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A conceptual framework for information management:
formation of a discipline
Michael Robert Middleton BSc University of Western Australia
MScSoc, Dip Lib, GradDip University of New South Wales
GradCertEd(HigherEd) Queensland University of Technology
Supervisors:
Associate Professor Christine Bruce
Professor Guy Gable
Information Research Program, Faculty of Information Technology
Queensland University of Technology
A thesis by publication submitted in partial requirement for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy 2006
Conceptual framework for information management i
Keywords
Information management; discipline formation; information services; case studies;
bibliographic databases; Australia.
Conceptual framework for information management ii
Note on layout/formatting
This work incorporates material from a number of different publications each with
different layout and editorial policies.
They have been brought together with the same font, page layout and heading
formats for consistency of presentation. Nevertheless there remain formatting
particularities in this work as follows:
• In some of the chapters there are internal references to chapter and section
numbers from the publications themselves that have been maintained, even
though numbering of internal sections had been removed for consistency of text.
• Figure and table numbering has been retained as per the individual publications
rather than using renumbering for the dissertation as a whole.
• End noting from original publications has been converted to footnoting in order
to retain integrity of footnotes with each publication.
• Although references have been retained in some of the included publications
according to the format required by that publication, they are also included with
all other references from this work in a consolidated list at the end.
• English spelling may vary according to place of publication.
• Colour from the drafts of publications, though not retained in any of the
published versions, has been used here to assist interpretation of inclusions.
Conceptual framework for information management (Abstract) iii
Abstract
The aim of the research was to investigate the formation of the information
management discipline, propose a framework by which it is presently understood, and test
that framework within a particular area of application, namely the provision of scientific
and technological information (STI) services.
The work is presented as a PhD by Publication which comprises a narrative that
encompasses the series of published papers, and includes excerpts from the book written
to illustrate the province of the discipline.
In thee book the disciplinary context is detailed and exemplified based upon
information management domains. The book consolidates information management
principles within a framework defined by these operational, analytical and administrative
domains. It was created by a redaction of prior epistemological proposals; an analysis of
the understanding of practice that has been shaped by professional, institutional and
information science influences; and demonstration of practice within the domain
framework.
The disciplinary framework was then used in a series of STI case studies where it
was found to provide an effective description of information management. Together, the
book and subsequent case studies provided illustration of the principles utilised in
information management and the way that they are practiced within different domains,
along with an explanation of the manner in which the information management discipline
has been formed. These should assist with direction of future research and scholarship
particularly with respect to factors relevant to information services and indicators for their
successful application in future.
It is anticipated that this generalised description of the practices across the range of
interpretations of information management should enable practicing information
professionals to appreciate the relationship of their own work to disciplines that are
converging towards similar purpose, such as through a clearer indication of the extent to
which technical and management standards may be applied, and performance analysis
undertaken.
Complementary outcomes that were achieved during the course of the work were:
a comparative analysis of thesauri in the information field which shows that in this field,
Conceptual framework for information management (Abstract) iv
the ways that information professionals represent themselves remains unreconciled; an
historical examination of Australian STI services that provides pointers to their effective
continuation; and a reconsideration of the relationship between librarianship and
information management.
The work is presented as a compilation of papers that comprise firstly extracts
from the book to exemplify its consolidation of information management principles, then
a number of published and submitted papers that examine how principles have been
applied in practice. This is in the context of six case studies of Australian STI services
including interviews with creators and developers, and analysis of historical information.
Conceptual framework for information management v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
KEYWORDS ................................................................................................................................................ I NOTE ON LAYOUT/FORMATTING............................................................................................................... II ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................ III TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................................................................................................................VII LIST OF PUBLICATIONS...........................................................................................................................VIII STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP ...................................................................................................X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................XI
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 1 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH ................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Preamble .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Research problem ................................................................................................................ 2 1.3. Research context .................................................................................................................. 3 1.4. Aim and objectives of the study............................................................................................ 6 1.5. Method.................................................................................................................................. 8 1.6. Research progress.............................................................................................................. 11 1.7. Research contributions ...................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................... 21 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................................... 21
2.1. Discipline formation........................................................................................................... 21 2.2. Information in organisations.............................................................................................. 24 2.3. Information professions...................................................................................................... 28
2.3.1. Defining the information professions........................................................................................... 30 2.3.2. Education for the professions ....................................................................................................... 33
2.4. Information science ............................................................................................................ 36 2.4.1. Definitions of information............................................................................................................ 36 2.4.2. Elements of information science .................................................................................................. 39
2.5. Information management as practice................................................................................. 43 2.6. Information management as discipline .............................................................................. 47 2.7. Summary and focus of study............................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 3: EXPRESSING INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES ........................ 51 3.1. Information management Book preliminaries ................................................................... 51 3.2. Information management Book chapter: ‘Introduction’.................................................... 54 3.3. Information management Book chapter: ‘Information in organisations’ excerpt............. 75 3.4. Information management Book chapter: Operational domain.......................................... 85 3.5. Information management Book chapter: Analytical domain........................................... 102 3.6. Information management Book chapter: Administrative domain.................................... 128
CHAPTER 4: TERMINOLOGY USED BY INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS .................... 137 4.1. Journal article: Vocabulary use study ............................................................................. 137
CHAPTER 5: HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF STI SERVICES ........................................................ 155 5.1. Book chapter: Drops in the ocean: the development of … STI in Australia.................... 155 5.2. Journal article: Australian STI services history and development.................................. 171
CHAPTER 6: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINE FORMATION IN STI .......... 201 6.1. Journal article: single case study IM and STI services.................................................... 201 6.2. Journal article: multiple case study of STI services discipline formation....................... 225
CHAPTER 7: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK.............................................. 253 7.1. Journal article: Development of IM disciplinary framework .......................................... 253
Conceptual framework for information management vi
CHAPTER 8: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARY CONTEXT ............................ 281 8.1. Book chapter: IM discipline and library development..................................................... 281
CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS........................................................................ 317 9.1. Achievements of research program ................................................................................. 317 9.2. Methodological critique................................................................................................... 320 9.3. Problems encountered...................................................................................................... 321 9.4. Limitations........................................................................................................................ 322 9.5. Further research directions ............................................................................................. 322 9.6. Significance and conclusion ............................................................................................ 324
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................ 327
Conceptual framework for information management vii
Table of illustrations
Figure title Thesis section Figure number (parent document)
Page
Outline of research process Chapter 1 1.1 9 Examples of information organisation Chapter 3.2 1.1 57 Information management tasks associated with records
Chapter 3.2 1.2 61
Contemporary information management applications Chapter 3.2 1.3 68 Levels of information management Chapter 3.2 1.4 72 Enterprise responsibility for information Chapter 3.3 4.3 77 Environmental scanning Chapter 3.3 4.4 80 Scanning modes Chapter 3.3 4.5 81 Organising animals Chapter 3.4 10.1 90 Taxonomic classification for koala Chapter 3.4 10.2 91 Extract from 1997 U.S. NAICS Codes and Titles Chapter 3.4 10.3 92 Records and information management classification scheme for filing
Chapter 3.4 10.4 93
Extract from U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration classification scheme for …
Chapter 3.4 10.5 94
LC Classification Scheme outline of main classes Chapter 3.4 10.6 94 Extract from LC Classification outline Class J Chapter 3.4 10.7 96 Extract from Dutch Electronic Subject Service site using classified arrangement
Chapter 3.4 10.8 101
IRDS evaluation schema Chapter 3.5 18.1 114 Checklist for HCI evaluation Chapter 3.5 18.2 126 Website evaluation Chapter 3.5 18.3 127 Information policy components Chapter 3.6 20.5 131 Planning matrix for information policy implementation
Chapter 3.6 20.6 132
ENGINE record Chapter 5.2 1 190 Example of AESIS record Chapter 6.1 1 215 AESIS overall functional format Chapter 6.1 2 217 Information management framework Chapter 9.5 9.1 323
Table title Thesis section Table number (parent document)
Page
Example findings on the ability of scientists to find information
Chapter 5.1 1 161
Australian STI databases Chapter 5.2 1 185 Record counts by publication year Chapter 5.2 2 187 ATRI document types Chapter 5.2 3 190 Informit elements for ATRI and ANSTI Chapter 5.2 4 194 Database information management Chapter 6.1 1 209 Australian STI databases Chapter 6.1 2 211 AESIS milestones Chapter 6.1 3 217 Extract from AGLS reference description of NAA Chapter 8.1 13.1 293 Website evaluation criteria based upon FAVORS Chapter 8.1 13.2 304 Corporate policy constituents Chapter 8.1 13.3 311
Conceptual framework for information management viii
List of publications
Middleton, M. 2002 Information management: a consolidation of operations,
analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga, Australia: Charles Sturt
University Centre for Information Studies.
[ISBN 1-876938-36-6].
Middleton, M. 2004 Drops in the ocean: the development of scientific and
technological information services in Australia. In M.E.
Bowden & W.B. Rayward (Eds.), The history and heritage
of scientific and technological information systems.
Medford, NJ, USA: Information Today.
[ISBN 1-57387-229-6]. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00000689/
Middleton, M. 2004 The way that information professionals describe their own
discipline: a comparison of thesaurus descriptors. New
Library World 105(11): 429-435.
[ISSN: 0307-4803]. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00000614/
Middleton, M. 2005 Discipline formation in information management: case study of
scientific and technological information services. Journal of
Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology 2:
543-558.
[ISSN 1547-5840]. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001433
Middleton, M. 2006
Scientific and technological information services in Australia. I.
History and development. Australian Academic and
Research Libraries 37(2):
[ISSN 0004-8623]. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00004722/
Middleton, M. 2006
in press
Scientific and technological information services in Australia. II.
Discipline formation in information management. Australian
Academic and Research Libraries 37(3)
[ISSN 0004-8623].
Conceptual framework for information management ix
Middleton, M. in press A framework for information management: using case studies to
test application International Journal of Information
Management
[ISSN 0268-4012]
Middleton, M. in press Beyond the corporate library: information management in
organisations. In S Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-
first century: Charting future developments in library and
information services
During the course of the work, I contributed to a number of other publications
that drew upon the research. Some are listed here. Their content is excluded from the
dissertation, as they are not specific to the progression of the research programme.
Asprey, L., &
Middleton, M.
2003 Integrative document and content management: strategies for
exploiting enterprise knowledge. Hershey, PA, USA: Idea
Group.
[ISBN 1-59140-055-4(h/c); eISBN 1-59140-068-6].
Redlich, L.,
Gersekowski, P., &
Middleton, M.
2006
Natural resource information management at state government
level. In A.-V. Anttiroiko & M. Mälkiä (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of digital government (Vol. III, pp. 1226-
1234) Hershey, USA: Idea Group Reference.
[ISBN 1-59140-789-3].
Asprey, L. &
Middleton, M.
2005 Integrative document and content management solutions. In M
Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of information science
and technology volume I-V (pp. 1573-1578). Hershey,
USA: Idea Group Reference.
[ISBN 1-59140-553-X; eISBN 1-59140-794-X].
Conceptual framework for information management x
Statement of original authorship
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or
diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and
belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another
person except by m, and where due reference is made.
Signature: ___________________________
Date: _______________________________
Conceptual framework for information management xi
Acknowledgements
During the period of this study, I was particularly grateful to receive support from:
• My supervisors: Associate Professor Christine Bruce and Professor Guy Gable.
• QUT for providing the environment in which the whole thing was made
possible.
• My doctoral colleagues for their support and encouragement during the research
process.
• My wife and family.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 1
C h a p t e r 1 : I n t r o d u c t i o n
1 Introduction to the research
This work is a compilation of papers that have been published or accepted for
publication on topics associated with discipline formation in information management.
It is presented as a PhD by Publication which comprises a narrative that encompasses the
series of published papers, and includes excerpts from the book written to illustrate the
province and practice of the discipline.
The introductory Chapter includes a description of the area of investigation and
explanation of the aims and objectives of the study. It also provides an account of the
research progress that has led to the various extracts and papers that are incorporated.
1.1. Preamble
‘Management’ and ‘information’ are two commonly used words with many
shades of understanding. The shades become shadows when the words are brought
together as ‘information management’, where interpretation is subject to a range of
interests and contexts. Everyone manages information to some extent personally.
When information is to be managed corporately, the perspective from which it is
approached varies considerably according to the background of different professions
whose orientation may for example be behavioural, technological, managerial, or
educational.
Yet between these groups, it seems reasonable to assume a shared understanding
of the separation between the way information is ultimately used (such as in learning
or decision making), and the way that it is organised and processed to be available for
use. Such understanding may be given substance as a requirement for intermediation
between information processing systems and their users. This may be in the form of
direct intercession by assistance to information users who are unfamiliar with the
information architecture of the repositories from which they seek information. On the
other hand, it may be by shaping of systems to facilitate use through information
procedures such as requirements analysis, interface design, classification, and
application of meta-information, each of which is directed at anticipating user needs.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 2
Some doomsayers in the information professions have at times foreseen
‘disintermediation’ because end users of information can access it directly (the
‘googling effect’). However, such concerns seem to pay insufficient attention to
ongoing imperatives for identification, preparation, organisation and sifting of
pertinent information as business, community, research and educational needs evolve.
To use the term ‘information professions’ implies that there are associations of
people who subscribe to the tenets that identify a profession, for example: working
within the boundaries of an agreed body of knowledge, generally adhering to
underlying models and principles, promulgating appropriate curricula for professional
entry, stipulating best practice for applying principles, and providing guidance for
society in general (or the lay public) in their area of specialisation.
This does happen in the subject area of information, but the fact that there are
multiple professions rather than an ‘information profession’ indicates that there
continues to be a spectrum of understanding of what is actually professed. This is in
influenced by the contexts in which the professionals work such as the corporate
environment (business, education, community), the types of repositories
(recordkeeping, libraries, museums, archives), and the form of media (film, books,
digital).
This work investigates the respects in which there is accord about a common
conceptual framework, and the manner in which a discipline has been formed by
practice.
It does this by an extensive review of the literature which is used to propose a
consolidated view of information management that is expressed in terms of domains.
The view is then tested by case studies of a particular information management
environment.
1.2. Research problem
The challenge of the research is to provide a way in which information
management may be expressed in terms of a detailed disciplinary framework,
understood in terms of practical application.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 3
It requires a review and re-appraisal of existing expression of information
management principles, representation of these in a consolidated way, and a testing of
the resulting the conceptualisation against practice.
1.3. Research context
The definition of discipline is fertile ground, repeatedly re-ploughed by scholars.
They are aided in their ruminations by the many dictionary definitions. For example
the Oxford English Dictionary (OED online, 2004) finds numerous etymological
pathways and nuances since the 14th Century. The one most pertinent to this work
seems to have been used by Chaucer in 1386: “This disciplyne and this crafty science”
interpreted among other things as a branch of instruction or education, or a department
of learning or knowledge. Other definitions speak of system or method for
maintenance of order, or system of rules of conduct.
The OED is similarly varied with its definitions of profession. Probably the
most pertinent for the purposes of this work has been with us since the sixteenth
century: a vocation in which a professed knowledge of some department of learning
or science is used in its application to the affairs of others or in the practice of an art
founded upon it.
These definitions should be placed in a more contemporary context – one in
which scholarship interests itself in the formation (and extinction) of professions,
and how they establish their mores using an agreed knowledge base - that is, the
discipline.
Reese (1995) has said that “one of the principles in discipline formation is to
privilege certain classes of evidence as the basis of research and to advance theory
that specifies the unique character of the nature of change within the particular
domain (that) the discipline privileges”. He was writing in a humanities context.
Still, this and some other assertions of his relating to what might be termed the tribal
nature, or inclusiveness of those disciplines, may be applied more generally to
disciplines. For example he felt that once established, a discipline functions as a
quasi-corporate voice to deflect criticism from outside its borders and to deflate all
claims to the truth that do not win communal support.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 4
An investigation of those scholars who interest themselves in discipline
formation leads to embodying them in three groups:
• Philosophers who have concerned themselves with the history of ideas.
When they particularly concern themselves with adherence by groups to
models of thinking or paradigms, some like Kuhn (1977) look specially at
identifying the boundaries between scientific disciplines.
• Sociologists who concern themselves with group relationships and their
manifestations such as power and education.
• Authorities within particular disciplines who develop an interest in how
their own discipline has developed, and try to articulate the historical
development and boundaries often using advocacy or rhetoric.
An example of an approach that seems to straddle the second and third of these
categories is that of Baehr (2002). He is a sociologist examining the “precarious
identity” of sociology. He does so by an analysis of three concepts: founders,
classics and canons, so is essentially undertaking an analysis of influential literature
(“classic texts”). Although he does include one institutional case study, the
institution in question is itself a publication – a journal representing the outpouring
of a school of thought.
A vastly different analysis in a very different field, architecture, is undertaken
by the academic architect Pai (2002) based upon an MIT thesis. He tries to
demonstrate how this discipline has formed into what he calls a discursive practice.
He does so by reference to and illustration from a great deal of writing and graphics
from recent years. Again, there is considerable critical analysis of text.
Much work on discipline formation has been undertaken by investigation of
academic disciplinary boundaries, and by trying to determine what it is that leads to
methods employed, models accepted and principles followed. Exploration of the way
that the disciplines have been applied in the work place has been carried out for many
reasons including task definition for workplace employment, establishment of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 5
competencies or training programs, or identification of knowledge and skills for
inclusion in curriculum development.
Sociologists have also been interested in how the disciplines are applied as
professions. The work of Abbott (1988) is particularly pertinent since it includes a case
study of the information professions which he differentiates as qualitative and
quantitative, before going on to examine what he envisages as forthcoming
coalescence to a combined jurisdiction. This jurisdictional claim is not given a label,
but it could reasonably be information management. However, even with his work
there do not appear to have been particular attempts to associate a theoretical
disciplinary framework with workplace applications, at least in the area of information
management.
Recent specific attempts to characterise information management as a discipline
have been made by Rowley (1998; 1999), in which she makes some attempt to
associate principles and practice. Her proposals are situated in many years of debate by
others on what comprises the defining knowledge of the field. This debate has been
tackled from a number of viewpoints that include:
• Provision of precise contextual definitions for information and the way it is
used in organisational settings.
• Establishing a science of information that enunciates principles for
information description, organisation and retrieval of information in its
various forms along with metrics for the way it is used.
• Articulation of research agendas that have included analysis of information
valuation, informetrics, and situational information seeking behaviour.
• Analysis of the workforce that specialises in handling information and
determining what is done by different participants.
• Developing principles that guide use of information as a resource.
• Establishing curricula for those who are entering information professions.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 6
Each of these pathways has contributed to the creation of a broad understanding
that information must be managed in different ways according to context, and that this
management owes its effectiveness to a coherent frame of knowledge.
However, it is only in very recent years that scholars have spoken in terms of
formation of an information management discipline. It remains problematical to do so
since there are many contributing disciplines, and it is difficult to identify a core that is
accepted by all adherents. The discipline formation work that has been done has been
undertaken historiographically as in other areas of discipline formation, but there has
yet to be significant examination of what is conceived to be the discipline in relation to
what is engaged in by its practicing professionals.
Wilson has been active in characterising the discipline. He considers that if
information management is to have a continuing role in organisational performance,
then its function must become accepted as a key part of organisational structures. It
must also be associated with a coherent educational curriculum and a research agenda
(Wilson, 2003). Another way of putting this might be that an agreed paradigm is still
to be accepted. This situation in the sciences has been described by Kuhn (1977) as a
pre-paradigmatic disciplinary grouping. There is yet to be agreement on the
constellation of ideas and techniques, beliefs and values that define the shared
commitments of a group such as agreed symbolic generalisations, models and
exemplars.
Pluralism of models is unexceptional in the social sciences, information
management included - it is yet to have stabilised at a mature agreed form. My
premise is that I can build upon literature to date and show that practice has indeed
been based upon a defining and relatively stable set of principles. In this way I hope to
give better definition to the field, which in turn can be advanced through research and
scholarship.
1.4. Aim and objectives of the study
The aim of the study was to advance understanding of information management.
This was approached with reference in particular to its practice by professionals
(though building upon conceptualisation by scholars), within the framework of a
discipline.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 7
The objectives at the outset were therefore to:
• Articulate a conceptual framework that characterises the discipline and how
its principles are applied in practice.
• Report on evidence for application of this framework in the development of
scientific and technological information (STI) services.
• Examine the manner in which information professionals carry out the
activities described in the conceptual framework.
Although the individual publications resulting are the result of different aspects
of enquiry, from an overall viewpoint the research is addressing the following
questions:
• Can a discipline area for information management be articulated?
• Is it possible to harmonise information management concepts across
competing disciplines?
• Has such a discipline been employed in the establishment of computer-based
information services?
• Do the areas of agreement among practitioners constitute a discipline
formation?
During the course of the work, it was found that several by-products could also
be produced as part of the research process. These were the result of tangential sub-
questions:
• What vocabulary is used by people who practice information management in
order to describe themselves? This led to an analysis of the vocabularies
used in bibliographic databases to describe information professionals.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 8
• Has the current maintenance of Australian STI services anything to learn
from their historical development? This led to an historical overview and
commentary on current development that was additional to the information
management analysis in the case studies.
• Is there a union of principles between librarianship and information
management? This led to a critique of the relationship between information
management and librarianship.
1.5. Method
The method for achieving these objectives was through a series of publications
arising from the steps summarised in the accompanying Figure 1.1. The method
entailed:
• Creation of a book that proposes a disciplinary framework by consolidation
and redaction of concepts and principles expressed in the literature.
• Investigation of a discrete group of services that were established in
Australia during the 1970s which may prove to be exemplars of applications
of such a disciplinary framework.
• Semi-structured interviews of current professionals in information
management, along the lines of earlier disciplinary studies in other fields, to
determine what they consider to be the boundaries.
The methodological approach was mixed. As with other discipline formation
studies, the book was produced using a historiographic approach that involved
reviewing the literature on the subject, then articulating a disciplinary framework by
consolidating principles espoused within the literature, and illustrating these with
examples of application. Attention was also paid to codes of professional associations
when the framework was constructed.
The methods used in the individual papers pursuant to the book are described in
more detail in each of the papers, however in brief they comprised:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 9
Figure 1.1: Outline of research process
Examine relevant disciplines
Establish research questions
Define approach
Establish research context
Literature review
Chapter 6 (discipline)
Chapter 4 (NLW) Establish
discipline context
Compare domains and practice
Chapter 3 (IM book)
Review research context
Review research questions
Establish protocol
First STI case
Chapter 5 STI history
Repeat cases STI services
IM and library environment
Disciplinary framework comparison
Chapter 7 (framework)
)
Chapter 8 (libraries)
Chapter 5 (STI history)
Chapter 6 (discipline)
Chapter 3 (IM book)
Chapter 3 (IM book)
Chapter 3 (IM book)
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 10
• A comparative analysis of controlled vocabularies applied to describe
bibliographic databases was used for the paper dealing with how information
professionals describe themselves.
• A multiple case study approach with the unit of analysis being an STI
service was used for the papers that investigated history, characteristics and
discipline formation of services employing information management. Six
services were investigated using a case study protocol framed by the
disciplinary approach previously outlined in the book.
Study of the services was carried out by means of documented literature and
internal reports about the services, exploration of the databases produced by
the services, historical research in archives of committees and departments
involved in service development, and interviews.
Interviews for the cases were undertaken in two ways:
- as formal structured face-to-face interviews with seven of the
individuals involved in initial development of the services. These
were recorded and transcribed to permit scrutiny using text analysis
software, and were complemented by multiple follow-up telephone
calls for clarification.
- as informal unstructured interviews with twenty-two individuals
principally involved in current operation of services. These were
mainly undertaken as telephone conversations to clarify matters
arising from structured interviews, or from database investigations.
• The last two papers are critiques evolving from a comparison of research
findings with in the first case a specific framework paper on the information
management discipline, and in the second case, current librarianship
literature.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 11
1.6. Research progress
The initial stage of the work comprised an extensive literature review in order to
identify approaches to investigation of discipline formation, and in order to consider
works that had endeavoured to explicate the concepts and practice of information
management.
Chapter 2 is a literature review that provides a scope for the field and identifies
the research focus. It comprises the initial literature review, along with reference to
further relevant material that has been published while the research was underway.
The second (and major) stage of the research is a book that synthesises and
consolidates information principles and practice, thereby proposing a disciplinary
framework. The book is developed from the initial literature review. However, it
derives from a much more extensive bibliography that is used to substantiate the
framework embodied in the book’s composition. This structure is based upon the
domains of analysis proposed by Diener (1992), and uses these to frame many
examples of information management practice together with contributory influences
that have shaped its understanding. The book was published as:
Middleton, M. (2002) Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. CSU Centre for Information Studies.
Chapter 3 contains extracts from this book in order to give an overall
impression of its composition and content. They are as follows:
• Chapter 3.2 reproduces the introductory Chapter 1 from the book in full.
The purpose for including this is to provide some historical context for
the discipline, summarise the forerunners to the disciplinary setting, and
introduce the domains of analysis that are used to structure the study.
• Chapter 3.3 is an extract from Chapter 4 on Information and
Organisations in Part A of the book. It is included in order to provide a
sample of one of the contributory influences to information management
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 12
practice. In this case the extract includes sections on information
responsibilities and on environmental scanning.
The rest of the book is composed of 3 parts to illustrate operational, analytical
and administrative domains of information management. An extract from one chapter
from each of these parts is provided to impart the flavour of the analysis:
• Chapter 3.4 is an extract from Part B of the book which deals with
operational information management. This part of the book is structured
to illustrate information procedures undertaken at stages in an
information life cycle from creation to disposal. At each stage of this
cycle information management involves working with information about
information (metainformation or metadata).
The stages include an information organisation stage, and this is
differentiated as organising by agent (information about information
carriers) or content (subject matter of information carried). In each case
there are devices for controlling the description of the information, and
the example being introduced with respect to subject matter organisation
is that of classification from Chapter 10.
• Chapter 3.5 is an extract from Part C of the book which deals with
analytical information management. Systems management is sometimes
differentiated into operational, tactical and strategic management.
However the analytical domain proposed by Diener does not correspond
to tactical level. Instead it is about the way information needs are
determined and information sources systems and services are identified,
developed and evaluated.
The extract comes from the book Chapter 18.1 where a number of
approaches to evaluation of information operations are introduced.
• Chapter 3.6 is an extract from Part D of the book which deals with
administrative information management and in this example from
Chapter 20.3 illustrates elements of corporate information policy, and
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 13
then looks at so-called organisational learning as an constituent of
corporate information policy.
The book as a whole provides a contribution to research by introducing a
detailed disciplinary framework for information management in a way that takes into
account practice in a variety of contexts. It does this using reference to prior literature
and research, working examples and professional tenets, so that information principles
and practice are consolidated in one work.
Both the structure and content of the book are used to support the disciplinary
framework that is put forward. The structure is used to illustrate in successive parts the
influences on development of information management, and the different domains of
practice. Within each of these parts, chapters give details of different applications and
principles. For example the operational domain is explained with reference to a life
cycle model of information, so that chapters in turn examine practice at different life
cycle stages.
Chapter 4 of the thesis arose from the procedures being used to undertake the
database searching that assisted the literature review. It was found that there was
considerable variance between databases in describing the roles of people carrying out
information work.
Therefore a formal analysis was undertaken of the controlled vocabularies being
used in the most relevant databases and a comparison was made of them. The paper
draws attention to the widely divergent thesaurus nomenclature used to denote the
information professions. It was accepted for publication as:
Middleton, M. (2004) The way that information professionals describe their
own discipline: a comparison of thesaurus descriptors. New Library
World 105(11): 429-435.
The paper provided a contribution to research by analysing differences in
terminology in order to illustrate inconsistencies between a number of the main tools
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 14
that are in use for indexing. A more consistent approach to disciplinary nomenclature
is suggested with reference to existing standards for controlled vocabulary
maintenance.
The extent to which the terminology of a discipline is consistent provides an
indication of how well-formed the discipline is, so this is an indication that practice is
as yet some way from arriving at a shared paradigm.
The disciplinary framework proposed in the book is then used as a means for
analysing some specific information services. The cases chosen were those that have
been developed to support STI in Australia. They were selected as they form a
relatively discrete group of services that may be expected to exemplify many of the
elements of information management described in the book.
One specific service, AESIS, was examined in detail as a test case, and this was
then complemented by investigation of several other services. From a publication
viewpoint, it was found desirable to differentiate papers into those whose orientation
was primarily historical with description of the developing characteristics of the
services, as opposed to those where the emphasis is upon examining the services as
exemplars of information management discipline formation.
Chapter 5 includes two papers whose focus is historical.
• Chapter 5.1 arose from the AESIS case and includes material dealing with the
strategic and political influences on development. The paper arose from a
presentation at an international conference that reviewed the development of
STI services. A subsequent book was published that included revisions of the
papers dealing with the services, and emphasising influences on historical
development. It included work on the Australian context, as described thus:
Middleton, M. (2004). Drops in the ocean: the development of scientific and
technological information services in Australia. In W.B. Rayward &
M.E. Bowden (Eds.), The history and heritage of scientific and
technological information systems (pp. 353-360). Medford, NJ, USA:
InfoToday for American Society for Information Science and
Technology and Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 15
• Chapter 5.2 is a second paper with emphasis on history and characteristics
that encompasses each of the STI cases investigated. It is a companion piece
to the discipline formation paper in Chapter 6. The two papers have been
accepted for publication, and the first is to appear as:
Middleton, M. (2006) Scientific and technological information services in
Australia. I. History and development. Australian Academic and
Research Libraries 37(2): 111-135.
Together, these two papers contribute to the research by provision of a detailed
descriptive analysis of the development and characteristics of the major Australian STI
services. They provide a historical overview, review strategic and political influences,
and lead to propositions about their continuing maintenance and development.
The first of the two papers was also able to provide an Australian perspective
within the framework of international development.
The coverage of Australian literature by such services has been developed since
the 1970s, but as always been subject to constraints imposed by the public policy
environment, by resourcing, and by technical application. By analysing this
development, these papers lead to proposals for improving metadata application, for
complementing international services, for provision of citation linking and for
association with full text material. Together, the papers complement the two papers in
Chapter 6.
Chapter 6 comprises publications arising from examination of the same
services but with emphasis on information management discipline. It includes two
publications:
• Chapter 6.1 focuses on the case study of AESIS, and was published as:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 16
Middleton, M. (2005) Discipline formation in information management: case
study of scientific and technological information services. Journal of
Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology 2: 543-558.
• Chapter 6.2 is the case study discipline formation paper that consolidates
examination of all six cases in the discipline formation context, and which
complements the paper of Chapter 5.2. It has been accepted for publication
as:
Middleton, M. (2006) Scientific and technological information services in
Australia. II. Discipline formation in information management.
Australian Academic and Research Libraries 37(3)
Together these papers suggest that the disciplinary framework espoused in the
information management book is appropriate for describing the features of information
management practiced in such situations.
They do this by consideration of the cases with respect to administrative,
analytical and operational aspects, and find that these are appropriate domains within
which to consider information management practice. The work also adds to the case
study literature of information management in a novel manner by undertaking analysis
with reference to the framework of an information management disciplinary model.
This points the way to using such a model for further case studies which are needed for
the discipline.
Although there have been many descriptions of the scope of information
management, attempts to place it within a disciplinary framework have been relatively
few. Among the more developed of these has been the work by Rowley (1998; 1999).
Chapter 7 uses the STI case material to evaluate how information management
practiced with the STI services may be applied in the context of the framework
proposed by Rowley for information management. It suggests amalgamation of her
framework with the one developed in the book. It has been accepted for publication and
is ‘in press’ as follows:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 17
Middleton, M. (2006, in press) A framework for information management:
using case studies to test application. International Journal of
Information Management
This work provides a research contribution by carrying out a critique of an
earlier framework proposed for the information management discipline, and proposing
modifications to that framework based upon the preceding STI case studies, which in
turn draw upon the organisation of, and examples in, the book.
It therefore enhances the conceptual framework for the discipline of information
management, provides for adaptation of a model within which the field may be
understood, and within which practice cases may be interpreted. These may in turn
contribute to disciplinary formation by improving definition of the professional and
providing pointers to curriculum development.
During the course of the research, I was offered the opportunity to contribute a
chapter to a publication on future development in library and information services, the
idea being to contrast perceptions of information management with information
handling practiced within the librarianship profession.
Chapter 8 is the result of re-evaluating the role of information management
within organisations in the context of the changing institutional role of libraries. The
paper takes the opportunity to use the defined disciplinary scope of information
management in order to contrast it with information management applied in the library
context. It has been accepted for publication and is now undergoing final review
before appearing as:
Middleton, M. (2007, in press) Beyond the corporate library: information
management in organisations. In S Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the
twenty-first century: Charting future developments in library and
information services.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 18
Therefore the combined earlier research contributions with respect to
disciplinary studies have been able to be utilised to articulate the relationship between
librarianship and information management. This places information management
within a broader perspective establishing its practicality with respect to information
acquisition, information organisation, current awareness, information resource
evaluation and quality control, requirements analysis, preservation and information
policy in contexts other than libraries.
Chapter 9 is the concluding discussion that reviews and summarises the content
and significance of the various papers, discusses difficulties with interpretation, and
suggests avenues for further work.
It suggests that the work succeeds in presenting a disciplinary framework for
information management, and showing that this framework is an effective
representation of the discipline in a bibliographic information services environment.
1.7. Research contributions
To summarise then, the research contributions within the publication framework
are:
• An explanation of the principles utilised in information management and the
way that they are practiced within different domains.
• An explanation of the manner in which the information management
discipline has been formed that should provide direction for future research
and scholarship.
• An analysis of the information management factors important for the
development of information services and indicators for their successful
application in future.
• A description of the extent to which the practices across the range of
interpretations of information management can be given common expression,
so that practicing information professionals can appreciate the relationship of
their own work to disciplines that are converging towards similar purpose.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 1: Introduction) 19
• A clearer indication of the extent to which technical and management
standards may be applied and performance analysis undertaken.
These were enhanced by the outcomes detailed in Chapters 4, 7, and 8 which
arose as additional opportunities in the course of the research, namely:
• Analysis of controlled vocabularies used in databases that describe the
information management field, which shows how employment as
information professionals is not consistently described, and suggests
approaches for reconciling this.
• An examination of Australian STI services in terms of historical
development that provides pointers to their effective continuation.
• A critique of the relationship between librarianship and information
management that provides guidance on their differentiation.
The relationship to the most relevant published research in this field is
described in the following literature review.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 21
C h a p t e r 2 : L i t e r a t u r e r e v i e w
2. Literature Review
The review begins with a brief consideration of discipline formation (2.1) in
general. It then concentrates upon understanding of information management as an
undertaking. This is carried out by examining various aspects of information
management literature that have had bearing on discipline formation. These aspects are
introduced under the following headings: information in organisations (2.2),
associations of information professions (2.3), and information science (2.4). There is
then a section specifically on information management as practice (2.5) that reviews
how the scope of information management has itself been articulated, followed by
information management as a discipline (2.6) to consider how discipline formation in
the field has been explicitly addressed up to now. This leads to a conclusion that
comprises a summary and focus (2.7) of the study.
2.1. Discipline formation
What is a discipline? This question has been repeatedly revisited as professions
try to come to terms with whatever corpus of knowledge that concerns them. However
it is of concern also to educators who may find it useful to differentiate disciplines
when developing curriculum practice.
For example King and Brownell (1966, pp. 67-98) canvas a variety of
approaches. They successively look at a discipline’s characteristics alternatively as a
community, as an expression of human imagination, as an intellectual domain, as a
tradition with a history, as a mode of inquiry (which they term ‘a syntactical
structure’), as a conceptual structure, as a specialised language, as a heritage of
literature, as a valuative and effective stance in which aesthetic qualities are stressed,
and as an instructive community. This thesis does not presume to investigate each of
these characteristics in detail, however they each inform the line of inquiry to some
extent.
For the purposes of this review, a discipline is defined as a branch of knowledge
subject to systematic academic study and application. This definition is a synthesis of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 22
three of the many definitions provided in OED online (2004). A discipline makes use
of a developing documented body of knowledge including explanatory models and
abstractions, and suggests ways in which that knowledge may be applied. The
systematic study is undertaken using scholarship, reflection, and research methods
sanctioned by the prevailing community of scholars. Application in the prevailing
practice is undertaken according to established principles determined by the
scholarship.
This practice may be carried out by a profession which in general terms has been
characterised by Metzger (1975), as a group that possesses and draws on a store of
knowledge that is more than ordinary, has a theoretical and intellectual grasp that is
different from a technician’s practice, applies theoretical and intellectual knowledge to
solving human and social problems, strives to add and improve its body of knowledge
through research, passes on the body of knowledge to novice generations for the most
part in a university setting, and is imbued with an altruistic spirit.
So a profession would seem to be the group that carries out the practice of a
discipline. Some sociologists such as Macdonald, referring to the work of Foucault
and Larsen, see discipline having a wider scope in meaning than profession
(Macdonald, 1995, p.25), principally so that it is not confined to practice. However in
this work, I’ll adopt the emphasis of Larsen (2005) on a profession as a disciplinary
culture. Therefore, I infer that the knowledge of a discipline is applied and formalised
by a profession through:
• Grouping in an association that has membership rules for inclusion by
qualification.
• Acceptance of an underlying knowledge base that is tested, and which
evolves through research.
• Pronouncing principles for the application of disciplinary knowledge, in the
form of provision of services to society.
• Articulating operational and ethical standards.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 23
• Working as an occupational group with special skills that are used by selfless
observance of tenets instituted by fellow adherents – these tenets perhaps
being called ethical or professional guidelines.
• Establishing guidelines for the preparation of those entering the profession in
the form of a curriculum based upon the body of knowledge.
Further, Abbott, has advanced abstraction as a concept that helps to differentiate
professions from occupations – ‘only a knowledge system governed by abstractions
can redefine its problems and tasks, defend them from interlopers, and seize new
problems …’ (Abbott, 1988, p.9).
The process of discipline formation is sometimes credited with providing new
ways of looking at knowledge. For example the publication in the seventeenth century
of Newton’s Principia provided mathematical principles for natural philosophy and
thereby introduced a formal language that was able to introduce disciplines such as
physics and astronomy.
In more recent times, examination of how disciplines form usually includes
consideration of just what is a discipline. Becher & Trowler (2001) review different
approaches to this, noting such aspects as tradition, set of values and beliefs, mode of
enquiry, conceptual structure, and network of communications. They make a
distinction between two types of emphasis in investigation. These are either an
epistemological one where the focus is concepts and fundamental aims, or a
sociological one where there is a focus on organised social groupings. Nevertheless
they recognise that most commentators give equal emphasis to both aspects.
Sullivan (1996) focused on the mechanisms for communicating within a
discipline. In considering how disciplinarity is displayed, he argued that to be
published within a discipline an author must display allegiance to the discipline’s
orthodoxy, while at the same time present some slight challenges. That is, whilst
something novel should be produced, it should be done within the framework of how
discourse is conducted based upon the discipline’s doctrinal knowledge.
One way of looking at what determines disciplines is to consider what barriers
exist to interdisciplinarity as Brewer (1999) has done. He itemises obstacles that
include different cultures and frames of reference; different methods and operational
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 24
objectives; different modes of discourse (both within disciplines, and between the
disciplines and the world outside); the challenges of gaining trust and respect of others
in different disciplines and fields; and professional impediments related to hiring,
promotion, status, and recognition.
However, there remains disquiet, particularly in the social sciences, about the
practicality of defining disciplinary boundaries. These boundaries may be outlined
(albeit with dotted lines) by communities of discourse, but the boundaries themselves
may prove problematic for advancement of knowledge. For example Dervin (2003) in
examining information seeking behaviour, protests the way disciplinarity is practiced.
She laments the way that discourse communities are forged within boundaries, and
how with maturation these boundaries have become more numerous and more rigid.
She expresses a need for ways to make disciplines more useful, more flexible, and
more able to find relevancies from discourses outside their boundaries, in ways that
can lead to more productive and more useful inquiry.
Much analysis of disciplines could be termed philosophical or sociological with
investigators undertaking epistemological analysis of disciplinary boundaries or
determination of the characteristics of a professional group. Where structured
approaches to analysis are employed, they might be termed historiographic, looking
into the documentation produced within a discipline, such as with respect to sociology
itself in the work of Baehr (2002), or architecture in the study by Pai (2002). In terms
of sociological analysis of the disciplines, the work of Abbott (1988) is relevant, in
that he specifically considers the information professions. I return to this under the
heading Information professions following.
Before turning to discipline formation material specifically in the information
management area, I now consider three areas that have an impact upon studies of the
information management as a discipline or a profession.
2.2. Information in organisations
Information is managed in both personal and corporate contexts. It is the study
of its use in the latter that has led to disciplinary constructs. For example Lewis,
Snyder and Kelly (1995) specifically examined such constructs with respect to
managing information as a resource.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 25
They defined information resource management in terms of acquiring, storing,
processing and distributing data in enterprises to meet business needs. By surveying
senior computing managers of large companies and analysing 150 responses, they
found that the most readily identifiable element associated with information resource
management by such managers was the existence of a ‘chief information officer’.
Other elements frequently mentioned included planning, security, advisory
committees, information integration and data administration. Their work is developed
from an extensive review, predominantly of the information systems literature. It
reflects an often expressed view from the preceding decade in this field that
information needs to be identified as a corporate resource.
However, investigation of enterprise information utilisation has developed along
many avenues prior to, then concurrently with this. For instance there is a significant
literature on corporate communication. Goldhaber, Dennis, Richetto, and Wiio (1984)
analysed communication in terms of what they called contingencies. These
contingencies are both internal (for example, employee demographics, organisational
structure), and external (regulatory and economic environment). The bearing of these
contingencies is further affected by the condition of the enterprise (the extent to which
it is passive or dynamic and responsive to external conditions) and characterised by the
extent to which the organisation needs ‘intelligence’ (the factors that make information
salient as far as management is concerned). In effect, work such as this, attempts to
make distinctions between information management requirements for different
corporate circumstances.
