Monday through Friday
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Psych 206
 
Office Hours: TBA

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is an exploration of some of the fundamental influences on conceptual ideas of libraries and information.  While philosophy and sociology provide the primary background for this study, these disciplinary notions have direct implications for library and information science.  Those implications will be studied.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1.  To introduce students to thinking in the disciplines of philosophy and sociology that
is related to libraries and information.

2.  To understand the fundamental philosophical and sociological positions on
information and knowledge.

3.  To relate knowledge (in its most essential conceptions) to information.

4.  To comprehend the social nature of information and the social implications for the
study of information.

5.  To assess critically some philosophical and sociological conceptions of knowledge
and information.

6.  To foster in students the ability to express their understanding of some of the
influences on the study of libraries and information.

GRADING SCALE:
188-200   A
168-187 3/4   B
150-167 3/4   C
below 150   F

EVALUATION:
Class Participation   25  points
Papers (3) @ 35 points each  105     “
Book Report    50     “
Presentation    20     “

 READINGS:
There is no text for this class.  A readings packet will be available for the required readings.  The additional readings will be on reserve at the Library.  N.B.--The reading list may seem daunting at first glance.  The intention here is that students will read as many of the required readings as possible.  The additional readings and the supplementary bibliography represent items to take away from the course and delve into over time.

The due dates for the papers will be noted in this syllabus.  These dates will be strictly adhered to.  Late work will seriously affect your grade.  A paper not turned in when due will result in a lowering of ten percent of your grade (or the equivalent in points) for the paper, provided it is turned in by the beginning of the next class period immediately following the due date.  If the paper is not turned in by the next class, the deduction will be fifty percent of your grade, provided it is turned in by the beginning of the second class period after the due date.  Anything not turned in by that time will result in a loss of all points for that paper.

PAPER I:
What is World 3?  What does Popper mean by that?  Does Neill help us understand and use Popper’s idea of World 3?  Is librarianship an application of this Third World?  If it is, does that mean that libraries are founded on objective knowledge?  If yes, what does that imply for fundamental information services, such as reference?  If not, what does the absence of objective knowledge imply for those same information services? [The absolute limit on the length of this paper is six pages--double-spaced, normal font, at least a one-inch marginon top, bottom, and sides of the paper.  Failure to comply (not double-spaced, small font, too long) will result in a deduction of ten percent of the value of the assignment.] This paper is due on the date of class meeting 5.

PAPER II:
Select a particular manifestation of information technology to focus on (a library’s integrated online system, a World Wide Web search engine, an electronic index, an electonic journal, etc.).  Examine the extent to which the technology determines its use--look at how flexible the technology is, what it allows the user to do, what it prohibits the user from doing, etc.  Assess how the technology may have an impact on the knowledge of the user.  Draw from the available definitions of knowledge that we’re looking at. [The length limit, again, is six pages.] This paper is due on the date of class meeting 8.

PAPER III:
Give a close reading to the articles by Frohmann and by Buschman and Carbone (Class 13).  Examine these in light of what we’ve talked about and what you’ve read concerning the social construction of knowledge, ideology, and the politics of information.  How do these writers reflect those three elements?  Examine the extent to which they are “objectively” assessing the sociology of information and the extent to which they are engaged in social constructions.  In short, how much of these readings is based on an examination of the social phenomenon, and how much is based on an application of the social phenomenon. [One more time, a six-page length limit.] This paper is due on the date of class meeting 13.

 BOOK REPORT:
This is the final and most substantive assignment.  As early as possible during the session, select a book that addresses the subject matter of this course.  You may select any title from the supplementary bibliography, or one in the schedule of readings.  (In lieu of a book, you may opt for a collection of articles that focus on a particular theme.  If you use this option, you must select a minimum of five articles.)  Read the book carefully, looking especially for applicability to the question of information.  One of your tasks is to infer that applicability from the book.  Do not waste a great deal of space summarizing the book’s contents.  Instead, examine the position, arguments, or propositions of the author, along with the evidence that author bases his/her conclusions on.  Determine the efficacy of the author’s stance--does the position result from a clearly-stated argument or body of evidence; is it based on a reasonable interpretation of cited texts (as well as you can tell from the presentation in the book itself); is it cohesive.  Prepare a critical analysis of the book, culminating in an assessment of the success of the author in achieving any stated or implied goals (including whether the author is convincing).  In this analysis, focus primarily on the extent to which the book enhances our understanding of information, the process of informing, the relation of information to knowledge, social or technological influences on informing, or the nature of meaning.  The Book Report is due at the last class meeting and the target length is approximately ten pages.

