Library and information science: practice, theory, and philosophical basis

This paper presents different facets or aspects of Library and Information Science (LIS) from a theoretical and philosophical perspective. It begins with the presentation of different attitudes towards LIS and the divergence between LIS as a knowledge producing and knowledge utilizing area. It goes on to discuss the different labels for the discipline, its institutional affiliations and some technology driven paradigms. Fields of LIS practices, examples of concrete research problems and the fundamental concepts are introduced as are subareas, theories, related disciplines, and approaches (“paradigms”/metatheories). Also a short presentation of research methods and basic philosophical assumptions is included.