F. W. Horton jr. (1985) used a more practical approach to investigate and
explain how such contingencies require different models of information resource
management for different types of enterprises. For example, he illustrated how
business structure influences communication and information flows. This pragmatism
has been carried further by provision of guidance on how to explore information flows
in enterprises by application of communication audits (Hargie & Tourish, 1999).
Others have endeavoured to typify information management based upon
decision making imperatives. Rockart (1979) concentrated upon the information needs
of chief executives. His influential work pointed to the limiting of information
requirements to support identified critical success factors for an enterprise.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 26
Lord and Maher (1991) and Choo (1998b) have taken a more holistic corporate
culture view to identify a number of frameworks in which enterprise decision making
takes place. Strategies employed have been typified as rational, expert, cybernetic
(learning from experience), political, process or anarchic. It is understanding of
organisational culture in this way that has contributed to investigation of the concept of
the learning organisation – an organisation that makes use of what is known and
documented about its structures, processes and systems, and how they may be
influenced from outside. Senge (1990) sees forward-looking enterprises (those that
have the capacity to create their future) as having personnel with a culture of adaptive
learning who work within a systems thinking framework. These organisations also
foster shared vision with group commitment, team learning, personal mastery and
continuous reflection leading to changing mental models.
Often the focus of a learning organisation is its external environment. Long
before the concept of the learning organisation had been introduced, the concept of
environmental scanning and mechanisms for implementing it had been pursued at
length. These mechanisms are a significant constituent of a learning organisation. In
the business literature where they have been documented, the mechanisms may not
have been articulated as information management. However, if they are to be put into
effect, then procedures for managing information are required. A seminal thesis by
Aguilar (1967) stimulated much research in the area. His initial suggestions for
structuring procedures have since carried further, for example by Fahey and King
(1977) and J. L. Horton (1995).
There is now a plethora of texts that provide examples of the wide range of
resources that can be utilised in scanning processes. These works tend to evaluate
sources ranging from market research to internal databases that contain collections of
external information, as well as Internet and ‘deep Web’ material. Normally they also
include material on managing the intelligence collection practice including processing,
reporting and distributing. They may also provide legal and ethical guidance to what is
in any case meant to be a practice that makes use only of publicly available
information. Recent examples include works by West (2001), and by McGonagle and
Vella (2003) who have already produced many prior works in the same area.
Environmental scanning is seen as a procedure supporting business or
competitor intelligence gathering. Porter is well known for his work on competitive
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 27
forces applying in an environment adopting information and communication
technologies. His value chain analysis involves considering an enterprise in terms of
primary and support activities, and has an emphasis on transformation of value by
utilisation of information technology. However he has also focused on the part that
information itself plays in deriving competitive advantage (Porter & Millar, 1985).
Information (as distinct from information technology) also plays a part in
transformation of value.
This avenue of investigation which emphasises information as a corporate
resource has many branches. F. W. Horton jr’s work has already been mentioned. He
has also been active in developing methods for quantifying and evaluating such
resources (Burk & F. W. Horton jr., 1988; F. W. Horton jr. 1991). This approach to
auditing the information resource so that it may be used more effectively for strategic
information management has also been extended in the UK (Buchanan & Gibb, 1998),
and a text for applying it has been produced in Australia (Henczel, 2000).
Some see the need for organisational information management in terms of
maintenance of corporate memory (Megill, 1997) or alternatively in terms of effective
utilisation of intellectual capital (Brooking, 1999). Reference to the intellect leads us to
the consideration of knowledge, which has been a major focus of business information
research over the last decade. Under the rubric of knowledge management, there has
been a great deal of work building upon the knowledge creation ideas of Nonaka and
Takeuchi (1995) who differentiated tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. The latter
when it is documented (that is, recorded in some form), we may regard as information.
The many works on management of knowledge promote a management
approach that effectively combines communication and knowledge sharing in business
with management of the recorded forms of that communication. Davenport has been at
the forefront of spelling out elements of knowledge management (Davenport 1997;
Davenport & Prusak, 1998). There are many subsequent works that advocate different
applications of such an approach. For example Dixon (2000) see benefits for
companies in sharing information and Liebowitz (2000) sees it in terms of transference
of individual learning to organisational learning accompanied by processes such as
audits for identifying where knowledge is, along with capturing it and storing it.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 28
More recently Davenport seems to acknowledge that a lot of what is described
as knowledge management is in fact information management: “In practice what
companies actually manage under the banner of knowledge management is a mix of
knowledge, information and unrefined data – in short whatever anyone finds that is
useful and easy to store in an electronic repository”, and that the part involving
conversion to knowledge may not in fact be managed: “In the case of data and
information however, there are often attempts to add more value and create
knowledge. This transformation might involve the addition of insight, experience,
context, interpretation, or the myriad of other activities in which human brains
specialize” (Grover & Davenport, 2001).
Further, some proponents of knowledge management, have substituted
‘knowledge leadership’ as a term that better reflects knowledge utilisation (Cavaleri,
Seivert, & Lee, 2005). There appears to be a continuing lack of definition of the
knowledge management profession that makes information management appear to
be a relatively clearly differentiated.
If there are aspects of knowledge management (or leadership) that remain after
information management has been separated from it, they seem to comprise areas of
human resource management involved with identifying expertise, providing
‘knowledge spaces’ so that information sharing is fostered, and identifying
communication flows using such approaches as social network analysis.
In short, it is acknowledged that the management of information in enterprises is
a crucial aspect of business processes, but there are many perspectives on how it
should effectively be tackled. These range from systems perspectives that focus on
database development and utilisation through to business perspectives that see
information generating knowledge that may be used for competitive advantage. In
each case, there would be benefit in a concerted understanding of an information
management discipline.
2.3. Information professions
If a discipline may be regarded as a branch of knowledge, then in academic
institutional terms, disciplines could be described as basic units of intellectual life in
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 29
the academy. Among them, there is continual jockeying for position as paradigms and
investigative methods wax and wane. However, in the social sciences and humanities
there have been deliberate positions taken by what Anderson and Valente (2002)
describe as post-disciplinary programs. In their view, these programs in areas such as
cultural and women’s studies have a stance against discipline and have pursued an
eclectic combination of fields, methods and theories, but in so doing they may be seen
outside the academy as “overspecialised, arcane and ideologically invested”.
Study of information is often described as interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary
and so it too leaves itself open to charges of superficiality, lack of rigor and
abandonment of carefully developed methodologies that have assured disciplinary
integrity and success. However there are a significant number of people outside the
academy who think they are carrying out information management as evidenced by the
professional associations that have been formed in its name.
It could be said that a discipline is formed to the extent that a profession decides
to describe itself in terms of practice of that discipline. In information management
there are professional associations that include ‘information management’ in their
name but vary in their description of what it is. For example, on an international basis,
the following are examples of associations that make explicit claims to information
management:
• Aslib which claims to work with a wide range of organisations worldwide,
promoting best practice in the field of information management (Aslib, 2006),
and fostering this through an extensive publication program, including
periodicals and books on information management for business such as that
by Taylor and Farrell (1994).
• AIIM founded as an institute of information management, and now calling
itself an ‘enterprise content management’ (ECM) association, which provides
‘information management solutions’ to the ECM industry that support
business continuity, customer collaboration, regulatory compliance, and use
of process streamlining to reduce costs (AIIM International, 2006).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 30
• ARMA International (2006) which styles itself an authority on managing
records and information, and which publishes The Information Management
Journal.
• International Information Management Association (2006), which has an
emphasis on technology management.
• International Academy for Information Management (2006), now affiliated as
a special interest group of the Association for Information Systems, which
provides a forum in which interdisciplinary researchers and educators can
exchange ideas.
They are all involved in conference organisation and presentation as well as
publication including a number of journals. Of these active international associations,
some also have national sections. There are other professional associations whose
name does not include ‘information management’ but who lay claim to information
managers or to procedures that such professionals undertake. These include the
American Society for Information Science and Technology, the Information Resources
Management Association and the International Federation of Library Associations and
Institutions.
2.3.1. Defining the information professions
There has been a range of research that has investigated the extent and interests
of the information professions.
A seminal study that detailed the work of the information professions in the
USA was that of Debons, King, Mansfield, and Shirey (1981). Their research involved
an extensive survey of professions and at the time estimated that there were 1.64
million information professionals working in the U.S.A. They categorised what these
people were doing as: managing information operations, programs, services, or
databases; other operational information functions; information systems analysis;
analysing data and information on behalf of others; preparing data and information for
use by others; searching for data and information on behalf of others; information
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 31
systems design; educating and training information workers; and information research
and development.
Many subsequent studies have confirmed the diffuseness of the employment
sector for such work. Cronin, Stiffler and Day (1993) saw it in terms of the ‘heartland’
(traditional jobs in established institutions), the ‘hinterland’ (information work utilising
traditional skills, but outside the traditional institutions, or requiring adaptation), and the
‘horizon’ (software engineers, telecommunications managers, and the like). The term
multimodal is sometimes used to describe the tasks carried out, and one description that
has gained some currency during this period is that of the ‘hybrid’ information worker.
This is to convey the idea of a person who has had education in both information
management and a subject discipline such as biology or psychology, and who is an
information specialist focusing in the subject discipline.
Abbott’s work was referred to earlier with respect to discipline analysis (Abbott,
1988). His focus is the professions, and he pursues a sociological analysis of the
division of expert labour to examine how the professions work. He concentrates on the
way that professional tasks are delineated and stratified. He is less interested in
disciplinary boundaries than in defining their application - that is, their professional
boundaries. However he does comment that the ability of a profession to sustain what
he calls its jurisdiction is partly attributable to the power and prestige of its academic
knowledge. Notwithstanding, he considers that the public has a mistaken belief that
that such abstract knowledge is contiguous with practical professional knowledge.
This is despite the contention that academic knowledge legitimises professional work
by clarifying its foundations and tracing them to major cultural values (Abbott, 1988,
p.54).
Abbott’s work is of relevance to this study beyond his general examination of
approaches to professional tasks, because he includes what he terms case studies of
three professional areas, one of which is the information professions. His use of case
study means a detailed historiographic analysis of the literature in terms of how it
defines professional tasks. He sees the information professions as qualitative
(principally librarians and journalists), and quantitative (a “complex and contentious
group” including accountants, statisticians, operations researchers, and the like). He
envisages these groups coalescing under one jurisdiction stimulated by the joint
catalysts of computing technology and of information science.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 32
The professional periodicals of the professional associations often examine the
boundaries of the field and what employment in it means, Journals such as
Information Outlook and Online return repeatedly to role definition, sometimes
supported by survey data. For example in reporting excerpts from their Outsell Inc
study Corcoran, Dagar and Stratigos (2000) provide a wealth of data on roles. The
roles that the data show to be most predominant are information research; selection,
evaluation and acquisition of external content sources; training and educating end-
users; developing and managing overall content solutions for users; managing
desktop deployment of external content; performing value-added information
analysis; and managing internally generated content..
Danner (1998) looked at the roles of information professionals from the
perspective of law librarians. He conducted a wide ranging review that included
comparisons of the library and the computing professions generally. He quoted
Galvin's observations about the real world of work: that divergence among the
information professions confuses employers and the public as to what information
professionals do, and specialisation and unique academic credentials serve to narrow
and limit career options and job mobility for information professionals themselves.
This leads to the thought that the future of the information professions could be
determined by the realities of the workplace and market forces. However, he did not
regard it as a given, because librarianship and the other information professions have
not developed along the lines of traditional professions like medicine and law.
Therefore they may be better positioned for adapting to changes in work and
organisations than professions instituted during the nineteenth century.
There are other deliberations about professional role in the librarianship field
where the skills are considered in relation to information management. For example
Milne (2000) sees librarians having emerging opportunities in knowledge-aware
organisations. Fourie (2004) describes these opportunities in terms of assessing
changes in environment, and ways to repositioning through scenario building,
literature reviews, situation analysis, speculation and forecasting.
Many of the concerns expressed and changes anticipated by the earlier writers
are brought together in a recent book by Myburgh (2005). In it, she calls for a re-
evaluation of the paradigm by which information professionals are defined, and in
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 33
proposing the elements of a new one, seeks a stronger orientation towards
management of information rather than management of documents.
Of more practical orientation are documents that itemise skills seen to be
necessary in the changing environment. For example the Special Libraries
Association sees an information professional as someone who strategically uses
information in the job to advance the mission of the organisation, and itemises the
competencies necessary to accomplish this through ‘development, deployment, and
management of information resources and services’ (Special Libraries Association,
2003). Similarly Abbott (2003) identifies the skills set needed by senior information
managers in higher education in the UK, in what are differentiated as ‘converged’
and ‘non-converged’ information services.
All such explorations of professional role have educational implications, so I
turn now to work that has had a curriculum focus.
2.3.2. Education for the professions
Naturally the professions have established profiles of education that they
consider to encompass their areas. Some have taken considerable trouble to outline
curricula that circumscribe their activities. However the ones such as those listed
earlier that specifically call themselves information management associations, have to
date confined themselves to such things as conferences, and provision of courses in
their sphere of interest, rather than stipulating curricula that they see as essential for
entry to the profession.
By way of contrast, it is other associations that also see their purviews as
including information management that have been more active in this respect. For
example the Information Resource Management Association and the Data
Administration Managers Association have a proposed curriculum (Cohen, 2000) that
has elements including information resources management principles; information
systems technology; algorithm concepts and information management; data
warehousing, data mining, and decision support; data resource structures and
administration; communication technology and information management; global
information management; and executive information systems management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 34
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals has a ‘body of
professional knowledge’ document (CILIP, 2004) that lists six components: a central
information component, along with five interrelated components represented as
knowledge, conceptual structures, information users or clients, documentation, and
collections or information resources. Their document maps relationships between
these.
These typify the approaches of professions who do not worry too much about
defining disciplinary boundaries, but set these limits to some extent by what they see
as appropriate preparation for entry to their profession.
As is to be expected, academics have been to the forefront in expressing the
disciplinary boundaries, often in support of curriculum development. There is a large
body of literature that examines and explicates appropriate curricula. This includes
discussion of core competencies by G.E. Gorman, and Corbitt (2002). Somewhat
surprisingly given the amount of debate in the area, Brine and Feather (2002) are of
the view that there is probably general agreement about the knowledge and
understanding which the new entrant to the profession needs to acquire; however they
see less clarity regarding the practical skills training to function effectively as an
information professional.
However M. Gorman (2004) sees no such agreement with respect to library and
information studies. He maintains that library schools have become hosts to
information science and information studies faculty whose interests are at worst
inimical to library education. His views exemplify the variance between those who
emphasise the importance of customary library practice, as opposed to those who
seek a wider context not tied to traditional repositories.
An account of the wider context is provided by Hornby and Andretta (2001)
who describe the debate at a conference on information specialists for the twenty-first
century as providing an international perspective on the dichotomy between
convergence and diversification in the professions. They then turn their attention to
UK curriculum which they characterise as existing in a volatile environment for a
discipline that is “lowly classified but highly specified, and with mixed framing”
(Hornby & Andretta, 2001, p. 43). In this context, classification refers to what counts
as valid knowledge, so there is not a well characterised core of knowledge in the field.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 35
Specification refers to the extent to which individual subject areas are described, and
framing refers to the relationship between teacher and taught – strong framing would
indicate that a teacher has most power to control transmission of knowledge.
More recently Tedd (2003) has further detailed the changing roles of information
professionals and how they should be addressed in education and training with
attention to distance learning. She synthesises other recent papers in order to itemise
tasks, responsibilities and roles as perceived in the UK then gives several brief case
studies of curricula in several parts of the world that have adopted open learning
training modules. However her conclusions are more about methods of delivery rather
than the range of content included.
Earlier, I referred to lack of definition for knowledge management as a
profession. However curricula have been developed in many institutions that attempt
to respond to this area of endeavour. For example Stankosky (2005) has brought
together papers on research that has underpinned curriculum definition for knowledge
management at an American university. There are also stirrings of critical assessment
of such curricula. An example is the Chaudhry and Higgins (2003) report on a study of
knowledge management courses included in what they term the academic disciplines
of business, computing, and information. They describe changes in teaching emphasis,
and the multidisciplinary nature of the curriculum. This leads to suggestion of a
collaborative approach to designing and conducting such programs.
There have been some attempts to provide definition of knowledge management
profession role, for example Rowley (2003) sees it as a combination of managing
knowledge repositories, facilitating knowledge flow, and leveraging value generation
capacity. As a job title, ‘knowledge manager’ has attained some currency. However
it seems more likely to be seen in terms of cultural change in organisations, rather than
as a specified role.
Much of the discussion around curriculum comes back to the content and
boundaries of the field of information science, so I now turn to that in order to review
its advancement.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 36
2.4. Information science
A science of information must be careful about defining what is the science and
what is the information. Much confusion is caused by different interpretations of data,
information and knowledge. At a time when they seemed to have been differentiated
to the satisfaction of people working in the field, uncertainty was re-introduced by the
knowledge management movement which initially at least, did not carefully make
such distinction. As information science seeks basic principles, and hopes to apply
these to information management, and perhaps knowledge management, it is necessary
to review these areas.
2.4.1. Definitions of information
The extent to which knowledge about information itself was being systematised
from quite different viewpoints was recognised by Machlup. He appreciated that
contributions came from cognitive science, cybernetics, library science, linguistics,
artificial intelligence and computer science, and explored ways of synthesising the
different approaches. The work of Machlup and Mansfield (1983) contains a collection
of commissioned discussion papers dealing with the study of information from a
variety of these interdisciplinary viewpoints, together with editorial commentary. It
includes a lengthy discussion by Machlup of the semantics of information and
knowledge and science. He comes down on the side of information being a telling of
something, or something that is being told, thereby rejecting the notion of it being
applied to non-human organisms, or in the context of signal transmission. Another
significant early work in the area is by Belkin (1978). Belkin is concerned about
information theories, so he extensively surveys the literature up to that time, and
comprehensively reviews the range of concepts embodied in the term information.
Data, information and knowledge are sometimes used interchangeably in the
copious literature of information studies, but more rigorous writers attempt to
distinguish between them as successive levels on a graded scale of understanding. For
example, Debons, Horne and Croneweth (1988, p.2) recognise prevalent everyday
uses to be information as commodity, energy, communication, facts, data or
knowledge. However for analytical purposes they articulate a continuum (they call it a
spectrum) starting with an event that may be symbolised with data, and which may
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 37
then be successively processed through a cognitive domain as information, knowledge
and wisdom. Similar approaches to distinguishing these entities as successively higher
levels of awareness have been suggested more recently by those grappling with the
concept of knowledge management.
Devlin (1999) extends this analysis by saying that information must be grasped
according to situational analysis. He makes a distinction between the representation of
information and what the information conveys. So the situation codes information by
virtue of the situation being of a certain type. The information for the situation is
subject to constraints (such as grammar, or a limited coding system). Constraints are
the regularities that make intelligent action possible.
Both McGarry (1993) and Liebenau and Backhouse (1990) outline a variety of
definitions ranging from dictionary definition such as ‘near synonym of fact’; to ‘re-
inforcement of what is already known,’ which comes from Shannon’s communication
model (Shannon & Weaver, 1964); to ‘the raw material from which knowledge is
derived’; and to the cybernetic view: ‘that which is exchanged with the outer world,
not just passively received’. Ritchie (1991) also looks at information and its
characteristics in some detail, with reference to Shannon’s communication theory, and
Hayes (1993) considers the relationship between data and information, and using
Shannon’s data transfer measure as a starting point, proposes data selection, data
structuring and data reduction.
These definitions tend either towards an approach in which information is self-
contained and has a kind of objective existence independent of use, or towards an
understanding that says information is defined by its use and human interpretation.
The latter requires information to be constructed by the cognition of receivers (Dervin
& Niland, 1986). Dervin has written extensively from the point of view of information
needs, seeing information as a stimulus that alters our cognitive structures, and later
suggesting a communitarian perspective. This is seen to be a socially constructed
definition somewhere between the relativism of “no-truth-only-interests” and the
absolutism of “truth-and-it-is-mine.” She is therefore seeking a middle course in which
information is something continuously being sought through struggle, mediation and
contest, with the nature of this process being “at least as informative as the resolution
and more likely to serve diverse groups of citizens as they try to make community of
their diversity.” (Dervin, 1992; 1994).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 38
This is on quite a different tack from the general theory of information proposed
by Stonier (1990). He promotes a definition of information as having existence
independent of the human mind in the same way that matter and energy have. He
describes information in terms of being a measure of the extent of organisation of a
system.
Other influential writers in the area include Buckland (1991) who gives a
detailed exposition on information and information systems in which documents are
interpreted broadly as evidentiary objects, and proposes three meanings of
information: information-as-process, information-as-knowledge, and information-as-
thing; Menou (1995) who reviews concepts of information, and proposes a research
agenda for its definition and measurement; and Tague-Sutcliffe (1995) who looks in
detail at interpretations of information as a prelude to demonstrating a technique for
measuring ‘informativeness’ in information retrieval, and applying this to evaluation
of information services.
A contrary approach is taken by Roszak (1994) who questions the data-
knowledge continuum, approaches knowledge as something that makes information
possible, and disputes the importance given to information in the information society
at the expense of the ‘self-originating idea’.
Dialogue about definition has continued unabated this century. Emphasis on its
meaning continues to tend towards a social construct rather than as some entity that
may have independent existence. Case (2002) examines definitions in the context of
research into information seeking behaviour. He spends some time reviewing
definitions and discussing problems, in particular definitions that take into account
uncertainty, physicality, structure/process, intentionality or truth. He then concedes
that different restricted definitions may apply according to circumstances studied.
Capurro and Hjørland (2003) also revisit the concept of information in a wide
ranging review. They look at the term’s etymology and Greek origins, noting a
transition during the middle ages from “giving a (substantial) form to matter” to
“communicating something to someone”, before moving to more contemporary
interpretations. They reflect upon the confusion caused by the abstraction of meaning
in information theory that derived from Shannon’s work on communication. This
causes them to recall the debate about naturalisation of information which tried to
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 39
dissociate the signal level from semantic and pragmatic information, but which
flounders to those who say there is no information without contextualisation – this in
contrast Stonier’s theory of objective information in which information exits
independently of thought or meaning.
Recently Bates (2005) has endeavoured to unite competing viewpoints by
returning to an earlier designation of information as ‘pattern of organization of matter
and energy’ for its usability across the physical, biological and social contexts.
In order to link this section on definition with the one following on elements of
the science, it is instructive to rehearse the social context from which Brown and
Duguid (2000) consider information. From their perspective information technology
is questioned as a shaper of social organisation – it is shared interpretation rather than
shared information that binds people together. This leads them via a review of
information retrieval research to information science. It is a science which they
maintain should not be defined by technologies that it uses, but as the study of
information. This information can be differentiated as “thing” from “sign”. The latter
interpretative view, they see as being important in stimulating “release mechanisms”
whereby people can act on subjective interpretation.
2.4.2. Elements of information science
Those who see themselves as information scientists, continually return to trying
to map out just what is covered by the field. This has often been done by putting
together compilations of works in the filed and trying to draw associations between
them or organise them into a structure that interrelates the elements. In this way there
has been developed a body of work that gives theoretical underpinning to the
management of information.
One of the first to do this was Saracevic (1970) who compiled a selection that
was influential in mapping the territory of information science, including papers on
information theory, basic processes such as communication of documented records
and behaviour of information users, information analysis and retrieval, and evaluation
of systems. It includes a discourse by Goffman on a general theory of communication
encompassing information retrieval.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 40
Since then various compilations have been accumulated by writers who have
tried to demarcate the field. Heilprin (1985) brought together a number of papers in
similar vein with an emphasis on trying to provide a basic model for information
science, and Walker (1992) and then Williams and Carbo (1997) adopted a similar
approach. Meadows (1987) compiled a collection of earlier material including seminal
papers dealing with the growth of documentation, citations and their use, information
services and science, and statistical regularities in communication such as those
relating to scientific productivity. The tactic adopted by Pemberton and Prentice
(1990) was to bring together a number of conference and seminar papers from a
variety of disciplines contributing to information science, lending support to the notion
of its continuing interdisciplinarity.
Others have written their own overviews. Buckland and Liu (1995) carried out a
bibliographic study of works that have examined the history of perceptions of the
science. Debons, Horne and Croneweth (1988) presented a framework for the concepts
and issues that contribute to a science of information in relation to building
information systems. In this context they considered definitions of information, the
professions that work with information and the models of information systems with
which they work. They also examined the technologies used for implementing the
systems. More recent works include the concise work of Norton (2000) that is
designed to stimulate fresh discourse, and the revisit by Griffiths (2000) that reflects a
desire to refocus on the foundations of information science disciplines.
In the recent literature, the person who has probably invested most effort in
understanding domains of information science has been Birger Hjørland. In a series of
papers, he has tried to place information description, retrieval, repositories and users
within an overall epistemological framework (Hjørland 1998a; 1998b; 2000a; 2000b).
He reiterates the theme that epistemological theories are fundamental to understanding
of information. From this he thinks that subject analysis and classification of
information along with understanding users, their cognition and information seeking
behaviour, and information retrieval can be better understood. He goes on to outline a
socio-cognitive perspective to information retrieval in which he espouses that the most
fundamental problem is epistemological and is rooted in the difficulty of trying to
match representations of subject literature with inadequate ways of expressing user
requirements (Hjørland, 2002b).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 41
Hjørland (2002a) also suggests what he terms domain analysis to identify a
number of approaches which he sees together as producing a unique competence for
information specialists. These are producing literature guides and subject gateways;
producing special classifications and thesauri; research on indexing and retrieving
specialties; empirical user studies; bibliometrical studies; historical studies; document
and genre studies; epistemological and critical studies; terminological studies,
languages for special purposes, discourse studies; studies of structures and institutions
in scientific communication; and domain analysis in professional cognition and
artificial intelligence.
In each case he offers suggestions for practical and theoretical investigation in
order to strengthen the relationship between research and practice in information
science and more strongly establish its identity. For example in the realm of indexing
and retrieving he suggests that information science has largely ignored the way
different subject areas may put different demands on systems for organising and
retrieving documents. He thinks that a stronger focus may be obtained by producing
special classifications and thesauri; bibliometrical studies; epistemological and critical
studies; and terminological studies including languages for special purposes and
discourse analysis.
Although there is contemplation of information systems within these
information science frameworks, there seems to be a significant disjunction between
information science and information systems research. Ellis, Allen, & Wilson (1999)
illustrate this point using citation analysis by showing that the leading scholars in the
two fields are in different groups.
The information systems field has also grappled with this issue. Of the many
texts on the practice of information systems, some take the trouble to explore where
the discipline ‘fits’. For example Ahituv & Neumann (1986) emphasise
interdisciplinarity, and provide a schematic in which they show ‘foundations’
arising from what they term ‘exact science’ (in which they include general systems
theory, statistics, and management science), technology (in which they include
information science and computer science) and social and behavioural sciences
(ranging from sociology to philosophy) . Their book structure has them creating a
scaffold using behavioural aspects of information systems, decision making and
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 42
valuing information, and classification of systems, before they consider organisational
application.
Looking at the information systems disciplinary issue from a research methods
viewpoint, Banville and Landry (1992) also conclude that the area is fragmented and
scientifically pluralistic. They think that those who are calling for a more unified
discipline seem to be basing it upon the premise of scientific knowledge having
intrinsically different characteristics from other knowledge when it too is socially
defined.
More recently Khazanchi and Munkvold (2000) consider disciplinary aspects of
both information systems and information science. They see information science as a
secondary reference discipline of information systems. Information systems is for
them an investigation of effective use of information and the potential impact of
software systems and enabling information technologies on the human, organisational,
and social world. They maintain that although IT is the key enabling technology for
both information science and information systems, the focus of information science is
different in that it is on the structure and management of large information entities,
with documentalists and librarians being key agents.
Although they pay attention to information science, they do not consider such
elements as definitions of information, or exploration of tenets and principles of
information science, and how these may inform work in information systems as an
application.
With information systems study the emphasis seems to be substantially on the
systems and process; with information science the emphasis seems to be substantially
on the information and its content. They have in common an emphasis on social
context and use, but this has not brought unity of focus. Despite this, there seems to be
agreement in both fields about their essential interdisciplinarity.
Returning to information science, it seems that despite the many attempts to
arrive at conceptual boundaries for the field, a more pragmatic approach comes
through in the recent interim last word from Bottle, who is now deceased. Among his
parting words in a succinct account of information science, is that it is probably
“unique in being defined in terms of what practitioners do rather than vice versa”
(Bottle, 2003). This leads us to consideration of the practice of information
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 43
management in contrast to the conceptual boundaries of the information science which
informs it.
2.5. Information management as practice
Although a great deal of scrutiny has been undertaken of what are the
constituents of information management, there has been relatively little explicit
consideration of discipline formation with respect to its practice.
It is not possible to be definite about when the term information management
was initially used in the sense of defining an area of practice. However in 1966, R. S.
Taylor (who later was to be very influential through his work on valuing information
and on information needs), wrote in terms of defining information management as a
sub-discipline designed to acquaint engineering students with principles, theory and
use of information as an adjunct to the learning process. Further he was prescient in
saying:
… the concept of information management is attractive because it provides
a single concept in place of several in ‘information source, media and
systems’, thereby offering simplification in thought and discussion. Also
this suggests the integration in information sources, media and systems
that is coming … the separated approaches to the problem represented by
the stereotypes of traditional librarians, modern information experts and
computer systems specialists will vanish. The term management implies …
that the engineer’s handling of information will not usually yield to routine
methods, but require judgment. (R. S. Taylor, 1966, p. 6)
Subsequent to this there seems for some time to have been a tussle within
management and academic minds to differentiate ‘information management’ and
‘information resource management’. This probably led the likes of Trauth (1989), then
Boaden and Lockett (1991) to investigate the etymology of the terms as applied in the
professional literature. The resource aspect seems to have been pursued most
consistently in North America, probably as a consequence of being used in the USA
by the National Commission on Federal paperwork in the late 1970s. The studies
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 44
director for that program was Woody Horton, and the terminology used in many of his
own publications, (for example F.W. Horton jr.,1985; 1991), presumably influenced
government legislation that arose from the Commission. The concept has retained
currency in North America during the 1990s, for example it has been reviewed by
Bergeron (1996), but it seems gradually to have been subsumed within ‘information
management’. This has most likely been assisted by writers such as Diener (1992) who
adopting a conceptualisation and advocacy rather than investigatory approach, refines
understanding of the area by outlining domains.
A person who has been most eloquent in characterising the area has been Cronin
either through his own words, or through judicious compilations of writings including
his own. In one of the earliest of these, he brings together a group of papers in order to
provide pointers to how information management may be put into action (Cronin,
1985). He recognised at the time that that the information management concept was
something growing out of changing occupational and social structures that helped to
identify information society, and to differentiate the utilisation of information from the
utilisation of information technology.
So in organisational terms, information management can be seen to lead to
something beyond a technology solution. For example, a decision support system may
help to aggregate and present information from management information systems.
However, further than this, information management needs to determine information
resource requirements, how they should be made available, used and exploited
following identification of the distinctive requirements of different user groups. With
his co-writers, he tackled these issues by describing possible corporate roles, including
development of information plans, and specific tasks such as information mapping,
and implications for training. They also addressed the then problematic dichotomy
between information management and information resource management. As noted
above, this seems to have in more recent times been resolved in favour of information
management. I think that this is probably because at the time, it seemed necessary to
get across the idea that information was another corporate resource that should be
valued along with capital, buildings and people. However, both F. W. Horton jr.
(1979) himself, and R. S. Taylor (1986) have convincingly provided approaches to
valuing information, and in more recent times it has come to seem tautological to use
the phrase information resource.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 45
Some years later, Cronin (1992) returned with another group of writers and a
second compilation. By then he felt that information management had come of age
with both public and private sectors acknowledging the need for information
management policies and programs. However he decried the focus of literature in the
area as being narrower and more mechanistic that the world to which it is supposed to
relate. Despite this, he is able to point to the usefulness of information modelling
methods ranging from information resource mapping (Burk & F. W. Horton jr., 1988)
to soft systems methodology (Checkland & Scholes, 1990), and to initiatives such as
that of the then UK Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA,
1990) in fostering information management. This time, his co-writers have diversified
their approach to take in such matters as extending corporate memory, information
management at a national public policy level, and Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) from the viewpoint of a supporting framework through
telecommunications management and open systems strategies.
In the interim between these two publications, Cronin with Elisabeth Davenport,
had also explored the intellectual foundations of the field. However, rather than turn to
information science in the sense that I have explored in the preceding section, they
seem to make a conscious attempt to avoid formal representation of information
entities, with the remark that consistent and complete processes “may distort the
reality which the system is intended to represent where underlying models fail to take
account of fluctuations, unforeseen events, and human affect” Cronin and Davenport
(1991). They look at the varying application of information management in contexts
ranging from science to business to warfare, noting the relativism of metaphors and
models applied in the different areas, before suggesting that information management
can be modelled for specific purposes in specific contexts.
Choo (1998a) has also pursued an information management modelling approach
without reference to information science. However he makes no reference to Cronin
and Davenport’s models and metaphors material. This could be because his ideas had
their genesis at about the same time, or because his general process model which is
couched in terms of information needs, acquisition, organisation, products, distribution
and use, is trying to build a bridge between environmental scanning processes and the
principle of a learning organisation. Fittingly, he does refer to later work of Cronin and
Davenport on social intelligence.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 46
A similar approach to Cronin’s compilations has been undertaken by Brittain
(1996). He felt the need for practical cases that could be used as teaching examples.
This compilation is relevant to the research in that it includes contributions on
definitional issues for information management together with case studies. However,
there is not an attempt to couch the case studies in terms of the definitional framework.
In fact the case study contributions make little reference to working within an
information management agenda. Rather, they write in detail about how information is
handled, and information services are provided in a variety of settings.
A compilation, specified as case studies, has been put together by Simmons
(1999). Though it ranges widely through enterprises as diverse as Unesco, British
Airways, and SmithKline Beecham, it explicitly steers clear of in-depth systematic
qualitative research, opting instead for discursive interviews with key individuals.
In more recent work, there seems to have been a declining imperative to speak of
information as a resource. However the concept of learning organisations and
recognition of the concepts of corporate memory and intellectual capital have
produced a wealth of recent literature on knowledge management in which knowledge
now takes its turn as a resource (Davenport, 1997; Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Choo,
1998b; Srikantaiah & Koenig, 2000). One of the early proponents of knowledge
management, Karl-Erik Sveiby, later wrote that he disliked the term (Sveiby, 2001)
and described it in terms of two ‘tracks of activities’, management of information and
management of people.).
Nevertheless, it seems that understanding of this area is shifting away from the
idea of managing knowledge to one of managing the knowledge space. That is, it is
information, human resources, and the environment in which they interact in order to
build knowledge that is managed, rather than the knowledge itself (Nonaka & Konno,
1998). Therefore, for my purposes, it seems reasonable to stay with information
management as a concept rather than edge towards knowledge management.
None of this material on information or knowledge management explicitly
addresses the issue of discipline formation. However, the information management
writing all informs my investigation, either because it describes models for how
information management should be applied, or describes examples of the range of its
practice. In the better examples there are attempts to show the principles associated
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 47
with the practice, and to highlight the importance of contextualisation with
organisations.
It remains therefore to attempt to consider professionalised practice and
information science framing of practice to see if together they substantiate a discipline.
2.6. Information management as discipline
If we are to see how information management as practiced has been carried out
within a disciplinary framework as articulated for information science, then it is
necessary to review work that speaks in terms of information management, but
proposes a disciplinary framework within which it may be construed.
The work of Greer (1989) probably fits better within the earlier sections on
education for the professions or information science. Nevertheless it is included here
since in articulating a model for the information science discipline in order to detail an
educational agenda, he outlines what he sees as characteristics common to all
information professions. These characteristics are responsibility for: (a) design and
management of an information system encompassing a database; (b) design and
management of an organisation and its resources in order to provide an interface
between system and potential user; (c) accommodating the information needs and
characteristics of a specific client population; and (d) information as commodity and
the objective of enhancing the processes of information transfer.
The writer who has most explicitly addressed information management
discipline formation is Rowley (1998; 1999). Her material is significant because she
has published profusely (including texts) in different areas of information
management. Her texts in areas as diverse as information systems, systems analysis,
indexing, and electronic libraries are widely used and cited. The approach adopted in
her discipline formation articles is discursive, and involves characterisation of what
she perceives to be the field taking historical approaches into account. The work is to
some extent historiographic as a contribution to its model building.
She adopts a viewpoint that information is practice-based with both systems and
behavioural dimensions. She regards information processing as an activity common to
all information users, and information management as being the province of
professionals (albeit with imprecise professional boundaries) who draw upon many
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 48
contributing disciplines including management science, information systems,
computing science and cybernetics.
She maintains that the structuring of information is fundamental to the
professional approach and requires agents who will take responsibility for such
structure taking into account issues such as selection, time, hierarchy and sequence.
She has also contributed to a proposed 7Rs model (Butcher & Rowley, 1998). This is
presented as a cycle that has information passing through stages between individuals
and organisations and successively requiring reading (passing from the public to the
personal domain) recognition, re-interpretation, reviewing (at which stage it may
return to the public domain), release, re-structuring, retrieval. Then the cycle is
repeated. This model appears to have some basis in the distinction between private
knowledge and social knowledge as described by Kemp (1976), and reflects to some
extent the models of scientific communication explicated twenty years earlier by
Garvey (1979).
Rowley (1998) also speaks in terms of information managers working at
different levels within the framework of an information environment that she
characterises as having different levels: information contexts; information systems;
and information retrieval. She sees information managers as working within different
levels of definition of information. In the environment the information processors are
society as a whole, the information managers are corporations and educational
institutions, and information is a commodity and constitutive force; at the contextual
level the processors are organisations, information is seen as a resource and the
information managers are working in strategic positions or as organisational scientists;
at the system level the information managers are system analysts and designers and
information is seen as data or thing; and at the retrieval level information processors
are individuals, information managers are indexers, database designers, interface
designers and information is regarded as subjective knowledge.
Rowley’s work appears not to have been tested by reference to information
management applications, except conceptually by Frishammar who has attempted to
place information management and related activities such as environmental scanning
and market research within an information processing context.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 49
2.7. Summary and focus of study
Roberts (1996) noting the lack of consensus or unified theory in information
management, proposed the challenge of looking for a completely different and
autonomous set of principles. He also proposed some of his own under the headings
technological, economic, value, competitive advantage, and strategic.
My work is a response to his challenge, though it is modulated by the awareness
that if information management has disciplinary features, then they may have much in
common with those reported by Whitley (1984) with respect to the early stages of the
development of management as a discipline area viz.:
• A heavy reliance on reference disciplines.
• A paucity of theory specific to the discipline.
• A perceived lower status than for established disciplines, leading to the
adoption of methods from the higher status disciplines.
• Limited numbers of textbooks that review the discipline.
• Poor definition of the boundaries of study.
• Incorporation organisationally as a sub-set of an established discipline.
Whitley uses the term “fragmented adhocracy” to describe this immature stage
of the development towards a distinct discipline.
The motive for defining the disciplinary boundaries and practice based upon
principles might well be to provide a concerted view of what affiliates within a
profession are holding to as their branch of learning. There are other drivers. For
example Graham and Thralls (1998) with respect to disciplinary investigation of the
field of business communication, have quoted Renz that such discourse is propelled in
part by “collective desire to understand better the work that we are engaged in".
However they are of the view that a more driving impetus appears to be political
in that business communications academics are minorities in their academic
departments, and their work may not be understood or appreciated by colleagues,
administrators, or promotion committees who may perceive business communication
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 2: Literature review) 50
as skills-oriented rather than as a coherent, knowledge-producing field. There has
therefore been intense and sustained self-reflection on the nature of disciplinarity
driven by desire to bolster status, and to legitimise and clarify the field. This could
well apply to academic aspects of information management.
So too might the “fragmented adhocracy” label apply to information
management. My review shows that there are many individuals and organisations with
an interest in defining what is encompassed by information management. There is a
great deal of expert opinion on what the elements of the field are, how they may be
applied in organisations, how they may be underpinned by models and principles, and
what type of education is required to enter into practice.
There are some examples of documented practice through case studies such as
the aforementioned compilations of Brittain and of Simmons. However these do not
attempt to explain the practice in terms of a disciplinary framework. Where principles
have been used to examine cases, such as by Orna (1999), the investigation has been
carried out within that aspect of information management dealing with policy and
planning.
In some other cases where information management purview has been
substantiated by research, the research has been focused on discipline or on
professional practice. Other than through advocacy there do not appear to have been
significant attempts to associate disciplinary boundaries with professional application.
This area could therefore benefit from research which articulates the disciplinary
boundaries and then investigates how they are interpreted by those professing to be the
practitioners, thereby improving understanding of the discipline from its
contextualisation.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.1: Book preliminaries) 51
C h a p t e r 3 : E x p r e s s i n g i n f o r m a t i o n
m a n a g e m e n t p r i n c i p l e s
3.1. Information management Book preliminaries
The study has been built around a detailed description of information management
principles and practice, which are in effect a proposal of disciplinary content. They are
stated in a book which was accepted for publication as:
Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga: CSU Centre for
Information Studies.
The book was written in order to provide a consolidation of information
management principles within a framework defined by domains.
It is meant to provide a detailed explanation of the field described in detail within
operational, analytical and administrative domains. As an exposition of disciplinary
application it is meant not so much as a text book, but one that may provide an overall
context for professional or academic users. I am aware of three universities in Australia
other than my own that use it in this manner.
The book was written in four sections:
• Part A: An overview that includes chapters on the information professions,
information science and information as a focus within organisations.
