The seminar provides a theoretical foundation for understanding library and information science, broadly construed, including questions surrounding collection development, preservation, classification, archives, information policy, and the information professions. Particular emphasis is given to the larger framework of cultural informatics and critical information studies, as well as the history of the field. Ethical issues and research methods are also discussed. Three hours of field observation is required.

Theories of Information Syllabus (Fall 2012)

Assignments

• #LIStheory Twitter discussion (30%)
• Current issues articles (3 x 10%)
• Research paper (40%)

Previous readings

• Bates, Marcia J. (2005). “An Introduction to Metatheories, Theories, and Models,” in Theories of Information Behavior, eds. Karen E. Fisher, Sandra Erdelez, and Lynne (E. F.) McKechnie. Medford, N.J.: ASIST Monograph Series
• André Cossette, Humanism and Libraries: An Essay on the Philosophy of Librarianship, trans. Rory Litwin (Library Juice, 2009)
• Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith (Vintage, 1972)
• Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Harvard, 1970)
• Alison Lewis, ed. Questioning Library Neutrality: Essays from Progressive Librarian (Library Juice, 2008)
• Nauratil, Marcia J. (1989). The Alienated Librarian. New York: Greenwood Press