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Pathfinder

A Guide to Information Science History Resources

Revised March 6, 2025.

This short, highly selective introductory guide intended to encourage historical inquiry, to be a concise “how to find out" toolkit, and to reveal possibilities with genre and topical entries and examples.

Scope

ASIST’s traditional interest in documentation and knowledge organization: the history of the discovery, enumeration, description, analysis, and critique of documents (in the broadest sense of physical evidence) and the design and operation of systems to facilitate both access and use. Other topics in “information history” (e.g., origins of writing) and the history of information technology (e.g., technical development of telephony) are excluded unless closely related to ASIS&T’s interests.

How to do history

  • Bacon, Reginald W. 2018. The micro-historian's guide to research, evidence, & conclusions. Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield. Mostly common-sense.
  • National Council on Public History https://ncph.org/
  • National Historical Publications & Records Commission. https://www.archives.gov/nhprc
  • Schrag, Zachary M. 2021. The Princeton guide to historical research. Princeton UP. A lengthy explanation of basics.

General Information Science Guides

Library of Congress. Library and Information Science: Online Resource Guide Introduction. [1]

General Information Science History Texts

General books on IS history are lacking, except for:

  • Lilley, D. B. & R. W. Trice. A history of information science, 1945-1985. Academic Press, 1989. Introductory.

Useful specialized texts include:

  • Farkas-Conn, I. From documentation to information science: The beginnings and early development of the American Documentation Institute--American Society for Information Science. Greenwood Pr., 1990).
  • Bourne, C. P. & T. B. Hahn. A history of online information services, 1963-1976. MIT Pr., 2003. Very detailed.
  • Burke, C. B. America’s information wars: The untold story of information systems in America's conflicts and policies from World War II to the Internet age. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018. A narrative of complex relationships.
  • Historical studies in information science, ed. by T. B. Hahn & M. Buckland. Information Today, 1998. A useful collection of reprinted papers.

Old general textbooks can be useful for historical purposes and also convenient resources for detail on topics that have since been neglected, e.g., for the theory and practice of classification:

  • Mills, J. A modern outline of library classification. Chapman and Hall, 1960.
  • Grolier, E. de. Theorie et pratique des classifications documentaires. EDIT, 1956.

Literature reviews

Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), 1-45 (1966-2011). Excellent. Open access at the HathTrust [2]. Note especially Buckland & Liu (30 (1995): 385-416 (updated in Historical Studies, ed. by Hahn & Buckland (1998: 272-295) [3]; Black (40 (2006): 441-473); and Burke (41 (2007):3-53). Publication of ARIST reviews has been revived in the form of occasional articles in the Journal of ASIST.

  • Schultze, Gertrude. Documentation source book. Scarecrow Press, 1965. Supplement through 1969 (1972).
  • The state of the library art series ed. by Ralph R. Shaw. Graduate School of Library Service, Rutgers – the State University, 1960-61. 5 vols in 9. Some accessible at the HathiTrust [4]
    • v. 1. Technical service. Pt. 1 Cataloging and classification, by M. Tauber. Pt. 2 Subject headings, by Carlyle J. Frarey. Pt. 3-5. Classification systems, by M. Tauber & E. Wise; Gifts, by D. E. Thompson; Exchanges, by D. E. Thompson.
    • v. 2. Reader services. Pt. 1 Training laymen in use of the library, G. S. Bonn. Pt. 2 Bibliographies, indexes and abstracts, by M.t S. Bryant.
    • v. 3. Storage of library materials. Buildings, by R. E. Ellsworth. Shelving, by L. Kaplan. Storage warehouses / by J. Orne.
    • v. 4. Retrieval systems. Notched cards, by F. Reichmann; Feature cards (peek-a-boo cards) by L. S. Thompson. Punched cards, by Ralph Blasingame. Electronic searching, G. Jahoda; Coding in Yes-No form, by D. Hickey.
    • v. 5. Reproduction of materials. Pt. 1. Reproduction of micro-forms, R. Hawkins; Reading devices for micro-images / J. Stewart et al.; Pt. 3. Full-size photocopying, by W. Hawkins.