• Part B: Operational information management - 10 chapters examining the way
information management is undertaken organised according to a continuum or
life cycle.
• Part C: Analytical information management - 4 chapters examining analytical
aspects, in particular user needs analysis, information resources analysis, systems
analysis and evaluation.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.1: Book preliminaries) 52
• Part D: Administrative aspects - 3 chapters that consider strategic approaches to
information as a resource, planning and policy aspects and the wider social and
political context as it impinges upon organisations.
Extracts from the Book: Overview
Five extracts from the book are included here as examples of key elements which
together illustrate the whole.
Section 3.2 reproduces Chapter 1 of the book – this is the Introduction to the book
which sets its overall context, and is therefore included in full.
Section 3.3 reproduces an extract from Chapter 4 of the book. This chapter is
concerned with organisational use of information and covers concepts such as
organisational intelligence, decision-making, information responsibilities, processing of
information received from outside, and identification of types of sources, and knowledge
transfer processes. The entire chapter is not included – the illustration has been confined
to the sections that examined information responsibilities, and environmental scanning.
Section 3.4 reproduces an extract from one of the operational domain chapters of
Part B, in this case Chapter 10 which deals with control of recorded information by
content. The entire chapter is not included – the illustration has been confined to first
section of this chapter which introduces classification.
Section 3.5 reproduces an extract from one of the analytical domain chapters of
Part C, in this case Chapter 18. The entire chapter is not included – the illustration has
been confined to sections directed towards evaluation of operational techniques.
Section 3.6 reproduces an extract from one of the administrative domain chapters
of Part D, in this case Chapter 20. The entire chapter is not included – the illustration has
been confined to sections on corporate information policy and learning organisations.
Contribution to research
The book proposes a detailed disciplinary framework for information management.
It does this with reference to prior literature and professional tenets which are used to
consolidate information principles and practice in one work.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.1: Book preliminaries) 53
The disciplinary framework is embedded in both the structure and content of the
book. The structure is used to illustrate the influences on development of information
management, and then the different domains of practice that apply. These domains are
then exemplified by a series of chapters that which in each case explain an element of the
domain. In the case of the operational domains, the elements are based upon stages of an
information life cycle. In the analytical domain, the elements are different analytical
approaches that are utilised for determining individual, system or service requirements. In
the administrative domain, strategic planning influences from both inside and outside
enterprises are explored.
The book is used as a basis for subsequent further exploration of the discipline by
using it as a structural device for a case study protocol that is used to analyse STI services.
The analysis of these services is described in Chapters 5 and 6, with the second of these
chapters concentrating upon the applicability of the disciplinary framework.
A refinement of the disciplinary framework is subsequently proposed in Chapter 7
based upon the book and an alternative framework suggested by Rowley. The book’s
content is also used to inform a paper included as Chapter 8 that differentiates
information management and librarianship.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 54
3.2. Information management Book chapter: ‘Introduction’
This publication extract is the Introduction from the Information Management
book, viz:
Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia: CSU
Centre for Information Studies, Chapter 1: Introduction.
The Introduction is included in full since it sets the scene for the document in its
entirety by providing some historical context together with some recent precursors of
information management, along with definitions and an introduction to the domain
approach that was suggested by Diener (1992).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 55
Introduction
Technology is so much fun but we can drown in our technology. The
fog of information can drive out knowledge
Daniel J Boorstin, NY Times 8 Jul 1983
A Context
When we communicate with each other, the state of our knowledge changes.
This learning process may be from our ad hoc experiences, or in more formal
environments, where we like to record in some manner the information that is being
communicated. So much gets written down, in so many different ways, that we need to
set up formal ways of managing it. If those ways are effective, then information helps,
rather than hinders knowledge creation.
If we analyse what we do when we communicate, then one way of looking at the
information transfer that occurs, is to consider the form of transferring medium. What
agent is carrying the information? The communication may be either direct as in
personal discussions or broadcasts or telephone conversations, or it may be indirect
via a medium of record such as a letter, a book, a tape recording or a computer disk.
The direct forms may always be used indirectly too, by being recorded for later re-use.
Recorded communication works better if the document is structured in a manner
familiar to users. Books have chapters; computer disks have files with standard
extension names. Even email has some structure, if only from a title and sender name.
By way of contrast, the direct form will normally have much less structure, and may
not require organisation for use by individuals. Nevertheless, in order to be put to most
effective use in an institutional setting such as a business, both the direct and recorded
forms need to be managed. In this book we mean information management to be the
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 56
organisation of the institutional processes necessary for use of information, as well as
organisation of the information itself for effective communication - whether directly or
in recorded form. Therefore, management deals both with the processes for planning
and implementing the provision and use of information resources, as well as the
techniques for configuring information in its many recorded forms. This is in search of
outcomes such as improved decision making, knowledge gathering, education and
cultural support.
On a daily basis, we encounter information management being used to simplify
communication. We are able to consult a telephone directory that has been organised
into alphabetical order of names, or make sense of signs in a shopping centre where
icons have been used according to a convention of symbols, or read a bus timetable, or
select items from a menu when it has been arranged in a systematic fashion whether in
a restaurant or on a computer screen. In each case, the organisation is a consequence of
information management. Consider for example Figure 1.1, which illustrates some
prominent historical examples of organisation of information.
These are examples of information management that we take for granted,
perhaps unconscious of the extent to which the information is organised for
interpretation. It can get more complicated. The syntax of a programming language,
the notation of a musical composition, the prescription of a drug, or the codes for plays
in a football game, are more specialised forms of information organisation for
interpretation by specialists trained in the respective fields.
However the specialists often take information for granted too, and regularly to
our cost. This was examined on a broad scale some time ago in a collection of
‘information disasters’. The severity of consequences such as the Three Mile Island
nuclear meltdown, the cultural disintegration of an Australian aboriginal tribe, the
German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, and the Stock Exchange crash of 1987
may have been alleviated to an extent, if the information available had been managed
more appropriately. Horton & Lewis (1991) drew our attention to this by soliciting and
reviewing a number of analyses of the situations described. They decided in many
cases the protagonists were either uninformed, misinformed, disinformed, or if they
were informed, then not able to fit the information into preconceived stereotype, value
systems, belief systems or attitudes.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 57
Figure 1.1 Examples of information organisation
Figure 1.1a: The Rosetta stone, named after the town of Rashid (Rosetta to the English) was located by French troops near the western arm of the Nile during Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign of 1799. The broken black basalt stone became a spoil of the British in 1801 and made its way to the British Museum. It is inscribed with an honorific of 196 BC to the Pharaoh Ptolemy V that concludes with the resolution that it be inscribed in hard stone in the sacred (hieroglyphs), native (demotic) script and Greek letters. Because this was done, twenty centuries later hieroglyphics were decipherable (ironically by a Frenchman, Champollion, in 1822).
This image is of a replica at http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/Collection/Rosetta_Stone_1.JPG by permission of the Museum of Antiquities, University of Saskatchewan.
Figure 1.1b: The Pioneer plaques designed by Carl Sagan were carried aboard the US space probes Pioneer 10 and 11. These were the first earth-launched vehicles to go beyond the asteroid belt to the outer solar system. Information was organised in an attempt to provide an indication of where the earth is, and the appearance of humans on it (in case anything out there were interested).
(image made available by NASA at http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/MEDIUM/GPN-2000-001623.jpg)
Figure 1.1c: A 1612 world map by Ortelius. Among the impressive early ‘geographic information systems’ were the maps produced by European cartographers. (reproduced with permission from http://www.heritageantiquemaps.com)
Figure 1.1d: A schematic of the Washington DC transport system, the ‘Metro’, condensing a complex system into a representation that must be understood by many (reproduced with permission from Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority)
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 58
Their examples are on a grand scale. However, similar examples of un-, mis-,
and dis- information, are repeated continually in microcosm, perhaps during a dispute
between neighbours over the siting of a boundary, or the lack of substantiating
references in an essay. The communication process is often impaired by recourse to
incomplete or incorrect information.
Because we live in a world where we are ‘collapsing the information float’1,
dealing with and making effective decisions based upon the large amounts of
information that we have at our disposal, is a pressing problem. A key field of study is
the one that can find ways of using effective information organisation and
management processes to limit information flow to an amount that is relevant and can
be digested.
Contributions to the study of such processes have been made in many fields of
endeavour. The study of direct communication has been the province of linguists,
psychologists, educators and others. The study of the indirect or recorded form of
communication through documentation has often been more dependent upon context:
records management for files and records in offices, archives administration for stored
historical records, librarianship for repositories of published documents, museology
for description of museum collections, and more recently data administration for
computer records, and scientometrics for scientific publishing.
These studies have improved our understanding of information transfer
processes, and have lately been given more urgency by the growing movement
towards recognition firstly of information, then knowledge, as a resource in business
enterprises. This has occurred concurrently with the diminution of information
processing differences in separate environments of application. Maintaining and using
for knowledge creation, a database on human resources, or of machine components, or
of library books are not in such different realms. The organisation of the recorded form
in any one of these contexts may be regarded as a component of information
management in a business or institutional environment. An enterprise will regularly
expect its management and staff to make use of information systems such as:
1 This term was used in Naisbitt’s book Megatrends, Futura, 1984, to describe the issue of
communications technology markedly reducing the time a message spends on a channel between a sender and a receiver.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 59
• Inventory control.
• Records management.
• Human resources and personnel.
• Production control.
• Publishing.
• Sales and marketing.
• Library and online and news services.
• Marketing and sales performance.
• Geographic and demographic analysis.
Each of these systems should be designed so that the information communicated
through them is created, disseminated and presented to the users in an optimal manner
for the benefit of the enterprise. The information gathering and maintenance processes
that produce databases to support the procedures have regularly been factored into
budgets as overheads. However, now that long established processes have attained
greater prominence by implementation using information technology, the databases
and the services that they are based upon, are increasingly being regarded as resources.
Business writers have recognised the qualities of information, and knowledge as
resources. They have increasingly espoused the need for management of these
resources as a necessary element of the administrative process. They have regularly
done so without reference to substantive techniques other than data analysis of
business processes, and with minimal reference to operational methodology.
Conversely, these operational techniques have regularly been implemented by
analysts, data administrators, librarians and records managers, but often without
emphasis on the value and substance that they provide for business practice: the
quality in quality systems. Management may therefore be unimpressed by the extent of
overheads that may be showing no obvious benefits for a business.
The different disciplines, often working independently have developed their
own jargon and principles for comprehending similar procedures. However, many of
these may be consolidated as a result of the convergence of processes induced by the
developments in information technology.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 60
Our work here endeavours to bring together these various contexts for the
mutual benefit of their practitioners, and draws together ideas on the process of
information management that have been articulated in different disciplines. It
introduces a field of endeavour, but at the same time may be used by those who are
working in the field to act as a companion, should they wish to place their
understanding in a broader context.
Each chapter may therefore be regarded as providing guidance on history and
principles, which may be extended by reference to associated readings.
On the record
It could be said that information management is only required because we have a
habit of recording what we do in many ways, be it on a clay tablet or a CD. For the
recorded information to be useful, it often requires some kind of organisation. Though
we should be cautious about the extent to which the recording preserves the veracity of
the information, as was the fictional Dr Braithwaite2: ‘What happened to the truth is
not recorded’.
Disciplines have developed to deal with various types and applications of
documentation. There are records managers for corporate memory exemplified in
policies and decisions on paper, data administrators for information repositories,
cataloguers for libraries, and curators for museum objects as historical records and
educational items.
Rayward (1996) has suggested that each of these disciplines has differentiated
itself as a profession with a distinct character based on historically determined
commitments to different technologies, media of communication and record, and
primary client groups.
The various professions have certainly carved out their respective niches.
However we should recollect that early examples of information management were
archives that did not distinguish internal corporate information from published
information, and that did not have to worry about different client groups. The
collections of antiquity whether they were on the clay tablets of Assyrians, or the
2 Julian Barnes Flaubert’s Parrot, Picador, London 1985, p. 65
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 61
bamboo and paper of the Chinese in what we now recall as libraries, were repositories
of both administrative and expository information, and documented ideas. There was
then no distinction between an archive and a library.
These antecedents have been succeeded by a range of contemporary tasks that
may also be described as information management, but in terms of job titles are
usually called anything but information management. Figure 1.2 itemises some
examples of information management tasks of today.
Organisation of medical records in a hospital
Carrying out a knowledge audit in a consulting firm
Design of an interface for a multimedia instructional package
Creation of a decision support system to help manage emergency services
Development of a quality management strategy for information acquisition
Online searching of multiple databases for end users
Establishing databases for a campus wide information system
Cataloguing of medieval manuscripts
Description and organisation, and digitisation of an art slide collection
Application of international standards for information retrieval
Strategic planning for utilisation of information in a mining company
Records management in a government primary industries department
Geohydrological data collection for water management
Instruction of primary students in information literacy
Development of a retention and disposal inventory for archival utilisation
Determining information needs of users of a community information service
Information services provision for a museum
Creating customised user pages for World Wide Web interfaces
Building a thesaurus to describe the documentation of architecture
Environmental scanning for business information for a manufacturing company
Reformatting and presentation of stock exchange data for a brokerage firm
Electronic document management for an administrative office system
Organisation of government information resources in a library
Integration of loose leaf and database reporting services for a legal firm
Description and cataloguing of musical scores for an orchestra
Figure 1.2: Information management tasks associated with records
Management is regularly said to consist of the mechanisms of planning,
organising, coordinating, commanding and controlling. Is information management a
matter of applying these processes to information? It certainly involves planning,
organising and coordinating information, assuming that these may be interpreted to
include establishing corporate information policy, analysing for user needs and
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 62
arranging operational information tasks. The commanding and controlling are part of
information management too, but as management processes relating to information
management personnel, rather than the information itself.
Precursors
Managing of information has been happening for years without our calling it
information management. Consider some of the institutional environments in which
this has formally been taking place.
In the beginning...
Two institutions that have always figured prominently in managing information,
are the State and the Military.
The State has always had a need to manage information. Governance by
monarchies has been associated with archives since antiquity. An early archive, well
known for the extent of source information that it provided scholars is that of the
Assyrian king, Assurbanipal. The clay tablets inscribed during the 7th century BCE
contain a wealth of organised information. Administrative records, deeds,
correspondence, religious tracts and the like have proved a rich resource for scholars in
later centuries from the site at Ninevah3.
Four centuries later, the early Ptolemys took a wide enough outlook to establish
both an archive and directives for a collection of all Hellenistic literature. This was
accomplished by a variety of means including copying, confiscating scroll cargoes,
and purloining borrowed copies (setting some precedents that have been followed to
this day). This was at the great library at Alexandria4. Papyrus records from the first
and second century preserve the term βιβλιφελα meaning keeper of the archive.
3 Now across the river from Mosul, Iraq. 4 Recreated in an international effort as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina <www.bibalex.gov.eg>.
Perhaps this is following the sentiments of the Pharaoh, Ozymandius (Rameses II) who had, according to Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, inscribed at the portals of his library at Thebes between Thoth the god of wisdom and Shesheta the scribe goddess, ‘Dispensary of the soul’.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 63
The Han dynasty in China during the first century BCE was known for its
organisation of administrative material, but collecting and organising material already
had a long history in China by then. Inscribed bones from 2 millennia BCE unearthed
in recent times may have been from archival collections, in which they accompanied
bamboo and wood records that have long since perished - not so the stone libraries of
Buddhist text from the seventh century BCE. Lao-Tse, founder of Taoism is possibly
the earliest recorded archivist, serving during the Chou dynasty around 600 BCE5.
Collection and organisation of records was followed periodically by their
destruction in both east and west. Alexandria was sacked on more than one occasion,
and the Ch’in emperor ordered the burning of books adverse to the regime.
Information management has been within the province of the military ever since
the procedures of military strategy were formalised. Among the earliest known tracts
on military strategy, is that of a contemporary of Confucius, Wu Sun Tzu. His Ping Fa
(the Art of War) has since the 5th century BCE been extended and modified by
succeeding generations of warrior-scholars in China. It remains influential in both
eastern and western military strategy. Ping Fa pays significant attention to the need for
military intelligence. While some of this is covert, most is commonly available
information that requires collection, organisation and analysis - just as is the case with
defence intelligence and business competitor intelligence systems today.
More recently....
Today’s writers in the different disciplines, have examined the more immediate
antecedents of information management, and its derivative, knowledge management,
at length. Usually, they are trying to establish definitions and to come to terms with
information management in the contemporary environment of government and
business. Contributions of a number of recent writers in this area are mentioned at the
end of the Chapter. Most make reference in some way to the influence of activities that
are seen to be seminal to information management as we know it at present. These are
as follows: 5 Among Lao-Tse’s aphorisms from The Way of Lao-Tse are:
‘People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge’ and ‘To know what you do not know is best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a
disease’ Perhaps these thoughts originated with his experience as an information manager.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 64
• Management theory
Since the advent of computer systems in business, management
theorists have attempted to absorb the information system into business
models. Initially the technology was treated simply as a tool for carrying out
business processes such as accounting and inventory control.
With the technology permitting integration of the processes, there has
been a much greater focus on the information carried by the technology, its
rationalisation, and strategies for using it in ways beyond existing processes.
Information is seen as a resource that needs to be managed like labour,
capital and property.
More recently, attention has been paid, not only to the information
codified in documents and in computers, but to the knowledge within the
personnel of enterprises and their understanding of processes. It is
questionable whether this knowledge can be managed in situ. However,
human resources management is concerned to get the knowledge from where
it is, and utilising information management, to disseminate it for
organisational learning.
• Records management
The management of internal records such as correspondence and
accounts and policy documents for organisations entered the computer age
with the development of finding aids that replaced manually produced
registers of these documents. With office automation, the documents
themselves are now produced in digital form.
Records managers and archivists who are the ultimate custodians of the
information are presented with the considerable challenge of storing and
retrieving integrated repositories of paper, optical digital and magnetic digital
information. These integrated document management systems are being
implemented as an exercise in information management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 65
• Librarianship
Understanding of internal library processes has now advanced to the
design of systems that integrate acquisitions, cataloguing information
retrieval and circulation subsystems. Online retrieval is now routine.
However, there continues the significant information management challenge
of providing effective and coordinated retrieval from large numbers of
databases both internal to libraries and available through networks. Libraries
are now faced with the challenge of managing a window to the Internet from
their own finding aids, along with a window to the libraries from the
Internet.
• Information systems management
As transaction processing systems have been extended to provide
management information, analysts have had to come to terms with the
complexity of providing simplicity! That is, the simplicity of information
sought by management. The need for data administration in order to
coordinate an enterprise’s information description has become more
prominent as a requirement for underpinning decision support and executive
information.
• Technological convergence
Convergence is often used to describe the removal of the division
between computer and telecommunications technology, increasingly
referred to as information and communications technology (ICT). It is also
used to describe the way in which digital technology has turned what were
formerly distinct communication processes, into ones that share the same
channel. A simple example is the use of the telephone system for both direct
communication by voice and message sending of records by telefacsimile.
Convergence has had significant effect on the performance of work in
enterprises. For example, where typing, internal mailing and scheduling of
meetings were once handled by separate staff on behalf of the supervisor
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 66
requiring them, they will often now all be handled on a desktop workstation
by that supervisor (hopefully leaving some time for what the supervisor is
actually employed to do!).
Convergence has also meant that what were formerly distinct types of
documents to data administrators, archivists, records managers and librarians,
are in some cases becoming common documents, leading to convergence of
their roles in managing these documents.
• Legislation
Governments have been grappling with the regulatory environment
appropriate for digital information. They have been trying to develop and
maintain the principles relating to such matters as protection of intellectual
property, freedom of access to government information, privacy of personal
records held by enterprises, requirements for retention of documents by
enterprises, and the transfer of information across national borders.
Consolidating legislation and making it effective is a complex exercise for
information management.
Its application in organisations requires a clear understanding of the
regulatory obligations of both public and private sector organisations within
the business community.
• Information Science
Whether there is a science of information, remains contentious. What
is certain, is that there are many researchers in diverse disciplines ranging
from psychology to engineering, from computing to sociology, all trying to
further the understanding of information transfer processes. This endeavour
may produce some fundamental principles that can be applied to
communication (explored in Chapter 3). As this understanding improves, so
will its application to the practice of information management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 67
The advent of the Internet provides us with a ready window to many
information management tools and applications. These are explored in some detail in
later chapters. Figure 1.3 shows some examples of contemporary applications on the
World Wide Web (WWW, which henceforth we’ll call the Web).
Levels of information management
Definitions of information management given in the literature vary according to
context. For example, Taylor and Farrell (1992) talk in terms of existential,
operational and hybrid-manager definitions.
We can view information management simply as:
The process of managing the information needs of an organisation.
Or from an epistemological viewpoint advanced by Cronin and Davenport
(1991) as:
The utilisation of codified knowledge (symbols, patterns,
algorithms) to produce formal representations of information
entities, which allow the automation of transaction
processing, decision making and information retrieval.
Much of the writing that endeavours to define information management in recent
years has either confused or not identified the different levels of business process at
which information management takes place. We have seen the same ambiguities arise
with the knowledge management movement, initially because of a lack of distinction
between data, information and knowledge, and then because of the situation in which it
is to be managed. In other words are we talking about the details of operational
procedures, investigation and structuring of an enterprise’s knowledge framework, or
planning for utilisation of knowledge as a resource?
It seems that if knowledge is to be regarded as something that is manageable,
then handling it requires cognisance of organisational culture and practice, and that
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 68
Figure 1.3: Contemporary information management applications
Figure 1.3a: Street directory lookup http://www.whereis.com.au/; image reproduced with permission of Pacific Access Pty Ltd.
Figure 1.3b: Community information service front page http://www.escis.org.uk/
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 69
Figure 1.3c: Stock exchange homepage http://www.nasdaq.com/ © Copyright 2001, The
Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission
Figure 1.3d: Consolidated access to reference material http://www.xrefer.com/
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 70
sharing, codification, learning and applying knowledge, must be understood within a
contextual business model that requires management of information and human
resources for knowledge creation.
Management of business processes is often described as being at operational,
tactical and strategic levels. Diener (1992), while not exactly following this
characterisation, delineated technical, analytical and strategic domains of information
management. These may alternatively be described as the procedural, assessment, and
administrative aspects.
In the Technical or narrow operational sense, the following descriptions may be
used:
• The organisation of personal or corporate records.
• Procedures such as indexing, classification, filing and cataloguing, that are
used to provide access to collections of documents, or to other recorded
forms of information ranging from historical archives to digital imagery.
• Control of the description of an organisation’s data through use of a data
dictionary.
• Use of techniques such as collocation and abstracting, and of tools such as
software packages for storage and retrieval of collected information.
• Definition and maintenance of databases that support business analysis.
• Selection, organisation, control, analysis and dissemination of information
by an intermediary for an end-user.
• Analysis and reduction of information into surrogate form, and organisation
and presentation of this form for re-interpretation.
• Structuring and indexing a file of lessons-learned to support knowledge
transfer.
• Design and maintenance of an enterprise information portal on an intranet.
In each of the preceding definitions, the emphasis is on technique, methodology
and procedure. They have in common a requirement for metainformation - the
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 71
information about information that helps to organise the information that is of concern
to the person who will ultimately use it. For example, in a database dealing with
description of property for a geographical information system, the information of
concern to the ultimate or end user is the description of the size of a property, its value
and so on. The metainformation is the names and definition of the data elements that
contain the property information, and the search protocols necessary for retrieval of
that information.
In the Analytical sense, the emphasis is on assessment and evaluation, for
example:
• Studies of information needs and use by particular groups.
• Production of information resource inventories.
• Determining the requirements of information services and systems.
• Conducting a knowledge audit to determine the where knowledge resides in
an enterprise, and how it may be transferred.
These processes have in common the fact that they are not carrying out
operational information management, but are identifying what needs to be carried out,
how and why it should be carried out, and to what end - with particular reference to
those who are going to use it.
If we approach the concept from a wider business-oriented framework, we find
that the operational and analytic approaches are addressed, but that emphasis is more
on planning, management and administration. To take a Strategic approach:
• The administration of all manual and automated data, and of all methods
used for the communication, manipulation and presentation of information
used in the course of doing business.
• Establishing a learning culture based upon effective recording and
communication of knowledge assets, and associating these with external
information sources.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 72
• A fundamental managerial discipline founded on the conviction that both
public and private sector organisations must treat information as a resource,
in a manner similar to financial, physical, human and natural resources.
• Development of strategy and policy for information handling.
• A means of promoting organisational effectiveness by enhancing the
capabilities of the organisation to cope with the demands of its internal and
external environments in dynamic, as well as stable conditions; this includes
two dimensions:
- Managing the information process so that the knowledge resources of
the organisation, are utilised effectively for organisational decision
making.
- Ensuring that the various types of data an organisation uses, and the
various ways that data are handled and processed can support the needs
and demands of the information process.
The British Government’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency
provides an example that takes into account this delineation by levels. In addressing
the role of information management in government departments, it characterised the
underlying questions to be addressed by the tasks of information management (CCTA,
1990). These have been adapted and included in a table in Figure 1.4 to illustrate the
correlation with the identified levels.
TASK LEVEL
Determining a department's business aims and objectives Strategic
Determining information needed to support those aims Analytic
Identifying information available in a department Analytic
Establishing differences between needs and provision Analytic
Ensuring processes that match needs with provision Technical
Identifying best means of provision Analytic, Technical
Considering means of further exploitation of information Strategic
Figure 1.4: Levels of information management
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 73
Further reading
Beginning in the 1980s there has been a lot of writing that tries to define what
information management is, and what has led to it. Horton and Marchand have tried to
explain it in detail coming from a North American perspective of dealing with
information as a resource in both government and commercial enterprises. Among
their many writings, (Horton, 1985; Marchand & Horton, 1986; and Marchand, 1985)
they provide overviews.
A comparable approach but with an English perspective, is presented by
Wiggins (1988) who conceptualises information management using diagrammatic
representations of relationships within an organisation and tabulates the contribution of
specialists to particular activities.
Cronin has collected and published much seminal material on what constitutes
information management (Cronin, 1992). He has also written extensively and
influentially on the subject himself. In a relatively recent integrative work (Cronin &
Davenport, 1991), information management is seen to rely on codified knowledge to
produce formal representations of information entities that facilitate information
processes.
Taylor & Farrell (1992), consolidate this framework, and claim that there is a
growing perception that information management identifies, coordinates and exploits
information entities in an organisation for the purpose of using the characteristics of
that information to achieve greater value of existing information resources and gain
competitive advantage.
The terminology used to conceptualise the field has been examined in some
depth (Boaden & Lockett, 1991; Trauth, 1989), and it has been explained as the
application of information science (Greer, 1987; Diener, 1992).
Davis (1995) has considered business information systems and adopted a
framework similar to that of this book, in that he considers them within the
framework of what he terms operational, tactical and strategic levels of management.
However his emphasis is more on systems and their support for business processes,
rather than dealing with stages of information transfer and the metainformation that
supports them. The book is presented in the context of an employee progressively
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.2: Book excerpt: Ch1: Introduction) 74
working up through tasks at the different levels. It gives examples of applications of
productivity tools such as spreadsheet software to the management process.
There are many writings, such as English (1996) that promote information
management in terms of utilising a business resource. A film that does the same thing,
but which is bolstered by substantial analysis of the processes necessary for doing this
is Information resource management (1990).
More recently, business has found knowledge to be a more in vogue resource.
The intellectual capital of an enterprise is seen to comprise both what is recorded and
what is tacit. Understanding the management of this intellectual capital, has occupied
a great many authors, among the more influential being Boisot (1998); Choo
(1998b); Davenport and Prusak (1998); and Liebowitz (1999). A compilation by
Srikantaiah and Koenig (2000) also helps to spell out alternative approaches to
knowledge managing knowledge as a resource. Websites that provide links to
detailed material in the area include American Productivity and Quality Center
(2001); Brint (2001b); and David Skyrme Associates (2001).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 75
3.3. Information management Book chapter: ‘Information in organisations’
excerpt
Following the book’s Introduction, there are three chapters within Part A that
introduce factors that have been instrumental in shaping the meaning of information
management. These chapters are respectively about the people who work in the field
(information professions), their research and study areas (information science), and the
institutional influence (information in organisations).
This Section reproduces a part of the Information in Organisations Chapter, viz.:
Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia: CSU
Centre for Information Studies, Chapter 4: Information in organisation,
Sections 4.3-4.4, pp. 71-76
It is included to show a couple of different approaches to analysing information use
within enterprises.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 76
Information responsibilities in an enterprise
The responsibility for provision of the range of information for organisational
decision-making is very diffuse. Even in organisations that have attempted to establish
the responsibility under a person with a title like chief information officer, there have
been difficulties, often because of the variety of structures and vested interests extant
in organisations, but also because of a focus on IT rather than information processes.
With the increasing proportion of knowledge work and information management
within many jobs that have a different primary focus, the need to establish information
management responsibilities becomes more pressing.
The scope of the information that is to be managed within an enterprise may be
defined in the following terms:
• Internal information that is either:
- Highly structured such as that coming from data in numerical databases or
being used for transaction processing.
- Loosely structured such as identification of knowledge sources and
expertise.
- Minimally structured such as information carried in documents like
reports and memoranda.
• External information that is either:
- Highly structured such as that held in statistical databases or geographic
information systems.
- Minimally structured such as that carried in print publications, news
media and film.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 77
The distinctions between these categories are blurring, as office automation and
publishing processes make documentary information more structured in computer
form. At the same time, databases formerly confined to structured records now
accommodate more data that are less structured in textual form. Nevertheless it is
worthwhile to examine the distinction, because the four areas have tended to be the
domains of different parts of an enterprise, whereas information management sees
them all under one umbrella.
Sprague & McNurlin (1993) examined the association of type of information
with domain of responsibility in an enterprise. We have derived Figure 4.3 from their
work to illustrate that corporate authority for dealing with information sources,
systems and services may be widely dispersed. This may lead to problems in effective
utilisation of these resources if there are technological solutions that make possible
their integration and enhanced use.
INFORMATION INTERNAL RESPONSIBILITY
INFORMATION SOURCES
SOFTWARE SUPPORT
INTERNAL Highly structured
Information systems department
Transaction processes Organisational units
Process control Database Management Systems Management Information Systems
INTERNAL Less structured
Records management Archives Document management Word processing Files control Knowledge management
Corporate documents: • policy statements • memoranda • mail • printed forms
Lessons leaned files Expertise collections
Word processing Document management Office automation Text retrieval Data mining Micrographics Optical digital storage Reprographics
EXTERNAL Highly structured
Business analysis Statistics unit
Public databases Internet
Online numerical databases
CD databases Public networks Time-sharing services
EXTERNAL Less Structured
Library Business intelligence unit Strategic planning support
News services Films Printed publications Internet
Automated library systems Online catalogues Environmental scanning Current awareness services Monitoring services Videotex systems Push technology
Figure 4.3: Enterprise responsibility for information
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 78
When analysis of this type is combined with identification of who is responsible
for management and transfer of knowledge, we are taken in the direction of the rather
higher-minded idea of the ‘intelligent organisation’. Such an organisation needs to be
able to combine the professional rule-based and practical knowledge that the workers
in an organisation have that makes it possible to optimise the efficiency of operations,
with the ongoing environmental knowledge that the managers of an organisation use to
align its mission and objectives with its capabilities. This implies ongoing
organisational learning based upon effective information gathering processes, and a
framework within which information may be used to create and apply knowledge from
the information sources used. It also implies that effective information retrieval
processes are available for reference to the ‘corporate memory’ through facilities such
as historical database analysis and records management and archiving systems.
External information scanning
‘...le hasard ne favorise que les esprits prepares’ (Chance favours the prepared
mind)
L. Pasteur Address given on inauguration of the Faculty of Science,
University of Lille, 1854.
Success in business competition is often said to derive from good management
of an enterprise’s information resources. Part of this management is the matter of
being well informed about ‘the opposition’. This information is often known as
business intelligence or competitor intelligence and the process of compiling it is a
justifiable concern of management1.
When formalised into a corporate intelligence gathering system, collection of
competitor intelligence can be regarded as part of an environmental scanning program,
1 Business intelligence and industrial espionage are different matters. The latter refers to covert
information gathering and is outside the scope of this text. Here, business intelligence is seen as part of environmental scanning, and having recourse to public information only.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 79
which considers the outside environment as something broader than simply
comprising competitors.
Environmental scanning is the process by which information about events and
relationships in an enterprise’s outside environment is scanned for the purpose of
assisting senior management in its task of planning an organisation’s future course of
action. It requires:
• Gathering of information about an organisation’s external environment.
• Analysis and interpretation of this information in the context of an
organisation’s business plan.
• Use of analysed intelligence in the organisation’s decision making.
Figure 4.4 illustrates the environment that the scanning process endeavours to
cover. The types of General Environment information that may prove useful in setting
an organisation’s direction include:
• Societal information such as demographics relating to population
movements, life expectancies, consumer activism,
environmental awareness and leisure utilisation.
• Technological information relating to new products, technology transfer
from research to marketplace, automation applications and
effects on productivity, research and development programs
of government, universities and scientific organisations.
• Economic information such income distribution and disposable
incomes, employment levels, inflation, interest rates and
other financial indicators.
• Political information relating to potential changes of government, and
regulatory framework for such matters as trade, employment
and financial services.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 80
General Environment
Operating Environment
Internal
Environment (External information)
Competitor intelligence
Environmental scanning
Figure 4.4: Environmental scanning
The Operating Environment concentrates on intelligence about an
organisation’s competitors and consists of information about:
• Production such as anything to do with product range and evaluation,
quality control, packaging, delivery, production capacity, and
breakdown tolerance.
• Organisation such as ownership, control and management structure, extent
of decentralisation, directors, links with other companies,
facilities, financing, and asset return.
• Marketing such as the extent of advertising budgets, the placement of
product information for target markets, market share, pricing
policies and discounts, service policies and performance, and
customer distribution.
• Personnel such as the range of human resources employed, their
remuneration, the degree of movement in the workforce, the
state of manager-labour relations, and the decision makers in
organisations.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 81
Therefore we may say that POMP covers the more specific environment of
competitor intelligence, and STEP the wider environment beyond the immediate
concerns of the competition.
Systems for environmental scanning
Since Aguilar (1967) investigated in depth the process of scanning the business
environment, many models have been put forward for formalising the process. Some
have been expressed in a cyclical manner so that the collection and analysing of
information is followed by derivation of intelligence, which is disseminated, and leads
to modification through feedback of the requirements for further information. Most see
that the framework in which scanning is carried out may take place in different modes.
For example, Aguilar’s original suggestions for frameworks were simplified by
Fahey & King (1977) into irregular, regular, and continuous modes. In Figure 4.5, we
illustrate an extension of the characteristics of these modes.
IRREGULAR REGULAR CONTINUOUS
STIMULUS Crisis initiated Decision and issue oriented
Planning process oriented
OPERATION Ad hoc Periodically updated Structured data collection and processing
SOURCES Primarily people, some documentary
Documentary & personal Primarily documentary, some personal
SCOPE Specific identified matters of interest, primarily POMP
Specific identified matters of interest, POMP and STEP
Environment in general, primarily STEP
INDUCEMENT Reactive Proactive Proactive INFORMATION COLLECTION
Retrospective Primarily current Prospective
DECISION TIME Current and near-term future
Near-term Long-term
ORGANISATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION
A variety of different participants
A variety of different participants
Unit dedicated to the process
Figure 4.5: Scanning modes
The frequency and formality with which the process of gaining this information
is carried out also depends upon the economic means of an organisation. For example
it has been differentiated at 3 different levels (J. L. Horton, 1995) as follows:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 82
• Low level
This includes swapping gossip with suppliers, customers and vendors
and others who cross a market; reading local and national media, and
subscribing to and reading key trade journals and newsletters reporting an
industry in which a company competes.
• Mid-range
This includes the low-level approach plus:
- Developing and implementing an integrated organisational
information strategy to disseminate business environment
information regularly.
- Reviewing information about individuals who are key to
organisational survival and success, for example owners, employees
and customers.
- Maintaining a briefing document on key business issues.
- Automating supplier, distributor and customer contact.
- Maintaining one or more online data services focused on the
company’s business environment.
- Using work group information systems to place business
environmental data on terminals for employees to consult as needed.
- Providing company-wide email.
- Appointing a person to coordinate and digest data flows to resource
files. Horton (1995, p. 112) calls this person an information editor.
• High level
This adds the following to the actions already listed:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 83
- A department to analyse and report business environmental
information company-wide; this department would tie into
company communications lines and would maintain a digest of
events classified by key business environment variables.
- Company-wide meetings to update employees on the business
environment and its implications for business.
- Key measures for business environmental change and company
response.
- Real-time reporting of a company’s business environment to special
groups to help them understand company actions.
- Regular surveys, focus groups and panels with key individuals in
the business environment who have direct economic power over a
company.
- Ongoing investigations of change in the business environment and
how the company should prepare for it.
- Retreats for managers in which the state of the company and the
business environment is presented.
There are several institutional frameworks possible for carrying out the process.
If a specific unit is to be established, it may be within a department equivalent to
corporate planning and have a name something like the strategic intelligence unit. This
provides the advantage of being close to senior management, but may suffer from lack
of contact with other divisions in an organisation. An alternative may be an
information analysis centre, physically remote from senior management, and possibly
suffering politically because of that, but perhaps more neutral and accessible about
information gathering from the organisation as a whole.
On a smaller scale of operation, management may have to look at employing an
outside agency to carry out the procedures. This may present the problem of the
agency not fully appreciating or attending to the organisation’s needs. Alternatively
the role may be distributed throughout departments in an organisation, or taken to the
extent of writing it in as part of individual duty statements. To be effective, such an
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.3: Excerpt from Book Ch 4: Information in organisations) 84
approach needs considerable coordination. This may push an organisation in the
direction of establishing a unit.
In all cases, the structure will be set up in an attempt to resolve the problems of
reliability and credibility of intelligence being gleaned, evaluation time required to
deal with the information, and appropriateness of the product for senior management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 85
3.4. Information management Book chapter: Operational domain
Part B of the book is the most extensive. It includes ten chapters that describe the
various techniques employed in managing information as it proceeds through a life cycle
of use. Of concern to information management at each step is information about the
information traversing the cycle - metainformation. Therefore as information is created,
distributed, organised, retrieved, presented and disposed, at each stage there is
metainformation that is the principal point of interest of the information manager. The
chapters concentrate upon the metainformation that must be managed to make
information more usable.
A specific matter that must be addressed with information organisation is the
differentiation between describing the medium carrying information, and the description
of the information content itself. In this book they are described respectively as the agent
and the content. Information organisation of agents makes use of techniques that include
data modelling, cataloguing and markup. Information organisation of content makes use
of indexing and classification. In each case the metainformation may be controlled by
tools that are fundamental for information management.
In the case of agents, these tools include data dictionaries and authority files. In the
case of content they include thesauri and classification schemes. An extract from Chapter
10 in Part B is reproduced, viz.:
Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia: CSU
Centre for Information Studies, Chapter 10: Control of recorded
information by content, Sections 10.1, pp. 218-229
It is included to show how the concept of classification is introduced within the
broader context of operational information management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 86
Control of recorded information by content
In Chapter 8 we looked at metainformation procedures that helped to control
agents of information delivery. Then in Chapter 9, we examined the way that content
analysis either by people or software is used to describe what documents are about.
Now we will consider formal metainformation that helps to control description of
content. We examine tools used for ordering representations of knowledge, namely
classification schemes and thesauri. We also look at some associations between these
tools, before considering how knowledge representation is applied in confined domains
of systems in order to make use of expertise.
The way that knowledge is represented in an expert system may be closer to
Plato’s knowledge as ‘justified true belief’, than are the categories that represent
knowledge expressed in documents. Categories used for documents, often reflect the
limits and tendencies of the information in the range of documents rather than any
substantive reality beyond the documents.
Classification categories and index terms are both instruments of classification.
However, the term classification in the sense that it is used for information management
is often confined to the categorisation approach. In that case, some form of notation
(symbols) is used to represent categories in a classification scheme, as opposed to use
of a thesaurus where the categories are expressed in terms of descriptors (strings of
index words) and their interrelationships.
Classification
Before we look at schemes for classification, consider how fundamental
classification is to communication. How much distinction is there between the way you
classify knowledge in your head, and the way you classify information (or have it
classified for you), when it is in a text or other information object?
Categories
We categorise as we think. We categorise in order to order the world that we
perceive or imagine. We categorise reality subjectively. We also record our knowledge
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 87
of reality and categorise that too1. The categorisations are different. The philosopher of
science, Popper (1972, p. 106) saw the objective content of thought, expressed as
external shared categorisations as a ‘third world’. He distinguished them from the
World 1 of material things, and the World 2 of subjective consciousness. His World 3 is
represented by the totality of recorded thought. It is this recorded thought that we have
focussed upon as information in these chapters.
Coming to terms with categorisation is of fundamental importance to human
thought, and a question that philosophers have wrestled with at length. Under what
forms of thought may different phenomena be subsumed?
Aristotle borrowed ‘categoria’ from legal parlance where it meant accusation, and
extended it to mean anything that could be asserted truly or falsely about anything
(Urmson, 1975, p. 60). He arrived at ten fundamental classes of reality: substance,
quantity, quality, relation, place, time, posture, state, action and passion. He considered
that any assertion could be placed in one of these categories. For example, the
expressions ‘I am warm’, ‘I am a dancer’, and ‘I am in Sydney’, each contain the
subject ‘I’ with different predicates. These predicates may be categorised respectively
as quality, substance and place.
Aristotle identified a limited, but arguably fundamental set of predicate
categories, which were generally accepted by the philosophically inclined, for about
two thousand years. Then along came Kant, who in different writings considered that
three, then five, then twelve different ways of conceiving of objects were required, in
order to make different logical functions of judgement applicable to them (Guyer, 1992,
p.134).
