Journal of Documentation: Volume 61 Issue 1

Library and information science and the philosophy of science

Birger Hjørland

The purpose of this article is to introduce the special issue of Journal of Documentation about library and information science (LIS) and the philosophy of science.

Critical realism as a philosophy and social theory in information science?

Marianne Wikgren

The philosophical position known as critical realism is briefly introduced, and some of its central features are used to connect the philosophy and the realist social theory to…

Pragmatism, neo‐pragmatism and sociocultural theory: Communicative participation as a perspective in LIS

Olof Sundin, Jenny Johannisson

To show that the neo‐pragmatist position of Richard Rorty, when combined with a sociocultural perspective, provides library and information science (LIS) with a forceful…

Phenomenology and information studies

John M. Budd

To examine work on phenomenology and determine what information studies can learn and use from that work.

Structuralism, post‐structuralism, and the library: de Saussure and Foucault

Gary P. Radford, Marie L. Radford

Explores the relevance of structuralism and post‐structuralism to the field of library and information science (LIS).

“Isms” in information science: constructivism, collectivism and constructionism

Sanna Talja, Kimmo Tuominen, Reijo Savolainen

Describes the basic premises of three metatheories that represent important or emerging perspectives on information seeking, retrieval and knowledge formation in information…

Hermeneutics as a bridge between the modern and the postmodern in library and information science

Joacim Hansson

To analyse the use of hermeneutics in library and information science (LIS).

On Grounded Theory – with some malice

Lars Seldén

To review critically the applicability of Grounded Theory.

Empiricism, rationalism and positivism in library and information science

Birger Hjørland

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance and influence of the epistemologies: “empiricism”, “rationalism” and “positivism” in library and information science (LIS).

Comments on the articles and proposals for further work

Birger Hjørland

The purpose of this afterword is to examine which questions have been illuminated in the present issue and which theoretical problems still need to be addressed.