The Waxing and Waning of a Field: Reflections on Information Studies Education

Fuente: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Cronin, Blaise
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 2012
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author Cronin, Blaise
author_facet Cronin, Blaise
Cronin, Blaise
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents The Waxing and Waning of a Field: Reflections on Information Studies Education Cronin, Blaise Information Science Library Science Archives Documentation Information Science Education Intellectual Disciplines Prediction Expertise Information Scientists Adjustment (to Environment) Interdisciplinary Approach In this short paper, avowedly personal, partial and pointillist in nature, I (i) sketch the early days of (mainly Anglo-American) information studies and the field's gradual institutionalization, (ii) describe its maturation, as both an academic discipline and a domain of professional practice, and (iii) speculate on its future in the light of oft expressed predictions of its imminent demise as an autonomous enterprise within the academy. I invoke import-export data to demonstrate the newfound outer-directedness of the field and the growing attractiveness of its research to cognate disciplines. However, I also argue that the permeability of contemporary information studies' boundaries may in fact be the cause of its eventual undoing: in short, epistemic promiscuity comes at a price.
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_EJ984787
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 2012
record_format eric
spellingShingle The Waxing and Waning of a Field: Reflections on Information Studies Education
Cronin, Blaise
Information Science
Library Science
Archives
Documentation
Information Science Education
Intellectual Disciplines
Prediction
Expertise
Information Scientists
Adjustment (to Environment)
Interdisciplinary Approach
The Waxing and Waning of a Field: Reflections on Information Studies Education Cronin, Blaise Information Science Library Science Archives Documentation Information Science Education Intellectual Disciplines Prediction Expertise Information Scientists Adjustment (to Environment) Interdisciplinary Approach In this short paper, avowedly personal, partial and pointillist in nature, I (i) sketch the early days of (mainly Anglo-American) information studies and the field's gradual institutionalization, (ii) describe its maturation, as both an academic discipline and a domain of professional practice, and (iii) speculate on its future in the light of oft expressed predictions of its imminent demise as an autonomous enterprise within the academy. I invoke import-export data to demonstrate the newfound outer-directedness of the field and the growing attractiveness of its research to cognate disciplines. However, I also argue that the permeability of contemporary information studies' boundaries may in fact be the cause of its eventual undoing: in short, epistemic promiscuity comes at a price.
title The Waxing and Waning of a Field: Reflections on Information Studies Education
topic Information Science
Library Science
Archives
Documentation
Information Science Education
Intellectual Disciplines
Prediction
Expertise
Information Scientists
Adjustment (to Environment)
Interdisciplinary Approach
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ984787