As twelve ways, these could be expressed as four categories (quantity, quality,
relation and modality) each with three sub-categories. For example the three types of
quantity were universal (‘everyone is mortal’), particular (‘some dogs are black’), and
singular (‘this cat is hungry’). Kant’s categories are controversial. After all, he seemed
to disagree with himself. However, his approach to categorisation has proved
particularly influential.
1 Or as W.S Gilbert would have it, in Pirates of Penzance, 1879, Act 1: ‘I know the Kings of England, and I quote the fights historical, From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical...’
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 88
There is a difficulty with these approaches to categorisation, because it does not
seem possible to decide whether they relate to reality (are ontological, as the
philosophers might say), or whether they relate to the expression of reality. This is an
issue that hovers in the background behind the practical process of classification of
recorded knowledge. Is it reality that is to be classified, or is it the description of
reality? Because information management has been mostly concerned with knowledge
that has been documented, it is the description of reality that has been its concern. Now
that knowledge management is on the agenda, an implication is that Popper’s World 2
must also be managed. But can private meaning be managed?
If eminent philosophers cannot settle on a way of categorisation, it is not too
surprising that the rest of us have had some difficulty with it. A significant aspect of our
difficulty is the process of transferring categorisation of knowledge in our heads, to
categorisation of information that is recorded. This process has to make use of a
language of some sort. Before the categories established by that language might be
assigned, we have the problem of using the language to express the categorisation that
we have in our heads. Aitchison (1994) has explored this, pointing out that our mental
lexicon does not correspond with what is written down. Although you can provide a
dictionary definition of a word from your head, the same word can readily change in
mental interpretation because you contextualise according to many attributes.
For example, there is a dictionary definition for ‘blood’. However if it is used in a
phrase such as ‘he would shed blood for the cause’, the conception of what is
understood may vary from literal to metaphorical depending upon what context the
understander brings to the word. We do not necessarily have to turn to metaphor for
examples. As McGarry (1993) points out when considering whether a ‘house’ is indeed
a ‘home’, it is necessary to distinguish between connotation and denotation2.
Denotation is the shared understanding of what a house is in World 3. Connotation is
the private meaning of World 2. There is a World 2 for house, but the personal
associations may bring it much closer to home! As a final example, think again about
Chapter 1, where even the World 3 understanding of ‘information management’ has
considerable variation of interpretation.
2 A house is not a home being the title of the memoirs of the New York madam (and author), Polly
Adler.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 89
We categorise things in the shared information world in order to organise them
for communication, but the categorisation process will differ depending upon the
context of use, along with the reason for categorising.
The categorisation will also depend upon whether we are categorising objects, or
information about the objects. Take for example spare parts for motor vehicles. A
supplier, who has to keep a warehouse full of these, may categorise them by size, by
make of vehicle to which they correspond, by year corresponding to models, by a part
number, or by combinations of these. A data base that keeps an inventory of the parts
may provide access points for retrieval of these parts using some of the same
categories, but probably also has differing categories such as ‘name of part’ or ‘purpose
of part’, for information retrieval. What the object is for, is described by some
categories; what the object is, is described by others. That is a reason why it is useful to
differentiate content and agent in description.
A similarly problematical situation may apply in supermarkets where the
arrangement of food items on the shelves, may follow a different categorisation from
the information about the food items held in a database. For example there may be a
categorisation based upon frequency of purchase in the database that is not reflected in
the floor arrangement. Of course the database has the advantage of permitting multiple
categorisations of the information, whereas the supermarket will find it challenging to
present tomatoes in with the fruits, the sauces, the fresh food, the vegetables, the objects
that are roughly spherical, the red (or green) foods, the drink mixers, the stock from
Mexico, the stock beginning with ‘T’, the stock delivered weekly, and so on...
Is it easier to resolve these difficulties, when the content being described is in
documents rather than objects that we eat or use as tools? In information repositories
like libraries the objects such as their books are the information carriers, rather than the
objects that the information is about. The books are not being categorised; what they
are about is3. So the managers can decide upon a standard classification system, and
arrange their books on shelves according to that system. Is it that simple? Can the book
on growing tomatoes be classified in the same way as the book on tomato sauce? Will
the person who wants the tomato sauce book for a cooking recipe look in the same
place as the person who wants to use tomato sauce in their next screenplay? Again, the
3 Unless perhaps the classification scheme is according to size: big, little; or colour!
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 90
people who want the information are approaching it from an assortment of contexts.
Unless they take the time to understand the standard classification scheme, they may
well not find their way to what they want.
The extent of knowledge of a person who is establishing the categories will
influence the categorisation. A community that lives near the equator will have far
fewer categories (or words representing them) for snow, than a community that lives
near one of the Earth’s Poles. The extent to which you may categorise the images of
Figure 10.1 in different ways will depend upon your knowledge of what is depicted.
You may categorise by size or shape, but with more knowledge you may categorise by
origin, or purpose or longevity. If you are an animal fancier, there may be all manner of
ways of organising; or they may all simply be creatures (or snowflakes!) to you.
Figure 10.1: Organising animals
Producing classification schemes should be assisted if we spend some time
analysing the way that we mentally represent objects. Unfortunately we must then
confront the significant difficulty of carrying out the analysis with the same instrument
(our brain), which we use to do the mental representation. We are trying to understand
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 91
something using the instrument that is doing the understanding. This seems a bit like
trying to pull yourself up with your own shoelaces. This is something that concerns not
a few, although Roszak (1994), who champions the notion of human ideas as opposed
to mere computer ‘intelligence’, thinks that since the mind cannot capture its own
nature, it won’t be able to invent a machine that is its equal, or its successor.
The philosophical issues have not inhibited the development of practical classification
schemes, some examples of which are considered in the following section.
Classification schemes
We can contrast natural classification, which has an empirical basis and derives
from scientific observation, with artificial classification, which implies a priori ideas
of what is important. The latter is more likely to be applied to collections of records or
documents where the purpose of classification is to make information available.
Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Mammalia Subclass Marsupialia Order Diprotodonta Family Phascolarctidae Genus Phascolarctos Species cinereus
Figure 10.2 Taxonomic classification for koala
The foremost example of natural classification is the taxonomic system used in
the biological sciences, and deriving from the work of Linnaeus. This system of
taxonomy endeavours to classify animals and plants according to their observed
features. Figure 10.2 shows how a koala is treated in the taxonomic system.
On the other hand, artificial classification tends to impose a worldview of what is
important. Through the ages, encyclopaedias provide an interesting reflection through
their classification schemes, of cultural values and influences prevalent at the time of
their production. McGarry (1993, p. 146) has pointed out the dominant place of
philosophy in the expression of the Greeks, and how it became something merely
ancillary to theology in later periods. He notes that Diderot, the French encyclopaedist,
vaunted his work as setting the agenda for the new era of rationalism and
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 92
enlightenment, and he gives an example of the priorities and worldview expressed in an
Islamic encyclopaedia of Ibn Qutayba c.828:
1. Power 6. Asceticism 2. War 7. Friendship 3. Nobility 8. Prayers 4. Character 9. Food 5. Learning and eloquence 10. Women
Other types of classification schemes that are focused on relatively small domains
of knowledge may strive to be natural. However if they are in areas such as the social
sciences, there is the difficulty of being precise about observed categories. A typical
example is a classification of industries of the type used by government agencies in
many countries. An extract from NAICS, the North American Industrial Classification
System, is shown in Figure 10.3. For example we see ‘Computer facilities management
services’ classified within ‘Computer systems design and related services’. We imagine
it could equally have a place within ‘Facilities management services’ if this were
provided for elsewhere in the scheme.
414 Specialized Design Services 54141 Interior Design Services 54142 Industrial Design Services 54143 Graphic Design Services 54149 Other Specialized Design Services 5415 Computer Systems Design and Related Services 54151 Computer Systems Design and Related Services 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services 541512 Computer Systems Design Services 541513 Computer Facilities Management Services 541519 Other Computer Related Services 5416 Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services 54161 Management Consulting Services 541611 Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services 541612 Human Resources and Executive Search Consulting Services 541613 Marketing Consulting Services 541614 Process, Physical Distribution, and Logistics Consulting Services 541618 Other Management Consulting Services 54162 Environmental Consulting Services 54169 Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services 5417 Scientific Research and Development Services Figure 10.3: Extract from 1997 U.S. NAICS Codes & Titles
http://www.census.gov/epcd/naics/naicscod.txt
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 93
Information repositories have always had to adopt classification schemes in order
to organise their documents for records management purposes. Where the repositories
are relatively specialised, they may adopt schemes such as the one for which there is an
extract shown in Figure 10.4. In this case, mandate, functions, and activities rather than
organisational structure, form the basis for the hierarchical subject approach. The top
level has related functions grouped by subject. For example, ‘finance and budget’
information is grouped together. In the example we see ‘human resources’ as the top
level function; a secondary level is indicated by a digit added to the alphabetical
characters of the primary; a third level permits identifying the subject matter, which
may be a name, a title or a number, and reflects the individual needs of those working
with the records.
Figure 10.4: Records and information management classification scheme for filing
Many government authorities use relatively generic classification schemes for
records, based upon functions within organisations, though sometimes adapted for the
particular subject needs of the organisation. An extract from a department’s scheme is
shown in Figure 10.5.
Great amounts of time and effort have been expended upon classification
schemes for libraries, because their collection coverage in many cases must represent
an overview of the documentation of all knowledge. An outline of the main classes of
the U.S. Library of Congress scheme (LC), one of the more heavily used schemes, is
shown in Figure 10.6. Classification schemes used in repositories tend towards the
Human resources HR
Personnel HR-1
Appraisal HR-2
In-service HR-3
Loadings HR-8
In-service HR-3: Kaminsky, Rolf
#245-1235
In-service HR-3: Lee, Bing #243-0014
Top level
2nd level
Base level
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 94
artificial (see ‘naturalness’ below), because they are trying to reflect how much is
documented about subject areas more so than how much is known about these areas.
PRO 0-0 PROCUREMENT 1-0 Bids and Contracts 2-0 Catalogs 3-0 Equipment and Supplies 4-0 Property Accountability 4-1 Equipment Inventory 4-2 Supply Inventory 5-0 Storage and Warehousing 6-0 Surplus Property 6-1 Acquisition 6-2 Boards of Survey 6-3 Disposal PBM 0-0 PROGRAM BUDGET MANAGEMENT 1-0 Plans and Policy 2-0 Execution Schedules 3-0 Program Objectives 4-0 Review and Analysis
Figure 10.5: Extract from U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration classification scheme for office management systems http://www.osha-slc.gov/OshDoc/Directive_data/ADM_12_1_CH-8.html
A -- GENERAL WORKS B -- PHILOSOPHY. PSYCHOLOGY. RELIGION C -- AUXILIARY SCIENCES OF HISTORY D -- HISTORY: GENERAL AND OLD WORLD E -- HISTORY: AMERICA F -- HISTORY: AMERICA G -- GEOGRAPHY. ANTHROPOLOGY. RECREATION H -- SOCIAL SCIENCES J -- POLITICAL SCIENCE K -- LAW L -- EDUCATION M -- MUSIC AND BOOKS ON MUSIC N -- FINE ARTS P -- LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Q -- SCIENCE R -- MEDICINE S -- AGRICULTURE T -- TECHNOLOGY U -- MILITARY SCIENCE V -- NAVAL SCIENCE Z -- BIBLIOGRAPHY. LIBRARY SCIENCE. INFORMATION RESOURCES (GENERAL)
Figure 10.6: LC Classification Scheme outline of main classes http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 95
Indexing as we described it in Chapter 9 is a form of classification, since
classification can be any approach to putting labels on objects. However, in the library
environment, indexing (in the sense of assigning subject headings or descriptors
without using a notation) to represent multiple ideas in documents, is differentiated
from classification - undertaking a conceptual analysis of what a document as a whole
is about, using an established limited set of categories represented by a notation.
Classification scheme features
A fully developed classification scheme is sophisticated metainformation. If you
are developing such a system, there are a number of principles to be taken into account.
These include:
• Notation
When indexing in the form of keywords or descriptors is used to
indicate subject content, then the subsequent arrangement of these as entry
terms is in sorted alphabetical order for purposes of look-up. However, when
systematic classification is used, a set of symbols substitutes for the
arrangement of index terms. The way in which these symbols may be
combined is important, so that as far as possible for users there is a self-
evident order. For example the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system
uses a numerical decimal notation, and sequencing can be numerical. Other
systems use a combination of alphabet and numbers, which has the
advantage of a greater range of symbols with which to represent numbers, so
the notation may be kept relatively short. This is important in the use of
synthetic systems (described below under Class detail) to minimise the
length of constructed notations.
A notation, such as that of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC)
permits the use of combinations of alphabet, numerals and a variety of other
symbols (such as ‘/’,’+’,’:’) that have semantic content. Although this allows
more flexibility of categorisation and synthesis of categories, it presents
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 96
difficulties for category lookup in sorted lists where users must be familiar
with sort values of the punctuation symbols.
• Structure
A classification scheme is implemented in two parts: a set of schedules
that show the categorisation arranged by the notations applied to the
categories, and a relative index to the schedules that enables lookup of
concepts. The scheme may also have tables and instructions on how to
enumerate or synthesise the schedules. Extracts from a schedule, in this case
that of LC as produced by LC’s Cataloging Distribution Service, appear in
Figure 10.7.
Subclass J General legislative and executive papers Subclass JA Political science (general) Subclass JC Political theory Subclass JF Political institutions and public administration – General Subclass JK Political institutions and public administration – United
States Subclass JL Political institutions and public administration – Canada,
West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America Subclass JN Political institutions and public administration – Europe Subclass JQ Political institutions and public administration – Asia, Arab
countries, Islamic countries, Africa, Atlantic Ocean islands, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Ocean islands
Subclass JS Local government. Municipal government Subclass JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration.
International migration Subclass JX International law, see KZ (obsolete) Subclass JZ International relations
Figure 10.7a: Extract from LC Classification outline Class J – Political science
Subclass JC JC11-(607) Political theory JC11-(607) State. Theories of the state JC47 Oriental state JC49 Islamic state JC51-93 Ancient state JC109-121 Medieval state JC131-273 Modern state JC177-(178) Thomas Paine JC311-314 Nationalism. Nation state JC319-323 Political geography JC327 Sovereignty JC328.2 Consent of the governed JC328.6 Violence. Political violence JC329 Patriotism JC345-347 Symbolism JC348-497 Forms of the state JC(501)-(607) Purpose, functions, and relations of the state
Figure 10.7b: Extract from LC Classification outline Class J – Political science
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 97
• Naturalness
Document classification systems are essentially artificial, because they
endeavour to reflect what has been written about, rather than what is. The
term literary warrant is used to describe the notion of classifying according
to what is in the literature, rather than according to a theoretical or empirical
substantiation of reality. For example, Dewey’s original DDC did relatively
little to accommodate documentation outside the then western Christian
tradition since it was based upon the literature of that tradition. This partiality
has been addressed in later editions of the scheme, but is modulated by the
influence of integrity (see below).
Some schemes have more artificiality4 than others. Of systems that deal
with all of knowledge, the Bliss5 system is often held up as an example of one
that minimises artificiality and approaches naturalness. Artificial systems
inevitably reflect the biases of the creators. If they follow literary warrant, the
system will reflect the literature of the culture in which they are operating.
• Class detail
This means the extent to which any particular category may be
elaborated to its subcategories. Classification systems that endeavour to come
up with a single notation for each individual concept, encounter the problem
of enumeration. They must provide a distinct code for each concept using the
assigned class structure. They also have to come to terms with the problem of
accommodating new concepts within an existing notation and with producing
4 Depending upon your purpose, you may be as artificial as you like. Consider this ancient Chinese
classification of animals from the pen of Jorg Luis Borges: ‘Animals are divided into (a) those that belong to the Emperor, (b) embalmed ones, (c) those that are trained,
(d) suckling pigs, (e) mermaids, (f) fabulous ones, (g) stray dogs, (h) those that are included in this classification, (i) those that tremble as if they were mad, (j) innumerable ones, (k) those drawn with a very fine camel's hair brush, (l) others, (m) those that have just broken a flower vase, and (n) those that resemble flies from a distance.’
From Other Inquisitions: 1937-1952, Univ. Texas Press, Austin., 1964.
5 Henry Bliss died in 1955. His classification has been maintained. For example see Bliss Bibliographic Classification 1977-1993, 2d ed. / J. Mills & V. Broughton, Butterworths, London.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 98
notation of unwieldy length. Because literary warrant is to be accommodated,
there will often be the problem of what Ranganathan called phase
relationships. For example a classification scheme may have a category for
‘nineteenth century poetry’, and a category for ‘Egyptology’, but how does it
deal with ‘influence of Egyptology on nineteenth century poetry’? Similarly
there may be categories for ‘science’, for ‘religion’ and ‘football’, but how
does it deal with a text on ‘science and religion in Melbourne football’?
A way of dealing with this difficulty is to use synthetic classification in
order to establish more detail. This means to have a notation that includes
some symbols that indicate linking of concepts. DDC, which was the first
major classification system developed for libraries, is essentially
enumerative, bearing in mind that it was produced initially with shelf
arrangement of books in mind. However, over time, it has adopted synthetic
capability through devices such as tables, which indicate where categories
may be linked.
The UDC, which was initiated by Otlet and La Fontaine from Belgium,
based itself upon the decimal approach of the fifth edition of Dewey’s
classification, but influenced by the theories such as those of Ranganathan, it
introduced synthesis, using symbols such as the following:
: to represent relations e.g. 669.14:621.791 Steel welding + to indicate combinations e.g. 669.14+669.71 Steel and aluminium / to indicate a number range e.g. 22/28 Christian religions = language e.g. 655=82 Printing in Russian
"" time e.g. 327"18" International relations in the eighteenth
century This facility reduces the problem of accommodating new numbers,
which presents difficulties in enumerative systems. Notation can of course,
lead to much longer sets of characters, and sequencing of the different
connecting symbols does not come easily to many people, but the system
lends itself to computer processing, because like indexing terms, the notation
components can readily be combined for information retrieval.
Ranganathan’s Colon Classification system was initiated in India in
1933. He sought an underlying systematic approach for assigning categories,
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 99
and his achievement of this was through facet analysis. He arrived at
fundamental categories of Personality, Matter, Energy, Space and Time
(PMEST)6. One notational representation of them is as follows:
Category Notational representation Personality , Matter ; Energy : Space . Time ’
This would result in creation of a synthetic number like 234;17:55.73’N
for ‘map cataloguing in US university libraries in the twentieth century’. (234
for university libraries, 17 for maps, 55 for cataloguing, 73 for the USA, and
N for C20th)
• Subdivisions
We saw that a variety of symbols may be used to increase the utility of
synthetic classification. Enumerative schemes can benefit from a certain
amount of synthesis, without resorting to introduction of many symbols. For
example the DDC in its more recent manifestations, makes provision for
enumerating numbers in a standard way according to common subdivisions
for content relating to areas, languages, persons, racial and ethnic groups. It
also provides for what are known as the standard subdivisions. These
include:
-01 Philosophy and theory -03 Dictionaries, encyclopaedias, concordances -05 Serial publications -06 Organisations -07 Study and teaching -08 Collections and anthologies
You can see from these that there is a confusion of the information
content and information agent, despite the fact that distinguishing them for
purposes of description is considered important. This is a pragmatic
approach adopted in some classification systems, which endeavours to
6 Which might lead to some difficulty when dealing with e=mc2
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 100
provide for the grouping of material of a particular type, as well as material
on particular subject areas.
The subdivisions are applied to base numbers, and instructions are
given about how a base number should be modified. For example in the
DDC category 781.33 which represents serialism in music composition,
subdivisions may be used to enumerate it using the subdivisions shown
above .330 1-.330 9. In contrast, the category 781.34 which represents
computer composition is enumerated not from the standard subdivisions, but
from another area of the tables. In this case it is with the numbers following
00 in the 004-006 area that represent computer science.
• Integrity
Because knowledge interrelationship as expressed in documentation is
in a constant state of flux, new editions of major classification schemes must
be produced periodically to reflect change. The integrity of the
systematisation is a significant factor for institutions that propose to use the
schemes. This means that the relative positioning of categories reflected in
the notation does not change much from one edition to another. For example
a system may wish to categorise ‘motion pictures’ under ‘leisure’ in one
edition and change it to ‘business’ in the next. If it resists such change, the
organisation that maintains a scheme may increase support among
institutions that use the scheme, because major changes have expensive
implications for reclassification of documents.
Classification schemes on the Internet
The resources on the Internet cover the whole field of knowledge, and many
approaches are being implemented to assist with resource discovery. One approach is to
establish a site that has a classification scheme that uses hypertext links to point to other
sites. A well-known early example of such an approach using its own system of
categorisation on the World Wide Web is Yahoo (2001). There are now many sites that
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.4: Excerpt from Book Ch 10: Control … content) 101
are applying formal classification schemes as pointers to other resources7. Figure 10.8
depicts part of such a site.
HTML implementation lends itself to personal classification systems, so although
the likes of DDC and UDC have been put into effect, there are many user-centred
applications that are more focused. These provide subject-specific windows into the
Internet, and are an important part of information management for external resources in
organisations.
The insertion of metainformation into Web sites using schema such as Dublin
Core (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, 2001) as illustrated in Chapter 7.5, makes it
possible to assign multiple categories to a single site. Therefore, a site could be
classified according to a specialist scheme such as that of the Association for
Computing Machinery, and also a classification code as per DDC, UDC or other
examples shown in Figure 7.21. This information may be stored in repeating subject
elements. If discrimination between these elements were implemented in search
engines, it would permit different contextual views of the same site.
Figure 10.8: Extract from Dutch Electronic Subject Service site using classified arrangement
http://www.kb.nl/dutchess/nbc_main.html
7 A directory to sites using classification schemes is at
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/CTW.htm
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 102
3.5. Information management Book chapter: Analytical domain
Part C of the book deals with analytical information management. It includes four
chapters that emphasise procedures for determining the needs of information users, and
the ways in which information systems, sources and services are identified and evaluated.
One chapter deals with determination of needs of information users with sections
on information seeking behaviour, and consideration of some examples of user
environments. A second chapter deals with information resources analysis, looking at
approaches to identifying and mapping and valuing information. A third chapter gives an
overview of systems analysis with brief examples of data and process modelling. The final
chapter of this section is about evaluation, and looks at evaluation approaches for the
overall information management function, for information systems, and for particular
operations. An extract from Chapter 18 in Part C is reproduced, viz.:
Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia: CSU
Centre for Information Studies, Chapter 18, Section 18; 18.1, pp. 389-403.
It is included to show how examples of operational evaluation are provided, so that
they can give an overview that may be applied in different performance appraisal contexts
after introducing more detailed material.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 103
Evaluation
… come, give us a taste of your quality …
Shakespeare, Hamlet Act II, scene 2
In part B of this work, we examined a number of information management
operations (creation, distribution, and so on), and here we will look at ways those
operations may be evaluated. We will then adopt a more expansive view to look at the
utility of an information service as a whole, and at assessment of information support
for business processes. The users of a service or system may see it in terms of
capability or effectiveness - essentially what outputs it can provide for them, and how
well. On the other hand, the managers may see evaluation in terms of overall
performance measurement across operations. This certainly includes an interest in what
the users think of processes contributing to effectiveness. It also requires an interest in
evaluating the services with respect to business objectives. This entails a combination
of assessing whether the right resource has been applied, and whether it has been
employed in the right way.
Both the users and the managers have an abiding interest in evaluation so that the
provision of information sources, services and systems may be improved through better
understanding, or justified in terms of ongoing need and benefit.
For a service as a whole the evaluation may be of inputs, processes or outputs.
Input measurement in a sense is an indication of how much activity is being expended
upon a service, processes may be measured by looking at the operational elements in
terms of their efficiency, and outputs may be measured in terms of their effectiveness
(the extent to which they fulfil objectives) or impact (the extent to which they provide
benefits). To take a call centre as an example of an information service, evaluation of
inputs may mean comparing staffing requirements at particular periods. Evaluation of
process may mean comparing wait times for callers, or capacity for presenting
information on display screens. Evaluation of output could involve customer
perceptions of how well questions had been answered.
Taylor (1986) considered a variety of applications of how information adds value
within information systems. We showed a table of value-adding options that we derived
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 104
from his work back at Figure 16.4. He developed a model that may be applied to
different types of information process, each of which may be employed for information
provision in the organisational contexts of data processing operations, office
information systems, information centres and libraries, and knowledge centres.
The example applications may be drawn from operation of any information
resource, and could be applied for example to:
• A lessons-learned database for knowledge management.
• A recordkeeping finding aid.
• An enterprise parts inventory.
• An email facility.
• An abstracting and indexing service.
• A decision support system.
In each case, an evaluation process may be applied to determine the effectiveness
with which the respective values are being added to the so-called interfaces, bearing in
mind that these need not be a human-computer interfaces.
We now move from Taylor’s analysis of value-adding to look at some specific
approaches to evaluation for operational information management. You will see that
what are described as added values to interfaces in his model, are often represented
among the operational evaluation criteria that follow, even though the way that they are
expressed may vary from application to application.
Evaluation methods for operations
In Part B, we looked at operational information management as a process that
concerned itself with stages in the handling of information. Here we will examine some
examples of evaluation that have been applied to the different stages.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 105
Software in general
Because many of the operational applications of information management utilise
software, it is natural that software quality evaluation should play a part in their
evaluation. International standards have been developed for software product quality
determination, and approaches to evaluation (International Standards Organization &
International Electrotechnical Commission, 2001- ; International Standards
Organization & International Electrotechnical Commission, 1998-2001). The particular
quality characteristics that have been prescribed are:
• Functionality
These are the operative characteristics of software expressed as
follows:
- Suitability: is it appropriate for its specified task?
- Accuracy: is the information it conveys right or to agreed
results.
- Interoperability: ability of the deliverable to interact with
specified systems.
- Compliance: adherence to related standards, conventions or
regulations in laws.
- Security: ability to prevent unauthorised access to data
or programs.
• Reliability
These are measures of how dependable the software is expressed as
follows:
- Maturity: attributes of the deliverable that bear on the
frequency of failure by faults.
- Fault tolerance: ability to maintain a specified level of
performance in cases of software faults or of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 106
infringement of its specified interface.
- Recoverability: ability to re-establish its level of performance
and recovery of data affected by some sort of
failure.
• Usability
These characteristics describe the ease with which software can be put
to use:
- Understandability: measurement of the user’s effort for
recognising the logical concept and its
applicability for its purpose.
- Learnability: measurement of the user’s effort for learning
its application.
- Operability: measurement of the user’s effort to operate and
control the deliverable.
• Efficiency
These criteria are measures of how economical the software is with
respect to:
- Time behaviour: measurement of response & processing times
and performance of functions & requests.
- Response behaviour: amount of resources used and the duration of
such use in performing particular functions.
• Maintainability
These characteristics describe attributes relating to upkeep of software
as follows:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 107
- Analysability: attributes that bear on the effort needed for
diagnosis of deficiencies or cause of failures, or
identification of parts to be modified.
- Changeability: attributes that bear on the effort needed for
modification, fault removal or environmental
change.
- Stability: attributes that bear on the risk of unexpected
effect of modifications.
- Testability: attributes that bear on the effort needed for
validation of the modified deliverable.
• Portability
These attributes describe the extent to which the software may be
moved and adjusted to different platforms as follows:
- Adaptability: attributes that bear on the opportunity for its
adaptation to different specified environments
without applying other actions or means than
those provided for the purpose of the
deliverable.
- Installability: effort needed to install the deliverable in a
specified environment.
- Conformance: attributes that make the deliverable adhere to
standards or conventions relating to portability.
- Replaceability: attributes that bear on the opportunity and
effort of using a deliverable in place of another
deliverable.
These quality characteristics provide features that may be evaluated whatever
the system. However, there are many other approaches to evaluation that are more
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 108
specific to applications of particular operational procedures. Depending upon the type
of operational information management involved, some of these may be applied
irrespective of whether software is employed. We will now examine examples at
different stages of the information management continuum.
Creation of forms
When looking at document creation in Chapter 5, we considered business records
including forms. If we are to evaluate forms used for business records one approach is
to utilise standard checklists that are applied to interface design, when the interfaces are
applied to document creation. For example, the ISO series on ergonomic requirements
for visual display terminals (International Standards Organization, 1992-2000) includes
a procedure for assessing the applicability of, and adherence to different aspects of the
standard. This procedure is structured to enable a checklist approach to each, and can be
used as part of forms evaluation.
The applicability test determines whether it is relevant to test for a particular
recommendation, then adherence tests the extent to which a recommendation is
observed. Applicability is first employed with system description, to see for example
whether it includes an account of form-filling. If it is decided that form completion is
part of system description, assessment proceeds thus:
• Documented evidence
- Applicability: work flow analysis may have shown that fields
should be grouped in certain combinations,
appropriate for when different users are entering
their components of required data.
- Adherence: for example institutional documentation may
require that all data entry fields be displayed in
reverse video.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 109
• Observation
- Applicability: observation to verify that a particular type of
source document is used for input.
- Adherence: examination to see if a condition is being met,
for example the extent of abbreviation used
within an entry field for institutional customers.
• Analytical evaluation
- Applicability: determination by a specialist, whether specialist
knowledge is required for a form-fill step, for
example provision of a performance indicator
for a supplier.
- Adherence: informed judgement concerning subject matter,
such as the distinctiveness of a label.
• Empirical evaluation
- Applicability: testing with user groups about the need for
certain actions, for example, on a prototype,
whether error feedback should be provided as
soon as a field is completed.
- Adherence: testing with representational users to see for
example whether an input sequence is optimal.
This ISO framework presents a systematic approach to evaluation, and it
introduces the user’s viewpoint. Barnett (1996) also emphasises the user’s viewpoint,
but is cautious about suggesting that designers should have more empathy with users,
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 110
because the designers and users may be coming from very different backgrounds. He
tackles the issue with more of a management orientation, and sees that evaluation
should take into account social interactions of users. For this he recommends structured
observational studies of users, so that:
• Usage of current forms may be tested prior to redesign.
• Why users make errors can be determined and documented.
• How users understand the document may be ascertained.
The reward from the cost of testing will be in reduction of error rates with
subsequent processing and support for more effective quality control.
Creation of published documents
The process of publishing is subject to performance measurement of many
aspects of the operation such as time from reception of manuscript to published
document, and quality of proofreading. Measurement of the overall process is
determined by such matters as user acceptance of products, and return on investment.
From an information management point of view, particular attention is paid to
evaluation of the finished products. There is a long history of assessment in libraries as
part of the selection process for collections. Therefore a great deal of attention is paid
to formal reviews of all types of media. In the case of books, typically the assessment
for selection will take into account:
• Intended audience.
• Intellectual level.
• Authority of authors, editors and publisher.
• Access points provided by contents lists and indexes and their arrangement.
• Layout and utilisation of graphics.
• Accuracy.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 111
• Currency of material.
• Novelty.
• Extent to which content is balanced.
Many of these criteria may apply to other published materials, but they have
their own particular framework according to medium: for example the level of
performance in the case of motion pictures, or the functionality in the case of digital
media (see later under Websites).
Distribution
Evaluation of information distribution may be undertaken at many levels. There
is for example, a vast field of investigation concerned with improving the data flow
around networks and concerned with factors such as bandwidth, error rates, and
message queuing in order to make facilities such as ATMs function optimally.
In information management, we are more concerned with the content of the
messages (the semantic level), and with investigation of what may be achieved by
different approaches to distribution. For example Orpen (1985) compared management
distribution of information in 25 firms. He found that managers in the more effective
companies were perceived to give significantly more support to subordinates’ use of
scientific and technical information (STI), by active facilitation of information
distribution through professional visits, conference attendance, publication, routing of
pertinent literature, and support for STI service budgets.
This type of analysis is regularly undertaken as part of the investigating of
information seeking behaviour of distinct communities, particularly professional
communities such as scientists or educators with significant information requirements.
We looked at some examples of this in relation to particular groups in Chapter 15. The
analysis may also be undertaken within an organisation as part of the requirements
analysis of a user group identified with a particular information system. A case in point
is educational institutions that are concerned about the extent to which information is
effectively disseminated to staff and students through campus information systems, or
in the case of distance students, through networks. For example a library might evaluate
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 112
how effectively it gets print information to remote users, or how effectively these
students can implement the formats for digital material that is distributed.
When evaluation of information distribution is confined within an enterprise, it
may form part of one of the types of audit procedures that we considered in Chapter 16.
For example a data and information audit may include sampling of data to evaluate data
quality and consistency. A communications audit may include using focus groups or
interviews in order to ask participants about the effectiveness of internal
communications (Hamilton, 1987). This may be complemented by content analysis that
requires the examination of documents transferred in order to assess such matters as
repetition, clarity, style, jargon and prejudice.
Another approach to evaluation of distribution is focussed upon published
documents and the extent to which others use them. Evaluation in this case is derived
from the informetrics of information science that we introduced in Chapter 3.5. When
the analysis is of documents, it is bibliometric, and its applications include examination
of the extent to which defined groups disseminate information.
In the case of researchers as a group, analysis may be undertaken of printed or
digital documents to determine the extent of influence that is achieved by published
material (Almind & Ingerwesen, 1997; Egghe & Rousseau, 1990). For example the
extent of influence of a Website may be measured by the extent to which other
Websites link to it, or in the case of published papers, by how often they are cited in
other papers. In each of these cases, the data must be used with caution since only one
aspect of influence is being measured. Nevertheless a great deal of bibliometric analysis
has been undertaken in order to establish a variety of distribution patterns including:
• The extent of association among researchers in a particular discipline and the
extent of their inter- and intra-disciplinary interaction.
• The influence of institutions with which individuals are affiliated.
• The influence of research across national boundaries.
• Comparison of the influence of different publications media such as
periodicals published in the same disciplinary area.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 113
Analysis of library cataloguing procedures is an example of informetrics use in a
context that is not concerned with publication influence. This may include
determination of the extent to which cataloguing from bibliographic utilities, may be
utilised in a particular local environment (copy cataloguing). It may also involve testing
of error rates of cataloguing received from other institutions contributing to these
utilities. In either case the evaluation will contribute to decision making about whether
to support original cataloguing or to use distributed records.
Data dictionaries
In Chapter 8 we described the functional features that may be applied to
information resource dictionary systems. These have been taken by Bordoloi et al
(1994)) and used as a criteria set for comparison of the features. Rather than using a
checklist approach to determine presence or absence of the criteria, they propose a
weighted evaluation with relative importance being assigned to the 9 main criteria, and
within each of these, relativities being further assigned to sub-criteria. These criteria
have already been explained as IRDS features in Chapter 8.
An example of such an evaluation is shown in Figure 18.1. Of course the
relativities assigned if such a procedure were followed, would depend upon the relative
importance of the criteria to an organisation.
Controlled vocabularies
Controlled vocabularies such as thesauri, subject headings lists and
classification schemes, are usually evaluated by the effectiveness with which they
are employed in indexing and subsequently in information retrieval as described in
those sections below. However, Lancaster (1986) has pointed out some aspects of the
way thesauri may be evaluated intrinsically, such as conformance with international
standard, and various explorations of the proportion of descriptor-types that are
employed, for example:
• Connected ratio: the ratio of cross-referenced terms (that is terms
having a relationship with at least one other term),
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 114
Criteria/ Sub-criteria
Weight x Score Sum Weighted score
1.0 Ability to capture core entity structure; W=0.13 1.1 Data Entities 0.58 x 8 = 4.64 1.2 System Entities 0.22 x 7 = 1.54 1.3 External entities 0.20 x 6 = 1.20 Weighted criteria score 0.13 x 7.38 0.96 2.0 Ability to capture core attribute structure; W=0.13 2.1 Identification Attributes 0.31 x 8 = 2.48 2.2 Representation Attributes 0.23 x 8 = 1.84 2.3 Statistical attributes 0.13 x 6 = 0.78 2.4 Control attributes 0.22 x 8 = 1.76 2.5 Physical attributes 0.11 x 6 = 0.66 Weighted criteria score 0.13 x 7.52 0.98 3.0 Ability to capture core E-R properties; W=0.13 3.1 Relationship Name 0.15 x 9 = 1.35 3.2 (Specific) Maximum Cardinality 0.13 x 0 = 0.00 3.3 Mandatory/Optional Relationships 0.17 x 9 = 1.53 3.4 Generalisation (IS-A) Relationships 0.18 x 9 = 1.62 3.5 Mutually Exclusive Relationships 0.10 x 9 = 0.90 3.6 N-ary Relationships 0.16 x 0 = 0.00 3.7 Recursive relationships 0.11 x 9 = 0.99 Weighted criteria score 0.13 x 6.39 0.83 4.0 Extensibility support; W=0.12 4.1 Add/Update/Delete Entity-types 0.34 x 9 = 3.06 4.2 Add/Update/Delete Attribute-types 0.33 x 9 = 2.97 4.3 Add/Update/Delete Relationship-types 0.33 x 9 = 2.97 Weighted criteria score 0.12 x 9.00 1.08 5.0 Data Documentation & versioning support; W=0.11 5.1 Current Attribute Descriptions 0.4 x 8 = 3.20 5.2 Standard Control 0.31 x 6 = 1.86 5.3 Version Control 0.29 x 6 = 1.74 Weighted criteria score 0.11 x 6.80 0.75 6.0 Security Support; W=0.10 6.1 Control Access through Username/Password 0.62 x 8 = 4.96 6.2 Coordinate Access through DBMS 0.38 x 8 = 3.04 Weighted criteria score 0.10 x 8.00 0.80 7.0 Integrity support; W=0.09 7.1 Provision of Edit and Validation fns 0.34 x 9 = 3.06 7.2 Provision of Error Responding fns 0.33 x 9 = 2.97 7.3 Provision of Data Recovery fns 0.33 x 9 = 2.97 Weighted criteria score 0.09 x 9.00 0.81 8.0 Input/Output interface; W=0.10 8.1 Query Language Support 0.34 x 8 = 2.72 8.2 Command Language Support 0.33 x 8 = 2.64 8.3 Predefined Standard Reports 0.33 x 8 = 2.64 Weighted criteria score 0.10 x 8.00 0.80
9.0 User-Friendliness; W=0.09 9.1 Help and Pop-up Screens 0.47 x 8 = 3.76 9.2 Ease of Learning and Using the Product 0.53 x 8 = 4.24 Weighted criteria score 0.09 x 8.00 0.72 TOTAL 7.73
Figure 18.1: IRDS evaluation schema, adapted from Bordoloi et al (1994, pp. 13-14) © Idea Group Publishing
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 115
to total terms in the vocabulary.
• Accessibility: the mean number of references received by
descriptors in a vocabulary, giving an indication
of on average how many other descriptors refer to
a vocabulary descriptor.
• Pre-coordination level: mean number of words per descriptor.
• Equivalence ratio: the ratio of permitted descriptors to explicitly prohibited descriptors, which should normally be desirable to exceed 1.
In each of these cases the measures may be used to compare successive editions of
the vocabulary, or to compare an edition with similar ones in the same field.
Indexing
A great deal of evaluation of indexing (and its cohorts, cataloguing and
classification), has been oriented towards outcomes, particularly the assistance
provided for retrieval from databases. Seminal work in this area, known as the
Cranfield experiments (Cleverdon, Mills, & Keen, 1966) involved comparing
information retrieval performance on databases of material that had been indexed in
different ways. This work inspired a great deal of research into information retrieval
effectiveness, much of which was concerned with establishing recall and precision
measures (see below under information retrieval) for searches of databases using
various forms of indexing, or no indexing.
It was difficult to be conclusive about any of this work, because of issues such as
identifying items not missed by searches, the relatively small size of experimental
databases, and the problems of scale and vocabulary consistency in large databases.
For example more recent work by Blair & Maron (1990), using large-scale full text
databases, has questioned the efficacy of much of the earlier work.
In any case, information retrieval research has moved on to question the
simplicity of recall and precision as measures. However there remain areas of indexing
evaluation that while influencing retrieval, may be carried out independently of
retrieval performance. In particular these measure the consistency with which indexing
is carried out when it is indexing assigned by human indexers. These are evaluations
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 116
of inter-indexer and intra-indexer consistency. In either case these most usually
involve a simple formula:
C = AB/(A+B)
Here the Consistency factor for a comparison of indexing performance requires:
• In the case of inter-indexer consistency, A represents terms assigned by
indexer a, and B represents terms assigned by indexer b; AB represents
terms on which they agree; the denominator represents the total terms
assigned for the document in question.
• In the case of intra-indexer consistency, A represents terms assigned by an
indexer and B represents terms assigned some time later by the same
indexer; again the denominator represents the total number of terms
assigned during the two approaches to the same document.
In either case C may be averaged across a range of documents to determine a
consistency factor.
Many studies of this nature have been done, and they show that a high level of
consistency is difficult to attain. It may be attributable to a number of factors beyond
the background and experience of the indexers, which influences their own
contribution (Lancaster, 1998) including:
• Number of terms assigned – if a database indexing policy requires a limited
number of terms to be assigned for an item, then a limit of say 5 per item, is
likely to produce less consistency than say 20.
• Controlled vocabulary by virtue of limiting indexer options with its size and
specificity, and as an alternative to free text indexing.
• Characteristics of subject matter – tightly defined scientific material is likely
to leave less room for ambiguity than material in the social sciences and
humanities.
• Characteristics of items indexed, such as size and clarity of expression.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 117
The difficulty of assuring consistency gives reinforcement to the cheaper process
of derived automatic indexing with software. Despite this, many bibliographic
database producers continue to see the benefits of assigned indexing. It is perceived to
provide better support for the information filtering needed to get relevant information
from large databases.
Database evaluation
Evaluation of databases has involved a number of quantitative and qualitative
measures, and has been primarily directed at searchers of databases, to give them
guidance regarding those databases that are most useful for the material that they seek,
and to estimate the information quality within them.
