Introduction to Library and

Information Science (5501)

By: Sanila Aslam
 Unit 2

Information Science Evolution

 Library Science Information Science

• Library Science is the study of collecting, • Information Science is the study of processes for
preserving, and cataloging books and other storing and retrieving information, esp scientific or
documents in libraries. technical information.

• Library Science is concerned with the logistics and • Information Science is concerned with the content
management of documents. of these documents and the work tasks of users
including problem solving and decision-making.

• The management aspects of librarianship have • information science is concerned primarily with
traditionally been concerned with the personnel of the relationship between content of document and
libraries and with maintaining good working the Work tasks of users.
relations.
 What is Evolution?
Evolution mean “the gradual development of something”.
Evolution is the way that living things change over time.
• The first person who explained how evolution happens was Charles Darwin with his scientific
theory of natural selection.
• The theory of evolution by natural selection, first formulated in Darwin's book "On the Origin of
Species" in 1859, is the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in
heritable physical or behavioral traits. Changes that allow an organism to better adapt to its
environment will help it survive and have more offspring.
The theory of evolution has two main points:
• All life on earth is connected and related to each other.
• And this diversity of life came about because of modifications in populations that were driven by
natural selection.
 Information science Characteristics relates to Evolution
Information science has three general characteristics relates to its evolution and very

existence.

• First, information science is interdisciplinary in nature, however, the relations with other

disciplines are changing.

• Second, information science is inexorably connected to information technology. In a broader sense,

a technological imperative is impelling the evolution of the modem society into 'information

society,' information age' or 'postindustrial society.‘

• Third, information science is, with many other fields, an active and deliberate participant in the

evolution of the information society.

 Origin and Importance of Information Science
• Like many other interdisciplinary fields (e.g., computer science, operations research), information
science has its origin in the field of the scientific and technical revolution following the Second World
War.

• Scientists and engineers around the globe, and most importantly governments and funding agencies in
many countries, as well as international bodies, listened and acted. In the U.S., the Congress and other
government agencies approved during the 1950's and 1960's a number of strategic programs that funded
large scale efforts to control the information explosion first in science and technology and then in all
other fields. Private enterprises joined in. Eventually, these programs and efforts were responsible for
development and concepts behind the modern information industry.
 To be continued…
• The original strategic reasoning for support of these programs and efforts was as follows: since science and
technology are most critical for the society (e.g, for the economy, health, commerce, defense), it is also
critical to provide means for supplying relevant information to individuals, groups and organizations
engaged in science and technology, since information is one of the most important fuels to achieve and
sustain progress in these areas.
• Later, this justification, based on strategic importance of information, was extended to all fields, all human
endeavors, and all kinds of enterprises. This justification was and is applied globally.
• Presently, it reappeared among others in efforts in companies or agencies to provide "competitive or
strategic intelligence," and in a number of information programs of the European Community and of many
countries.
• The evolution of information science in different countries or regions may have followed a different
timetable or priorities, but the basic justification and concepts are the same globally; the drumbeat for
information science is the same all over the world.
 Evolution Of Interdisciplinary Relations

Interdisciplinary relations between information science and four fields:

librarianship, computer science, cognitive science (including artificial intelligence - AI), and
communication. Obviously, other fields have also interdisciplinary relations with information science, but
none have evolved as yet to be as pronounced and significant as the relations with the four.

Librarianship
Librarianship has a long and proud history, going back some three millennia, devoted to organization,
preservation, and use of human graphic records. This is done through libraries not only as a particular
organization or type of information system, but even more so as an indispensable social, cultural, and
educational institution whose value has been proven manifold throughout human history, and across all
boundaries of different cultures, civilizations, nations, or times.
 To be continued…
The common ground between library science and information science, which is a strong one, is in
the sharing of their social role and in their general concern with the problems of effective utilization
of graphic records.
But there are also very significant differences in several critical respects, among them in:
(1) selection of problems addressed and in the way they were defined;
(2) theoretical questions asked and frameworks established;
(3) the nature and degree of experimentation and empirical development and the resulting practical
knowledge/competencies derived;
(4) tools and approaches used; and
(5) the nature and strength of interdisciplinary relations established and the dependence of the
progress and evolution on interdisciplinary approaches.
All of these differences warrant the conclusion that librarianship and information science
are two different fields in a strong interdisciplinary relation, rather than one and the same field, or
one being a special case of the other.
 Conclusion
• While information science and librarianship are great allies, to the point that the term "library and
information science" is assumed by many to describe one and the same field, the reality is that
differences described above. The relationship is there, and it is still evolving.
• Library Science is concerned with the logistics and management of documents.
• Information Science is concerned with the content of these documents and the work tasks of users
including problem solving and decision-making.
• The library is the laboratory of the information scientist. Information scientists are educators and teach
users how to solve problems and retrieve information. Be skillfully submitting relevant information to
the user, the information scientists is changing the cognitive operations of the user.
• There is more than enough information the world to solve social, scientific and technical problems. The
information specialist must just bring it together at the right time for the right people and the right
problems.