The presentation will be based on your book report.  Prepare a brief summary of your assessment that you can share with the class during the last two class meetings.  Time will be tight, so be sure your presentation does not exceed fifteen minutes.  Remember that the other class members will not have read this book, so be very clear when you relate the author’s stance and your evaluation of it.
  Libraries and Information:
 Philosophical and Sociological Aspects

Class 1: Introduction; why philosophy and sociology; information as social phenomenon
In this first class we’ll address the need or desirability for a connection between
philosophy and LIS.  At the outset we need to come to grips with the social nature
of informing.

REQUIRED READINGS: Kurzman, Charles.  “Epistemology and the Sociology of
Knowledge.”  Philosophy of the Social Sciences 24 (September 1994): 267-90.

Cornelius, Ian.  “Information and Interpretation.”  In Information Science: Integration
in Perspective, edited by Peter Ingwersen and Niels Ole Pors.  Copenhagen: The Royal
School of Librarianship, 1996, pp. 11-21.

ADDITIONAL READING: Winter, Michael F.  “The Social Context of Control.”  In
The Culture and Control of Expertise: Toward a Sociological Understanding of
Librarianship, by Michael F. Winter.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988, pp. 77-95.

Pahre, Robert.  “Patterns of knowledge Communities in the Social Sciences.”  Library
Trends 45 (Fall 1996): 204-25.

Class 2: Libraries, information, and knowledge
Right off the bat we should look for a relationship between knowledge and information.
This requires trying to define both knowledge and information, and exploring what the
criteria for knowledge might be.
REQUIRED READINGS: Lehrer, Keith.  “The Analysis of Knowledge.”  In The Theory
of Knowledge.  Boulder: Westview Press, 1990, pp. 1-19.

Wilson, Catherine.  “Instruments and Ideologies: The Social Construction of Knowledge
and Its Critics.”  American Philosophical Quarterly 33 (April 1996): 167-81.

Wilson, Patrick.  “Public Knowledge.”  In Public Knowledge, Private Ignorance:
Toward a Library and Information Policy, by Patrick Wilson.  Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1977, pp. 3-34.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Friedman, Ken.  “Individual Knowledge in the Information
Society.”  In Information Science: From the Development of the Discipline to Social
Interaction, edited by Johan Olaisen, Erland Munch-Pedersen, and Patrick Wilson.
Oslo: Scandinavian University Press, 1995, pp. 245-75.
 

 Class 3: Objective knowledge
There are those who firmly believe in the possibility for objective knowledge--knowledge
that remains constant regardless of individual knowers.  Is such objective knowledge
possible?  Is that what LIS is concerned with?

REQUIRED READING: Popper, Karl R.  “Epistemology without a Knowing Subject.”
In Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach.  Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1972, pp. 106-52.

Neill, S. D.  “The Dilemma of the Subjective in Information Organization and Retrieval.”
In Dilemmas in the Study of Information: Exploring the Boundaries of Information
Science.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992, pp. 1-21.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Bernstein, Richard J.  “Beyond Objectivism and   Relativism: An Overview.”  In Beyond Objectivism and Relativism: Science,
Hermeneutics, and Praxis.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983, pp.
1-49.

Class 4: Social epistemology; Shera’s idea; Fuller’s idea
Almost five decades ago Jesse Shera suggested that the heart of librarianship is social
epistemology.  We should examine what he meant by that term.  Also, we should compare
his conception with those of contemporary philosophers.

REQUIRED READINGS: Shera, Jesse.  “Library and Knowledge.”  In Sociological
Foundations of Librarianship.  Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1970, pp. 82-110.

Fuller, Steve.  “On Regulating What Is Known: A Way to Social Epistemology.”
Synthese 73 (October 1987): 145-83.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Shera, Jesse.  “Social Epistemology, General Semantics,
and Librarianship.”  Wilson Library Bulletin 35 (June 1961): 767-70.

