Library Science, Documentation, Information Science

1. Assignment
Topic: Evolution of Library Science, Documentation & Information Science
Submitted to;
Dr. Salma Chowdhury
Chairperson
Department of Information Science & Library Management
University of Dhaka
Submitted by;
Rajib Hossain Khan
Roll no.: 38
3 year 6th semester
rd
Department of Information Science & Library Management
University of Dhaka

2. Evolution of Library Science, Documentation and Information Science
Library Science is a generic term for the study of libraries and information units, the role they
play in society, their various component routines and processes, and their history and future
development. It is used in the United States in preference to the British term „Librarianship‟. The
term Librarianship is used, in a restrictive way, to indicate the management activity and care of
library patrimony.
Root of Library Science: Library Science can trace its roots to the period 669-630 B.C. and to
the cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets collected in Nineveh by the Assyrian king
Assurbanipal. The clay tablets found in one of the world‟s oldest libraries, the large royal
archives of Assurbanipal (7th century B.C.) contained a catalogue that divided the works into the
following main classes as:
a. Grammar
b. History
c. Law
d. Natural History
e. Geography
f. Mathematics
g. Astronomy
h. Magic
i. Religion
j. Legends
Each main class is being subdivided into several subclasses.
No actual classification scheme from Greek and Roman libraries has survived, but the catalogue
of the great Alexandrian library, the Pinakes (“tables”) compiled by Callimachus (3rd century
B.C.) was apparently classified into:
a. Poets
b. Law makers
c. Philosophers
d. Historians
e. Rhetoricians
f. Miscellaneous writers
Further subdivisions were by form, subject and time.
The libraries of China at the end of the Western Han period (1st century A.D.) were classified
into seven large groups:

3. a. Encyclopedia
b. The Six Arts
c. Philosophy
d. Poems and Songs
e. Military Art
f. Sooth Saying
g. Medicine
During the later Wei and Tsin dynasties (3rd to 5th centuries), a system was designed that
survived practically unchanged until the 20th century. It consisted of four main classes as
subdivisions:
a. Classics
b. Philosophy, Military art, Mathematics, and Theology
c. History, Government and Miscellanea
d. Literature
Foundation of Librarianship: According to Sayers, “The foundation of the library is the book;
the foundation of librarianship is classification.” In 1876, Melville Dewey (1851-1931) devised
DDC scheme of classification which is considered as the foundation of modern librarianship. In
the same year Dewey organized American Library Association (ALA) with the aim to promote
libraries and librarians to serve the society better by providing professional standards for the
librarians. The British Library Association (BLA) was organized in the next year.
Professional Aspect: The emergence of librarianship as a recognized profession is a fairly
modern development. Librarianship became more conscious of its status and occupational
identity as did many other fields in the latter part of the 19th century.
Library Science Education: Formal library education began in North America in1887 with the
first class at the school of Library Economy, Columbia University, under the direction of
Melville Dewey. Library education began in Britain in the latter half of the 19th century. There
were 17 schools in the UK in 1986.
Maturity of Library Science: Till the end of the 19th century librarianship continued to remain as
an art of organizing and managing the collection of reading materials in the libraries. During that
period the term „Science‟ emerged as a popular term. At that time few library professionals viz.
Melville Dewey, C.A. Cutter, H. Putnam, H.E. Bliss, Paul Otlet, etc. also started developing
different kind of techniques employing certain rules, codes, methods and principles based on
observation and experience. The contribution of them to this discipline not only enhanced the
prestige of librarianship but also increased the potentialities of the newly emerging discipline as
per with other recognized subjects.

