Pathfinder

A Guide to Information Science History Resources.

[square brackets] to be deleted.]

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

• 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. Useful specialized texts include: Farkas-Conn, I. From documentation to information science (Greenwood Pr., 1990). Bourne, C. P. & T. B. Hahn A history of online information services, 1963-1976. (MIT Pr., 2003) Burke, C. B. America’s information wars. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018). Historical studies in information science, ed. by T. B. Hahn & M. Buckland. Information Today, 1998. A useful collections 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). Most vols are on open access at https://www.hathitrust.org/. Note especially Buckland & Liu (30 (1995): 385-416 (updated in Historical Studies, ed. by Hahn & Buckland (1998: 272-295) http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/histis98.pdf ; Black (40 (2006): 441-473); and Burke (41 (2007):3-53). Schultze, Gertrude. Documentation source book. NY: (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 https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010597416

  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 book reviews: Journal of documentation, Information & culture, Library quarterly.

Leading journals on Information Science of historic importance and/or historical focus [Separate?] American Documentation later Journal of ASIS /ASIST, 1950- Bulletin of ASIS/ASIST. Information & culture (multiple earlier titles), 1974- . Journal of documentary reproduction 1938-1942. The model for American documentation. Journal of documentation 1945- . Note book reviews and occasional historical reviews and biographical items. Needed: Guide to past ADI, ASIS & ASIST publications with access details. 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. Medford, N.J.: Information Today, Inc. for ASIST, 2005.

Encyclopedias Encyclopedia of library and information sciences. 4th ed. CRC Press, 2018. Online version is updated. 3rd ed, ed by M. Bates, was 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 perspective. International encyclopedia of information and library science, 2nd ed. by J. Feather & P. Sturges. Routledge, 2003. ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization. https://www.isko.org/cyclo/index.html Wikipedia has a few biographical items, e.g. Paul Otlet, Suzanne Briet. NEED: Enrichment of the Wikipedia.

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, https://www.asist.org/about/history-of-information-science/bibliography-of-the-history-of-information-science-and-technology/

Chronologies and timelines: Chronology of information science and technology Draft, by Robert V. Williams, Jan., 2001. Some links to images of equipment. https://www.asist.org/about/history-of-information-science/chronology-of-information-science-and-technology/ Chronology of chemical information science https://www.asist.org/about/history-of-information-science/chronology/ Les outils de repérage de l’information: chronologie 2016. https://formadist.hypotheses.org/25

Newspapers Searchable database of U.S. newspapers https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Biography Biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs are 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)). Autobiography, e.g. Brian C. Vickery. (Univ. of Illinois GSLIS Occasional Papers, 213, 2004). http://hdl.handle.net/2142/3808 ASIST. Pioneers of Information Science. [Temporarily only partly available. https://www.asist.org/about/history-of-information-science/pioneers-of-information-science/ Appreciations, e.g. Ray R. Larson. https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2017/tribute-ray-larsons-academic-life Dictionary of American Library Biography (1978 & 2 supplements) is an excellent model, knowledgeable biographical articles with notes on related sources and location of personal papers, e.g. Jesse H. Shera (First supplement, 119-123) and Vernon D. Tate (Second Supplement 209-211) but few information scientists. Women Pioneers in the Information Sciences. Libraries & the cultural record 44, no. 2 (2009) & 45, no. 2, (2010). Encyclopedias and the Wikipedia have some biographical articles. Obituaries and appreciations can often be found in professional journals and academic websites. Membership directories and who’s who-type directories where available: ASIS Handbook & directory [Title varied.] 1960s on. Who’s Who in Library Service (multiple editions, 1933-1966). NEED: Biographical index significant figures in IS and resources for them.

Portraits ASIST has a large collection of photos. Not currently accessible. Library Literature indexes portraits in the limited range of titles covered.

Patterns of research, development and publication -R&D analysis 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.

-Citation analyses, bibliometrics 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, Howard D., & Katherine 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 [Bob Williams Termatrex.] [? ASIST IS theater?] [Youtube?] NEED: IS history videography.