Egon, Margaret and Jesse H. Shera.  “Foundations of a Theory of Bibliography.”  Library
Quarterly 44 (July 1952): 125-37.

Fuller, Steve.  “Recent Work in Social Epistemology.”  American Philosophical
Quarterly 33 (April 1996): 149-66.

Goldman, Alvin I.  “Foundations of Social Epistemics.”  Synthese 73 (October 1987):
109-44.

Class 5: Some philosophical stances from LIS
While they are not numerous, there are some efforts from LIS to address some important
philosophical questions.  We can’t tackle all of these questions, but we will take a look
at some of the efforts.
 

 REQUIRED READINGS: Radford, Gary P.  “Positivism, Foucault, and the Fantasia of
the Library: Conceptions of Knowledge and the Modern Library Experience.”  Library
Quarterly 62 (October 1992): 408-24.

Harris, Michael H. and Stan A. Hannah.  “Conclusion: A Prolegomena [sic] to Library
and Information Services in the post-Industrial Era.”  In Into the Future: The
Foundations of Library and Information Services in the Post-Industrial Era.
Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub. Corp., pp. 135-46.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Buckland, Michael.  “Information-as-Thing.”  In
Information and Information Systems.  Westport, CT: Praeger, 1991, pp. 43-54.

Budd, John M.  “An Epistemological Foundation for Library and Information Science.”
Library Quarterly 65 (July 1995): 295-318.

Class 6: Philosophy and technology
The pervasiveness of technology in the modern world has prompted many philosophers
to examine its place in our lives and its implications for the way we think, the way
knowledge grows, and the ways in which society is affected.  Technology is very
frequently attached to information, so we cannot ignore the impact it has on our notions
of information and informing.

REQUIRED READINGS: Mitcham, Carl.  “From Engineering to Humanities Philosophy
of Technology.”  In Thinking Through Technology: The Path between Engineering
and Philosophy.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, pp. 62-93.

Bimber, Bruce.  “Three Faces of Technological Determinism.”  In Does Technology
Drive History?  The Dilemma of Technological Determinism, edited by Merritt Roe
Smith and Leo Marx.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994, pp. 79-100.

Birdsall, William F.  “Breaking the Myth of the Library as Place.”  In The Myth of
the Electronic Library: Librarianship and Social Change in America, by William F.
Birdsall.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994, pp. 7-29.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Pinch, Trevor J. and Wiebe E. Bijker.  ‘The Social
Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology
of Technology Might Benefit Each Other.”  In The Social Construction of
Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology,
edited by Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch.  Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1987, pp. 17-50.

Postman, Neil.  Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology.  New York:
Knopf, 1992.

 Class 7: Information, meaning, and semantics
If we want to distinguish “information” from such things as “data,” we need to think
about meaning--what is it, how does it manifest itself, etc.  An important aspect of
is the linguistic element.

REQUIRED READINGS: Palmer, F. R.  “Introduction.”  In Semantics, second
edition.  Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 1-16.

Davidson, Donald.  “Reality without Reference.”  In Inquiries into Truth and
Interpretation.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 215-25.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Jackendoff, Ray.  “Conceptual Semantics.”  In Meaning
and Mental Representations, edited by Umberto Eco, Marco Santambrogio, and
Patrizia Violi.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988, pp. 81-97.

Sperber, Dan and Deirdre Wilson.  “Relevance.”  In Relevance: Communication and
Cognition.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988, pp. 118-71.

Class 8: The social construction of knowledge
We began the course with the realization that knowledge has a strong social component.
We need to ask if this component defines knowledge.  The social aspect has definite
implications for the study of information.

REQUIRED READINGS: Berger, Peter L. and Thomas Luckmann, “The Foundations
of Knowledge in Everyday Life.”  In The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in
the Sociology of Knowledge.  New York: Doubleday, 1966, pp. 19-46.

McCarthy, E. Doyle.  “What Is Knowledge?”  In Knowledge as Culture: The New
Sociology of Knowledge.  London: Routledge, 1996, pp. 11-26.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Mannheim, Karl.  “Preliminary Approach to the Problem.”
In Ideology & Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge.  San Diego:
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1936, pp. 1-54.

Searle, John R.  The Construction of Social Reality.  New York: Free Press, 1995.  Do
try to get a chance to scan chapters 5 through 8.

