concepts, and the ways in which they are applied in chemoinformatics systems. An account of concepts in philosophy and in the information sciences leads to an analysis of chemical concepts, and their representation. The way in which concepts are applied in systems for information retrieval and for structure–property correlation are reviewed, and some issues noted. Attention is focused on the basic concepts or substance, reaction and property, on the organising concepts of chemical structure, structural similarity, periodicity, and on more specific concepts, including two- and three-dimensional structural patterns, reaction types, and property concepts. It is concluded that chemical concepts, despite (or perhaps because of) their vague and mutable nature, have considerable and continuing value in chemoinformatics, and that an increased formal treatment of concepts may have value in the future

HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES FOR NONMETROPOLITAN AMERICA

Labor and Human Capital,

"Transmitted as never before": the communication revolution and the green infrastructure, 1830 - 1880

A presentation given at an international symposium on 'The Genesis of the Green Infrastructure', celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted. This presentation reviews developments in information and communications technologies, and associated legislation and infrastructure, during the period 1830-1880, in the context of the development of the green infrastructure, particularly public parks. Focusing on developments in 'steam-powered knowledge', including transport by ship and train, publishing and printing, and communication through the telegraph and through national and international postal services, the ways in which these were used by landscape designers and horticulturalists are outlined. It is noted that this group were among the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of the new information environment. Four main channels are considered: visits; personal correspondence; specialist publications, including books and journals; and general publications including newspapers and magazines. Topics given special attention are: improved technology for illustrations in publications; international, and especially transatlantic, publishing; the importance for the subject at that time of newspapers and illustrated magazines. These are exemplified inter alia by the works of park designers Edward Kemp and Frederick Law Olmsted, the publishers Bradbury and Evans, and the Illustrated London News. Suggestions for further research, by archive study and by social network analysis, are made. The presentation can be viewed in session 4 of the symposium at https://birkenhead-park.org.uk/international-conference/ and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96RLF3hOlX0

Into the infosphere: theory, literacy, and education for new forms of document

Coming changes in the information environment, particularly the infosphere and immersive documents are briefly reviewed, and their significance for library/information science considered, with a focus on topics addressed in the writings of Tatjana Aparac-Jelušić. Issues analysed include the nature of these new developments, new models of information behaviour and information literacy, consequences for education and professional training, and the relation between theory and practice

Conceptions of “information poverty” in LIS: a discourse analysis

Purpose – To provide an analysis of the notion of “information poverty” in library and information science (LIS) by investigating concepts, interests and strategies leading to its construction and thus to examine its role as a constitutive element of the professional discourse. Design/methodology/approach – Starting from a Foucauldian notion of discourse, “information poverty” is examined as a statement in its relation to other statements in order to highlight assumptions and factors contributing to its construction. The analysis is based on repeated and close reading of 35 English language articles published in LIS journals between 1995 and 2005. Findings – Four especially productive discursive procedures are identified: economic determinism, technological determinism and the “information society”, historicising the “information poor”, and the library profession’s moral obligation and responsibility. Research limitations/implications – The material selection is linguistically and geographically biased. Most of the included articles originate in English-speaking countries. Therefore, results and findings are fully applicable only in an English language context. Originality/value – The focus on overlapping and at times conflicting discursive procedures, i.e. the results of alliances and connections between statements, highlights how the “information poor” emerge as a category in LIS as the product of institutionally contingent, professional discourse. By challenging often unquestioned underlying assumptions, this article is intended to contribute to a critical examination of LIS discourse, as well as to the analysis of the discourses of information, which dominate contemporary society. It is furthermore seen to add to the development of discourse analytical approaches in LIS research

Super-science, fundamental dimension, way of being: Library and information science in an age of messages. With critique from Rafael Capurro

This is a blog post containing the somewhat revised text of a chapter published in a Festschrift for Rafael Capurr, with comments from Capurro on our chapter

Impact of digital information resources in the toxicology literature

Purpose – The purpose of the study reported here was to assess the degree to which new forms of web-based information and communication resources impact on the formal toxicology literature, and the extent of any change between 2000 and 2005. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of an empirical examination of the full content of four toxicology journals for the year 2000 and for the year 2005, with analysis of the results, comparison with similar studies in other subject areas, and with a small survey of the information behaviour of practising toxicologists. Findings – Scholarly communication in toxicology has been relatively little affected by new forms of information resource (weblogs, wikis, discussion lists, etc.). Citations in journal articles are still largely to “traditional” resources, though a significant increase in the proportion of web-based material being cited in the toxicology literature has occurred between 2000 and 2005, from a mean of 3 per cent to a mean of 19 per cent. Research limitations/implications – The empirical research is limited to an examination of four journals in two samples of one year each. Originality/value – This is the only recent study of the impact of new ICTs on toxicology communication. It adds to the literature on the citation of digital resources in scholarly publications