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 https://www.oralhistory.org/resources/.Good examples at https://www.sciencehistory.org/oral-history-projects 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. An international checklist of oral histories relevant to IS history is in preparation.

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

-Associations and communities American Library Association. Library Associations Around the World. https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/iro/intlassocorgconf/libraryassociations Handbooks, membership lists, and websites often include historical notes, e,g., ASIS. Handbook and directory 1968-69 lists past presidents. Associations sometimes provide lists of past publications and/or historical resources: International Federation for Documentation. FID Publications: An 80 Year Bibliography, 1985-1975. (FID 531). FID, 1975. ACM SIGIR List of SIGIR Locations and History https://sigir.org/general-information/history/ includes Cranfield project reports and other classic early material. Organizations occasionally have a designated archivist, curator, or historian and an institutional history, e.g., Farkas-Conn, I. 1990. From documentation to information science: the beginnings and early development of the American Documentation Institute-American Society for Information Science. New York : Greenwood Press. [? Used to be on ASIST website] 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). http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED116713.pdf 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. https://guides.loc.gov/company-research Bourne, C. P. & T. B. Hahn A history of online information services, 1963-1976. (MIT Press, 2003) NEED: A directory of firms noteworthy of IS history and sources for them.

- Government agencies Williams, R. V. The information systems of international inter-governmental organizations : a reference guide. Stamford, CT: Ablex, c1998. [ADD Guidance on FOIA requests?]

-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 http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/accreditedprograms/resourcesforprogramadministrators/onlinepp Institutions are ordinarily included in the indexes of scholarly reference works, including ARIST. NEED: Encourage access to self-studies. [Example of an IS school history?]

Information Science Technology Punch cards: Punch cards: Their applications to science and industry, 2 nd ed., by R. S. Casey & others. Optical coincidence: Bob Williams’ Termatrex video. Standards: American National Standards Committee on Library and Information Sciences and Related Publishing Practices, Z39. Council of National Library Associations. Patent search: https://patents.google.com/ US Patent & Trademark Office. https://www.uspto.gov/patents/search 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 https://www.hathitrust.org/ provides access to most of ASIST’s past publications. Internet Archive Open Library https://scholar.archive.org/ Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/

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 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umich-scl-asis?subview=standard;view=reslist American Library Association Institutional Repository https://alair.ala.org/handle/11213/19812 e.g. Journal of Documentary Reproduction. To find collections use Social Networks and Archival Context https://snaccooperative.org/ 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). NARA https://www.archives.gov/research NARA Records Schedule https://www.archives.gov/about/records-schedule 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. What to do to preserve collections … 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. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002982533 NEED: Guidance on ensuring preservation of archival papers and use of archival collections. A checklist of archival resources relating to IS.

Museum Lindaman, John. 2020. Step inside the museum of obsolete library science. https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2020/molisci? Conference proceedings T. B. Hahn & R. W. Williams, eds. 1999. Proceedings of the 1998 Conference on the History and Heritage of Science Information Systems. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 3-7. 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. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2004. International Perspectives on the History of Information Science and Technology Worldwide, Baltimore, 2012. Ed. by Toni Carbo and Trudi Bellardo Hahn. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2012. European Modernism and the Information Society: informing the present, understanding the past, ed. W. Boyd Rayward. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2007.

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. 2000. Histoire de la documentation en France: culture, science, et technologie de l'information, 1895-1937. CNRS, 2000. excellent illustrations. Available open access online. Fondements épistemologiques et théoriques de la science de l’information-documentation. Actes du colloque ISKO France 2017, [ed. by] W. Mustafa El Hadi. ISTE, 2018. 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: Ibekwe, F., ed European origins of library and information science. Emerald, 2019. France, Yugoslavia, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal. Occasional articles in Education for Information. NEED: Identification, creation, updating of studies and bibliographies for all countries and regions.

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. https://gijn.org/2021/05/05/tips-for-using-the-internet-archives-wayback-machine-in-your-next-investigation/

ADD https://ourpublicrecords.org/interview-elderly-relatives/ leads to several sources.