Class 9: What does the sociology of science tell us about information?
In the minds of many, knowledge is inextricably linked to science.  This idea may be
taken so far as to suggest that science provides the foundation of epistemology as well
as the method for attaining knowledge.  We’ll investigate these claims and those of its
opponents.

REQUIRED READINGS: Longino, Helen E.  “Science in Society.”  In Science as
Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry.  Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1990, pp. 162-86.

 Laudan, Larry.  “Rationality and the Sociology of Knowledge.”  In Progress and Its
Problems: Towards a Theory of Scientific Growth.  Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1977, pp. 196-22.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Dupre, John.  “The Disunity of Science.”  In The Disorder
of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science.  Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1993, pp. 221-43.

Bloor, David.  “The Strong Programme in the Sociology of Knowledge.”  In Knowledge
and Social Imagery, second edition.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991,
pp. 3-23.

Class 10: Contested visions of information
As we can see, there are contested ideas of epistemology and of sociology.  Almost
inevitably, there are also contested ideas of information.  There are technical, social,
physicalist, political, and several other groundings for positions regarding information.
Many of these may be reflected in LIS.

REQUIRED READINGS: Israel, David and John Perry.  “What Is Information?” (plus
“Comment,” by John W. Heintz).  In Information, Language, and Cognition, edited
by Philip P. Hanson.  Vancouver: University of British Columbia, 1990, pp. 1-28.

Poster, Mark.  “Introduction: Words without Things.”  In The Mode of Information:
Poststructuralism and Social Context.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990,
pp. 1-20.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Van Gulick, Robert.  “Functionalism, Information and
Content.”  Nature and System 2 (1980): 139-62.

Iser, Wolfgang.  “The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach.”  In The
Implied Reader.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974, pp. 274-94.

Class 11: Information and ideology
Some of the recorded ideas of information are based not so much on firm philosophical
and/or sociological positions, but on any of several strivings for the ascendancy of
particular positions.  Many people speak of ideology in connection with such efforts;
we’ll ask what ideology is and how it may influence notions of information.

REQUIRED READINGS: Eagleton, Terry.  “What Is Ideology?”  In Ideology: An
Introduction.  London: Verso, 1991, pp. 1-31.

Thompson, John B.  “The Concept of Ideology.”  In Ideology and Modern Culture.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1990, pp. 28-73.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Hawkes, David.  Ideology.  London: Routledge, 1996.
 

 Meszaros, Istvan.  The Power of Ideology.  New York: New York University Press,
1989 (especially chapter 1).

Class 12: The politics of information and libraries
Since information has many definitions and uses, it may also have political uses.  The
uses may frequently be related to positioning and power.  We should look into
information’s political uses.

REQUIRED READINGS: Schiller, Dan.  “From Culture to Information and Back Again:
Commoditization as a Route to Knowledge.”  Critical Studies in Mass Communication
11 (March 1994): 93-115.

Schiller, Herbert I.  “Policing the Culture.”  In Information Inequality: The Deepening
Social Crisis in America.  London: Routledge, 1996, pp. 1-25.

Winter, Michael F.  “Specialization, Territoriality, and Jurisdiction: Librarianship and
the Political Economy of Knowledge.”  Library Trends 45 (Fall 1996): 343-63.

ADDITIONAL READINGS: Schiller, Herbert I.  Culture Inc.: The Corporate Takeover
of Public Expression.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Lyotard, Jean-Francois.  The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984.

Laudon, Kenneth C.  “Markets and Privacy.”  Communications of the ACM 39
(September 1996): 92-104.

Class 13: LIS and the sociology of information
The sociological aspects of information have not escaped some in this discipline.
We need to examine some of the appropriations of sociological ideas in some LIS
and related writings.

REQUIRED READINGS: Frohmann, Bernd.  “The Power of Images: A Discourse
Analysis of the Cognitive Viewpoint.”  Journal of Documentation 48 (December 1992):
365-86.

Buschman, John and Michael Carbone.  “A Critical Inquiry into Librarianship:
Applications of the ‘New Sociology of Education’.”  Library Quarterly 61 (January
1991): 15-40.

Webster, Frank.  “Information and the Idea of an Information Society.”  In Theories of
the Information Society.  London: Routledge, 1995, pp. 6-29.

