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Biographical Directory of Documentation and Information Science
About this project
This Biographical Directory of Documentation and Information Science is an international effort to document the lives and contributions of people and organizations who have made substantial contributions to the field.
This resource is designed to enable historical work in the field by identifying pioneering individuals and organizations significant to the development of Information Science, and providing locations of personal papers and archival records related to these individuals and organizations.
List of all pages.
DISCLAIMER: Note that most of the entries are stubs or otherwise need to be improved.
It also includes a list of known oral histories of information scientists.
History
"Pioneers of Information Science" was initiated by Dr. Robert V. Williams, Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina in 1996. The objectives of that project were to locate and document the archives and personal papers of individuals and organizations from the U.S. and Canada that were significant to the development of Information Science and Technology in the 20th century.
From today’s featured article
Brenda Louise Dervin was born in November 20, 1938 in Beverly, MA. She received her BS degree in journalism and home economics and with a minor in philosophy of religion at Cornell University in 1960, then MA and Ph.D. degrees in communication research from Michigan State University in 1971.
She started her career as a public relations assistant for the American Home Economics Association, 1961 to 1962, then worked as a communication specialist at the Center for customer affairs at the University of Wisconsin from 1963 to 1965. During 1966-1967 she was a teaching assistant for the Department of Business Law and Office Administration at Michigan State University. She eventually became a research associate for the Department of Communications, 1966-1970.
Her appointment at the School of Library and Information Sciences at Syracuse University in 1970 began her lifelong interest in library and information sciences before she moved on to the School of Communication at the University of Washington in 1977. Conversations with Richard Carter helped her to develop what has come to be known as Sense-Making Theory and Methodology. In 1986, she moved to Ohio State University where she chaired the Department of Communication before returning to research and teaching.
Contributions and Editorial Policies
We invite contributions from all members of the information science community. We especially seek international contributions. If you would like to write an entry, please read about the scope of the project and create a short article (a stub) that includes the individual or organization that you wish to nominate and submit it to the editors at biographicaleditor at gmail dot com.
See also our Manual of Style [1] and Article Template page.
The wiki is governed by an editorial board who hold all responsibility for the content of the project.