Inevitably there is overlap between evaluation criteria of databases and of
Websites, and of the processes for retrieving material from databases. These are dealt
with in subsequent sections, so that this section focuses on the structure and
characteristics of the database features as represented in earlier chapters by agent and
content.
Among the characteristics (Fidel, 1987) (Boyce, Meadow, & Kraft, 1994) that
may be evaluated are:
• Scope
This is the extent to which the creators of a database delineate the
contents. It is sometimes expressed as coverage, but coverage is really a
combination of scope and comprehensiveness. Scope may be expressed in a
policy, but it can be difficult to adhere to such a policy, because of difficulty
of interpretation.
For example, the manager of a database that purports to deal with
‘educational materials’ may have difficulty in deciding just what the
boundaries are for educational materials – everything may be educational
in its way!
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 118
• Definition
This is the extent to which the description of the database structure
permits distinction between different types of data elements and within data
elements. Full text databases that have been created without the benefit of
markup may allow searching of an amorphous mass of data without the
ability to discriminate between fields. This may affect the retrievability of
material to the extent that reasonable search strategies may not be able to
isolate it.
Indicators of definition include:
Attribute list
- How many different attributes are defined, and how many are
searchable?
- Are there separate attributes for different representations of the
same object, such as symbol and text?
Granularity
- What degree of granularity exists for attributes – can personal
names be searched as forenames or family names?
- Can authors be separately identified as individuals or corporate
bodies?
Resolution
- How easily may different attributes be distinguished, for
example are ‘address’ and ‘location’ too nearly the same?
Consistency
- Is there naming consistency for attributes, and do they have
permitted values defined in the same way? (See Chapter 7).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 119
Flexibility
- How well does the schema accommodate changes in time in the
real world that the database reflects? This might mean that new
relationships are established between attributes. A relational
database should accommodate these.
• Comprehensiveness
This is the extent to which the database creators succeed in including
what they set out to embrace.
For example those building a database that sets out to itemise all of the
photographs of a particular series of art genre, such as ‘the impressionists,
published within books’, although they have a well defined scope, will have
great difficulty in identifying the existence of all the potential records.
If databases of the same scope are being evaluated, then their
comprehensiveness may be judged by comparing magnitude.
• Currency
This is the extent to which data are kept up to date, or the timeliness of
the material included.
Databases making available real time transaction information such as
stock exchange data are intrinsically current. However, many databases
depend upon scheduled updating procedures, or information from external
sources that may delay entry.
For example, neither a company database of personnel competencies,
nor a commercial database of published journal articles, would normally
have real time inclusion of records as the objects to which they refer are
created. However, the delay before the records are entered, is a measure of
their value.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 120
• Overlap
This is the extent to which there is material in common between
databases that are being evaluated.
The literature records numerous comparisons. These have been
undertaken principally between databases of similar content, but parameters
checked may include the extent to which the same records have been
described, either at the level of attribute definition, or from the viewpoint of
indexed content. Unfortunately, when comparisons are carried out by the
database creators, the results are often tendentious, in order to promote use
of their own databases, whereas academic studies are usually very narrow.
This has led to calls for a panel of independent experts to make the
comparisons (de Stricker, 1998). Who’ll fund them we wonder?
A number of vendors who make available multiple databases have
developed algorithms for eliminating duplication of records in searches that
retrieve the same records from multiple databases. The trouble is, the records
are not always the same. For the reasons itemised above under description,
the same item may be described differently in different databases, so that full
citation comparisons don’t necessarily eliminate redundancy.
• Cost
This is the cost of access to the database over and above ongoing
information retrieval costs.
Information retrieval costs are generally judged based upon access
times, but there may well be additional or alternative subscription costs or
purchase costs.
• Reliability
This is dependability or trustworthiness of a database. It is employed
with respect to content, in contrast to the way we saw reliability applied to
process under software quality above. It reinforces the distinction between
databases and the software used for accessing them, and requires such
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 121
questions to be addressed as:
• How obvious are data validation problems such as typographical errors
appearing in index files?
• How often are known items not found in searches?
• How credible are the data based upon the user’s own knowledge?
Information retrieval evaluation
The effectiveness of information retrieval can be regarded as heavily influenced
by each of the preceding information management operations. The way in which
information is created, stored and organised will each have impact on retrieval
irrespective of the methods of searching. No matter how sophisticated a retrieval
program, it cannot retrieve information that has been incorrectly described at the
creation stage.
The contingency table Figure 3.14 introduced earlier, is used as the basis for
expressing a number of ratios, principally:
• Recall: the proportion of relevant items extracted from a
database’s full complement of relevant items.
• Precision: the proportion of relevant items in a retrieved set of
items.
These measures have been repeatedly used in evaluation of information retrieval.
They are also repeatedly used with reservation (Froehlich, 1994; Kowalski, 1997)
because:
• No degree of relevance is accounted for; in most evaluations items are
regarded as either relevant or not relevant.
• A distinction must be made between relevance (as topicality) and
pertinence (or situational relevance) (Lancaster & Warner, 1993); in a
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 122
given search, everything retrieved may be relevant in that it is about the
subject of the request, however it may not be pertinent because the
requester already knows about it, or some records may repeat the
substantive content of others, or some although on the subject, are not
applicable to the requester’s situation.
• Recall is not directly measurable in operational systems where the number
of relevant items in the full database cannot be estimated without effective
sampling.
• Low recall or low precision does not necessarily mean an ineffective
search; a novice searcher searching on a given subject may still retrieve key
material with 20% recall that barely overlaps with the 80% recall obtained
by an experienced searcher on the same topic.
• The information requirement may change during the course of a search as a
consequence of the intermediate material viewed during the search.
• Attempting a wholly empirical approach to evaluation based upon
relevance judgement is inappropriate, when measures may also be made
of user judgements on such factors as timeliness, accuracy, completeness,
or nature of treatment of the subject.
The distinction between relevance and pertinence is particularly useful in
circumstances where information intermediaries are carrying out searching on the
behalf of end users. This reasoning assumes that relevance is really determining how
well items retrieved from a database are matching a constructed search query, but
pertinence is about how well they are matching a user information need. Transient
contextual factors have a much greater influence on pertinence, and in fact may
obscure how well the information retrieval has been carried out.
The improvement of evaluation techniques for information retrieval systems has
been promoted through a series of Text Retrieval Evaluation Conferences (TREC)
sponsored in the U.S.A. by government defence and standards agencies. These have
served to highlight the importance of the concept of relevance. That which is perceived
as relevant in a retrieval set by its recipient, or is pertinent, depends upon a number of
contextual factors. For example, consider a request for information on ‘a technique for
aerating goldfish aquariums’.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 123
What is considered to be a relevant document will be influenced by:
• Time
An item that may be highly relevant one day, such as a document that
explains the mechanism of specific aerating device, might have lost importance
the following day, because the device in question is unavailable at the time.
• Situation
The same document presented to two different users who have made
the same search request, may be considered highly relevant by one who was
previously unaware of the technique, but not by the other who was already
familiar with the approach.
• Need
The same material may have differing relevance to different users with
the same expressed need, because in one case the need is concrete, and in the
other it is problem-oriented.
For a concrete need the thematic boundaries are clearly defined, the
request for information corresponds closely to the need, a single document
may well satisfy the need, and when the document is retrieved, there is no
longer a need. Although the problem-oriented need may be expressed in the
same way, it may be that the request does not conform to the problem, the
thematic boundaries are not defined, the request is not easily satisfied even
with multiple relevant documents, and the need changes and is refined as the
content of documents is assimilated (Frants, Shapiro, & Voiskunskii, 1997).
The first user simply wanted a technique and found one. The second
user may have expressed the need for a technique, but may really have been
groping towards material dealing with enhancing bubble flow in aerating
devices.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 124
• Subjectivity
Two users may differ in their judgement of relevance because one is
able to think laterally and see how a generic example may be applied to the
particular, whereas the other cannot see its application.
It has been noted (Ingwersen, 1992) that what an item is about may be
expressed differently according to the language, and perceptions of author,
indexer, requester or search intermediary, and user.
In addition, as we showed in Chapter 15.1, the information-seeking behaviour of
information users will be modified as their own understanding of what they are
seeking changes.
Presentation
If a good job has been done in retrieving information, we don’t want to diminish
effectiveness by presenting what has been retrieved in such a way that understanding
is hindered.
Part 12 of the ISO ergonomics standard (International Standards Organization,
1992-2000) identifies the following attributes of presented information:
• Clarity the information content is conveyed quickly and
accurately.
• Discriminability the displayed information can be distinguished
accurately.
• Conciseness users are not overloaded with extraneous information.
• Consistency unique design conformity with user’s expectation.
• Detectability user’s attention is drawn towards information required
• Legibility information is easy to read.
• Comprehensibility meaning is clearly understandable, unambiguous,
interpretable, and recognisable.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 125
This itemisation is put forward for consideration of both input and output. We
can see how it can be utilised for assessing report formats. Among the specific
recommendations of the standard for tabular information are that:
• The material most relevant to the use with the highest priority be displayed in
the left-most column.
• Fields should be labelled and labels should explain the content unless their
meaning is obvious for an intended user.
• Inserting blank rows should facilitate visual scanning.
Compliance with attributes such as these and others from the standard can be
tested with checklists.
Human-computer interaction evaluation
Evaluation may be carried out with respect to each of the features examined in
Chapter 13: visual clarity, consistency, compatibility, informative feedback,
explicitness, appropriate functionality, flexibility and control, error prevention and
correction, and user guidance and support. Ravden & Johnson (1989 p. 30) provide an
example of the checklist approach as shown in figure 18.2.
When the interface being evaluated is a front end to a database, some checklist
approaches for evaluating HCI combine search capabilities and ease of use.
Therefore the checklist comprises something like Figure 18.2, supplemented by a
listing of search capabilities similar to the search formulation control examples
explained in Chapter 11.2. Li (in Dillon, 1991, p. 259) adopts this approach with
examples of user-friendliness questions including:
• Is the meaning of command and menu items explained on screen?
• Is context-specific online help provided?
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 126
• Can an index be browsed for selection of terms?
• Is the user told how to exit functions and backup through screens?
Consistency of Always Most of time
Some of time
Never Comments
1. Colours use (eg error indicators) 2. Abbreviations, acronyms etc 3. Icons, symbols, graphics 4. Instruction presentation, location,
layout
5. Cursor initial position 6. Information display format 7. Information entry format 8. Information entry method 9. Cursor movement 10. Option selection 11. Function key use 12. Standard operational procedure 13. Response to user action 14. Other comments 15. Overall rating Very
satisfactory Moderately satisfactory
neutral Moderately unsatisfactory
Very unsatisfactory
Figure 18.2: Checklist for HCI evaluation (adapted from Ravden & Johnson (1989, p. 30)) with
permission Pearson Education
Websites
Many of the factors mentioned under the above headings are taken into account
with Website evaluation. Though the evaluation will be influenced by the purpose of
the site, the criteria itemised in Figure 18.3 have general applicability.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.5: Excerpt from Book Ch 18: Evaluation) 127
Criterion Factors Examples of checks Functionality Active links - Do any of the links lead to a dead end when tried?
- Is there evidence of active page maintenance such as a date of update or revision? Errors in
markup - Are scripting characters inadvertently displayed by the browser? - Does the page partially load and then provide warning prompts?
Help - Does assistance include links to explanatory material or alternative language entry? Layout - Are there orientation features such as consistent colours, or a corporate look?
- Are text and images arranged so that their association is obvious? - Is there minimisation of clicks to get to lower levels?
Search facility - Is a search engine incorporated, focussing on retrieval of material from the site itself? Site maps - Is there a summary of site organisation by showing broad categories of pages? Text for
images - Has the creator used the ALT option in Image tags to provide for users who: - want to turn off images to speed page transfer? - have a text-only browser on which they can see an explanation of missed images?
Authority Affiliation - Do the authors indicate who their employer is? - Is an organisation responsible for governance of the site?
Copyright - Is a copyright indication displayed and in what authority does it reside? - Do the metadata include a rights management statement?
Creators - Does someone claim responsibility and provide address information for the page? - Do the metadata indicate the page creators in the CREATOR or CONTRIBUTOR
tags? Credentials - Does the author indicate academic qualifications? Editorial - Is there an editorial process indicated for vetting the contents?
- Is there an editorial policy available at the site? Funding - Is a financial source indicated?
- For a commercial site, is the sponsoring associated with the type of product being sold?
Viability - How long has the page been in existence? - Is it indicated (such as in a metatag) when page goes out of date?
Validity Feedback - Does the site carry reports of positive impressions or endorsements by others? Rating - Does the site have any awards? Refereed
content - Does the site indicate which of its content is refereed?
Referring links
- How many other sites provide links to this one?
Review - Has the site been positively reviewed? Usage - Does the site report usage figures with a counter or graphics? Obtainability Cost - Is access to site available only on a fee paying basis? Format
support - Does the site display all aspects on your browser? - Does the site require 'plugins' for full functionality?
Load factors - Are you always able to link to the site? - If the site provides a database, does it indicate how many concurrent users carried?
Metadata - Does the site have a <TITLE> in the <HEAD> area? - Does the site utilise a metadata convention such as AGLS or Dublin Core?
Naming - Does the site have a URL and domain naming that may easily be recalled? Security - Is there password protection for areas of the site?
- Is there a site certificate check? Speed - How quickly does the site load?
- Can you revert to text-only display and still use the site effectively? Relevance Audience - Is the site directed at a particular user community, and is this stated?
- Is the site complementary to other resources for a particular group? Balance - Are different sides of arguments or competing viewpoints represented?
- Is advertising clearly differentiated from information content? Breadth - Is there too much material on the site for easy reference? Controversial
content - Are there warnings that the site may be unsuitable for minors? - Does the site request age to be stated before proceeding?
Currency - Is there an indication of when it was last updated? - Is there an indication of how frequently it is updated?
Depth - Is there a description at the top-level page of how much more material is to follow? Substance Accuracy - How does the site measure up against similar sources of known information?
- Is information free of typer- (oops) typographical and spelling errors? Coverage - Is an indication given of the time period that is covered?
- Is content confined to particular geographic areas? Detail - How much explanation is provided for ideas that are expressed?
- If a database is linked to the site, how many distinct fields are in records Evidence - Are statements supported by illustrations or quoted sources or linked Websites? Explanation - Are links to other sites accompanied by an explanation of purpose? Readability - Is the grammar correct? Figure 18.3: Website evaluation
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 128
3.6. Information management Book chapter: Administrative domain
Part D of the book deals with administrative information management. It includes
three chapters that consider areas of pertinence to strategic information management.
The first of these chapters is about consideration of information as a resource, the
second is about information and planning and includes sections on analysis of
competitive forces and development of corporate information policy. A final chapter
provides an overview of social and political aspects including public policy, legislation for
information, social influences and education for inflation literacy.
The excerpt chosen for reproduction here is from Chapter 20 on Information and
planning.
Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: a consolidation of
operations, analysis and strategy. Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia: CSU
Centre for Information Studies, Chapter 20, Section 20.3-20.5, pp. 441-446.
It is included to show how elements of corporate information policy are expressed,
and introduces the concept of a learning organisation.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 129
Corporate information policy
An enterprise’s information policy should be the primary vehicle for planning
the utilisation and development of information and knowledge. It has to be framed
within the context of the institution’s overall mission and objectives. For public
sector organisations, these goals may be confined by legislation under which they are
enabled. In the private sector, they may be strongly shaped by the overriding
objective of achieving a profit for shareholders. Nevertheless, institutions that are
sensitive to opportunities for emerging technologies, that value their information
resources, and that appreciate the range and flexibility of services that support
patrons or customers, will enmesh their information policy within overall corporate
objectives. Contextual factors that frame a policy include:
• The organisation’s culture and managerial milieu.
• The way IT development may support knowledge sharing through
information distribution.
• External factors such as competitor interests and the bargaining power of
suppliers and customers.
• The political and regulatory influences and imperatives.
• Opportunities sought and challenges faced requiring information support.
The type of policy that is instituted within this context is differentiated from ICT
policy by avoiding being technology driven. It also presumes that information needs of
all stakeholders will be identified, as opposed to the narrower needs of management. It
will contain elements that include:
• How the organisation’s general objectives relate to specific information
objectives.
• The principles forming the basis for management of information.
• The way ICT is to be utilised to support information management and
knowledge sharing.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 130
• The relationship between personnel, knowledge and information.
• The relationship between information use and business processes.
• The extent to which document management systems provide support for
quality processes and knowledge utilisation.
• How the performance of information and knowledge use will be monitored
and cost-effectiveness determined.
• The way in which information is to be utilised as a resource beyond the
enterprise.
The strategies flowing from such a policy will depend upon the applicable
corporate environment, but they can have much in common with each other. For
example a proposal of terms for information strategy for institutions in the UK higher
education sector (Coopers & Lybrand & Joint Information Systems Committee
Information Strategies Steering Group, 2001) is as follows:
• Identify the high level information needs based on the institutional vision.
• Identify areas of (potentially) shared information where an information
strategy is required.
• Establish the set of attitudes which all individuals should adopt with respect
to the treatment of information.
• Establish the quality standards required to ensure that information is ‘fit for
purpose’.
• Identify the roles and responsibilities required to operate and maintain the
information strategy.
• Demonstrate the costs and benefits of the strategy, including analysis of
options where appropriate.
• Define an implementation plan showing priorities and timescales.
• Establish ways of monitoring the operation of the information strategy and to
keep its various components under review.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 131
These are generic enough to apply in many different environments. Orna
(1999, pp. 106-107) itemises a series of policy elements “not as a model for copying,
rather as a source of ideas about what might be appropriate ..”. We have utilised
these as the basis for the policy components illustrated in Figure 20.5.
Figure 20.5: Information policy components
Definition - Define the knowledge that is needed to achieve goals, the information needed to maintain the knowledge, and the ways in which people in the organisation need to use knowledge and information
Acquisition - Ensure that appropriate information is acquired from outside and generated inside
Utilisation - Exploit information fully, to meet all current needs, and to help meet changes in goals and in the operational environment
- Use knowledge and information ethically in all internal and external dealings
- Provide appropriate human and financial resources for managing and developing the use of information and knowledge
- Ensure that it reaches, on time, and in the right format, all the people who need to use it
Evaluation - Audit the use of information and knowledge regularly to ensure that what is needed is available and that it is used appropriately and to good effect
- Provide for a coordinated overview of total resources of knowledge and information
- Develop and apply reliable means of assessing the costs and value of information, and the contribution it makes to achieving objectives
Authority - Identify the people responsible for managing specific resources of information, and those who are ‘stakeholders’ in them, and ensure that the authority of the managers of information resources matches the responsibility they carry
Communication - Promote information interchange between managers of information resources, and between them and stakeholders
Infrastructure - Develop and maintain an infrastructure of systems and ICT to support the management of information resources and information interactions within the organisation and externally
Access - Pursue maximum openness of access to information inside the organisation and externally
- Safeguard current and historical information resources so that they remain accessible for use at all times
Preservation - Ensure preservation of the organisation’s ‘memory’ in the form of its knowledge base
- Provide for business continuity with backup and re-establishment procedures for records supporting critical business processes
Familiarisation - Provide appropriate education and training to enable members of staff to meet their responsibilities in using knowledge and information
Evolution - Align the definitions as goals evolve and change - Seek to use knowledge and information to support the management of
change initiatives to benefit the organisation, and to create new knowledge - Use this policy as the basis for information strategies which will support
business strategy
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 132
Implementation of such policy can only be carried out, if it is contextualised by
senior management, has information needs established in terms of individual and
system requirements, and is monitored and reviewed with reference to standards,
benchmarking and established performance indicators. Synnott (1987) talks in terms of
architectural planning when describing the implementation of information resource
management, and tries to exemplify management responsibilities at different levels. If
we use his approach we arrive at a planning matrix shown in Figure 20.6, which gives
some examples of roles for different levels of management.
Strategic Tactical Operational Business processes Establish corporate
structure, mission & objectives
Create business units and strategy
Establish products and services
Data Link data planning to business information needs
Manage shared data as corporate resource
Assure data quality through data administration
Information Identify resources for strategic utilisation
Provide for environmental scanning processes Establish ownership & responsibilities
Monitor external information resources
Knowledge Allocate resources and personnel to strategic units
Build relationships and training programs
Maintain guides to expertise and lessons learned
Systems Identify new applications within framework of corporate objectives
Develop and integrate existing systems
Maintain, document and provide training
Technology Monitor innovation, and develop and maintain rolling replacement plans
Install computers and networks for wide and local areas as appropriate Apply standards
Assure uninterrupted service levels and software support
Communications Plan corporate policy Undertake communications audits
Facilitate knowledge-sharing
Figure 20.6: Planning matrix for information policy implementation
In Figures 20.5 and 20.6 there is an implication that much of the policy
development will be carried out by information professionals, particularly the tactical
and operational levels. At the strategic level, they should at least have major input.
There are other aspects of the business processes where primary professional input will
not be from information professionals, but which still have an important influence on
information management. These include:
• Human resources for matters such as ergonomics, rewards and incentives,
training requirements, teleworking and health and safety.
• Finance for funding and approvals mechanisms, investment
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 133
appraisal of technology, standards and procedures for
procurement, and auditing.
• Legal for statutory obligations and contract negotiations.
• Marketing for customer relationship management.
In Chapter 4.2 we looked at different typologies of organisational decision-
making, such as rational, expert and political. An attempt has been made to characterise
the political example of these, specifically with respect to information management.
McGee & Prusak (1993, p. 153) refer to the need for an enterprise to be explicit about
its political model for information policy. They characterise a number of models – not
that these are necessarily associated with specific policy. They endorse what they see as
the benign models of monarchy (definition of information categories and reporting
structures by the leaders who then choose whether or not to share after collection), and
federalism (consensus and negotiation of key information elements and reporting
structures). These are preferred to technocratic utopianism (technical approach stressing
categorisation and modelling of all information assets, and reliance on emerging
technologies), feudalism (individual business units, minimal reporting to corporation),
or anarchy.
Whatever the perceived typology, it is appropriate that relevant staff in an
organisation should be conscious of its decision-making framework, for the effective
strategic planning of information management.
Learning organisations
The concept of intelligent or knowing organisations that have the ability to
learn, consciously develop staff, and transform themselves, has been promulgated as
a strategy for corporate success, often in the same breath as the need for knowledge
management. Because corporate knowledge can be expressed as what is known and
documented about an enterprise’s structures, processes and systems, the evolution
and transformation of these denotes a learning organisation. On this basis, all
organisations are learning! However a systematic approach that involves
organisational support through policy and action for collective learning gives an
enterprise more viability. Senge (1990) sees forward-looking enterprises – those that
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 134
continually expand their capacity to create their future - as having personnel with a
culture of adaptive and generative learning who work within a systems thinking
framework. These organisations also foster the disciplines of shared vision with
group commitment, team learning, personal mastery and changing mental models
from continuing reflection.
It seems then, that an enterprise needs to institutionalise the process of
‘stretching itself’ so that it is constantly investigating the margins of its domain – by
learning more. But is it possible to direct individual leaning in such a way that it
becomes collective learning? Argyris (1999) points out, there is a gap between those
in business on one hand who optimistically advocate organisational learning and
describe enablers, and sceptical researchers on the other hand who find the very term
organisational learning to be paradoxical. Contributing factors to the scepticism
include the demotivation for personnel to share all of their learning if it makes them
dispensable, and the problem of dealing with an organisation as something that can
learn, when it is not a sentient being.
If there are to be learning organisations, then what type of socialisation will
achieve sharing of knowledge for the benefit of the enterprise? In Chapter 4.6 when
we introduced the idea of knowledge transfer, we noted that there are different
characterisations of knowledge and that the transfer process is influenced by
organisational culture. The practicalities of sharing include team investigations,
networked access to information materials, computer-mediated communication,
coaching, and teleconferencing. Each should be accompanied by means of retaining
what has been shared in an organised form that can be used subsequently by others.
These practicalities should occur driven by an agenda that both expresses an
information plan for an enterprise, and has executives convey a synthesis of why the
disparate activities that a company is involved in, are relevant to its purpose.
Choo (1998a) sees the primary focus of organisational learning to be the
external environment, and describes the process as a continuous cycle of activities
that include sensing that environment, perceiving the external changes taking place,
interpreting the meaning and significance of these changes, and developing
appropriate adaptive behaviours based upon the interpretation. Further, he maintains
that information management processes support an organisation’s learning activities
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 135
by identifying information needs, acquiring information, organising and storing it,
developing information products and services, distributing information and using it.
Alternative propositions for transforming information into knowledge, though
paying attention to external information, concentrate more on learning theory. So for
example Schwandt (1995) uses a theory of action involving internally and externally
focussed means and ends, to identify four learning subsystems that carry out the
functional prerequisites for collective learning:
• Environmental interface (a means, externally focussed, promoting
adaptation)
This comprises interdependent activities including surveying customers,
public relations, research efforts, lobbying and environmental scanning.
• Action-reflection (an end, externally focussed, promoting goal attainment)
This defines the relationships between the organisation’s actions. By
examining those actions, at the routine day-to-day standard operating
procedure level and the major high impact on adaptation level, it is able to
assign meaning.
• Dissemination and diffusion (an end, internally focussed, promoting
integration)
This includes management actions, communication and networking, in
order to transmit information throughout organisational systems.
• Meaning and memory (a means, internally focussed, promoting pattern
maintenance)
This provides the foundation from which other subsystems draw guidance.
It maintains the mechanisms that create the criteria, selection, focus and
control of the learning system. Included are those actions that sustain and
create the cultural beliefs, values and assumptions of the organisation,
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 3.6: Excerpt from Book Ch 20: Corporate information policy) 136
using the premise that learning is based upon shared understanding. The
storage mechanisms are technical through records, databases and routines,
and personal through individual memory and consensus to construct
collective history.
Managers’ understanding of types of learning may assist them to formulate
training and development in such a way that their companies can adapt creatively to
changed circumstances, and learn what needs to be learnt as it is identified. From a
human resources viewpoint, this must be accompanied by a mindset of life-long
learning and continuous improvement.
From a leadership viewpoint, it presents the challenge of shaping a culture so
that the pattern of basic assumptions that a group uses for problem solving,
discourse, validation and reference points, can be consciously re-examined. Along
with this, new measures of organisational performance need to be identified, while
continuing to account for typical individual issues such as personal crises,
disagreement with corporate ideology, and non-disclosure of data errors, and still
achieving coherent mutually supportive action.
Learning organisations have been assigned such adjectives as ‘information-
based’, and ‘knowledge-generating’. They are proposed as the appropriate corporate
entities for an economic framework in which information and knowledge are primary
‘commodities’ in markets. In addition to having attributes such as flatter and more
flexible management hierarchies, well-adapted internal communications, and
customer-orientation, they are expected to have personnel who learn and work
collaboratively with shared vision and a readiness to tackle new areas.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 137
C h a p t e r 4 : T e r m i n o l o g y u s e d b y i n f o r m a t i o n p r o f e s s i o n a l s
4.1. Journal article: Vocabulary use study
In the course of undertaking the literature review, the many databases searched
were found to vary in the vocabularies that they used for indexing information
management concepts. This prompted a paper that examined this variation. It was
accepted for publication as:
Middleton, M. (2004) The way that information professionals describe their own
discipline: a comparison of thesaurus descriptors. New Library World
105(11): 429-435.
Abstract as published
A brief discussion of discipline formation in information management is
used to introduce the way different terminology is employed for describing
information professionals as well as what it is that they do. This leads to a
comparison of how information professionals and their professions are described
in several of the thesauri that are the tools of the trade. These thesauri show
marked differences in treatment of similar concepts.
Contribution to research
The range of approaches for producing preferred thesaurus descriptors to describe
information professionals varies considerably. This variation applies even between
thesauri that are used for describing databases in a domain that includes information
studies as an area of interest. Despite the necessary differences between thesauri as they
apply different contextual and subject domain approaches, there is room for a more
consistent approach to disciplinary nomenclature.
The paper analyses differences in terminology in order to illustrate inconsistencies
between a number of the main tools that are in use for indexing.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 138
The extent to which the terminology of a discipline is consistent provides an
indication of how well-formed the discipline is. On this evidence, there is as yet some way
to go to reach a shared paradigm for what is being practiced.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 139
Introduction
I am presently undertaking research into discipline formation in the information
professions in order to complement a publication (Middleton, 2002) that endeavours to
set forth the principles and practice of information management.
This work has included investigation of how information professionals describe
what it is that they do. To assist with this process, it seemed appropriate to explore one
of the stocks of the trade, the thesaurus, to see how the information professions and
their practices are described in their own thesauri.
This work begins with a discussion of discipline formation and reference to
some commentaries and studies of the information professions that are pertinent. This
leads to an examination of terminology used across several thesauri used in association
with databases that include material about information professionals.
Discipline formation
Everyone manages information. Not everyone does it for a living. Those who
do, come from different backgrounds and branches of learning. If these diverse
information professionals have something in common, it may be that they recognise a
requirement for intermediation between information processing systems and their
users. This intermediation may take the form of direct intercession through personal
assistance to users. Alternatively, it may involve shaping of systems to facilitate use
through operations such as interface design, classification, indexing and application of
meta-information.
Information science provides many of the principles used in the practice of
information management. There has been many years of debate on what comprises the
defining knowledge of the field of information science. One approach to identifying
disciplinary boundaries is to examine the relationships between key authors, and
bibliometric analysis has cast some light on discipline formation. For example Ellis,
Allen & Wilson (1999) have used co-citation and citation analysis to examine user
studies and information retrieval research. Their results pointed to a disjunction in the
bodies of work of information science and information systems, even though there
would appear to be commonality of interest in the research areas.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 140
It is only relatively recently that scholars have spoken in terms of formation of
an information management discipline through application of information science. It
remains problematical to do so since there are many contributing fields, and it is
difficult to identify core principles that are familiar to all adherents.
Nevertheless, recent specific attempts to characterise information management
as a discipline have been made by writers such as Rowley (1998; 1999). She gives
more attention to categorising the practice of principles articulated from information
science than earlier writers who have focussed on the elements of the science with less
attention to their application. Webber (2003) is among those who ponder information
science as a discipline but, she also takes time to consider the application of the
discipline. She proposes a polarization of approaches separating academics and
professionals, pointing for example to work that suggests practitioners may use
theories, but that the theories come from disciplines other than information science.
Terminology of information management
A recent wide-ranging summary of the area (Wilson, 2003) says that if
information management is to have a viable role in organisational performance, then
the function (rather than the idea) must become accepted as a key part of
organisational structures, and be accompanied by coherent educational curriculum and
a research agenda.
It seems that an agreed disciplinary paradigm is yet to be accepted. Further,
discipline formation investigations seem to focus more on finding a set of agreed
information science principles, rather than examining what is engaged in by practicing
information professionals.
The definition of discipline is fertile ground, repeatedly re-ploughed by scholars,
and with an extensive dictionary trail. For example the Oxford English Dictionary
(OED online, 2004) finds numerous etymological pathways and nuances since the 14th
Century. The one most pertinent to this work seems to have been used by Chaucer in
1386 “... This disciplyne and this crafty science” interpreted among other things as a
branch of instruction or education, or a department of learning or knowledge. Other
definitions speak of system or method for maintenance of order, or system of rules of
conduct.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 141
The OED is also diverse with its definitions of profession. Probably the most
pertinent for the purposes of this work has been with us since the sixteenth century:
“a vocation in which a professed knowledge of some department of learning or
science is used in its application to the affairs of others or in the practice of an art
founded upon it”.
A concern of discipline formation work is to place these definitions in a more
contemporary context – one in which scholarship interests itself in the formation
(and disappearance) of professions, and how they establish their mores using an
agreed knowledge base and language.
Employment in the information professions
Information management is often described as interdisciplinary or
multidisciplinary. It leaves itself open to charges of superficiality, lack of rigour and
abandonment of carefully developed methodologies that have assured disciplinary
integrity and success. Academia may be concerned to establish elements and
boundaries of information science, but outside the academy a significant number of
people consider themselves to be undertaking information management. This is
evidenced for example, by the professional associations that have been formed using
various names to lay claim to the area. These include names and roles such
information managers, information professionals, librarians, indexers and the like.
A seminal study that detailed the work of the information professions in the
USA was that of Debons, King, Mansfield, and Shirey (1981). Their research involved
an extensive survey of professions and at the time estimated that there were 1.64
million information professionals working in the U.S.A. They used broad categories
for what these people were doing including: managing information operations,
programs, services, or databases; information systems analysis; analysing data and
information on behalf of others; preparing data and information for use by others;
searching for data and information on behalf of others; and information systems
design.
Studies such as this, undertaken as researchers tried to identify constituents of an
information society, might be criticized for their broadness, but they prepared the way
for more focussed later work.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 142
Many subsequent studies have confirmed the diffuseness of the employment
sector for such work. Cronin, Stiffler and Day (1993) saw it in terms of the ‘heartland’
(traditional jobs in established institutions), the ‘hinterland’ (information work utilising
traditional skills, but outside the traditional institutions, or requiring adaptation), and the
‘horizon’ (software engineers, telecommunications managers, and the like). The term
multimodal is sometimes used to describe the tasks carried out, and one description that
has gained some currency is that of the ‘hybrid’ information worker. This is to convey
the idea of a person who has had education in both information management and a
subject discipline such as biology or psychology, and who is an information specialist
focusing in the subject discipline.
Abbott (1988) carried out a sociological analysis of the division of expert labour,
and examined how the professions work. He concentrated on the way that professional
tasks are delineated and stratified. He was less interested in disciplinary boundaries
than in defining their application - that is, their professional boundaries.
His work is of relevance beyond his general examination of approaches to
professional tasks because he included case studies of three professional areas, one of
which is the information professions. His use of the term ‘case study’ means a detailed
historiographic analysis of the literature in terms of how it defines professional tasks.
He categorised the information professions as qualitative (principally librarians and
journalists), and quantitative (a “complex and contentious group” including
accountants, statisticians, operations researchers, and the like). He envisaged these
groups coalescing under one jurisdiction as a consequence of the joint stimulants of
computing technology and information science.
The periodicals of the professional associations often examine the boundaries
of the field and what employment in it means, Journals such as Information Outlook
and Online return repeatedly to role definition, sometimes supported by survey data.
For example in reporting excerpts from their Outsell Inc study Corcoran, Dagar and
Stratigos (2000) provide a wealth of data on roles. The roles that the data show to be
most predominant are information research; selection, evaluation and acquisition of
external content sources; training and educating end-users; developing and managing
overall content solutions for users; managing desktop deployment of external
content; performing value-added information analysis; and managing internally
generated content.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 143
Academic writers such as Tedd (2003) go further to detail the changing roles
of information professionals and how they should be addressed in education and
training. Both academic and professional writers must address the range of activities
carried out by information professionals, and what such people call themselves.
Much of this material, in the form of written analysis ultimately finds its way into
full-text or reference databases. Many of these databases are indexed using
controlled vocabularies developed by these same information professionals. It is of
interest to see how they provide for describing themselves.
Method
Rather than examine what has been written in the discipline, this approach
examines the tools that describe what has been written. Thesauri are used to support
information retrieval from bibliographic databases for particular domains of
knowledge. Inevitably, descriptors that are used to denote what is ostensibly the same
concept will vary according to context and domain requirements.
Comparison of descriptors simply involved consultation of a number of different
online thesauri that are either linked from a Controlled vocabularies website
(Middleton, 2004), or are available online as search tools associated with their
corresponding subscription databases.
In each case, terminology used to represent the concept of information
professionals (e.g. information managers, indexers, and the like), or the tasks they
undertake (information management, indexing, and the like), was examined. The
vocabularies chosen were ones that are used to describe databases in which there are
recorded documents about information professionals and their practices.
Thesaurus comparison
It is salutary, if a little disconcerting, to see how ‘information professionals’ is
provided for as a concept in several thesauri. In the following examples, descriptors
shown in the illustrations are reproduced with their relationships as they appear in the
thesauri from which they have been drawn. When descriptors from the thesauri are
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 144
referred to within the narrative they are shown in italics, and referred to in the singular
as individual descriptors.
The LISA Thesaurus (2004)1 recognises the existence of information
professionals, but as a subgroup of library and information professionals. Indexers is
permitted as a term but in a category of its own, unlinked to any information
occupations.
Information professionals Use For Documentalists Information managers Information officers Information scientists Information work staff
Broader Terms Library and information professionals [+] Staff [+]
Narrower Terms Chief information officers
Related Terms Library staff [+]
In LISA, librarians is merely related to library staff, which mysteriously in turn
encompasses specific types of librarians, but not librarians in general. It would appear
too that professional education must always be considered part of library staff!
Library managers is a permitted term in the staff and the managers hierarchy, but not
the library staff hierarchy. Neither information managers nor records managers is
represented.
Library staff Broader Terms Library and information professionals [+] Staff [+] Narrower Terms Chief librarians Deputy librarians Library assistants Library technicians Professional education [+] Systems librarians Teacher librarians Related Terms Information professionals [+] Librarians Paraprofessionals [+]
1 Online with the database on CSA’s LISA database service 12th January 2004.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 145
Similarly, in identifying what these people do, LISA differentiates between
information science and librarianship.
Library and information science Use For Information science and librarianship
Narrower Terms Information science Librarianship [+]
However both information management and knowledge management while
being permitted terms, appear as top terms in hierarchies of their own, as does
indexing which has an impressive set of narrower terms. None of these is linked with
information science and librarianship. Records management, documents management
and knowledge management are all permitted but appear in separate hierarchies from
information management and from library and information science. On the other
hand, an information work hierarchy exists independently of any of these.
Information work Use For Information systems
Broader Terms Information sources [+]
Narrower Terms
Community information services [+]
Computerized information work [+] Management information systems [+] Online information work
Related Terms Information industry [+] Information science Information services [+] Reference work [+] Telephone based information services
The Wilson database Library Literature and Information Science2 as an
associated thesaurus. It includes a hierarchy personnel. A number of the 98 narrower
terms are representing specified types of information personnel, for example
abstracting and indexing services/staff, and librarians (with 37 narrower terms of its
own for specific types, including archivists and indexers!).
Many of the terms subordinate to personnel are in dual hierarchies, for example
public libraries/staff is a narrower term of librarians and in turn has public librarians
2 Searched on WilsonWeb 15th January 2004.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 146
as a narrower term. However public librarians is also a direct narrower term of
librarians. It is under special librarians (not itself a dual hierarchy) that there is
reference to information managers.
Information scientists Used for: Information managers; Programmers;
Systems analysts; Documentalists; Information officers; Systems librarians
^ {BT} Special librarians
- {NT} Information brokers [+] Information services/Staff Webmasters
Records managers and knowledge managers are not used, but information
science as a profession is permitted as a term in its own right.
The processes that are carried out by information professionals are represented
by knowledge management, abstracting (including indexing as a narrow term, in turn
with its own subordinates), librarianship, records management (with several narrower
terms including archives/administration). Given that information scientists is preferred
to information managers, it is to be expected that information science will be there and
information management absent. This is so, but information science appears under
library science.
The Thesaurus of ERIC descriptors (ERIC Processing and Reference Facility,
2004) prefers information scientists to information professionals as an entry term, and
regards librarians and search intermediaries as subordinate. Again indexers does not
rate a mention, even as a non-preferred term. Neither does information managers or
other personnel such as records managers. However, information management has a
developed set of relationships and includes records management as a narrower term.
The Australian Thesaurus of Educational Descriptors (ACER Cunningham
Library, 2003) was originally based upon ERIC, and for the terms consulted, its
terminology is identical. Both this thesaurus and ERIC recognise indexes and the
process of indexing, but not the people who do it.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 147
A search in EBSCOhost version of ERIC3 using default search fields showed
100 text references (within titles, subject, descriptor, or abstract fields) to ‘indexer(s)’
and 125 for ‘information w1 manager(s)’. Although many of these did not warrant
indexing under ‘indexers’ as a descriptor, there certainly seemed enough pertinent
items to justify having a thesaurus entry for the term.
Moving back to more general terms, managers is included under managerial
occupations (merely related to professional occupations) or administrators (these
include library administrators, medical records administrators and library directors).
All these are under personnel rather than professional personnel.
Preferred term Information Scientists Scope Note: Individuals who observe, measure, and
describe the behavior of information, as well as those who organize information and provide services for its use
BT Professional Personnel
NT Librarians Add Date: 07/01/1966 Search
Intermediaries Add Date: 08/29/1994
RT Information Industry Information Science Information Science Education Library Associations
UF Information Brokers Information Professionals Information Specialists
Add Date: 07/07/1971
Given the interests of the professional association that sponsors it, an expansive
approach might be expected of the thesaurus of ASIS4 (Milstead, 1999). Indeed, a
number of examples of information professionals are permitted. In contrast to LISA,
librarians is subsumed within information professionals. However information
managers doesn’t exist and information resources management is preferred to
information management. There is no room as yet for knowledge management or the
people who do it, though knowledge workers are accommodated as information
workers.
3 Search conducted on complete EBSCONet ERIC database as of 12th January, 2004. 4 Now the American Society for Information Science & Technology.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 148
Current term Information professionals Used For information professions information specialists professionals, information Broader Term information workers Narrower Term archivists editors information scientists intermediaries NT online
searchers librarians media specialists records managers translators
RT information brokers
Although indexers isn’t included, the processes that these people undertake
receive lots of attention, with narrower terms including database indexing, manual
indexing, and subject indexing. Records management is recorded as a narrower term of
information resources management but the online entry for information resources
management displays no narrower terms.
