Purpose – 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. Design/methodology/approach – The most important earlier collected works about metatheories and philosophies of...

Purpose – 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). Design/methodology/approach – First, outlines the historical development of these...

Purpose – 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. Design/methodology/approach – Examines articles in this issue. Findings – Many epistemological views, e.g. social...

In this article an epistemological interpretation of the role of subject literature in scholarly communication shall be proposed. Such an interpretation will focus on the epistemological dimension of communicating knowledge through literature and how this is achieved through discursive and...

Purpose – To provide some theoretical considerations concerning information literacy so as to contribute to a theoretically informed point of departure for understanding information literacy and to argue that to be an information literate person is to have knowledge about information sources...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine and critique the dominant new public management (NPM)‐mode of thinking in library development. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine the Danish Library Act from 2000 and a library policy from the municipal library of Aarhus in...

Purpose The purpose of this article is to develop a contemporary understanding of genre as digital social action. Particular emphasis will be on archiving, tagging, and searching as social actions afforded by digital media as a function of their materiality. Design/methodology/approach The...

Purpose The purpose is to offer a discussion of how we can conceive of the organization of knowledge in digital culture and its changing nature. The article proposes to view of it as both a decentered (communicative) and centered (analytical gaze). Design/methodology/approach This study involves...

Purpose The purpose is to map and discuss two schools of thought in knowledge organization research. The objective of this mapping is to examine the conceptual views and the derived questions and concerns voiced in these two schools and whether they fit with concerns in contemporary digital...

Studies in information publishes monographs on critical issues in the information society. The book series is concerned with all aspects of information; its nature, politics, institutions, usages, and technologies, and it presents research from a wide range of disciplinary traditions. Previously...