Document (#31938)

Author

McGrath, W.E.

Title

Explanation and prediction : building a unified theory of librarianship, concept and review

Source

Library trends. 50(2002) no.3, S.350-370

Year

2002

Abstract

As inspiration for developing a comprehensive, unified, explanatory theory of librarianship, the author makes an analogy to the unification of the fundamental forces of nature, beginning with the Copernican revolution, followed by the discoveries of Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein, and the unification of electro-magnetism, light, the weak force, the electroweak force, the strong force, and the ultimate goal to include gravity, space, time, and relativity into a single grand unified theory. While the analogy may be naïve and debatable, the linking of disparate domains suggests a process for linking the broad and classical functions of librarianship into a framework for a unified theory. The unified theory might consist of functions stemming from the world of publishing: Selection and deselection, acquisitions, the structure of knowledge and classification, storage and preservation, the library collection, and circulation. The author reviews recent Library and Information Science (LIS) research of the type that could contribute to development of unified theory. Dependent and independent variables are identified when apparent, with particular emphasis on the importance of units of analysis to theory. The recent literature is dominated throughout the framework by studies involving library circulation or its surrogates.

Footnote

Artikel in einem Themenheft "Current theory in library and information science"

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