Current term indexing
Broader Term organization of information
Narrower Term automatic indexing book indexing database indexing machine aided indexing manual indexing name indexing periodical indexing subject indexing
RT aboutness abstracting and indexing services authority files classification classification schemes exhaustivity (indexing) facet analysis index languages index terms indexer consistency indexes (information retrieval) literary warrant specificity (indexing) weighting
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 149
Inspec databases cover physics, electrical engineering and computing, and
include significant coverage of information science and technology. However the
Inspec Thesaurus (Institution of Electrical Engineers, 2004)5 does not mention
information professionals, indexers, or librarians. Information management, records
management, and knowledge management are all included, but there is no use of
managers to indicate responsibility for these processes.
There seems to be a policy that occupations do not get mentioned by name.
Instead, terms like employment or professional aspects are used in addition to a
process term such as indexing in order to represent a concept.
professional aspects Years in use 1969-
Narrower Terms ethical aspects professional communication
Related Terms accreditation certification continuing professional development legislation personnel product liability qualifications societies teacher training training
Related Class. Codes A0110 ; A0175 ; B0100 ; C0100 ; C0200 ; C7290 ; D1050 ; E0120 ; E0250 ; E0270
Used for liability, professional
indexing Years in use 1969-
Broadest Terms: computer applications
Broader Terms: information analysis
Narrower Terms database indexing
Related Terms: hypermedia markup languages thesauri
Related Class Codes: C7240
5 Online with the Inspec database on EBSCONet database service 9th March 2004.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 150
Inspec’s database provides a search field for key phrase headings where the
indexer may compensate with terms such as information professions, but there is of
necessity no hierarchical arrangement that groups the different types.
As was the case with ERIC, database documents dealing with indexers seemed
to warrant inclusion as a thesaurus term. ‘Indexer*’ in TI, KW, and AB fields
produced 392 hits admittedly inflated by self-referential abstracts that mention the
journal called Indexer. The search ‘information w1 manager’ produced 1398 hits.
Turning our attention from thesauri whose focus includes information studies, to
one that concentrates upon occupations, an example is Occupations Thesaurus
(National Library of Australia, 2002). This thesaurus provides terminology for the
names of occupations, but avoids using terms for what the occupations undertake, for
example indexers but not indexing. There is a business professionals hierarchy, but
there are no subordinate terms that would normally represent information
professionals.
Information scientists (LCSH) NT Indexers Librarians
Business professionals (local) UF Businessmen
NT Bankers Company directors Executives Exporters Financiers Manufacturers Merchants
RT Entrepreneurs
Finally, two thesauri are considered that are broader in scope. The OECD
Macrothesaurus (1991) recognises information workers but only two specific types.
KW: INFORMATION WORKERS BT: WORKERS NT: DOCUMENTALISTS LIBRARIANS RT: INFORMATION SCIENCES INFORMATION SOCIETY UF: COMPUTER PERSONNEL FA: 13.09.09
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 151
The Thesaurus of Sociological Indexing Terms (Booth, 1999) allows for
professional workers, and has many specific narrower terms including administrators,
journalists, and teachers. However no room is found for information or knowledge
workers either as a group, or by specific types.
Nevertheless ‘librarian(s)’ retrieved 140 items as a Sociological Abstracts
keyword search on titles or abstracts6, and other specified terms for types of
information professionals also received varying numbers of hits, seemingly justifying
thesaurus inclusion.
Conclusion
As may be expected from an emerging social science discipline, this study
demonstrates that terminology that describing the discipline is inadequately defined.
There is imprecise and diversified choice of descriptors in different vocabularies.
The range of approaches for producing preferred thesaurus descriptors to
describe information professionals varies considerably. This variation applies even
between thesauri that are used for describing databases in a domain that includes
information studies as an area of interest.
Despite the necessary differences between thesauri as they apply different
contextual and subject domain approaches, there would appear to be room in some of
them for a more considered approach to producing descriptors that link the assorted
professions both generically and associatively. Reference to international standards for
thesaurus construction as exemplified in works like that of Aitchison, Gilchrist and
Bawden (2000), would also be of benefit.
The extent to which the terminology of a discipline is consistent, itself provides
an indication of how well-formed the discipline is. On the evidence of terminology
formally assigned by its own practitioners, there is as yet some way to go to reach a
shared disciplinary paradigm. 6 Online with the Sociological Abstracts database on CSA’s database service 13th January 2004.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 152
References
Abbott, A. D. (1988), The system of professions: an essay on the division of expert labor, University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
ACER Cunningham Library, (2003), Australian thesaurus of education descriptors, 3rd ed., ACER,
Camberwell, Australia.
Aitchison, J., Gilchrist, A. and Bawden, D. (2000), Thesaurus construction and use: a practical manual,
4th ed., Fitzroy Dearborn, Chicago, IL.
Booth, B. (1999), Thesaurus of sociological indexing terms, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., Retrieved
January, 10th 2004, from http://www.csa.com/edit/sociothes.html
Corcoran, M., Dagar, L. and Stratigos, A. (2000), “The changing roles of information professionals”,
Online, Vol 24 No. 2, pp 28-33.
Cronin, B., Stiffler, M. and Day, D. A. (1993), “The emergent market for information professionals:
educational opportunities and implications”, Library Trends, Vol 42 No 3, pp 257-276.
Debons, A., King, D. W., Mansfield, U. and Shirey, D. L. (1981), The information professional: survey
of an emerging field, Marcel Dekker, NY.
Ellis, D., Allen, D., & Wilson, T. (1999). Information science and information systems: Conjunct
subjects disjunct disciplines. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Vol 50
No 12, pp 1095-1107.
ERIC Processing and Reference Facility. (2004), Thesaurus of ERIC descriptors, Retrieved 12th January
2004, from http://www.ericfacility.net/extra/pub/thessearch.cfm
LISA thesaurus (2004), Cambridge Scientific Abstracts Internet database service, Retrieved 13th Jan,
2004, from http://www.csa.com/csa/
Middleton, M. (2002), Information management: a consolidation of operations, analysis and strategy,
Charles Sturt University Centre for Information Studies, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.
Middleton, M. (2004), Controlled vocabularies, Retrieved 13th Jan, 2004, from
http://sky.fit.qut.edu.au/~middletm/cont_voc.html
Milstead, J. (1999), ASIS thesaurus of information science, Retrieved 19th September, 2003, from
http://www.asis.org/Publications/Thesaurus/tnhome.htm
National Library of Australia. (2002), Occupations thesaurus: recommended for contributions to the
Australian Register of Archives and Manuscripts, Retrieved 12th January, 2004, from
http://www.ericfacility.net/extra/pub/thessearch.cfm
OECD macrothesaurus, (1991), OECD, Paris.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 4.1: New Library World paper) 153
OED online (2004), Oxford University Press, Retrieved 12th January, 2004, from
http://www.oed.com/public/publications/online.htm
Rowley, J. (1998), “Towards a framework for information management”, International Journal of
Information Management, Vol 18 No 5, pp 359-369.
Rowley, J. (1999), “In pursuit of the discipline of information management”, New Review of
Information and Library Research, Vol 5, pp. 65-77.
Tedd, L. A. (2003), “The what? and how? of education and training for information professionals in a
changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region”, Journal of
Information Science, Vol 29 No 1, pp 79-86.
Webber, S. (2003). Information science in 2003: a critique. Journal of Information Science, 29(4), 311-
329.
Wilson, T. D. (2003). Information management. In J. Feather & R. P. Sturges (Eds.), International
encyclopedia of information and library science (2nd ed., pp. 263-277). London: Routledge.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 155
C h a p t e r 5 : H i s t o r i c a l a s p e c t s o f S T I s e r v i c e s
The two papers in this Chapter derive from the case studies of Australian STI
services. The first paper was originally focussed upon one service, AESIS, for conference
presentation. However for subsequent publication, a more general historical overview was
sought by editors. The second paper combines studies of six different services.
Contribution to research
The papers together provide a historical overview of the development and
characteristics of the services, review strategic and political influences, and lead to
propositions about their continuing maintenance and development. The first paper was
also able to provide an Australian view that accompanied descriptions of international
development.
The coverage of Australian literature by such services has been developed since the
1970s, but as always been subject to constraints imposed by the public policy
environment, by resourcing, and by technical application. By analysing this development,
these papers show what has been done well, and what has been done less well in relation
to the services in question. They also lead to proposals for improving metadata
application, for complementing international services, for provision of citation linking and
for association with full text material.
Together they complement the two papers in Chapter 6 which use the same case
studies to examine the information services with respect to discipline formation in
information management.
5.1. Book chapter: Drops in the ocean: the development of … STI in Australia
A paper ‘Drops in the ocean: the development of scientific and technological
information services in Australia’ was accepted for presentation at:
Second Conference on the History and Heritage of Scientific and Technical
Information Systems, November 16 - 17, 2002, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
This paper was then substantially revised and published as:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 156
Middleton, M. (2004) Drops in the ocean: the development of scientific and
technological information services in Australia. In W.B. Rayward & M.E.
Bowden (Eds.), The history and heritage of scientific and technological
information systems. Medford, NJ, USA: InfoToday for American Society
for Information Science and Technology and Chemical Heritage Foundation.
Abstract
This is a preliminary study of the extent to which the incorporation and use
of local Australian information with international scientific output has been
managed. Australia’s contribution to documentation in scientific research and
development amounts to about 1 to 2 percent of total international output,
depending on discipline. During the 1970s several local initiatives were undertaken
to record Australian scientific publications and to meet scientific information needs,
either within the framework of international information services or independently.
During the 1970s Australian scientific information policy makers were in the
vanguard of attempts to articulate public policy in relation to information provision
and use and to establish a national information policy. An example of such a policy
initiative was the Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry
Committee (STISEC) report, which made recommendations concerning the
national provision of scientific and technical information services. The
recommendations were not fully realized for three reasons: responsibility for
driving the provision of the services was ill defined; there were funding constraints;
and obtaining cooperation between stakeholding authorities was difficult.
Despite these problems a variety of scientific and technical information
services emerged in Australia, and brief descriptions of some notable examples of
these are provided. The paper concludes by suggesting that a systematic study of
the history of the database services that concentrated on the factors influencing
their development and the various transitions they have undergone, including
cessation, would be useful. Such a study would not only chronicle their history but
would also throw light on the development in Australia of an important aspect of
the information society and the information economy that underpins it.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 157
Introduction
The development of scientific and technical information (STI) services in
Australia was stimulated during the 1960s by several factors, including a nascent
information policy that considered STI resources inadequate for economic
development and prompted attempts to address the deficiencies; improved
dissemination of information as international publishers of abstracting and indexing
services began to include their output in information retrieval systems; concerns about
the low proportion of Australian publications recorded in international information
services, leading to a desire to complement these services with local ones that
incorporated additional material; and a desire to record comprehensively the national
scientific publication output.
It was not until the 1970s, however, that formal studies quantifying the extent of
recorded Australian publication emerged. In some cases these studies were associated
by policy initiatives—most notably the work of the 1972–73 Scientific and
Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee (STISEC). This group of
prominent business and industry leaders was commissioned by the National Library
with the support of the government, and it reported to the National Library’s Council
concerning the coordinated development of local services. Yet despite such initiatives
Australian on-line information services were established in a fragmentary manner. In
some respects the progress they achieved was in spite of policy and the lack of
coordination between the lead institutions that established and provided the services.
This paper presents a preliminary investigation intended to precede a more extensive
study of the genesis of these services. The larger study will comprise multiple case
studies of the STI services using a protocol that considers the services as information
management applications involving overlapping administrative, analytical, and
operational domains.
Analysis of Australian STI Publishing
Australia’s contribution to the literature of science and technology is
commensurate with a country of relatively small population (about 14 million at the
time of STI service origins in the 1960s and now about 18 million). However, in such
fields as astronomy, medical science, and certain branches of agriculture its output has
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 158
been disproportionately high. While sensitivity to the relatively small proportion of
Australian literature being indexed internationally began to appear in the 1960s,
serious attempts at quantification were not carried out until the following decade.
These were undertaken as part of the process of identifying what it was that the
institutions that were setting up services had to cover. However, such analyses
remained internal documents and were generally not published until the services were
reviewed some years later. For example, Abbott (1981) reported on 1970s data
showing the number of Australian journals covered by thirteen overseas STI
databases; he noted that there continued to be gaps locally, resulting from areas that
Australian Science Index (ASI) was not covering. ASI was an index to Australian
science in general that had been produced by the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) from 1976.
In 1983 Alex Byrne considered the extent to which Australian literature was not
covered in international databases under the provocative title “How to Lose a Nation’s
Literature.” His analysis, which was of social sciences and the humanities as well as of
STI, showed that the coverage of literature from Australian sources varied, usually
within the range of 1 to 3 percent of the global output. He compared the international
coverage of Australian STI research literature with its coverage in the ASI, noting that
coverage of Australian periodicals by the relevant international abstracting and
indexing journals varied from between about 20 to 80 percent of what was being
covered by ASI. He provided little comment, however, on the criteria, such as regional
focus or refereeing policies, used by the international databases to select what they
would include. In a later study Byrne (1984) quoted a Royal Australian Chemical
Institute estimate that Australia produces 2 percent of the world’s scientific and
technical literature, which was consistent with his own prior finding. He expressed
concern that for engineering research there were no counterparts in Australia of the
U.S. National Technical Information Service (NTIS) or the Comprehensive
Dissertation Index.
However, in considering the implications of analyses of this kind, it should be
remembered that many Australian researchers published outside Australia. Herb
Landau (1984) noted, for example, that in the Compendex engineering database for
1973 to 1982, of 16,952 authors with Australian affiliations only 7,083 published their
papers in Australian publications (42 percent).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 159
Further analysis of this type was not reported for another decade. When it came,
it was prompted by the increasing efforts of universities to find performance measures
for their academic staff in terms of research publication. Pam Royle (1994) used
Journal Citation Reports from the citation indexes of the Institute for Scientific
Information (ISI) to consider impact factors for Australian science and social science
journals. These factors were found to be relatively low. Royle also analyzed
contributions in different disciplines to determine how citation index coverage
compared with specialist database coverage. She confirmed that approximately 2
percent of total international output across the sciences and social sciences emanated
from Australia, consistent with Byrnes’s earlier study. However, when examining
discipline-oriented databases, she found variations in such fields as geosciences (3.91
percent), medicine (1.23 percent), and agriculture (2.79 percent).
Studies of the health sciences by Paul Bourke and Linda Butler (1997) found
that Australia’s share of publications in ISI medical journals increased by 25 percent
between 1986 and 1995. The average “relative citation impact” (the share of
international citations relative to the share of international publications) for the period
was 1 (a relatively strong indicator of notice attracted). These same researchers,
working with databases of Australian material derived from ISI’s citation databases,
have also conducted longitudinal studies of scientific output. They have used these
principally to consider measures of research productivity. But Butler (2001), referring
to earlier work on Australian scientific publication as a whole, showed that the trend,
which had reached a low point of 1.88 percent of the international total reported by ISI
in 1988 (Bourke & Butler, 1993), had in 1999 risen to 2.23 percent (a 13 percent
increase that was matched by a similar share of citations in the period from 1990 to
1998).
This apparent increase may be explained by the inclusion of publications arising
from greatly increased international collaboration. Relative impact, which declined in
all fields except the agricultural sciences through the 1980s, has had a more varied
performance in the following decade, the 1990s, with both physical and biomedical
sciences rising and earth sciences returning to former levels. Butler finds that although
the amount of publication is increasing significantly, more of it is appearing in lower-
impact journals. Part of the explanation for this, she suggests, may be the “publish or
perish” syndrome. Because allocation of public research funding to universities had
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 160
been based to some extent on amount of publication by researchers, it may have
stimulated an increase in gratuitous publication.
Information Policy Influence on STI Services
At various times over the last few decades attempts have been made to institute
national information policy in Australia. The different parties involved have changed
over time. Toward the end of the last century there had been increasing appreciation of
the importance of the emerging “information society,” the need for an information
infrastructure to support it with emphasis on electronic commerce, and the value of
providing government information. A series of government inquiries investigated
federal roles and responsibilities in the area. Information policy development is
presently undertaken in the Ministry for Communications, Information Technology
and the Arts, and in the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), which
was established in 1997 as a separate entity within this ministry following a number of
government inquiries into information technology development and the information
economy in the early 1990s. NOIE is responsible for coordinating the development of
broad policy relating to regulatory, legal, and physical infrastructure for the provision
of on-line information and on-line information services. This responsibility includes
facilitation of electronic commerce. NOIE also oversees the development of policies
for applying new technology to government administration. STI services are not
explicitly on its agenda, although they may of course be subsumed within information
provision.
In the thirty years prior to this period a consciousness of the need for information
policy developed, but the approach was disjointed and the elements of policy were
accorded quite different priorities. A disparate range of agencies was concerned with
these priorities, including provision of STI, which was then prominent on the
information policy agenda.
The Australian Advisory Council on Bibliographical Services (AACOBS) was
created in 1956. In the 1960s the council became concerned about the adequacy of
recording Australian publications and providing access to international publications—
that is, providing a national resource through the nation’s libraries. Although its
effectiveness as a policy body has been queried (Stockdale, 1984), the council was
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 161
successful in promoting aspects of bibliography and identifying subject areas that
needed attention, including those in science and technology.
The National Library of Australia (NLA) was closely associated with AACOBS,
and early in the 1970s the NLA was responsible for the creation of STISEC, an
influential national committee to investigate and report on the state of STI services.
STISEC recommended both the development of a national information policy and a
national central STI authority (Scientific and Technological Information Services
Enquiry Committee, 1973, 1975). This view was echoed at the time, for example, in an
OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) examiner’s
report on science and technology in Australia, which included a section on STI
(National Library of Australia, 1978, p. 13). The proposed central STI authority would
advise on information policy and, among other things, would foster coordination and
extension and promote orderly development of scientific and technological library and
information services nationally. This authority would also have an innovating role in
establishing such services as computer-based information services, document
collection services for the delivery of source material, translation services, research
into STI services, and education for such services and become a focus for international
liaison.
A survey to inform STISEC about information services was based on a random
sampling of scientists from a wide range of professional groups. About two thousand
responses were received, and findings included those shown in Table 1.
• 97 percent had no formal selective dissemination of information service. • 25 percent lacked ready access to a library that could supply their
information requirements. • 33 percent could not obtain literature searches when required. • 45 percent could not acquire journal literature speedily enough. • 75 percent had received no formal training in searching for scientific and
technical information. • Large sections of important material—patents, standards, government
and nongovernment report literature, review articles, abstracts and indexes, current awareness bulletins, conference proceedings, and foreign-language literature—were often inaccessible, unavailable, and unused.
Table 1. Example findings on the ability of scientists to find information (STISEC Report 1973, pp. 6–7)
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 162
Horton (1984) considered that the STISEC report was the prime factor leading to
the amendment of the National Library Act to make it clear that NLA’s responsibilities
included science and technology. But a strong focus for STI leadership was never
satisfactorily attained because the interests of the two most prominent and likely lead
agencies, the NLA and CSIRO, were not fully reconciled.
The NLA was established as a separate institution only in 1973 by an Act of
Parliament. Previously the Australian Parliamentary Library had served both
parliament and as the national library. STISEC was important in helping to define the
role of the new institution that had already developed, in its previous incarnation,
significant national bibliographic responsibilities involving the creation of a national
union catalog and ongoing national bibliographies. CSIRO was established under the
Science and Industry Research Act of 1949. Among its statutory functions were the
collection, interpretation, and dissemination of information relating to scientific and
technical matters and the publishing of scientific and technical reports, periodicals, and
papers. It too had developed a national union catalog in its areas of interest and
published periodical bibliographies.
CSIRO, although forming to some extent a distributed national science library
through the libraries associated with its various research branches, was reluctant to
take on a greater resource-provision role without dramatic provision of additional
funding. Following the STISEC reports CSIRO collaborated actively with other
agencies in developing databases. Three separate organizational reviews made
recommendations about developing CSIRO’s provision of STI services (Garrow,
1983, p. 6). One report noted that in relation to the services provided by the Australian
National Scientific and Technological Library (ANSTEL), rationalization, correlation,
and the avoidance of duplication of resources and functions with CSIRO were needed.
Although the report recognized that considerable opportunities existed to relate the
ANSTEL service to CSIRO’s Central Information Library and Editorial Service, it
made no specific recommendations about this (Independent Inquiry into the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 1977).
ANSTEL had been created by the NLA as one of three “national libraries” (the
others being for social sciences and the humanities) to function within the NLA, as
components of what was called the Australian Library Based Information System.
ANSTEL was to provide, among other things, an Australian industry information
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 163
network that would produce STI current-awareness bulletins and develop an industry-
reports database (National Library of Australia, 1977). Unfortunately the NLA was
unable to promote the Australian Library Based Information System successfully or
obtain enough resources to make its “libraries within a library” viable.
All the same the NLA was able to point to developments under the umbrella of
ANSTEL that had already been embarked on some years earlier. In 1969, for example,
NLA had entered an agreement with the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council to begin to offer services
based on MEDLARS that came into effect in 1971 (Middleton, 1977). NLA had also
used Canadian CAN/SDI software to provide current-awareness services from BIOSIS
and ERIC databases.
Also noteworthy was the NLA’s ERIC research project, which ran from October
1972 to the beginning of 1974. This joint investigation by the NLA and IBM’s
Systems Development Institute examined the viability of provision of information
services in education. The project was significant for STI services because its success
led to the creation of Ausinet, a multidisciplinary information retrieval service
(McCallum, 1983). ACI Computer Services provided the service network for Ausinet
that was to provide the platform for databases across the spectrum of knowledge and
stimulate Australian database development. Richardson (1984) was prescient in saying
that Australian libraries are likely to view the 1970s as a major watershed in their
development.
After a decade of service developments some disquiet remained about what was
seen as the lack of a central authority to lead and coordinate such developments
(Swan, 1983, p.147). Nonetheless, the ANSTEL director at the time, Bryan Yates,
suggested that if a national database policy were needed, then it would be necessary to
demonstrate the failings of present services: how the present situation could be
improved had there been an appropriate policy in place; how mechanisms could be
established for working out, implementing, and costing the policy and identifying the
source of funding; and how monitoring mechanisms could be put in place. He did not
think any of this was necessary because ad hoc development had resulted in
worthwhile achievements, and given the practicalities the gaps were not major and
organizations already in existence could be encouraged to fill the gaps (Yates, 1983, p.
30).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 164
During this period little relevant policy development occurred outside CSIRO
and NLA to foster coordinated STI services development in Australia. The federal and
state governments jointly through the Standing Committee of the Cultural Ministers’
Council set up an Australian Libraries and Information Council in 1982 to advise at all
government levels, but the council self-destructed and merged with AACOBS after
five years to create the Australian Council of Library and Information Services.
Reflecting on this several years later, Philip Kent (2001) thought that the responsibility
for STI services had then become the joint responsibility of CSIRO, the universities,
and the government research agencies, but that ‘. . . what is missing is serious
government money to lubricate science information resources across the whole
country.” (p. 1)
The federal Department of Science for a period showed some interest in STI. In
1985 it prepared a discussion paper on information services policy (Australia
Department of Science, 1985) and set up meetings to discuss relevant issues, for
example, a workshop on STI in 1986 (“Scientific and technical information,” 1986).
At this workshop speakers commented that many services seemed to be available but
they were not being used effectively. Reasons advanced to explain this phenomenon
included lack of awareness, lack of training, and simply the lack of resources needed
to encourage their use. There were also calls for further policy initiatives to improve
STI services, for example, by identifying an agency at the national level that would
facilitate coordination between the services. This is ironic in light of similar requests
over a decade earlier by STISEC. Nothing came of these proposals.
Emergence of Databases
Despite the misgivings about uncoordinated development, ad hoc initiatives
beginning in the 1970s resulted in the setup of extensive information services based on
international databases, complemented by the production of local databases. NLA and
CSIRO contributed to these databases along with several other agencies. The
databases sometimes complemented an international service and at other times
constituted part of a service developed to support local requirements.
Several local databases were established:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 165
Australian Bibliography on Agriculture (ABOA)
The ABOA, begun in 1975 by CSIRO, grew from the Australian
component of the international AGRIS service with approximately three
thousand records per year covering literature in the usual research forms, such as
journal articles, conference papers, reports, and books. It also included visual
media, pamphlets, and maps. Records retrospective to 1941 were progressively
included. The database was hosted on CSIRO’s own Australis network. Later it
was distributed via the NLA and Ferntree’s Ausinet network. From 1996 it has
been available through RMIT Publishing’s Informit in both an on-line and a CD-
ROM format. From 1999 it has been made available by Infoscan, which also
produces the indexing, through its Agricultural and Natural Resources Online
facility. In addition to the database the service has been used for producing
annual bibliographies in print.
Australian Earth Sciences Information Service (AESIS)
The Australian Mineral Foundation instituted this service in 1976. It
covered earth sciences literature amounting to about four thousand documents
per year from 1975, though there are retrospective records back to 1907. Various
other products produced from the cumulative database included the print
publications AESIS Quarterly and AESIS Special Lists. Support for the service
ceased in 2001, although attempts are being made to restart it.
Australasian Medical Index (AMI)
The NLA began this service in 1983 as a complement to the U.S. National
Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE. It covers about two thousand Australian
items of health and medicine literature annually and has included material back
to 1968. It was hosted on the Australian MEDLINE Network until that facility
was closed and has since been available as an Informit database. Since 1996 it
has embraced a link to Meditext, which provides full text information. The scope
is described in detail by the NLA (2003).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 166
Australian Science Index (ASI)
CSIRO began this service in 1976 and terminated it to the consternation of
users in 1983, at which point it had been covering about eleven thousand items
annually. CSIRO was unable to justify the continuing cost of running the
service, particularly as it was seen to overlap in part with a number of other
databases. It had been mounted initially on CSIRONET, then moved to Ausinet.
Australian Transport Literature Index (ATRI)
The Australian Road Research Board began this service in 1977.
Approximately 1,600 items are included annually, and about 30 percent are also
provided for the System for International Road Research Documentation. The
database was resident on the Ausinet facility from 1978 to 1982 and later
became available through Informit Online. ATRI is also used to produce the
Australian Road Index, Australian Road Research in Progress, and ARRB
Publications Index.
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Information (ANSTI)
The Australian Atomic Energy Commission, now known as the Australian
Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), began this service in
1972 as input to the International Nuclear Information System (INIS). It includes
material from 1970 and amounts to about eight hundred to a thousand items per
year in the fields of locally published nuclear science and engineering. The
database as part of INIS is available from ANSTO. As ANSTI it is available
through Informit Online.
ENGINE
The Institution of Engineers, Australia, has included about 1,300
engineering items annually in this database since 1982 (although there is some
coverage to 1980). Initially mounted on Australis, the service is now available
through Informit.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 167
STREAMLINE
The Department of Resources and Energy started this service in 1982. It
focuses on water resources literature. It has since been produced by Infoscan
through Agricultural and Natural Resources Online at the rate of about 2,500
items annually.
Each of these services indexes research and technical and academic literature.
The extent to which they pursue other materials varies; for example, some report
projects in progress, and ABOA includes pamphlets.
Conclusion
Concerted efforts were made to develop STI services in Australia during the
1960s and 1970s within a public information policy framework, but although these
efforts led to greater awareness of the issues, national development lacked a strategy
that stakeholders could follow to avoid gaps in service and duplication. This situation
was exacerbated by funding constraints. However, a rapidly developing computing
and communications environment coupled with the efforts of some visionaries
working independently in different agencies saw to it that the country was
comparatively well served using a combination of international and local services.
Data about the structure and content of these and other STI databases as well as
those in the social sciences and humanities and nonbibliographic databases were
compiled for a period during the 1980s by the Australian Database Development
Association (Quinn, 1988). Such agencies as CSIRO and the NLA are prominent in
the creation of services; however, government departments and industry are also well
represented.
Australia is a highly developed western nation with an active research
community both in the sciences and in the social and human sciences. Given its
geographical isolation and size, communications technology has been of great
importance in the development of its infrastructure for research and development.
Insight into the ways in which Australia assimilated the “information revolution” to
become part of the global information economy and society could be gained from a
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 168
systematic study of information management during the emergence and development
of computer-based information services. Such a study would require both comparative
descriptive and analytical data. Descriptive data might deal with such database
characteristics as production, coverage, source documents, search aids such as
thesauri, and any special features of the record format reflecting distinctive aspects of
the subject at hand.
In my recent book on information management (Middleton, 2002) I suggest a
conceptual approach for a discipline of information management. This framework may
be used to examine STI services with respect to three broad domains. These domains
comprise administration (policy and planning aspects and strategic approaches in
general); an analytical domain focusing on clienteles and resources (user needs and
systems analysis; information resources analysis, including audits and assessing
information worth; and evaluation procedures); and the operational domain, which
refers to the different tasks carried out during staged processes of information
handling, for example, the creation, distribution, organization, retrieval, navigation
processes for interaction, and presentation. The broad questions of policy presented
here would form a backdrop to such a comparative systems study. A preliminary case
study to test the methodology has been carried out on the Australian Earth Sciences
Information Services but is not further reported on here1.
References
Abbott, D. (1981). Australian indexing services. In D. H. Borchardt & J. Thawley (Eds.),
Bibliographical services to the nation: The next decade; proceedings of a conference held in
Sydney 26–27 August 1980 (pp. 71–86). Canberra: National Library of Australia.
Australia Department of Science. (1985). A national information policy for Australia: Discussion
paper. Canberra: Department of Science.
Bourke, P., & Butler, L. (1993). A crisis for Australian science (Performance indicators project
monograph series no. 1). Canberra: Australian National University.
Bourke, P., & Butler, L. (1997). Mapping Australia’s basic research in the medical and health
sciences. Medical Journal of Australia, 167, 610–613.
Butler, L. (2001). What is behind Australia’s increased share of ISI publications? In M. Davis & C. S.
Wilson (Eds.), 8th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics: Proceedings
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.1: STI history book contribution) 169
ISSI-2001, Sydney 16–20 July 2001 (pp. 89–101). Sydney: University of New South Wales
Bibliometric and Informetric Research Group.
Byrne, A. (1983). How to lose a nation’s literature: Database coverage of Australian research.
Database, 6(3), 10–17.
Byrne, A. (1984). Overseas database coverage of Australian engineering. In L. Lane (Ed.),
Engineering information and documentation in Australia: Problems and solutions;
proceedings of a national seminar conducted by the Footscray Institute of Technology, 25th
November, 1983 (pp. 53–62). Footscray, Australia: Footscray Institute of Technology Library.
Garrow, C. (1983). Keynote address: the information imperative and Australian agriculture. In P.
Montgomery (Ed.), Computerised information systems in agriculture; proceedings of a national
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Horton, A. (1984). Groping toward information policy. In H. Bryan & J. Horacek (Eds.), Australian
academic libraries in the seventies: Essays in honour of Dietrich Borchardt (pp. 5–32). St
Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press.
Independent Inquiry into the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. (1977).
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Kent, P. G. (2001). Special librarians: Past, present and future? Lesle Symes Memorial Lecture 2001.
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July 2003).
Landau, H. B. (1984). Identifying Australian engineering information for input to Engineering Index;
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Engineering information and documentation in Australia: Problems and solutions; proceedings
of a national seminar conducted by the Footscray Institute of Technology, 25th November, 1983
(pp. 105–120). Footscray, Australia: Footscray Institute of Technology Library.
McCallum, I. (1983). ACI’s role in the development of Australian bibliographic databases. In G.
Peguero (Ed.), Australian clearing houses and data bases: Towards a national policy;
proceedings of a national seminar conducted at Footscray Institute of Technology, 19 November
1982 (pp. 51–65). Footscray, Australia: Footscray Institute of Technology Library.
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Middleton, M. (2002). Information management: A consolidation of operations, analysis and
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National Library of Australia. (1978). Progress in UNISIST activity: The first three years of the
UNISIST programme in Australia, 1974–77. Canberra: National Library of Australia.
National Library of Australia. (2003). Australasian Medical Index (AMI). Available:
http://www.nla.gov.au/ami/ (accessed 24 July 2003).
Quinn, S. (Ed.). (1988). Directory of Australian and New Zealand databases (3rd ed.). Hawthorn,
Australia: Australian Database Development Association.
Richardson, W. D. (1984). MEDLARS to DIALOG and beyond. In H. Bryan & J. Horacek (Eds.),
Australian academic libraries in the seventies: Essays in honour of Dietrich Borchardt (pp.
132–144). St Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press.
Royle, P. (1994). A citation analysis of Australian science and social science journals. Australian
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Scientific and technological information: Proceedings of a workshop, Canberra, 20 March 1986.
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examined, findings and appendixes. Canberra: National Library of Australia.
Stockdale, N. (1984). AACOBS: The search for a role. In H. Bryan & J. Horacek (Eds.), Australian
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Lucia, Australia: University of Queensland Press.
Swan, E. (1983). Australian clearing houses and data bases: towards a national policy. In G. Peguero
(Ed.), Australian clearing houses and data bases: towards a national policy; proceedings of a
national seminar conducted at Footscray Institute of Technology, 19 November 1982 (pp. 139-
148). Footscray, Australia: Footscray Institute of Technology Library.
Yates, B. (1983). The possible role of the National Library of Australia in the development of clearing
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Footnote
1 A copy of this analysis is available from the author.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 171
5.2. Journal article: Australian STI services history and development
Detail of the case studies of Australian STI services was brought together in two
papers that examined the services with respect to information management. The first of
these papers which focuses on characteristics and historical development of the services
was published as:
Middleton, M. (2006) Scientific and technological information services in Australia.
I. History and development. Australian Academic and Research Libraries
37(2): 111-135.
Abstract
An investigation of the development of Australian scientific and
technological information (STI) services has been undertaken. It
comprises a consideration of the characteristics and development of the
services, which is the focus of this part of the paper, along with a broader
examination of discipline formation in information management covered
in Part II. This first part of the study provides a historical overview of
the development of several of the services that were established in the
1970s. Specific reference is made to Australian Agriculture and Natural
Resources Online (AANRO), the Australian Medical Index (AMI),
Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Information (ANSTI),
Australian Transport Index (ATRI), AusGeoref and its forerunner AESIS,
and the Australian engineering database (ENGINE).
The account includes a summary of the policy environment that
influenced the development of databases that supported the original STI
services. Some observations are made about STI publishing output from
Australia, the way it is reported, and how appropriate reporting and
documentation of that output might continue.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 172
Introduction Information management is a term that has been appropriated by various groups
of information professionals since the 1970s and applied to a wide range functions. It
therefore suffers a variety of definitions that differ in emphasis according to the
disciplinary background of the definers. Emphasis may be on systems for conveying
information (of concern to those working in corporate management, information
systems and content management), or on the documents that carry information (as in
recordkeeping, librarianship, document management).
The various occupations that pursue their distinct visions of information
management have differentiated themselves through attention to different types of
documents and different approaches to information organisation. However, the
prevalence of digital media, the increasingly inclusive utilisation of metadata across
document types, and acceptance of information as a corporate resource, mean that a
concerted view of information management is becoming more likely.
Wilson is among the more prominent writers who have paid attention to
definition of information management. His thorough observations1 are not repeated
here, except to note that they encompass all types of information resources from within
or outside organisations.
The shaping of disciplinary understanding would be assisted by case studies of
information management application. There are examples of these in the literature2,
but they are not documented with reference to a disciplinary framework.
The following account uses an information management perspective to
investigate Australian scientific and technological information (STI) services. The
work is in two parts. The first part (this paper) is an examination of the history and
development of the STI services, with some remarks about their continuation and
necessity. The second part3 is a consideration of the extent to which a consolidated
view of information management may be applied to provision of STI services.
1 T D Wilson ‘Information management’ in J. Feather & R. P. Sturges (eds) International
encyclopedia of information and library science 2nd edn Routledge London 2003 pp 263-267. 2 E Orna Practical information policies 2nd edn Gower Aldershot 1999 – this includes evaluations, but not
with respect to disciplinary principles; and S Simmons (ed) Information insights: Case studies in information management Aslib/IMI London 1999 – comprising interviews with information managers.
3 M Middleton ‘Scientific and technological information services in Australia II. Discipline formation in information management’ Australian Academic and Research Libraries vol 37 no 3 2006.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 173
STI services were chosen for the study for a number of reasons. They were
expected to represent many of the purposes to which information management
principles could be put into practice. They each provide an example of a service that is
produced by one institution principally for the benefit of many others. They were
developed at the time when consciousness of information management principles was
nascent. They form a relatively distinct set of cases for examination. They appear to be
a valuable resource whose continuation cannot be taken for granted, and which may
benefit from exposure to further scrutiny.
Many types of services or systems that involve information management could
be examined. They range from systems for inventory control or personnel
management, to services that are more concerned with documents in the conventional
sense such as recordkeeping or cataloguing services. The discrete set group of services
chosen has been maintained continuously over an extended period of twenty to thirty
years. Similar services in the social sciences and humanities exist. Although many of
the observations in this work may also be applied to such services, they are outside the
purview of this work and may be the subject of separate study.
STI services themselves are sometimes differentiated into bibliographic
(reporting the literature using metadata), and non-bibliographic (maintaining the type
of factual information that when online is increasingly used for e-research through
time series and other data compilations). Bibliographic services tend to be fewer in
number but more widely used. For example Russell and Hartwell4 in a directory of
agricultural information sources then available in Australia, identified 21 bibliographic
databases, many of them produced outside Australia, and 62 non-bibliographic
databases, all produced in Australia. This work is confined to bibliographic services,
and comprises case studies of six such services.
Research method This paper has arisen from a detailed case study of several STI services using a
case study protocol, and supported by interviews with key participants, exploration
and use of different versions of databases produced, and reference to literature,
archives, and supporting material created to support users of databases. A descriptive
4 H Russell & S L Hartwell, S. L. (eds) Guide to Australian agricultural information sources
and services rev edn Victorian Department of Agriculture Melbourne 1983.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 174
case study methodology5 is applied in which the unit of analysis is a system of action -
in this situation the establishment and maintenance of a service, applied over multiple
cases.
The project comprised:
• Project objectives including: providing an overview of development of STI
services in Australia; extending this overview with a detailed investigation that
takes account of public policy influences and corporate imperatives; and
testing the utility of a case study procedure derived from a description of
discipline formation.
• Collection of information via a combination of approaches requiring
examination of published and archival documentation; interviewing of key
figures who were involved in the creation of the national services; and study of
the systems underlying, and functionality provided by each of the services.
• Case study questions structured according to the context of a recently written
book on information management6.
• Outcomes to be documented case studies of the STI services, an overview of
development reported in Part I, and analysis of discipline formation reported in
Part II with respect to operational, analytical and administrative domains.
In Part I, the characteristics of the databases are compared within the context of
some commentary on national scientific publication, the use of databases that record
the output, and public policy influence on their development. This leads to some
discussion about the ways in which continuation of the STI services may be ensured.
Scientific publication output Bibliographic STI services have performed an important role in the information
life cycle. Secondary sources of information such as specialist bibliographies on
scientific subjects originated in the eighteenth century, and by the beginning of the
twentieth century had been formalised into abstracting and indexing services such as
5 R K Yin Case study research: Design and methods Sage Publications Thousand Oaks 2003. 6 M Middleton Information management: a consolidation of operations, analysis and strategy
CSU Centre for Information Studies Wagga Wagga 2002.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 175
Chemical Abstracts that were the forerunners of many of the STI databases available
today.
The future of the scholarly publication that is reported and accumulated in these
databases has been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent times through conferences
and numerous publications. Stakeholders such as authors, editors, publishers and
research managers continue to grapple with the changes made possible in publishing
models through development in information and communications technology (ICT).
Greater apparent accessibility through the Internet, and particularly the Web, has
been facilitated by systems such as content management and cooperative work groups,
together with facilities such as digital archives, and e-prints servers. These have been
bolstered by what is sometimes called the hidden Web – the great number of databases
available via subscription through Web interfaces, though not usually available to Web
search engine crawlers. Many of these databases have been available since long
before the Web, at least for provision of metadata. They provide a continuing impetus
for information quality, and increasingly they link full text with metadata. Yet they
must contend with multiple alternative avenues to the same information, as access to
the same digital content is facilitated through stand alone and aggregated portals of
universities and professional associations7.
Increased access does not necessarily equate with improved information
organisation. Although a case may be made for multiple metadata descriptions to suit
different contexts of use, many of the avenues to the same content may provide
cursory or uncontrolled metadata, and rely on full text indexing for access. The
resulting reduced ability to filter and refine search results could see the document
hidden within large yields of search results.
The importance of providing access to the nation’s research output was
recognised long before the Web, and was one of the early stimulants to information
policy discussion. In the area of STI, Australia’s contribution to the overall literature is
about 2% of the world total, though in some fields - certain branches of astronomy,
medical science, and agriculture - output has been disproportionately high. 7 A case in point is contributions to AARL which are made available on ALIA’s publications
server. Metadata for the contributions is provided in a number of international and national databases. Some of these, for example the ACER database A+ Education, and the NLA APAIS database also provide links through to the full text at ALIA. As authors hold copyright for the material, contributions may also be made available via their own institution’s servers in the form of preprints or postprints, thereby becoming accessible directly via search engines, or via more refined approaches such as NLA Arrow or Google Scholar.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 176
Recognition of the relatively small proportion of Australian literature being indexed
internationally happened in the 1960s, but it took some time before there were
significant attempts to quantify what was not being covered. These attempts were
generally undertaken as part of the process of identifying publishing that had to be
inspected by institutions establishing database services. Such analyses were internal
working documents. Some became public as databases were created along with guides
to database coverage.
However there were some published analyses across databases. For example, in
1981 Abbott reported on 1970s data showing the number of Australian journals
covered by thirteen overseas STI databases, and noted that there continued to be gaps
locally, resulting from areas that CSIRO’s Australian Science Index (ASI), extant since
1976, was not covering8. In 1983, Byrne looked into social sciences and the
humanities as well as of STI9. His analysis showed that the coverage of literature from
Australian sources varied, usually within the range of 1-3 % of the global output. He
also compared the international coverage of Australian STI research literature with its
coverage in ASI, noting that coverage of Australian periodicals by the relevant
international abstracting and indexing journals duplicated between about 20-80% of
what was being covered by ASI depending upon discipline. Later he expressed concern
that for engineering research there were no counterparts in Australia of the U.S.