4. SL. M. Harold said that, “Librarianship is treated as science as it is the knowledge and skill
connected with the administration of libraries and their contents; library economy and utilized.”
Foundation of Documentation: Belgian lawyer Paul Otlet is recognized as the founder of the
„Documentation‟. The Documentation has the Otlet concept as its first concept, and developed
epistemologically. Its fundamental work is the „Traite de Documentation‟, by the Belgian Paul
Otlet (Otlet, 1934).
Documentation in Library Science: In 1930s a new terminology „Documentation‟ appeared in
the scenario of Library Science. For many years it remained the subject matter of discussions
among the library professionals as to whether documentation should form an integral part of
Librarianship or it is altogether a separate profession. The majority of library professionals‟ viz.
Kuntz, Shera and Ranganathan accepted it as an extension of Library Science. They believed that
both are primarily concerned with the same techniques and services for the order presentation,
organization, and communication of recorded knowledge.
J.H. Shera addressed that, “Documentation is nothing more than a form of aspect of
Librarianship it is Librarianship in a high key.”
So we can say that, Documentation as an extended area of modern Librarianship came into
existence only after the First World War.
Documentation in Europe
Belgium: The lawyers Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Henri La Fontaine (1854-1943) were the
mentors of the International Institute of Bibliography (IIB), created in 1895, in Belgium. But it
made significant impact when the name of the International Institute of Bibliography (IIB) was
changed to International Institution of Documentation (IID) in 1931 and International Federation
of Documentation (FID) in1938. The 1931 name change, to incorporate the word
Documentation, signaled a clear separation from the word Bibliography and an emphasis on
practical aspects.
France: If the birthplace of Documentation is Belgium, its normalization and organization
happened permanently in France, in the period from 1895 to1937. According to Fayet-Scribe,
Otlet and the general Hippolyte Sebert (1839-1930), one of the founders of IIB in France, played
an important role in the consolidation of the Documentation sector.
Spain: The work of Lopez Yepes - book, Teoria De La Documentation – is identified as the one
through which professors from the incipient Spanish schools of Librarianship and
Documentation knew and learned the object and the internal and external limits of the discipline.
Portugal: According to Ribeiro (2005, p.19) the Superior Course of Librarian-Archivist, in
Portugal was replaced by the Course of Specialization in Documental Sciences, in 1982.

5. Documentation in U.S.
The presence of the term Documentation in the U.S. in the name of associations and courses in
professional practices and in literature happened, in fact, from 1950s. Watson Davis created the
American Documentation Institute (ADI). The first course on Documentation in the U.S. was
offered in 1950 by Helen Foche of Western Reserve University, Cleveland.
Documentation in Brazil
The history of Documentation in Brazil may be identified in at least three moments; in the
beginning of the 20th century, because of involvement with the project of IIB, a movement that
led to the creation of the Instituto Brasileiro De Bibliographia E Documentacao (IBBD), in1954.
Documentation in the Sub-continent
Indian National Scientific Documentation Center (INSDOC) was established in September, 1951
in New Delhi. Dr. S.R. Ranganathan published a journal entitled “Library Science with Slant to
Documentation”.
Pakistan National Scientific and Technical Documentation Center (PANSDOC) were established
in 1957 by the government of Pakistan with the technical assistance from UNESCO.
Subsequently in 1971, after the Liberation War of Bangladesh the regional office of PANSDOC
became the Bangladesh National Scientific and Technical Documentation Center (BANSDOC).
Appearance of Information Science: Before the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite in
1958, the phrase „Information Science‟ rarely appeared in encyclopedias, books, or journals. In
1960s the invention of automation brought many changes in library operations especially in the
storage and retrieval of information. This technological revolution paved the way for
transforming the concept of Documentation to Information Science.
J.H. Shera said, “Information Science is an area of research which draws its substance, methods,
and techniques from variety of disciplines to achieve an understanding of the properties,
behavior and flow of information. Information Science contributes to the theoretical and
intellectual base of librarians operations”.
Need for Information Science: According to Koblitz, the term Documentation was not enough to
designate a complete area of specialized information. The researchers Chernyi, Gilarevski and
Mikhailov, invested in the search for the alternative denomination to the term Documentation.
Looking for a broader term based on the concept of information, they state that the replaced term
which was more broadcasted would be information Science.
Documentation to Information Science: After the 1950s, Documentation started to represent by
the area then named Information Retrieval or Information Storage and Retrieval. The
Information Retrieval is understood as the set of studies and activities of storage and retrieval of

6. information by means of computers. It configures itself as one of the main origins of Information
Science in the United States in the 1960s.
Gradual Development of Information Science: The first conference whose title in anyway
referred to „Information Science‟ was the second International Congress on Information System
Sciences at Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1962. The first separate department of Information Science
was established in 1967 at the University of Dayton, in Dayton, Ohio; offering a program leading
to a graduate degree specifically identified as Information Science. The American
Documentation Institute (ADI) was changed their name as American Society for Information
Science in1968. The journal of ADI, American Documentation was renamed as American
Journal for Information Science. In the year 1974, an expanded project namely Pakistan
Scientific and Technological Information Centre (PASTIC) was build around the nucleus of
PANSDOC and was transferred from PCSIR Karachi to Pakistan Science Foundation,
Islamabad.
Hence the emergence of Information Science by replacing the term Documentation is an
outcome of technological revolution. It provides greater access to information by using
communicative technologies. With the application of the technologies to information activities
led to the development of the concept of Information Science. Information Science is an
interdisciplinary science which derived from and related to the field like Library Science,
Computer Science, Social Science and others.