Knowledge Organization as a subfield within Library and Information Science (LIS)
In the Royal School of Library and Information Science in Denmark (RSLIS) has the rector, Leif Lørring (2004), declared Knowledge Organization (KO) the core area of LIS.
This point of view is shared with many others. Jack Mills, for example, writes:
"The inroads on the librarian's time made by the need to master rapidly developing computer techniques has had a particularly unfortunate effect on the curriculum of library schools, where the study of the organization of knowledge has been eroded just when the need for it has become greater.
. . .
The development of logically structured classifications covering the whole of knowledge is still unique in the field of LIS" (Mills, 2004, p. 547).
Literature:
Broughton, V.; Hansson, J.; Hjørland, B. & López-Huertas, M. J. (2005). [Chapter 7:] Knowledge Organization. IN: European Curriculum Reflections on Library and Information Science Education. Ed. by L. Kajberg & L. Lørring. Copenhagen: Royal School of Library and Information Science. (Pp. 133-148). [Report of working group on LIS-education in Europe. Working seminar held in Copenhagen 11-12 August 2005 at the Royal School of Library and Information Science.] Available: http://biblis.db.dk/uhtbin/hyperion.exe/db.leikaj05 (Chapter 7 alone: Chapter 7.pdf).
Lørring, Leif (2004). Behind the curriculum of library and information studies. Models for didactical curriculum reflections. World Library and Information Congress: 70th IFLA General Conference and Council 22-27 August 2004 Buenos Aires, Argentina. http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla70/papers/064e-Lorring.pdf
Mills, J. (2004). Faceted classification and logical division in information retrieval. Library Trends, 52(3), 541-570.
Birger Hjørland
Last edited: 29-05-2006