National Technical Information Service (NTIS) or the Comprehensive Dissertation
Index10.
These early analyses were confined to Australian publications and were not
investigating the significant amount of material published outside Australia by
Australian authors. It was another decade before further analyses of this type were
undertaken, for example by Royle11 who analysed contributions in different disciplines
8 D Abbott ‘Australian indexing services’ in D. H. Borchardt & J. Thawley (eds) Bibliographical
services to the nation: the next decade; proceedings of a conference held in Sydney 26-27 August 1980 NLA Canberra 1981 pp 71-86.
9 A Byrne ‘How to lose a nation's literature: database coverage of Australian research’ Database vol 6 no 3 1983 pp10-17.
10 A Byrne ‘Overseas database coverage of Australian engineering’ in L. Lane (ed.) Engineering information and documentation in Australia: problems and solutions; proceedings of a national seminar conducted by the Footscray Institute of Technology, 25th November, 1983 Footscray Institute of Technology Library Footscray 1984 pp 53-62.
11 P Royle ‘A citation analysis of Australian science and social science journals’ Australian Academic and Research Libraries vol 25 no 3 1994 pp162-171.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 177
to determine how citation index coverage compared with specialist database coverage.
She confirmed that approximately 2% of total international output across the sciences
and social sciences emanated from Australia, while finding significant variations in
such fields as geosciences (3.91%), medicine (1.23%), and agriculture (2.79%). She
also noted the disparity between the rate at which Australian journals cited overseas
journals and the extent to which the overseas journals reciprocated.
Increasing efforts of universities to find performance measures for their
academic staff in terms of research publication, prompted further research with citation
analysis. We begin to see a re-orientation from what has been published, to how much
influence that publication has supposedly achieved. This means that greater attention is
being paid to impact measures, typically derived from the citation counts of
publications reported by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) citation indexes
for example through the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Although caution in
interpretation of such data has been advised12, making use of metrics such as JCR
provides appears to be gathering momentum at the present time as attempts are made
to derive scholarly performance indicators for Australia’s incipient Research Quality
Framework.
Using ISI data, Butler with others, has conducted a number of analyses of
Australian share of scientific publication and of impact in different sectors. Studies of
the health sciences found that Australia’s share of publications in ISI medical journals
increased by 25% between 1986 and 199513. The average “relative citation impact”
(the share of international citations relative to the share of international publications)
for the period was 1 (a relatively strong indicator of notice attracted). Longitudinal
studies of scientific output have also been used to consider measures of research
productivity. A low point of 1.88% of the international total reported by ISI in 198814,
had in 1999 risen to 2.23% (a 13% increase that was matched by a similar share of
citations in the period from 1990 to 1998)15.
12 P Royle & R Over 'The use of bibliometric indicators to measure the research productivity of
Australian academics' Australian Academic and Research Libraries vol 25 no 2 1994 pp77-88. 13 P Bourke & L Butler ‘Mapping Australia's basic research in the medical and health sciences’
Medical Journal of Australia vol 167 no11-12 1997 pp610-613. 14 P Bourke & L Butler A crisis for Australian science (Performance indicators project
monograph series no. 1) Australian National University Canberra 1993. 15 Based upon fractional counts of authors for collaborative publication by L Butler ‘What is
behind Australia's increased share of ISI publications?’ in M. Davis & C S Wilson (eds) 8th
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 178
This apparent increase may be explained by the inclusion of publications arising
from greatly increased international collaboration. Relative impact, which declined in
all fields except the agricultural sciences through the 1980s, has had a more varied
performance in the following decade, the 1990s, with both physical and biomedical
sciences rising and earth sciences returning to former levels. Butler finds that although
the amount of publication is increasing significantly, more of it is appearing in lower-
impact journals. Part of the explanation for this, she suggests, may be the “push to
evaluate research on the basis of publication output, with little reference to the quality
of that output” 16. Because allocation of public research funding to universities had
been based to some extent on amount of publication by researchers, it may have
stimulated an increase in gratuitous publication.
Adoption of impact factor measures further predisposes academic researchers to
publish in highly ranked international journals rather than national ones. Determinants
of quality are difficult to substantiate and this makes the comparison of impact factors
contentious. Yet there is a need to gather more data on the local impact factors of
national scholarly publications whose viability is in danger unless they become more
highly regarded internationally. Fostering local publication requires commitment from
professional associations, embracing of rigorous approaches to refereeing, and
improving digital visibility.
Among factors that might promote local publication are:
• Ensuring that those who are helping to frame research quality measures pay
particular attention to the need for support of high quality national journals and
the local impact that these may achieve.
• Creating citation databases of national journals to complement ISI data.
• Increasing refereeing rigour and filtering of articles for local journals,
including stronger association with output of refereed conference publications.
• Raising the international profile of journals by promoting them as international
journals based in Australia, rather than Australian journals with some
international content.
International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics: proceedings ISSI-2001, Sydney 16-20 July 2001 Sydney, NSW, Australia: UNSW Bibliometric and Informetric Research Group, Sydney, 2001 pp89-101.
16 L Butler Monitoring Australia's scientific research: Partial indicators of Australia's research performance Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 2001.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 179
• Maintaining an investment in metainformation production and aggregation for
our own literature in concert with that of international equivalent databases.
This investigation is concerned principally with the last of the points made
above with a focus on STI databases.
Database development and information policy Several factors contributed to the development of Australian STI services during
the 1960s including:
• Recognition of the need for an information policy framework to promote a
more significant role for STI resources in economic development.
• Improved dissemination of information as international publishers of
abstracting and indexing services began to consolidate their output in
databases, and associate these databases with effective information retrieval
systems.
• Concerns about the low proportion of local output recorded in international
publications and the need to complement it with local material.
• A desire to record comprehensively the national scientific documentation
output.
The uneasy connection of public policy direction an ad hoc institutional
initiative has been described in more detail elsewhere17. However, some aspects of the
relationship are reviewed here as a preamble to analysis of information services.
It was the library community that was most actively concerned with policy to
frame the development of STI services. In 1972–73 a group of prominent business and
industry leaders was commissioned by the National Library of Australia (NLA) with
government support, to form the Scientific and Technological Information Services
Enquiry Committee (STISEC). STISEC commissioned formal studies quantifying the
17 M Middleton ‘Drops in the ocean: the development of scientific and technological information
services in Australia’ in W B Rayward & M E Bowden (eds) The history and heritage of scientific and technological information systems Information Today for ASIST & CHF Medford 2004 pp353-360. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00000689/ or http://www.chemheritage.org/events/asist2002/proceedings.html.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 180
extent of recorded Australian publication, and reported to NLA’s Council concerning
the coordinated development of local services.
STISEC recommended both the development of a national information policy,
and a national central STI authority to act as focus for activities and promote their
orderly development18. Other policy documents in the area, for example an OECD
examiner's report on science and technology in Australia, supported this view 19.
Horton20 considered that the STISEC report was the prime factor leading to the
amendment of the National Library Act to make it clear that NLA’s responsibilities
included science and technology. However it can be said that a focus for STI
leadership was never satisfactorily attained, because the interests of the two most
prominent and likely lead agencies, NLA and CSIRO, were not fully reconciled.
CSIRO although forming to some extent a distributed national science library
was reluctant to take on a greater resource provision role without dramatic provision of
additional resources. Among its statutory functions since its 1949 enabling Act, were
the collection, interpretation, dissemination and publishing of information relating to
scientific and technical matters. It observed part of this role through active
collaboration with other agencies in the development of databases. An example was
the Australian Bibliography on Agriculture (ABOA).
Repeated organisational reviews made recommendations about CSIRO’s role in
provision of STI services21. For example, with respect to NLA’s Australian National
Scientific and Technological Library (ANSTEL), it was thought that rationalisation,
correlations, and lack of duplication of resources and functions were needed. One
inquiry saw that there appeared to be opportunities to relate the ANSTEL service to
CSIRO’s Central Information Library and Editorial Service (CILES). However its
18 Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee The STISEC report:
report to the Council of the National Library of Australia by the Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry Committee, May 197. Volume 1: Scientific and technological information services in Australia NLA Canberra 1973; Volume 2: Procedures, evidence examined, findings and appendixes NLA Canberra 1975.
19 National Library of Australia Progress in UNISIST activity: the first three years of the UNISIST programme in Australia 1974-77 NLA Canberra 1978 pp 13.
20 A Horton ‘Groping toward information policy’ in H. Bryan & J. Horacek (eds) Australian academic libraries in the seventies: essays in honour of Dietrich Borchardt University of Queensland Press St Lucia 1984 pp 5-32.
21 C Garrow ‘Keynote address: the information imperative and Australian agriculture’ in P. Montgomery (ed) Computerised information systems in agriculture; proceedings of a national workshop on developments in computerised information systems in agriculture, Melbourne, Victoria, June 22 and 23, 1983 Victorian Department of Agriculture, Melbourne 1983 pp 4-12.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 181
relevant recommendation went no further than to review the internal organisation of
this information service ‘… in relation to an Australia-wide service involving all other
possible sources, such as the National Library’22.
ANSTEL had been created by NLA as one of three ‘national libraries’ (the
others being for the social sciences and the humanities) to function within NLA, each
promoted within the concept of an entity called the Australian Library Based
Information System (ALBIS). ANSTEL embodied such initiatives as an industry
network which was initiated to produce current awareness bulletins in STI, and an
industry reports database23. Unfortunately the NLA was unable to communicate the
objectives of ALBIS in a way that engaged the wider information services community.
This was despite the claim of NLA Director-General of the time, George Chandler,
that there was no opposition or jealousy from CSIRO or Australian government
departments with respect to NLA’s plan for country wide information services based
upon computers. He refuted library sector claims that his institution was running into
friction with other powers wanting to carry out similar services24. Ultimately however,
NLA was unable to obtain enough resources for the ‘libraries within a library’ policy
to fulfil its many objectives.
On the other hand, NLA was able to point to some successes. Earlier STI
developments such as MEDLARS25, and current awareness services from BIOSIS
databases were brought under the umbrella of ANSTEL. A significant venture outside
ANSTEL was the ERIC research project which ran from 1972 to197426. Although it
was developed using a database focused on education, this joint investigation by NLA
and IBM was significant for STI services. Its success meant that it became a precursor
22 Independent Inquiry into the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Report AGPS Canberra 1977. 23 National Library of Australia Towards an Australian industry information network NLA
Canberra 1977. 24 ‘National Library has clear run says head’ Australian Financial Review 3684 2nd July 1975
p15. 25 M Middleton ‘Developments in the Australasian MEDLARS service’ LASIE Bulletin vol 7 no 5 1977
pp4-15. 26 D Killen ‘The National Library's ERIC SDI service: the first fifteen months’ Australian Academic and
Research Libraries vol 7 no 2 1976 pp93-99.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 182
for AUSINET which was to provide a platform for databases across the spectrum of
knowledge, and give stimulus to Australian database development27.
Policy drive from outside the library community was slow in coming.
Information policy at the time was of little interest to the emergent information and
communication technology sectors. However, the scientific community began to state
a need for effective information resources. ASTEC in a report examining science and
technology in Australia28 made recommendations about supporting the development of
library-based and other information services.
Later, the federal Department of Science championed the effective provision of
STI for research and industry29, and promoted coordination of services, for example at
a national workshop30. At this forum discussion repeatedly referred to the ineffective
use of the many services then underway. Reasons forwarded included lack of
coordination, a need for identification of agency responsibilities at national level,
insufficient awareness by potential users, and inadequate training.
Reservations about the absence of overall guidance and authority for database
development had been expressed for example by Swan31. However the view of
ANSTEL’s then director was that if a national database policy were needed then it
would be necessary to demonstrate the failings of present services, and show how
policy could improve on existing mechanisms for costing, identifying funding sources,
and establishing monitoring mechanisms32. Still, a number of piecemeal policy
initiatives occurred within individual government departments that did stimulate the
progress of STI services. In some respects the progress they achieved was in spite of
27 AUSINET was established as a cooperative enterprise in which a number of databases were
pooled for shared access. It was initiated in 1976 following the success of a project to enable searching of the ERIC database, and the desire of Monash University for further development of online facilities. Following discussions with NLA, those two institutions along with eight others including ARRB became founding members.
28 Australian Science and Technology Council Science and technology in Australia, 1977-78: A report to the Prime Minister AGPS Canberra 1978-1979 vol 1 pp11-12.
29 Australian Department of Science A national information policy for Australia: Discussion paper Dept of Science Canberra 1985.
30 Scientific and technological information; proceedings of a workshop, Canberra, 20 March 1986 Dept of Science Canberra 1986.
31 E Swan ‘Australian clearing houses and data bases: towards a national policy’ in G. Peguero (ed) Australian clearing houses and data bases: towards a national policy; proceedings of a national seminar conducted at Footscray Institute of Technology, 19 November 1982 Footscray Institute of Technology Library Footscray 1983 pp139-148.
32 B Yates ‘The possible role of the National Library of Australia in the development of clearing houses and associated data bases’ in G. Peguero 1983 op cit pp21-33.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 183
policy and the lack of coordination between the lead institutions that established and
provided the services. Regardless of the misgivings about coordination, the ad hoc
development resulted in extensive services based upon international databases,
complemented by the production of local databases. The Australian Database
Development Association was formed and began to produce guides to the range of
databases33, and provide guidance and encouragement for potential developers.
A couple of decades later, information policy is much more the province of ICT,
the media, and commerce. Little attention is now being paid to content and database
development. It may seem that ongoing production and coverage is ample, but there
are indicators that more needs to be done with respect to scanning and description of
Australian content.
STI services The current online versions of the databases being considered here was preceded
in several cases by current awareness services using batched search strategies in order
to produce regular listings for researchers by Selective Dissemination of Information
(SDI). CSIRO pioneered this by developing its own software to search its own
compilations, complementing the batch searching it was carrying out on overseas
databases. The Department of Supply’s ADSATIS (which subsequently became
DISTIS34) service was another early example of SDI. In this case indexing metadata
for research reports was combined with library accession data to provide SDI for
departmental scientists.
RMIT Publishing’s Informit35 service now provides an online platform for most
of the Australian STI services. To a varying extent, the records are also replicated in
international databases. Among the databases on Informit are several that have a
history of continuous development since the 1970s and 1980s. These are the
33 Quinn S (ed) Directory of Australian and New Zealand databases 3rd edn Australian Database
Development Association Hawthorn 1988. 34 The Defence Information Services Technical Information System used to index Australian
Defence Index, Current Defence Readings, and Defence Reports. 35 Informit - Online Australasian information http://www.informit.com.au/index.asp [2 Feb
2006]. RMIT Publishing as Informit started producing CDROM databases in 1990 under the name Informit, and now publishes scores of Australian databases across many disciplines. It started the online service in 1998, and since 2000 this has included a number of databases that include full text.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 184
Australian Medical Index (AMI) produced by NLA; Australian Nuclear Science &
Technology Information (ANSTI) produced by the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation (ANSTO); Australian Natural Resources Index (ANR-I)
produced by Infoscan for several government resource agencies; Australian Transport
Index (ATRI) produced by ARRB Group; and the Australian Engineering Database
(ENGINE) produced by Engineers, Australia.
The following analysis focuses on these 5 Informit databases, along with what is
now the Australian component of the international Georef database AusGeoref
produced by Geoscience Australia. This database was formerly AESIS and its early
development has been previously reviewed36. The characteristics and development of
the services are described under the following subheadings:
• Overview of characteristics.
• Production in order to provide some comparison of relative throughput.
• Database platforms in order to review the different ways in which the
databases have been made available.
• Coverage in order to examine the selection of material for the databases.
• Record format in order to compare information organisation.
• Search aids for a brief overview of user assistance beyond online help.
In addition to the databases listed above, other specialist databases in the STI
area are produced. For example, since 1982 with the assistance of CSIRO, the Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has produced REEF. However analysis is
confined to the 6 databases listed in Table 1.
Overview of characteristics
Table 1 summarises the databases by broad subject area, provides a brief
digest of historical information, and comparison of characteristics.
36 M Middleton ‘Discipline formation in information management: Case study of scientific and
technological information services’ Journal of Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology vol 2 2005 pp543-558. http://2005papers.iisit.org/I45f78Midd.pdf; or http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001433/
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 185
Table 1: Australian STI databases Earth sciences Engineering Health sciences Present name Georef (Aust component) Engine AMI(includes HEAPS) Commenced As AESIS 1976 1982 1983 Producer AMF 1976-2001
Geoscience Australia 2003 - Institution of Engineers, Australia
NLA
Subject matter Earth sciences Engineering Health & medicine Coverage (1907-)1975 – 2001 1980 1968 Annual size ~4,000 ~1300 ~2,000 Overseas material
About Australia 1979 - No About Australia; by Australians
Types of documents
BCDJMRRTS BCGJNRT BCJPRV
Vendors AUSINET CLIRS INFORMIT AMF
AUSINET 1983-1987 AUSTRALIS 1987 - OZLINE Informit
Aust Medline network OZLINE Informit
International ties
No No Medline complementary some overlap 2001 -
Vocabulary control
Australian geoscience, minerals and petroleum thesaurus
SHE: subject headings for engineering - 1993 Ei 1993 -
MeSH
Current awareness
AESIS quarterly AESIS special lists
No Tailored searches
Other outputs AESIS cumulation - fiche Retrospective list series
No Bibliographies
Full text No No Meditext link 1996-
Key for types of documents A Audio recordings G Government papers O Ongoing research T Theses B Books J Journal articles P Pamphlets/posters V Visual media B Book reviews L Legislation R Reports: technical, grey W Websites C Conference papers M Maps R Reports – open-file D Digital data & software N News items S Standards/specifications
Table 1 (Continued): Australian STI databases
Natural resources Nuclear Transport Present name AANRO ANSTI ATRI Commenced ABOA 1975 (FROM AGRIS),
Streamline 1982 1972 1977
Creators CSIRO (ABOA) Dept Resources, Energy (Streamline) Infoscan for AANRO
AAEC, ANSTO ARRB group. Formerly ARRB until 1995, then ARRB Transport Research ltd.
Subject matter
Agriculture, water resources Nuclear science & engineering Road research
Coverage from
1941 - 1970 1975
Annual size ~5,000-6000 ~800-1000 ~1600 Overseas material
About Australia No Yes (from?)
Types of documents
BCDJMOPRTV BCDGJMRTS BCDJORST
Vendors AUSINET 1983 AUSTRALIS Streamline (WATR)Informit
Streamline 1992 – ABOA 1996 -
Infoscan 1999 -
ANSTO Informit
AUSINET 1978-1982 AUSTRALIS (INROADS) OZLINE Informit
International ties
ABOA subset for Australian component of AGRIS
Australian component of INIS 30% of ARI goes IRRD
Vocabulary control
CAB thesaurus AGRIS categorization AGDEX adapted Aqualine thesaurus (Streamline)
INIS thesaurus IRRD thesaurus ATRI thesaurus
Current awareness
Streamline update Tailored searches Australian Road Index Australian Road Research ARRB Publications Index
Other outputs Annual bibliographies .. ABOA Water research in Australia (from Streamline)
No Thesaurus for ATRI
Full text Some links to web material No No
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 186
Some information about the structure and search facilities of each of these
databases is available within the database assistance information on Informit, and
Drynan has recently reviewed several of them37.
Production
As shown in the table above, four of the databases have had the one producer
since their inception, although in ATRI’s case the name of the producer has
changed several times. AusGeoref has been produced since 2003 by Geosciences
Australia after a two year hiatus following the demise of the Australian Mineral
Foundation which had maintained AESIS for 25 years since 1976. Australian
Agriculture and Natural Resources Online (AANRO) was formerly produced as the
separate databases ABOA (by CSIRO), and STREAMLINE (by the Department of
Resources and Energy), but since 1996 has been consolidated as one database
produced by the Infoscan company.
The databases have begun in different years, and in some cases have made
efforts to include material from prior to their commencement date. However, it is
instructive to compare the database input over the last few years. Table 2 is derived
from PY (publication year) indexes for each database on Informit.
It may be seen that:
• There is significant lag time at getting data into services – although all
data were collected in early 2006, in many cases a great deal more 2005
material would be expected by the date of analysis.
• There is an apparent tapering off in 3 of the 5 databases – this appears to
be related to the lack of resources needed to get material into the
databases rather than less publication in Australia, or more publication
overseas.
37 E Drynan ‘A review of Australian online indexes’ Online Currents vol 20 no 10 2005 pp17-22.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 187
Table 2: Record counts by publication year38 (Informit 27.02.06)
Year ENGINE AMI ANR-I ANSTI ATRI Other; prior 18860 44364 89866 15939 79659
1992 486 3868 6105 989 8029
1993 3256 4196 5952 868 7104
1994 2075 5049 5904 1398 6552
1995 1206 5156 4855 1341 5373
1996 1777 4585 4905 984 5188
1997 545 5441 5636 467 4682
1998 998 5004 5723 536 4916
1999 1630 4404 5512 943 4145
2000 1433 4104 4826 1995 5253
2001 1057 4943 3694 1160 4465
2002 712 6288 1826 1698 4188
2003 762 5454 3001 1790 4110
2004 526 5623 2302 448 4321
2005 137 4689 472 1 2182
2006 - 20 - - 36
Total 35460 113,188 150579 30,557 150,203
Database platforms
Informit which began publishing databases on CDROM in 1990 and
commissioned its online service in 1998 is now a vendor of each of the databases
except AusGeoref, which may be searched on a subscription basis through the
American Geological Institute as an independent subset of Georef39. The
Australian content has grown to in access of 65,000 records.
AANRO appears on Informit as ANR-I in current and archival versions, but it
is also available as a knowledge base with links to other material via its own
portal. ANSTI is alternatively available consolidated within the entire INIS
database.
Prior to Informit, a succession of platforms provided access to the databases.
These included:
• AUSINET that had been established as a cooperative enterprise in which a
number of databases were pooled for shared access. It was initiated in 1976
following the success of the project to enable searching of the ERIC 38 ANR-I figures are for combined current and archive databases. 39 American Geological Institute AusGeoRef 2003 -
http://www.agiweb.org/georef/ausgeoref/index.html [14 Dec 2005]
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 188
database, and the desire of Monash University for further development of
online facilities. Following discussions, the NLA, Monash University and 8
other institutions, mainly universities but including ARRB, became the
founding members.
AUSINET functioned with IBM STAIRS software which facilitated
databases structured with paragraphs (text search facilities such as Boolean
and proximity), and formatted fields (coded data permitting relational
operations typically used to refine a search). Sorting of search results and
saving of search statements for re-use was possible.
AUSINET used the computing facilities at what was then ACI Computer
Services (later Ferntree) at Clayton in Victoria, with initial participants
using leased line services at a cost of $3000 per month. There was stress
on the development of uniquely Australian material.
• CSIRO’s AUSTRALIS was initiated in 1987 to enable consumer access to
scientific databases reticulated through CSIRO’s telecommunications
network CSIRONET, and via the telephone service. Databases were
moved from it when Informit went online in 1998. Retrieval software was
also IBM STAIRS.
• The NLA’s OZLINE which ran from 1987 to 1998 with both a STAIRS,
and alternative SOFI public user interface.
• For a time AESIS was also available on the Computerised Legal
Information retrieval (CLIRS) platform operated by Computer Power,
using Status software. It formed an element of the Australian Resources
Industry Database concept.
Coverage and source documents Summary of subject content of each of the databases is given within their
respective Informit help facilities40, and an indication of the types of documents
that are scanned is provided within Table 1 above.
For AMI, a selection policy has been articulated for items in those documents
that are considered. From this policy, the guidelines are:
40 Informit op cit
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 189
• Include all original items regardless of form or length or publication date;
editorials and letters if they are substantial; reprints of earlier items are
indexed if they have not already been reported AMI or the Australian
Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS); and biographies and obituaries
if there is a discussion or description of the person’s work or contribution
to medicine.
• Exclude items outside the stated subject categories; editorials that
‘editorialise’; book reviews; summaries of previously published material or
about a conference; and reprints of items that have already been reported in
AMI or APAIS41.
One result of this policy is that, unlike with Medline, some conferences that
are published only as collections of abstracts are included, not for the individual
abstracts, but for the conference as a whole.
… the other big departure … from Medline practice was that we
decided to index a lot of conference proceedings, including
conference abstracts where that was all that was available, …
Medline has never done … abstracts where that was the only
output from a conference…. But we did, though not
comprehensively, because there are just so many of them… (S.
Henderson, personal communication, 24th June, 2004).
Two of the services work with publicly available detailed guidance
documents. ANSTI has a detailed subject guide that describes the scope of material
that is input to the International Nuclear Information System. AANRO has the
benefit of a detailed content policy document42. This is exemplary in that it
provides guidelines for inclusion of material with reference to form (differentiated
by item and collective level) and authority of information resources; audience, and
41 National Library of Australia Introduction to Australasian Medical Index 2002
http://www.nla.gov.au/ami/ [10th January 2005]. 42 INIS subject categories and scope descriptions 8th rev IAEA Vienna 1997; S Quinn AANRO,
Australian Agriculture and Natural Resources Online: Content policy, 2004 http://www.aanro.net/document/policy.pdf [18th January, 2006].
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 190
audience priorities; geographic coverage inclusions and exclusions; appropriate
websites for gateway access; as well as itemised content categories, also
prioritised. The policy also itemises periodical coverage for Australia, and overseas
periodicals that are scanned for Australian content.
Table 3 shows an example of distribution by document type, in this case for
the ATRI database on Informit.
Table 3: ATRI document types (from Informit, 20.3.06)
Document Type Records Article (Journal) 39927 Audiovisual 134 Book 820 Chapter (Book) 52 Conference Paper 34499 Journal 1416 Conference Proceedings
3497
Research Report 15697 Standard 1497 Statistics 514
Record format Most of the records in databases use a format like that shown for ENGINE in
Figure 1, which contains typical bibliographical metadata based upon description
of title, authorship, affiliation, publication dates, indexing (based upon a controlled
vocabulary), additional indexing in the form of identifiers, and an abstract.
Figure 1: ENGINE record (adapted from Informit 19.01.06) TI: Computer systems for asset and risk management AU: ROBINSON, R; ANDERSON, K AUF: Viner-Robinson-Jarman-Pty-Ltd SO: Sixth National Local Government Engineering Conference: effective management of assets and
environment: Hobart 25-30 August 1991: preprints of papers. p106-110 DT: Conference Paper IM: Barton: IEAust, 1991 PY: 1991 PDS: 5p ill 7 refs SE: National Conference Publication (IEAust) no. 91/14 SMJ:MANAGEMENT computer applications; RISK STUDIES computer applications SMI: MUNICIPAL ENGINEERING project management; HEALTH HAZARDS management; ACCIDENT
PREVENTION management; ACCIDENTS computer aided analysis; RISK STUDIES assessment; COMPUTERS, PERSONAL applications
ID: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ; GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM ; HAZARD REGISTER ; FAULT AND EVENT TREES ; ENERGY DAMAGE MODELS ; PRE EVENT RISK MANAGEMENT ; POST EVENT RISK MANAGEMENT ; FOURTH GENERATION INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMABLE SOFTWARE ; FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ; HAZARD MANAGEMENT
ABI: Yes AB: This paper covers the use of expert systems for both risk assessment and asset management. In addition to
technical considerations and user interface design matters, the paper addresses the practical aspects of implementing an effective, personal computer based risk, asset and space management system. It discusses the implementation of a number of such systems in different organisations and emphasise that whilst asset and space management systems are perhaps desirable in today's economic climate it is the need to satisfy risk related statutory and regulatory demands that seems to be the primary impetus.
DN: 911500
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 191
However, they also include specific data elements that may enhance access
based upon the discipline, for example:
ATRI records provide for:
• A geographic location element (GL). This element is not controlled in an
authority file, so for example the Asia-Pacific region appears as Asia Pacific,
Asia-Pacific, and Asia-Pacific region.
• Bibliographic level (BL), which indicates principally whether entire
documents, parts of documents, or ongoing series, are being described.
• Records source (RSO) used to indicate the organisation (in coded form)
that has contributed the metadata.
• An indicator for URIs (URII) to show if a link is being provided to
websites or documents. If the indicator is Yes, here is not necessarily a
direct link to a document – it may be to a website from which documents
are available.
• The Library Location (LL) field lists the participating libraries that hold the
serial under their National Union Catalogue (NUC) codes, and the
Holdings (HS) field indicates the extent to which physical copies of a
periodical are held.
AANRO records provide for:
• The Name of Sponsor (NOS) field, which may also contain information
about contract, grant, and/or project numbers when the described item is
the result of a funded project. It is searchable by individual keywords.
• The geographic location (GL) field, which is used to produce both
keyword and phrase indexes for Australian place names, agro-ecological
regions and drainage divisions.
• The subject headings (SU) field, which is based upon the CAB Thesaurus
and classification codes known as CABICODES. It is searchable via either
keyword or phrase indexes.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 192
• The author (AU) field includes author affiliations, and these are also
searchable, although keyword searching using Boolean uniterms is
advisable because the affiliations are not based upon an authority file.
AMI records provide for:
• The abstracts (AB) that utilise those existing in the original documents, or
are created by indexers if not provided by authors or editors. Codes used
are for institutions rather than individuals.
• Transliterated titles (TT).
• The full text indicator (FTI) and associated link (FT) via URI to the
Meditext file of full text material available through Informit.
• The author address (AD) which was included in AMI before it became
available in the Medline files.
• Publication type (PT) in which a limited set of terms (such as biography,
cases, reviews) is used to provide information about form of content.
ENGINE records provide for:
• Author affiliation fields (AUF) that may be searched by keyword or phrase
if trying to identify particular institutions.
• Name of sponsor (NOF) that includes contract, grant, or sponsoring agency
names and numbers related to funded projects; keyword but not phrase-
searchable.
• Subject headings that are aggregated (SUA) but are also differentiated as
major (SMJ) and minor (SMI) which provides for search refinement; they
are based upon thesaurus terms and may have subheading appended as
shown in Fig. 1.
• The identifier (ID) field that contains additional terms that are important
but not in the controlled vocabulary.
ANSTI records provide for:
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 193
• The NT field includes reference to a URL for full text of the article when it
is freely available.
• The CA field for corporate authors is based upon an authority file of
corporate author names and corresponding codes, so that there is
standardisation of affiliations in the database
• The C1 and SCC fields contain codes from an authority list that represent
the broad subject categories of the document..
• The descriptors used for indexing are drawn from the INIS thesaurus, and
have the label SU. The thesaurus is used to assign additional SUP terms
that are hierarchically broader in an automatic process known as up-
posting.
Although AusGeoref records have been able to retain many of the former AESIS
record data elements, some specialist elements such as the basin field (BS) for
geological basins and the map reference fields (M100, M250) are now subsumed
within index terms and therefore are not independently searchable.
Informit makes efforts to standardise data elements, however there remain
significant differences between databases that have arisen from a combination of
legacy systems, requirements for interfacing with other databases, and special
inclusions. For example a comparison of data elements for ATRI and ANSTI is shown
in Table 4.
Search aids The online versions of the databases are each accompanied by help facilities that
provide descriptions of searchable and displayable fields, along with suggestions for
use of research protocols. Each of the databases makes use of at least one controlled
vocabulary for describing subject content. These vocabularies which in some cases
have varied over time are listed in Table 1 above. The thesaurus used for indexing
references to the AESIS prior to it becoming AusGeoref was locally produced by the
Australian Mineral Foundation (AMF) and went through several editions43.
43 Firstly as the Australian thesaurus of earth sciences and related terms, before becoming the
Australian geoscience, minerals and petroleum thesaurus. This hard copy and digital thesaurus was a product of the AMF created independently of the AESIS process but readily usable for indexing the database.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 194
Table 4: Informit elements for ATRI and ANSTI (28.02.06)
Label Field Name Database AB Abstract Both ABI Abstract Indicator Both ABL Abstract Language ATRI AC Australian Coverage ATRI BL Bibliographic Level ATRI C1 Subject (Primary Category Code) ANSTI CA Corporate Author Both CA Corporate Author ANSTI CN Name Of Conference ATRI CPF Publication Frequency ATRI DN Document Number ATRI DT Document Type ATRI DT Document Type ANSTI GL Geographic Location ATRI HS Holdings Statement ATRI IB ISBN Both ID Identifier ATRI IRF Issue Both IS ISSN Both JT Journal Title Both LA Language Both LL Library Location ATRI NT Notes Both PA Personal Author Both PD Date Of Publication Both PG Pagination Both PP Place Of Publication ATRI PU Name Of Publisher ATRI PY Publication Year Both RPN Report/Patent Number ANSTI RSO Record Source Both SE Series Both SO Source Both SCC Subject (Category Code) ANSTI SU Subject Both SS Search Subjects ANSTI SUC Subject (Category) ANSTI SUP Subject (Proposed) ANSTI TI Title Both URI Uniform Resource Identifier ATRI URII Uri Indicator ATRI VRF Volume Both
Maintenance of services Since the 1970s a variety of approaches has been adopted for building databases
that support STI services. CSIRO was initially prominent in this respect. The
organisation had been creating bibliographies before the advent of computing. Being
at the forefront of early computing science development, and of publishing scientific
journals, it also moved into computer-supported publication and database creation and
development of information retrieval software. This included servicing online
provision of both reference and source databases either of its own creation (such as
ASI, ABOA), or produced by others in specialised areas such as REEF.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 195
However, even though CSIRO provided the AUSTRALIS platform for a decade
in the 1980s and 1990s, has continued to support content creation through periodicals,
and has supported creation of abstracting and indexing services, it was not predisposed
to commit fully to the national service that its legislation supported.
… and life became progressively more difficult in terms of funding,
staffing and all the rest of it. But, even at that time the CSIRO Board
was taking fright at the implications providing a national, a truly national
service rather than a service turned only towards CSIRO’s own
scientists. (Peter Judge, personal communication, 23rd June 2004)
For a time, the NLA made an attempt to focus on STI through ANSTEL which
took under its umbrella the national Medline service that had already been running in
conjunction with the Department of Health. This service was complemented later by
AMI and Meditext that provides full text associated with metadata.
Neither the STISEC reports nor the ALBIS proposal were particularly
concerned with private sector support for information service development. However,
it was clear that an information industry was developing during the 1980s. For
example Klingender canvassed ways in which public information should be delivered
over a private network (AUSINET), while justifying the unpopular decision to drop
certain low use databases from the network44. He was looking for more certainty to
enable the private sector to generate the profits to make service viable, such as
government commitment not to establish similar networks, fixed term exclusive
contracts, and release from obligation to mount databases. At the same time he
lamented the slow response received to requests for information on policy when his
company needed to make large capital investments in computing, not knowing about
the continuing support for the services for which they provided a platform.
44 T Klingender ‘National information policy: The role of the information industry’ in Papers
presented at the National Information Policy Seminar, 7-8 December, 1981 LAA Canberra 1981 pp26-30.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 196
On the same subject, Judge reviewing public/private sector interaction45 noted
that Australia needed inexpensive communication for access to local and overseas
databases, appropriate local input to overseas databases, locally produced databases
providing comprehensive deeper coverage required for Australian purposes, all allied
with a strong library and document delivery system. He concluded that a public-
private distinction might be blurred by cooperation by an envisaged “third sector” that
might take the form of a public non-governmental establishment, of a government
established company, or a combination (like AUSINET) to which both sectors would
contribute.
Coxon was pessimistic about development of online services46 gloomily
indicating a trend away from library-based public services to more commercially
oriented approaches. At the time of his writing CSIRONET had been established on a
cost recovery basis with the AUSTRALIS service being developed, ACI had assumed
proprietor status for AUSINET after it was found that “an independent user
community hadn’t emerged to fulfil an management role”, and fees (though less than
cost recovery) had been introduced for Medline after pressure to charge the money-
making medical community.
From an STI bibliographic database point of view at least, the private sector has
not seen value in maintaining such services. The AMF was unable to sustain AESIS,
and its successor is now supported by a government entity. ANSTI and AMI have
always been public sector, though in the case of AMI there is contracted private sector
indexing. AANRO is public sector financed but produced contractually privately.
ENGINE is produced by a not-for-profit association that has restrained itself in recent
times to coverage of its own publications. ARRB, although it obtains private sector
funding for research work, has its information services infrastructure and thereby
ATRI production, financed by state and federal government authorities.
45 P Judge ‘Public sector/private sector interaction in Australian information policy’ in B J
Cheney (ed) VALA Second National Conference on Library Automation: Information management, 28th November - 1st December, 1983, University of Melbourne VALA, Melbourne 1984 Vol 1 pp56-82.
46 H Coxon ‘Online information services in Australia’ in B Katz & R Fraley (eds) International aspects of reference and information services Haworth Binghampton 1987 pp143-153.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 197
Drynan looking to the future47 concluded that production of local databases was
unlikely to provide financial bonus, but that it could be fostered by constant
marketing, verbal support and a “buy Australian” approach.
CSIRO’s role in supporting secondary services has decreased over time as has
its proportion of Australian scientific publication48, but it seems that it could have a
significant role to play at least in terms of stimulation, coordination and enhancement
of production of databases.
Discussion Although search engines and aggregated databases have the ability to bring
together material reported and stored in different repositories, dispersion can be
avoided by the value-adding process of bringing together material at one source with
common metadata. This supports the identification of content produced nationally. It
also better facilitates monitoring of productivity. Procedures whereby national input is
provided to international services, and then combined with locally produced
international publication ‘backfilled’ from the international services into consolidated
local databases, provide the most effective approach for doing this, and would leave
Australian researchers less subject to the vagaries of international services.
There has been a plethora of metadata schemas developed in recent years to
support various types of information services. Despite attempts to consolidate some of
these in fairly compatible formats, the standardisation to the extent that it comes, is
often developed by vendors in order to present a singular view of databases available
on platforms. Such is the case with Informit, which produces a reasonably coherent
view across databases including those of STI. Nevertheless Australian STI services
could benefit from a shared approach to producing metadata, which would itself
enable sharing of records between services.
Citation metadata is notably absent from Australian STI databases. Although ISI
has long monopolised the provision of such data, there is a growing number of
alternatives in specialised areas, and in order to deal with Web citation49. The cost of
47 E Drynan 2005 op cit 48 L Butler 2001 op cit (p27) 49 Roth DL 2005 'The emergence of competitors to the Science Citation Index and the Web of
Science' Current Science vol 89 no 9 pp1531-1536. http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/nov102005/1531.pdf [19th March 2006]
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 198
creating citation metadata can be reduced if the software used for producing
bibliographies in papers can in turn be used to provide the citation metadata for
consolidated databases – not just the reverse process as happens now when searchers
download references into bibliographic referencing software.
Utilisation of locally produced citation data would enable greater awareness of
the impact of Australian material, particularly in Australian publication not
encompassed by ISI’s indexes, which are the present source of indication of scientific
research performance. The proportion of material not covered by ISI varies from
discipline to discipline, but is particularly low in engineering and the computing
sciences where journal publication takes a back seat to conference publication.
Policy makers have found it beneficial to require through copyright legislation
the capture of the nation’s book publication output and report it through a national
bibliography, and this legislation is soon to be reviewed with reference to digital
material. Capture of the nation’s scholarly output would seem to be similarly
justifiable, and a mechanism for coverage of research literature would be welcome.
There were concerted efforts to develop STI services in Australia during the
1960s and 70s. However, although these efforts led to greater awareness of the issues,
national development lacked a strategy which stakeholders could follow to avoid gaps
in service and duplication. This situation was exacerbated by funding constraints.
However, a rapidly developing computing and communications environment coupled
with the efforts of some visionaries working independently in different agencies, saw
to it that the country was comparatively well-serviced using a combination of
international and local services. This situation is threatened unless there is renewed
commitment to resourcing, quality control and development for new user
requirements.
Conclusion This paper has attempted to set the scene for Part II which looks at the STI
services in the context of discipline formation. This Part I has provided an overview of
the database characteristics along with the context in which they have been developed.
The overview has been used to introduce some remarks relating to viability, continued
production and further development of the databases
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 5.2: AARL STI-I) 199
Acknowledgements This document draws upon a number of case studies to which many people
contributed through formal interview, or responses to queries. Particular thanks are
due to Bev Allen (Geoscience Australia), Lynne Beaumont (ARRB Group), Rob
Birtles (CSIRO), Warwick Cathro (NLA), Barry Cheney (VPL), Brenda Gerrie
(Infoscan), Lea Giles-Peters (SLQ). Sandra Gorringe (ANSTO), Hans Groenewegen,
Sara Hearn (Informit), Sandra Henderson (NLA), Mary Huxlin (ANSTO), Peter
Judge, Max Lay, Alison Martin (ARRB Group), Ian McCallum (Libraries Alive!),
Russell McCaskie (CSIRO), Sherrey Quinn (Libraries Alive!), Rosa Serratore (ARRB
Group), John Shortridge (VBM), Des Tellis, Elena Vvedenskaia (EA), Rolfe
Westwood (CSIRO), Janette Wright (Informit).
Thanks are also due to Christine Bruce and Guy Gable of QUT for comments on
work in progress, and to anonymous referees for constructive criticism on structure
and content.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 201
C h a p t e r 6 : I n f o r m a t i o n m a n a g e m e n t d i s c i p l i n e f o r m a t i o n i n S T I
The two papers in this Chapter derive from the case studies of Australian STI
services. They complement the two papers appearing in Chapter 5 in that the first one
looks at a single STI service and the second at the six services that were subject to case
studies. The orientation of each of the studies is to consider the services with respect to
information management discipline formation.
Contribution to research
Together these papers provide detailed analysis of STI services and conclude that
they are effective exemplars of information management discipline formation.
