Information Science Practice in a Historical Perspective: Preliminary Findings of an Oral History Project

Abstract

This research uses oral history approach to study an organizational field of information science. The interviews with members of the New Jersey chapter of the national information science organization (ASIST) provided insights into the transformation of this local chapter and information science work since 1975. Their views on the identity of the chapter and their own professional identity in that context, and on the development and maturation of information science field over the past thirty years are considered in the sociology of culture framework. Oral history as a phenomenological method of historical inquiry is here applied as an approach can open new directions for historical inquiry of information science in the national context, understanding the research / practice dynamics, and localization and institutionalization of information science field,