Scholarly books, encyclopedia articles, and dissertations typically include reviews of prior work. For good book reviews: Journal of documentation (formerly), Information & culture, Library quarterly.

Leading journals on Information Science of historic importance and/or historical focus include:

  • American Documentation (1950-1969), continued as Journal of the American Society for Information Science and its successor names.
  • Bulletin of ASIS(T). (1974-2017). Excellent source for US activities. Vols 1-13 (1974-1987) available at HathiTrust. [5] Vols 22-43 (1995-2017) are in the ASIST Digital Library.
  • Information & culture. Multiple earlier titles, 1974- .
  • Journal of documentary reproduction. 1938-1942. The model for American documentation.
  • Journal of documentation 1945- . Note book reviews (discontinued) and occasional historical reviews and biographical items.

Content analyses, e.g.,

  • Mokhtari, H. 2020. "A bibliometric analysis and visualization of the Journal of documentation: 1945–2018." Journal of documentation 77 no. 1 (2021): 69-92.

Terminology

  • ASIS&T thesaurus of information science, technology, and librarianship, 3rded.[comp. by] A. Redmond-Neal, M. Hlava, & J. L. Milstead. Information Today, Inc. for ASIST, 2005.

Encyclopedias

  • Encyclopedia of library and information sciences. 4th ed. CRC Press, 2018. Online version is updated. Based on the 3rd ed, ed by M. Bates, a thorough revision in 7 dense vols. The 1st ed. in 125 vols, 1968-2003, ed. by A. Kent, is dated but still useful, e.g. Hertzel, D. H. 1987. “History of the development of ideas in bibliometrics”, 42: 144-219.
  • Information: A Historical Companion, ed. A. Blair & others. Princeton UP, 2021. Humanities perspectives.
  • Handbook of information science, by W. G. Stock & M Stock. De Gruyter Saur, 2013.
  • International encyclopedia of information and library science, 2nd ed. by J. Feather & P. Sturges. Routledge, 2003.
  • ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization. In progress. Long, thorough scholarly articles, inc. some biographical articles. Open access [6].
  • Wikipedia. Very useful as a bibliography. Many biographical items, e.g. Fred Kilgour. For non-Anglophone biographies the Wikipedias in other languages are often better.

Bibliographies

  • Library & information science abstracts. Online.
  • Documentation abstracts later Information Science Abstracts 1966-1992. Accessible from EBSCO.
  • Bibliography of the History of Information Science and Technology, 1900-2004. 8th ed, [7]
  • Google Scholar [8]
  • dblp computer science bibliography has extensive lists by author, by journal, by format, & by conference. Indicates open access. Includes some information science. [9]

Chronologies and timelines

  • Chronology of information science and technology Draft, by Robert V. Williams, Jan., 2001. Some links to images of equipment. [10]
  • Chronology of chemical information science. [11]
  • Les outils de repérage de l’information: chronologie. 2016. [12]

Newspapers

Searchable database of U.S. newspapers [13]

Biography

Biographical dictionaries. Note "who's who" publications and professional association membership directories.

  • Dictionary of American Library Biography. Libraries Unlimited, 1978 & supplements 1990 & 2003. Exemplary. Knowledgeable biographical articles with notes on related sources and location of personal papers, but limited to librarians.
  • ASIS Handbook & directory [Title varied.] 1960s on.
  • Who’s Who in Library Service. 1933 [14]; 2nd ed, 1943 [15]; 3rd ed, 1955 [16]; 4th ed, 1966. Later A Biographical directory of librarians in the United States and Canada, 1970.
  • Wikipedia has biographical entries. Foreign language editions important for international coverage.
  • Social Networks and Archival Context [17] International resource for biographical records and archival collections.

Archival finding aids are sometimes excellent biographical sources. In the USA accreditation reports may have detailed faculty vitas.

Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs are still relatively few. Examples include: Paul Otlet (by W. B. Rayward (1975) and A. Wright (2014)); Vannevar Bush (by C. B. Burke (1994)); Emanuel Goldberg by M. K. Buckland (2006)).

Autobiographies

  • Brian C. Vickery. (Univ. of Illinois GSLIS Occasional Papers, 213, 2004). [18]
  • Eugene Power. Edition of one. University Microfilms International, 1990.

Obituaries and appreciations Obituaries are often very useful for factual date and can be found with Web searches. Professional journals and academic websites often have appreciations, e.g. Ray R. Larson. [19]

Women and minorities are sometimes a focus.

  • [Special issues]. Libraries & the cultural record 44, no. 2 (2009) includes "Women Pioneers in the Information Sciences" and "Women Professionals in Documentation in France during the 1930s"; 45, no. 2, (2010) includes papers on Madeline Henderson, Martha Williams, Pauline Atherton Cochrane, and Elfreda Chatman.

Oral histories

The traditional format is a typed and edited transcription. Sometimes audio and video recordings are available. The value of oral histories varies greatly. For good guidance see the Oral History Association website. [20]

  • ourpublicrecords.org [21] offers guidance and links to several sources.
  • The Science History Institute, Philadelphia has good examples [22]
  • ASIST’s oral history program transcripts are temporarily unavailable.

Oral histories are commonly found at the subject’s institution, e.g. Patrick Wilson at University of California, Berkeley Bancroft Library.

Portraits

  • ASIST has a large collection of photos. Not currently accessible.
  • Library Literature indexes portraits in titles covered.

Patterns of research, development and publication

  • West, Martha W. What where we've been says about where we are: Research and Information Science. Paper prepared for the System Development Foundation. Information West, May 1982. Analysis of R&D funding.

Bibliometrics, citation analysis.

  • Hertzel, D. H. "History of the development of ideas in bibliometrics." Encyclopedia of library and information sciences. 1st ed. v. 42 (1987): 144-219.
  • White, H. D., & K. W. McCain. "Visualizing a Discipline: An Author Co-citation Analysis of Information Science, 1972-1995." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 49 (1998): 327-355.

Videos and films

An information science videography is needed.

Institutions

Institutions are ordinarily included in the indexes of scholarly reference works, including ARIST.

  • American Library Association. Library Associations Around the World. [23]

Handbooks, membership lists, and websites often include historical notes, lists of past presidents, oral histories, past publications and/or historical resources:

  • International Federation for Documentation. FID Publications: An 80 Year Bibliography, 1895-1975. (FID 531). FID, 1975.
  • ACM SIGIR List of SIGIR Locations and History includes Cranfield project reports and other classic early material. [24]

Organizations occasionally have a designated archivist, curator, or historian and/or an institutional history, e.g.,

  • Dierking, A. L. A history of the American Society for Information Science. Texas Woman's University. School of Library Science. Papers, 1975. (ERIC report ED116713). [25]
  • Schultz, C. K. & P. L. Garwig. "History of the American Documentation Institute -- A Sketch." American Documentation. 20, n. 2 (Apr1969): 152-160. 9p. DOI: 10.1002/asi.4630200207.
  • Chronik einer wunderbaren Feindschaft - 60 Jahre ÖGDI - 1951 bis 2011. Ed. by Hermann Huemer & Carola Wala. ISBN 10: 3950233717 / ISBN 13: 9783950233711. Österreichische Gesellschaft für Dokumentation und Information. [Austrian society for documentation and information].

Funding agencies typically have rich documentation on recipients of grants, e.g. Council on Library and Information Resources; Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, NY. Note the work of groups interested in IS history, e.g., ASIST SIG HFIS and the Document Academy.

Firms

  • Library of Congress. Doing Company Research: A Resource Guide. [26]
  • Bourne, C. P. & T. B. Hahn. A history of online information services, 1963-1976. MIT Press, 2003.