Class 14: Presentations

Class 15: Presentations
  Supplementary Bibliography

This list is intended primarily as something you can take away from this course and delve into selectively in the future.  A more immediate use to which these items may be put is the assignment to read critically a work not required for specific classes and to present your critical assessment to the class.
 

Alexander, Jeffrey C.  Fin de Siecle Social Theory: Relativism, Reduction, and the Problem
of Reason.  London: Verso, 1995.

Bateson, Gregory.  Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity.  New York: Bantam Books, 1979.

Bohman, James.  New Philosophy of Social Science.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991.

Bourdieu, Pierre.  Language and Symbolic Power.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1991.

Butler, Pierce.  Introduction to Library Science.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1933.

Castells, Manuel.  The Power of Identity.  Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1997.

Castells, Manuel.  The Rise of the Network Society.  Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996.

Cole, Stephen. Making Science: Between Nature and Society.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1992.

Cook, Terrence E.  Criteria of Social Scientific Knowledge: Interpretation, Prediction,
Praxis.  Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994.

Culler, Jonathan.  The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, Literature, Deconstruction.  Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1981.

Dant, Tim.  Knowledge, Ideology and Discourse: A Sociological Perspective.  London:
Routledge, 1991.

De Mey, Marc.  The Cognitive Paradigm: An Integrated Understanding of Scientific
Development.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Devitt, Michael and Kim Sterelny.  Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy
of Language.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1987.

Eco, Umberto.  Interpretation and Overinterpretation.  Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1992.

 Ellul, Jacques.  The Technological Bluff.  Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.,
1990.

Fay, Brian.  Contemporary Philosophy of Social Science.  Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.

Fodor, Jerry A.  The Language of Thought.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.

Foucault, Michel.  The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language.  New
York: Pantheon Books, 1972.

Garfield, Jay L. and Murray Kiteley, editors.  Meaning and Truth: The Essential Readings in
Modern Semantics.  New York: Paragon House, 1991.

Goodman, Nelson.  Ways of Worldmaking.  Indianapolis: Hackett, 1978.

Habermas, Jurgen.  On the Logic of the Social Sciences.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988.

Harris, James F.  Against Relativism: A Philosophical Defense of Method.  LaSalle, IL: Open
Court, 1992.

Harvey, David.  The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural
Change.  Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990.

Jackendoff, Ray.  Languages of the Mind: Essays on Mental Representation.  Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1992.

Lackoff, George.  Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the
Mind.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Latour, Bruno and Steve Woolgar.  Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.

Newton-Smith, W. H.  The Rationality of Science.  London: Routledge, 1981.

Polanyi, Michael.  Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy.  Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1958.

Poster, Mark, editor.  Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings.  Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1988.

Putnam, Hilary.  Representation and Reality.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988.

Ricoeur, Paul.  From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II.  Evanston, IL: Northwestern
University Press, 1991.

 Ricoeur, Paul.  Interpretation Theory: Discourse and the Surplus of Meaning.  Fort Worth:
TCU Press, 1976.

Roszak, Theodore.  The Cult of Information: A Neo-Luddite Treatise on High-Tech, Artificial
Intelligence, and the True Art of Thinking, second edition.  Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1994.

Sassower.  Raphael.  Cultural Collisions: Postmoden Technoscience.  New York: Routledge,
1995.

Schmitt, Frederick F, editor.  Socializing Epistemology: The Social Dimensions of Knowledge.
Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1994.

Schutz, Alfred.  The Phenomenology of the Social World.  Evanston, IL: Northwestern
University Press, 1967.

Searle, John.  Minds, Brain and Science.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.

Turner, Stephen.  The Social Theory of Practices: Tradition, Tacit Knowledge, and
Presuppositions.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Van Fraassen, Bas C.  The Scientific Image. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980.

Wilson, Patrick.  Public Knowledge, Private Ignorance: Toward a Library and Information
Policy.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977.

Wilson, Patrick.  Second-Hand Knowledge: An Inquiry into Cognitive Authority.  Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 1983.

Winter, Michael.  The Culture and Control of Expertise: Toward a Sociological Under-
standing of Librarianship.  Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988.

Zuboff, Shoshana.  In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power.  New
York: Basic Books, 1988.