Government agencies

Note "Freedom of Information" (FOIA) requests [27]. For USA: [28]

  • Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press [29]
  • Williams, R. V. The information systems of international inter-governmental organizations : a reference guide. Ablex, 1998.

Schools Self-study reports for accreditation or internal purposes provide a convenient resource. For Canada and US some are available at the ALA Office for Accreditation [30]

Information Science Technology

  • Punch cards: Their applications to science and industry. 2nd ed., by R. S. Casey & others. Reinhold, 1958.
  • Optical coincidence: [Bob Williams’ Termatrex video.]
  • American National Standards Committee on Library and Information Sciences and Related Publishing Practices, Z39.

Patent search:[31]

  • Sanderson, M. & W. B. Croft. "The History of Information Retrieval Research." Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 100, no. Special Centennial Issue, pp. 1444-1451, 13 May 2012, doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2012.2189916.

Access to literature

The move to open access has greatly extended what is accessible beyond libraries: HathiTrust [32] provides access to most of ASIST’s past publications. Internet Archive Open Library [33] Google Scholar [34] Note the rapid expansion of institutional repositories providing open access to academic work that otherwise published behind pay walls, e.g., University of California escholarship [35]

Archival resources

  • University of Michigan Library. Archives. American Society for Information Science and Technology. Records incl. 1925-2001 [bulk 1937-2000] 185 linear feet in 188 boxes [36]
  • American Library Association Institutional Repository [37]

Notable collections of personal papers included Charles P. Bourne (Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA), Watson Davis (Smithsonian), Paul Otlet (Mundaneum, Mons, Belgium) and Vernon D. Tate (U. of Michigan).

  • To find other collections use Social Networks and Archival Context [38]

US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). [39] NARA Records Schedule [40] American Institute of Physics. Project on the History of Recent Physics in the United States. Notebooks, correspondence, manuscripts : sources for the fuller documentation of the history of physics. 1963.

Preservation

  • Bruce H. Bruemmer and Sheldon Hochheiser. The high-technology company: a historical research and archival guide. Minneapolis: Charles Babbage Institute, Center for the History of Information Processing, University of Minnesota, 1994. [41]

Museums

Lindaman, John. 2020. Step inside the museum of obsolete library science. [42]

Conference proceedings

  • Proceedings of the 1998 Conference on the History and Heritage of Science Information Systems. T. B. Hahn & R. W. Williams, eds. Information Today, 1999.
  • The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technical Information Systems. Proceedings of the 2002 Conference [Philadelphia, Nov. 15-17, 2002]. W. B. Rayward, M. E. Bowden, eds. Information Today, 2004.
  • International Perspectives on the History of Information Science and Technology Worldwide, Baltimore, 2012. Ed. by T. Carbo & T. B. Hahn. Information Today, 2012.
  • European Modernism and the Information Society: informing the present, understanding the past. Ed. W. B. Rayward. Ashgate, 2007.
  • Fondements épistémologiques et théoriques de la science de l’information-documentation. Actes du 11e colloque ISKO France 2017, [ed. by] W. M. El Hadi. ISTE Editions, 2018.

Regional Geographical

It is generally impractical to separate US and Canadian IS from the general literature, but studies of other countries can be found. e.g.

France

  • Fayet-Scribe, Sylvie. Histoire de la documentation en France: culture, science, et technologie de l'information, 1895-1937. CNRS, 2000. Excellent illustrations. [43]
  • Documentaliste [special issue. Vol & date?].
  • Ibekwe-SanJuan, F. La science de l’information: origins, theories et paradigms. Hermes, 2012.

UK

  • Vickery, B. C. Fifty years of information progress: A Journal of Documentation review. Aslib, 1994.

Other European countries

  • European origins of library and information science. Ibekwe, F., ed. Emerald, 2019. France, Yugoslavia, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal.
  • Occasional articles in Education for Information.

Internet Sources

  • Ancestry.com
  • Graham, Mark. 2021. "Tips for using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine in your next investigation". Global Investigative Journalism Network May 5, 2021. [44]
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