In each case, they make use of the information management framework detailed in
the book (excerpted in Chapter 3). They therefore comprise an examination of the cases
with respect to administrative, analytical and operational aspects, and find that these are
appropriate domains within which to consider information management practice. This
domain-based approach is contrasted with an earlier attempt to characterise information
management in levels proposed by Rowley (1998). This leads to some suggestions for
adaptation of the Rowley model to embody a domain-based approach.
The work also adds to the case study literature of information management.
Although some cases have previously been analysed explicitly at the strategic level (Orna,
1999) most case studies in the area have not utilised the framework of an information
management disciplinary model. This work is novel in that respect and points the way to
using such a model for further case studies which are needed for the discipline.
6.1. Journal article: single case study IM and STI services
A case study that analysed discipline formation in a specific Australian STI service,
the Australian Earth Sciences Information Service, was accepted for presentation at:
InSITE (Informing Science + Information Technology Education) Joint
Conference, Flagstaff, AZ, USA, 16-19 June, 2005.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 202
This paper was then revised and published as:
Middleton, M. (2005) Discipline formation in information management: case study
of scientific and technological information services. Journal of Issues in
Informing Science and Information Technology 2: 543-558.
Abstract
Discipline formation in information management is investigated through a
case study of the origination and development of information services for scientific
and technical information in Australia. Particular reference is made to a case of
AESIS, a national geoscience, minerals and petroleum reference database
coordinated by the Australian Mineral Foundation. This study provided a model for
consideration of similar services and their contribution to the discipline. The
perspective adopted is to consider information management at operational, analytical
and strategic levels. Political and financial influences are considered along with
analysis of scope, performance and quality control. Factors that influenced the
creation, transitions, and abeyance of the service are examined, and some
conclusions are drawn about an information management discipline being
exemplified by such services.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 203
Introduction
Discipline formation is a study of interest to academics who seek to define the
boundaries of their fields of endeavor. This is so that effective contextualization can
take place for study of a field by means of models for representing shared concepts;
coherent expression being given to research programs; commonly accepted methods of
investigation; and employing principles and values about which there is concurrence
within a professional community.
Analysis of discipline formation in information studies has taken various forms.
These range from investigation of the overlapping concerns of professional
associations though to compilations of seminal papers which provide underpinning
principles. However, most examination is of conceptual boundaries. Articulation of
what comprises the discipline varies considerably according to the perspective,
training and context of who is expressing it. So there are disparities between
information science, information systems, information management, knowledge
management, library science and the like. These are explored briefly in the following
section as a preamble to a historical study of the initiation of an application of
information management in Australia.
This study is being undertaken both as an investigation of discipline formation
per medium of utilization of principles in a nascent profession, and to provide a
historical record of the development of a particular type of information service – that
which deals with scientific and technical information (STI). This paper reports on one
case as a model for several other cases on genesis and development of Australian STI
services. These studies in turn form part of a wider study of discipline formation in
information management. A research question is therefore: does the provision of STI
services provide an effective exemplar for the discipline of information management?
The study is undertaken using a protocol that considers the services as
information management applications. These applications are analyzed in terms of
overlapping administrative, analytical and operational domains. This domain approach
was expressed by Diener (1992), and used to organize a book illustrating principles
and practice of information management (Middleton, 2002). The discipline as
expressed in the book forms the basis of the case study protocol.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 204
The development of STI services in Australia was stimulated during the 1960s
by several factors. These included improved mechanisms for information
dissemination, and developments in information policy. However, in some respects
progress was achieved in spite of policy frameworks and the lack of coordination
between the lead institutions that established and provided the services.
Most STI services developed in Australia were initiated in the 1970s
accompanied by concerns about the proportion of national material that was not
appearing in international databases, a growing desire to address public policy
concerns about provision of information, and establishment through information
technology of the technical capacity to provide such services. A review of these
influences has been presented by Middleton (2004).
This study is confined to an analysis of one service, the Australian Earth
Sciences Information Service (AESIS), but makes some reference to a number of other
services being developed at the time. The initial investigation is based upon
operational experience with several services along with a literature and database
review, and interviews. It therefore provides a descriptive history of one such service,
along with commentary on the factors contributing to its establishment, and
development in the light of other STI services.
Disciplinary Study of Information Management
There have been many years of debate on what comprises the defining
knowledge of the field of information science. Several works have provided overviews
and debate about disciplinary boundaries. Examples are the early compilation by
Saracevic (1970) and more recent accounts by Norton (2000), and Griffiths (2000).
It is to be expected that this debate would encompass the application of
information science in areas such as information systems and information
management, which themselves are spoken of as disciplines. However there seem to
be professional, research and conceptual barriers that inhibit such an inclusive
approach across the fields.
Contributing to these restraints are a lack of dialogue between information
science and information systems researchers, and a lack of conceptual reinforcement
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 205
of information management applications by theoretical constructs and principles of
information science.
In the case of lack of dialogue, this has been characterized as an apparent
disjunction between the research of information science and information systems For
example, Ellis, Allen, and Wilson (1999) considered the subfields of user studies and
information retrieval, which are of interest to both fields. Using citation analysis, they
found almost no overlap in relation to the disciplinary fields of the most highly cited
authors. They attributed this to the nature of scientific disciplines, the socialization
process of researchers in the different fields, and to institutional pressures.
This disjunction seems to persist in more recent analysis of discipline formation
being undertaken in the respective fields. For example Webber (2003) reviewing the
status of information science as a discipline in the UK, makes little reference to studies
in information systems or examination of an information systems/information science
boundary. She examines definitions that relate to investigation of information
properties and behavior, forces that govern its flow and use and techniques for
improve representation, organization, storage, retrieval and dissemination.
On the other side of the coin, the information systems academy also continues to
question whether information systems is a discipline. For example Khazanchi and
Munkvold (2000) look for disciplinary aspects, and they consider both information
systems and information science. However they differentiate them, seeing information
science as a secondary reference discipline of information systems. Their purview of
information systems has it being an investigation of effective use of information and
the potential impact of software systems and enabling information technologies on the
human, organizational, and social world. They maintain that although IT is the key
enabling technology for both information science and information systems, the focus
of information science is different in that it is on the structure and management of
large information entities, with documentalists and librarians being key agents.
Although they pay attention to information science, they do not consider such
elements as definitions of information or exploration of tenets and principles of
information science, and how these may inform work in information systems as an
application. With information systems study the emphasis seems to be substantially on
the systems and process; with information science the emphasis seems to be
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 206
substantially on the information and its content. They have in common an emphasis on
social context and use, but this has not brought unity of focus. Despite this, there
seems to be agreement in both fields about their essential interdisciplinarity.
The second point made earlier was about lack of conceptual reinforcement
between the science of information and its application through management. It is only
relatively recently that scholars have spoken in terms of formation of an information
management discipline. It remains problematical to do so since there are many
contributing disciplines, and it is difficult to identify a core that is accepted by all
adherents.
Nevertheless, there have been attempts to characterize information management
by considering how information science principles are applied in practice. For
example, writers such as Rowley (1998; 1999) have paid some attention to
categorizing the practice of principles articulated within information science.
A recent survey of the area (Wilson, 2003) says that if information management
is to have a viable role in organizational performance, then the function (rather than
the idea) must become accepted as a key part of organizational structures, and be
accompanied by coherent educational curriculum and a research agenda.
It seems that an agreed disciplinary paradigm is yet to be accepted. Further,
discipline formation investigations seem to focus more on information science
research without much reference to what is engaged in by practicing information
professionals.
Information management is often described as interdisciplinary or
multidisciplinary. It has yet to settle upon carefully developed methodologies that have
assured disciplinary integrity and success. However there are a significant number of
information professionals who believe they are carrying out something called
information management, as evidenced by the many professional associations that
have been formed using variations on the name information management.
Studies of what information professionals do have been many and varied since
Bell’s “postindustrial society” motivated such investigation. For example, a seminal
study that detailed the work of the information professions in the USA was that of
Debons, King, Mansfield, and Shirey (1981). Their broad categories for information
work included: managing information operations, programs, services, or databases;
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 207
information systems analysis; analyzing data and information on behalf of others;
preparing data and information for use by others; searching for data and information
on behalf of others; and information systems design.
Abbott (1988) has conducted sociological analysis of the division of expert
labor, and how the professions work. He concentrates on the way that professional
tasks are delineated, and stratified. His work includes case studies of three professional
areas, one of which is the information professions. He sees these as qualitative
(principally librarians and journalists), and quantitative (a “complex and contentious
group” including accountants, statisticians, operations researchers, and the like). He
envisaged these groups coalescing under one jurisdiction stimulated by the joint
catalysts of computing technology and of information science.
Many subsequent studies have commented upon the diffuseness of the
employment sector for such work. Cronin, Stiffler and Day (1993) saw it in terms of
the ‘heartland’ (traditional jobs in established institutions), the ‘hinterland’
(information work utilizing traditional skills, but outside the traditional institutions, or
requiring adaptation), and the ‘horizon’ (software engineers, telecommunications
managers, and the like).
The periodicals of the professional information associations often examine the
boundaries of the field, and what employment in it means. For example in Online,
Corcoran, Dagar and Stratigos (2000) report excerpts from their Outsell Inc study and
provide a wealth of data on roles. The most predominant are information research;
selection, evaluation and acquisition of external content sources; training and
educating end-users; developing and managing overall content solutions for users;
managing desktop deployment of external content; performing value-added
information analysis; and managing internally generated content.
The research reported in this paper attempts to extend the examination of
discipline formation by consideration of how information science principles have been
applied in the context of managing STI services. In this respect therefore, information
management is defined as application of information science. It is the application of
policy, analysis, and principles to techniques for improving representation,
organization, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 208
Research Method
A descriptive case study methodology (Yin, 2003) is applied in which the unit of
analysis is a system of action, in this situation, the establishment and maintenance of a
service, applied over multiple cases.
The protocol comprises:
• Project objectives that include:
- Provision of an overview of development of STI services in Australia;
- Extension of this overview through detailed investigation to take
account of public policy influences and corporate imperatives;
- Testing the utility of a case study procedure derived from description of
discipline formation.
• Collection of information via a combination of approaches requiring
examination of published and archival documentation, for which access
has been provided, and the interviewing of key figures who were involved
in the creation of the national services.
• Case study questions structured according to the context of a recently
written book on information management (Middleton, 2002). In each case
the STI service is to be examined from three information management
viewpoints described in detail in the publication, and briefly as:
- Operational aspects referring to the different tasks carried out during
staged processes of information handling, for example the creation;
distribution; organization (including provision of metadata for
information medium and content); retrieval; navigation processes for
interaction; presentation; and if necessary disposal or retirement of
information;
- Analytical aspects referring to user needs and systems analysis;
information resources analysis including audits and assessing
information worth; and evaluation procedures;
- Administrative aspects referring to policy and planning aspects and
strategic approaches in general.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 209
An example of how analytical and operational factors have been investigated to
provide some general guidance for database production is provided by Judge (in Judge
& Gerrie, 1986, p.102). This is derived from a survey of about 40 database producers
in Australia of which about half responded. Some examples of their modal (most
frequent) answers are shown in Table 1.
The analytical approach as defined for the protocol may be applied to
information users as well as to the information sources that they use. For example, this
has been carried out in relation to Australian STI services in general by Maguire, Weir
& Wood (1987). They interviewed 117 people including research scientists from the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), academic
scientists from universities, and technical managers drawn from different industry
categories. They determined that unsatisfied information needs were found to be
greater within the technical managers group, particular with respect to business
intelligence. All groups expressed need for greater and more wide ranging database
access.
Design and establishment:
- A working party or committee, typically of 5 people undertaken over a 12 month period and occupying 6 person months;
- In-house software requiring 6 person months to design and 6 person-months to develop;
- A thesaurus established over 18 person months. Typical characteristics:
- Monthly growth rate 250 records; - Bibliographic data with index terms and abstracts.
Operations - Selecting material 0.3 person months/month; - Indexing 0.5 person months/month; - Data entry 0.5 person months/month; - Validation and editing 0.2 person months/month; - Training staff 0.05 person months/month; - Training users 0.05 person months/month.
Table 1: Database information management (adapted from Judge & Gerrie, 1986)
Examples of user needs identification of STI in Australia described from the
perspective of individual professionals rather than as research studies have been
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 210
undertaken in a number of forums. For example both Lay and Thomas (Lane, 1984)
provide an engineering viewpoint.
STI Policy This brief overview of relevant public policy initiatives is given because of their
influence on the strategic aspects of information management within the
administrative domain of the case study following.
Drives to establish national information policy in Australia have begun and
faltered several times. For a time in the 1970s, STI services were a main focus of
information policy. A major attempt to identify requirements and articulate direction
was undertaken through the Scientific and Technological Information Services
Enquiry Committee. STISEC had been established by the federal government and
appointed by the National Library of Australia (NLA) to report on STI services. It
recommended both the development of a national information policy, and a national
central STI authority to act as focus for activities and promote their orderly
development (Australia. Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry
Committee, 1973-75).
A survey to inform the Committee was conducted based upon random sampling
of scientists from a wide range of professional groups. About 2000 responses were
received, and findings showed that significant numbers lacked ready access to primary
literature, and very few were receiving formal current awareness services.
CSIRO, although forming to some extent a distributed national science library,
was reluctant to take on a greater resource provision role without dramatic provision of
additional resources. Following the STISEC report however, it was active in
collaboration with other agencies in the development of databases. One of these
agencies was the NLA which had created the Australian National Scientific and
Technological Library (ANSTEL) as one of three ‘national libraries’ (the others being
for social sciences and the humanities), to function within NLA.
ANSTEL embodied such schemes as an Australian industry network which was
initiated, among other things, in order to produce current awareness bulletins in STI,
and an industry reports database (National Library of Australia, 1977). Unfortunately
the NLA was unable to communicate the objectives of services such as this in a way
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 211
that engaged the wider information services community within which it was seen to
operate. Moreover, it could not obtain enough resources for its ‘libraries within a
library’ to pursue its objectives, or to keep them viable.
All the same, NLA was able to point to developments under the umbrella of
ANSTEL that had in fact already been embarked upon. For example, there were from
1970 the MEDLARS and subsequent MEDLINE services in association with the U.S.
National Library of Medicine, and the Australian Department of Health. There was
also the Canadian CAN/SDI software to provide current awareness services from
BIOSIS and ERIC databases.
Nevertheless there remained disquiet about what was perceived to be the lack of
authority (Swan in Peguero, 1983, p.147). However, the then ANSTEL director
suggested that if a national database policy were needed then it would be necessary to
demonstrate the failings of present services, and suggest alternative mechanisms. He
thought this was unnecessary as ad hoc development had resulted in worthwhile
achievements (Yates in Peguero, 1983, p. 30).
Outside CSIRO and NLA, little was done to foster coordinated STI services
development. Despite this, ad hoc development resulted in extensive services based
upon international databases, complemented by the production of local databases.
For the purposes of this paper, analysis is confined to one service, AESIS. A
summary of its characteristics compared with two of the other services being
examined is shown in Table 2.
AESIS AMI (includes HEAPS) ENGINE Commenced 1976 1983 1982 Creators Australian Mineral Foundation NLA Inst. of Engineers, Australia Subject matter Earth sciences Health & medicine Engineering Coverage (1907-)1975 – 2001 1968 1980 Annual size ~4,000 ~2,000 No Overseas material
About Australia 1979 - About Australia; by Australians ~1300
Types of documents
BCDJMRrTS BCJPRV BCGJNRT
Vendors Ausinet; CLIRS Informit, AMF
Aust Medline network Informit
Australis Informit
International ties
No Some Medline overlap 2001- No
Vocabulary control
AGMP thesaurus MeSH SHE: subject Headings for Engineering – 1993; Ei 1993-
Current awareness
AESIS quarterly AESIS special lists
Tailored searches No
Other outputs AESIS cumulation - fiche Retrospective list series
Bibliographies No
Full text No Meditext link 1996- No Table 2: Australian STI databases
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 212
Key for types of documents A Audio recordings J Journal articles R Reports: technical, grey B Books L Legislation r Reports – open-file b Book reviews M Maps S Standards/specifications C Conference papers N News items T Theses D Digital data & software O Ongoing research V Visual media G Government papers P Pamphlets/posters W Websites
Data of this type were compiled for a period during the 1980s by the Australian
Database Development Association (Quinn, 1988).
Case Study – AESIS
Provision of AESIS Service
Instigation
The genesis and early development of AESIS has been described in a number of
papers, for example by Parkin & Tellis, (1977) and Tellis (1979). These papers draw
attention to the hitherto fragmented bibliographic control over Australian geoscience
information and the difficulty in locating it. They make mention of the different bodies
that at the time generated significant amounts of information, among them the State
Geological Surveys, and Mines Departments; the national Bureau of Mineral
Resources, Geology and Geophysics (BMR); the mineral research areas of CSIRO;
and a number of mining and exploration companies. Many of these enterprises had
repositories of their own material, but there was little collaborative effort to share it,
and no clearinghouse facility existed.
A compendium of the range of internal databases including bibliographic and
numeric, along with collections being constructed up to this period is documented in a
geoscience seminar conducted in 1981 (Shelley; Jones in Australian Mineral
Foundation, 1981).
In 1970, the Australian Mineral Foundation (AMF) had been established, among
other things to launch a resource centre for the mining and petroleum industries, and
began to produce print-based current awareness services. It also conducted a national
meeting in 1975 at which existing in-house systems of different agencies were
discussed, and at which it was accorded a mediating role for a national coordinated
scheme.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 213
Database production
AESIS, produced by AMF, was to report both published and unpublished
material. The system was maintained in cooperation with CSIRO, State Departments
of Mines and Geological Surveys, NLA, the Australian Geological Survey
Organization (AGSO) (formerly the BMR, and at the time of writing known as
Geoscience Australia), the Australian Geoscience Information Association, and many
companies.
The published material was collected by AMF which provided document
delivery services in support of material identified in literature searches. The
unpublished material was reported on standardized datasheets by collaborating
institutions. Subject content was to be described using a standardized vocabulary. Data
entry was carried out via AMF onto a platform that was provided by the CSIRONET
computing network..
Database coverage
Earth sciences were taken to include the disciplines of geology, geophysics,
geochemistry, mining, mineral processing, geomorphology, oceanography, energy,
metallurgy, petroleum and natural gas technology, and environmental protection.
Commencing in 1976 AESIS covered published and unpublished documents
generated in Australia on the earth sciences in these disciplines. From 1979, coverage
was extended to include material dealing with continental Australia published by non-
Australian sources.
There were also efforts to include material from prior to 1976, especially for
open-file reports (limited distribution documents held in government departments,
which could be viewed), and theses, and for material produced by government bodies
such as the then BMR, and the State Geological surveys. Retrospective coverage for
published material has also been undertaken through special projects for the
Geological Society of Australia, Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists,
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and various Australian Royal
Societies. Tabulation of records by year going back to 1907 along with distribution of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 214
material by broad categories up to 1980 is given by AMF (Australian Mineral
Foundation, 1981)
When production of the database went into abeyance in January 2001 it
contained about 200,000 records.
Material scanned for AESIS was taken from many sources including journals,
monographs in series, books, conference papers and proceedings, technical reports,
maps, theses, and unpublished and open-file reports. Document backup other than for
theses and unpublished material is provided by AMF (Tellis in Lane, 1984). The
service did not progress to the point of including digital full text.
Database searching
The thesaurus used for indexing references to the database has been through
several editions firstly as the Australian thesaurus of earth sciences and related terms,
but most recently as the Australian geoscience, minerals and petroleum thesaurus.
Copies of the Thesaurus have been made available from the AMF in either hardcopy
or digital format.
This thesaurus was a product of AMF created independently of the AESIS
process, but readily usable for indexing the database.
The record format, illustrated in Figure 1 is an example of a record as it is
formatted for full display from the Informit service. Features of note in the record
include:
• The descriptor field (SU) in which are included terms from the Thesaurus.
• The basin field (BS) which when appropriate, records geological basins –
this part of the description was initially held with the descriptors, but as
with tectonic units (TC), separate fields have now been created for these
terms (existing records were altered to shift the terms into their correct
fields).
• The map reference fields (M100, M250) which record codes corresponding
to 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 map sheet areas.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 215
• The availability field (AV) that indicates access to unpublished material.
TI: Report on Gidgealpa area magnetic survey. TN: OEL00020; OEL00021 AU: Delhi-Australian-Petroleum-Ltd; Santos-Ltd; South-Australia-Department-of-Mines-and-Energy; Hall-J-McG SO: South Australia. Department of Primary Industries and Resources. Report Book. RN: 706 COLL: 3 fiche, 8 pages; 1 appx, 10 plans PY: 1964 AV: Available only from the Department CC: 1230; 1445 SU: Geophysics-; Natural-gas-fields; Geological-structures; Anticlines-; Mapping-; Geophysical-surveys-SA; Ground-magnetic-surveys; Remote-areas; Deserts-; Productivity-; Surveying-; Navigation-; Line-location-maps; Seismic-traverses; Base-line; Magnetic-survey-methods; Magnetic-survey-equipment; Proton-precession-magnetometers; Principles-; Field-instruments; Magnetic-field-intensity; Diurnal-variation; Error-correction; Calibration-; Calculators-; Discussion-; Magnetic-profiles; TMI-maps; Qualitative-analysis; Magnetic-anomalies; Confidence-limits; Operations-report; BS: Eromanga Basin; Cooper Basin; Warburton Basin TC: Gidgealpa Anticline MI: Gidgealpa 3; Gidgealpa 2; Gidgealpa gas field; Gidgealpa 1 LO: South Australia: Strzelecki Desert; Cooper Creek; MA: SG5414 6942 ANN: Ground magnetic survey carried out by SADM for Delhi Australian Petroleum Ltd at Gidgealpa from 18/3/64-16/4/64. Total magnetic field of the Earth was measured using the nuclear precession magnetometer, and the results presented in contour and profile form. Due to a lack of adequate diurnal control and accurate station positioning, accuracy of results does not come up to capability of the instrument. Recommended that more attention be paid to navigation and diurnal control in future surveys over sedimentary basins. SC: S M250: SG5414 M100: 6942 ORG: DPP; SAN; SDM DT: U UD: 18-12-2000 AN: 200012103
Figure 1: Example of AESIS record (from Informit)
Information Management Aspects
This analysis is based upon the protocol outlined earlier under research
methodology, and considers in turn, the administrative, analytical and operational
aspects.
Administrative information management
AESIS was coordinated by the AMF in cooperation with the many agencies,
referred to previously, and with the principal computer support of CSIRO. Collectively
the agencies contributed about 25% of operating costs. The costs were borne mainly
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 216
by the petroleum industries through the Australian Geoscience Information
Association and many companies (Tellis in Peguero, 1983).
Tellis (1986) writing in general terms about management of databases thought
that when goals, objectives and system inputs and outputs had been considered, then
the viability of a database needed to take account of:
• Target information: the growing area of information that is useful but not
(otherwise) readily accessible.
• Clientele: a relatively large population of users who would use the
accessible target information.
• Database: a storage and switching mechanism for linking information to
clientele.
• Resources: funding this as well as cooperation from various parties.
• Control and coordination.
He exemplified this approach in the overall functional format of AESIS as shown
in Figure 2.
This provided the framework for development milestones as shown in Table 3.
Of these, costs at the time were A$6,000 for the survey, A$55,000 for thesaurus
development and production of first edition (including thesaurus software
development by WRE and AMDEL), and A$82,000 systems development (by CSIRO
CILES using costs estimated at equivalent bureau and software package costs at the
time)
AESIS quarterly was estimated at A$8,000 annually for the 500 subscriptions
and annual microfiche cumulations at A$1,000 for the same number of subscriptions.
Varying detail of different costings for 1980 is available (Tellis, 1981; 1986).
These amount to A$129,000 for direct costs with management and support service
costs (A$44,000 is direct processing costs, A$19,000 is for production cost of
products, and A$66,000 management and support services costs of which about 48%
is for purchase of material and about 39% for salaries of staff).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 217
Figure 2: AESIS overall functional format (from Lavo, 1981, p. 25)
Table 3: AESIS milestones (Tellis, 1979)
1. 1972: AMF Australia-wide information services survey conducted to ascertain industry needs along with degree of participation to be expected from government academic and industry sources.
2. 1973: ERISAT commenced as manually produced monthly current awareness bulletin that provided an experimental system for thesaurus development and AESIS to follow.
3. 1974: The development of the thesaurus an indexing vocabulary for the geosciences in Australia.
4. 1975: the first geosciences information seminar held at AMF that gave a mandate for the creation of the earth sciences bibliographic database.
5. 1976: Production of first working edition of Australian thesaurus of earth sciences and related terms; pilot study and development of AESIS with some sample products on CSIRONET.
6. 1978 Stabilization of AESIS products and production routines for AESIS quarterly, AESIS cumulation on microfiche, AESIS special lists, and retrospective search output forms
7. 1979 Computer typesetting and production of second thesaurus edition in hard copy 8. 1980 Transfer of ESRISAT from manual production to computer typesetting in same
form as AESIS quarterly with new ERISAT six-monthly cumulation for international material; mounting of AESIS on Ausinet for interactive public use.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 218
An extended figure of A$158,000 per annum is derived by including a fifth of
the total development cost (assuming amortization over a five year period). On this
basis of this maximum figure, a unit cost of A$42.7 is derived for each of the 3700
records produced by the two services during the period. A unit cost figure of about
A$20 corresponds with actual processing and is commensurate with that of figures
reported by other services at the time
These attempts to quantify processing costs, and willingness to share them
publicly were a valuable lead for other database developers embarking upon similar
ventures at the time. What such figures could not do however, was to value the
accumulated information. This is particularly poignant in view of the subsequent
demise of AMF for financial reasons.
AMF ceased operations at the end of 2001 because of the drastic decline in the
number of companies and professionals within the mining industry. It became un-
economic for it to continue to operate, however attempts have been made to support
key operations such as AESIS via other avenues.
In April 2002, Chief Government Geologists from federal and state authorities
had been unable to agree on a funding model to support continued AESIS production.
However Geoscience Australia subsequently has entered an arrangement with the
American Geological Institute to produce indexed material in association with
Australian state agencies. Inclusion of records in AGI’s Georef database began in
November 2003. Therefore a path has been followed similar to other services that have
provided input as part of an international approach.
Analytical information management
For AESIS the principal analytical aspects to be considered are the determination
of user needs, the identification of appropriate material for inclusion, and the
evaluation of performance of the system.
A 1972 survey (Dixon & Tellis, 1972) was the major analysis of anticipated user
needs for the service. However although this survey sought information on individual
user needs within organizations detailed in an appendix, the document confined itself
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 219
to reporting institutional coverage and current information provision along with
recommendations concerning an agency to handle an STI service.
Subsequently, AMF strived to be comprehensive within the subject areas
delineated. The difficulties presented in being so inclusive included fugitive material
such as papers presented at regional seminars hosted by discipline areas outside the
core. They endeavored to identify such material from accession lists, current
awareness bulletins and publishers blurbs. An arrangement with NLA to make use of
received deposit copies petered out. No systematic input of theses was achieved
despite a suggestion for ‘data transmission sheets’ to be submitted by universities.
Nevertheless 860 theses were included in the database by October 1983 (Tellis in
Lane, 1984). There are now many thousands.
There was also a project to include open-file company exploration reports and
theses for the period 1965-75 sponsored by the Australian Mineral Industries Research
Association and thirteen companies.
Performance evaluation carried out included the use of an evaluative framework
set up in a study by Pruett on the international Georef database (Tellis, 1986). This
was used with reference to AESIS to deduce among other things:
• Subject coverage was wider than other geoscience databases.
• Currency was markedly higher than other geoscience services.
• Thesis coverage was not as comprehensive as desirable.
• There was a low incidence of duplicate records.
• Document type tags enabled isolation of proceedings, chapters, etc if
required.
• Over 40% of citations were to open-file and unpublished survey reports.
• Indexing provided for distinction between processes (e.g. ‘’faulting’), and
occurrences (e.g. ‘faults’); however the collaborative nature of indexing,
may lead to inconsistencies in this respect, which may be addressed by
training, or global corrections for the database.
• Map sheet references provided for searching by grid references.
• Formal training programs were still to be initiated.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 220
Tellis (in Judge & Gerrie, 1986) also examined performance in terms of cost
effectiveness and benefit. He commented upon the difficulty of assessing effectiveness
without recourse to data from comparable systems, though finding through discussion
with colleagues that unit costs are comparable. He made particular reference to trade-
offs such as distributed collaborative indexing, and other cooperative procedures.
By contrast, cost benefit (with orientation towards user impressions) was
examined in more detail. For example, he cited earlier measures of the number of
journals that a user would have to scan if a current awareness bulletin were
unavailable, and applied them to the AESIS service which itself was found to exhibit a
Bradford distribution whereby in this case 70% of the reported papers are covered by
37 periodicals.
Beginning with estimates of the cost to a company of a professional’s time, and
taking into account salaries and scanning times that would be necessary to look at the
same literature if the service had not been available, he was able to tabulate significant
benefits in dollar terms by subtracting processing costs from estimated scanning costs.
Operational information management
Initially, the database was created on CSIRONET by dispatch of coding forms to
CSIRO from AMF for paper tape data entry. Later data entry took place directly from
AMF, and from 1982 this was managed through a host DEC PDP11/44 minicomputer
for validation, then storage on a Cyber76 on CSIRONET in Canberra. The thesaurus
was transferred to the PDP host (Tellis in Peguero, 1983).
Software support was provided by the CILES System Development Group. The
live database was updated monthly on CSIRONET. From 1980, quarterly updates
were also produced for Ausinet where they were mounted after conversion to STAIRS
with software developed by ACI Computer Services. Full document backup (or
referral for unpublished documents) was provided by AMF.
In 1987 AESIS was relocated from CSIRONET to CLIRS as part of its
Australian Resources Industry Database concept.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 221
Other operational aspects concerned the continuing maintenance of the thesaurus
terminology and production of new editions, as well as the production of other titles
that were structured along the same lines as AESIS. For example, Earth Science and
Related Information Selected Annotated Titles (ESRISAT) selectively covered earth
sciences serial publications received by the AMF and South Australian Department of
Mines and Energy libraries and State Library of South Australia (Tellis in Peguero,
1983). Seven indexes: subject, locality, author, map sheet, mine/deposit/well/name,
stratigraphic and serial title, were created for the monthly service which also had semi-
annual cumulations. These were the same indexes as for AESIS, and the material
included incorporated AESIS updates along with library acquisitions.
Document delivery costs estimated at $5 per request excluding requester’s cost
for normal (comparing with quoted national figures of $5.56 and lending of $3.72)
although 90% are about $3.60 are close to the national figure and 10% are about 4-5
times that.
Conclusion
There were concerted efforts to develop STI services in Australia during the
1960s and 70s within a public information policy framework. However, although these
efforts led to greater awareness of the issues, national development lacked a strategy
which stakeholders could follow to avoid gaps in service and duplication. This
situation was exacerbated by funding constraints. However, a rapidly developing
computing and communications environment coupled with the efforts of some
visionaries working independently in different agencies, saw to it that the country was
comparatively well-serviced using a combination of international and local services.
One of the agencies in the vanguard was the AMF, whose AESIS service
provides the focus for the case study. The initial success of AESIS can in no small part,
be attributed to the acuity of its management, and it provided an prototype for similar
Australian services. Despite the demise of its harboring organization, the quality of the
database has seen it revived in a different context for the petroleum and exploration
industry. However, its continuation will happen effectively only by application of the
collaborative principles that contributed to is original success.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.1: IM discipline: JIISIT AESIS article) 222
This case study approach aspires to test whether a particular service is carried
out according to the tenets of a domain-based information management approach. This
requires attention to be paid to planning and strategy through administrative, analytical
and operational aspects. The AMF was found to be conscious of the need for
consideration of each of these domains, though the elements were not articulated in
those terms by the enterprise itself at the time of development.
The three domains have proved in be useful in this case for conceptualizing the
application of information management. They represent an approach by Middleton
(2002) that endeavors to illustrate how information management reconciles
information science principles. Therefore if such understanding can be applied in
similar cases, it should prove useful for the planning and development of services.
This study is limited by focusing on a single case, by examining it at a time when it is
no longer operational in the same way, and by limited recourse to historical records.
However, subsequent case analysis of similar STI services is showing promise in
confirming the appropriateness of the approach
Whether the analysis can be extended to information services in general is
problematical. However it seems to provide a useful understanding at least in this
constrained domain, of those areas that need to be addressed to make such a service
work well according to tenets of the field.
Acknowledgement
My great appreciation is extended to Des Tellis for his input to and comments
upon the AESIS material.
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Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 225
6.2. Journal article: multiple case study of STI services discipline formation
This is the second of two papers dealing with Australian STI services, in this case
examining the services through an information management lens. It has been accepted for
publication as:
Middleton, M. (2006, in press) Scientific and technological information services in
Australia. II. Discipline formation in information management. Australian
Academic and Research Libraries 37(3)
Abstract
This second part of an analysis of scientific and technical
information services (STI) in Australia considers their development in the
context of discipline formation in information management. The case
studies used are the STI services from Part I. A case study protocol is
used to consider the extent to which the development of the services may
be described in terms of information management domains. Specific
reference is made to Australian Agriculture and Natural Resources
Online (AANRO), the Australian Medical Index (AMI), Australian
Nuclear Science & Technology Information (ANSTI), Australian
Transport Index (ATRI), AusGeoref and its forerunner AESIS, and the
Australian engineering database (ENGINE).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 226
Introduction
This is the second part of a two part work that looks into scientific and
technological information (STI) services. The first part1 focuses on their history and
development in Australia. In this second part, the services are examined through the
lens of an information management disciplinary framework. An objective is to discuss
the extent to which information management may be regarded as a discipline, and then
to consider how present understanding of information management has been informed
through the development of STI services. Case studies of the administration of STI
services in the areas of earth sciences, engineering, health, natural resources, transport,
and nuclear science are used to support the analysis. A rationale for the choice of these
cases is given in Part I.
A major factor in the characterisation of a profession is the body of knowledge
to which it subscribes. Although this may be relatively coherent in fields of scientific
endeavour, in the social sciences the body of knowledge may be drawn from disparate
subjects and the practitioners are less likely to come from the same educational
background. This seems very much the case with information professionals. Their
professional training, even when focused on information, may come from streams as
diverse as journalism, public administration, librarianship, recordkeeping,
communication, information systems, or organisational research.
Is there a body of knowledge that these groups may jointly make use of so that
they can advance as a coherent profession? Consideration of what constitutes a
discipline normally takes place by examination of the underlying principles and
models of the body of knowledge. This has been done regularly for the information
professions through deliberation upon what constitutes ‘information science’.
Although this paper reviews disciplinary approaches to information science, its
attention is more focused by way of contrast on information practice in order to
suggest elements of a discipline through information management as derived from
principles.
1 M Middleton ‘Scientific and technological information services in Australia I. History and
development’ Australian Academic and Research Libraries vol 37 no 2 2006 pp111-135.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 227
Research method
This paper has arisen from a detailed case study of several STI services using a
case study protocol which is explained in Part I, and that is supported by interviews
with key participants, use of different versions of databases produced, and reference to
literature, archives, and supporting material created to support users of databases.
The project’s case study questions were structured according to the context of a
recently written book on information management2, because this book uses defined
domains of information management to describe how information science principles
are applied with practical examples. The three information management domains as
detailed in the book are:
• Operational, referring to the different tasks carried out during staged
processes of information handling, for example the creation, distribution,
organisation (including provision of metadata for information medium and
content), retrieval, navigation processes for interaction, presentation, and
where necessary, disposal or retirement of information.
• Analytical referring to user needs and systems analysis, information
resources analysis including audits and assessing information worth, and
evaluation procedures.
• Administrative in this context referring to policy and planning aspects and
strategic approaches in general.
Outcomes are documented as characteristics of the STI services in Part I, and
then interpreted in the context of discipline formation here in Part II as factors within
the domains outlined above.
Studies that investigate some of these factors have been carried out in Australia
previously in similar contexts, for example:
2 M Middleton Information management: a consolidation of operations, analysis and strategy
CSU Centre for Information Studies Wagga Wagga 2002.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 228
• Some analytical and operational factors were investigated to provide general
guidance for database production by Judge and Gerrie3, who surveyed about
40 database producers in Australia and itemised examples of design and
operational requirements.
• An approach at the analytical level and applied to information users as well
as to the information sources that they use was carried out with respect to
Australian STI services in general by Maguire, Weir & Wood4. They
interviewed research scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), academic scientists from
universities, and technical managers from industry in order to tabulate a
range of formal and informal resources consulted, and to isolate unsatisfied
information needs.
• At the analytical level, examples of user needs identification described from
the perspective of individual professionals rather than as research studies,
have been reported in a number of Australian forums. For example, both Lay
and Thomas provide an engineering viewpoint5.
This part of the study examines the characteristics of the STI services by
interpreting the extent to which they correspond to the defined domains, and in this
manner represent an evolving disciplinary framework.
Discipline formation
There has been a limited amount of explicit consideration of information
management discipline formation, so it is necessary to look beyond the field in order
3 P Judge & B Gerrie (eds) Small scale bibliographic databases Academic Press Sydney 1986. 4 C Maguire T Weir & L Wood Scientific and technological information: Its use and supply in
Australia Department of Science Scientific Development Division Canberra 1987. 5 Described in separate contributions by Lay and Thomas in L Lane (ed) Engineering
information and documentation in Australia: Problems and solutions; proceedings of a national seminar conducted by Footscray Institute of Technology, 25 November 1983 Footscray Institute of Technology Footscray 1984.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 229
to take into account methods that have been used for identifying discipline formation
in other areas of knowledge and their application.
The process of discipline formation is sometimes characterised as providing new
ways of looking at knowledge. For example the publication in the seventeenth century
of Newton’s Principia provided mathematical principles for natural philosophy, and
thereby introduced a formal language that was able to introduce disciplines such as
physics and astronomy.
Examination of how disciplines form must first decide what a discipline is.
Becher and Trowler have reviewed different approaches to this6, noting such aspects
as tradition, sets of values and beliefs, mode of enquiry, conceptual structure, and a
network of communications. They make a distinction between two types of emphasis
in investigative studies. These are either an epistemological one where the focus is
concepts and fundamental aims, or a sociological one where there is a focus on
organised social groupings. Nevertheless they recognise that most commentators pay
attention to both aspects.
Study of discipline formation is often pursued in general terms by philosophers
or sociologists, or in relation to particular disciplines, normally by authorities within
those disciplines who are trying to establish disciplinary limits. Their approach might
best be described as historiographic analysis of documentation7. Abbott’s sociological
approach has focused on the professions8. He acknowledges that the clarity with which
the professional borders are defined may affect what he terms the jurisdiction of a
profession, and therefore its vulnerability. His approach to defining professions is
relevant to examining discipline boundaries, particularly since he has specifically
considered the information professions.
6 T Becher and P R Trowler Academic tribes and territories: intellectual enquiry and the culture of
disciplines 2nd edn SRHE & Open University Press Buckingham UK 2001. 7 Their study involves relativist analytical approaches that seem to range from Kuhnian philosophy
of science, to Foucaultian examinations of disciplinarity and the power structures involved in its construction, for example: P Baehr Founders, classics, canons: modern disputes over the origins and appraisal of sociology's heritage Transaction Publishers New Brunswick NJ 2002; and H Pai The portfolio and the diagram Cambridge MA 2002
8 A D Abbott The system of professions: an essay on the division of expert labor University of Chicago Press Chicago 1988.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 230
Information science as a discipline
There have been many years of debate on what comprises the defining
knowledge of the field of information science. Several works have provided overviews
and debate about disciplinary boundaries. Examples are the early compilation by
Saracevic, and more recent accounts by Norton, and by Griffiths9. In each case they
emphasise the interdisciplinarity or ‘boundary spanning’ of research, but they do not
explore to a great extent the application of information science in areas such as
systems and management, although Griffiths does give some examples of practice.
Elsewhere, information systems and information management are also spoken of as
disciplines. However there seem to be professional, research and conceptual barriers
that inhibit an inclusive approach to them as a discipline across the applications.
The disjunction between information science and information systems
researchers has been observed repeatedly. For example Martin10 noted that database
searching for information management material showed little duplication of coverage
in three different databases favoured by the data processing, management and
information science fraternities. Later, Ellis, Allen, and Wilson11 used citation analysis
of the subfields of user studies and information retrieval to illustrate the lack of
dialogue between respective fields. Likewise, a recent review of information science
as a discipline in the UK12 makes little reference to studies in information systems, or
examination of an information systems/information science boundary.
In information systems study, emphasis seems to be substantially on the systems
and process; in information science the emphasis seems to be substantially on the
information and its content. They have in common an emphasis on social context and
9 T Saracevic Introduction to information science. NY: Bowker NY 1970; M Norton
Introductory concepts in information science. Medford, NJ, USA: Information Today Medford NJ 2000; J-M Griffiths ‘Back to the future: information science for the new millennium’ Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science vol 26 no 4 2000 pp24-27.
10 W J Martin 'Information management in the United Kingdom' in A Kent & C M Hall (eds) Encyclopedia of library and information science Vol. 51 suppl 14 Dekker, NY 1993 pp266-276.
11 D Ellis D Allen & T Wilson ‘Information science and information systems: Conjunct subjects disjunct disciplines’ Journal of the American Society for Information Science vol 50 no 12 1999 pp1095-1107.
12 S Webber Information science in 2003: a critique Journal of Information Science vol 29 no 4 2003 pp.311-329.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 231
use, but this has not brought unity of focus. For example a joint disciplinary
consideration of information systems and information science13 found a need to
differentiate them, seeing information science as a secondary reference discipline of
information systems.
Debate in the information science area has an epistemological orientation, in that
it is more concerned with knowledge that is pertinent to study of information, than it is
with the way in which findings of this study of information are applied. If there is a
discipline of information science then, it is perhaps a meta-discipline that draws upon
what Griffiths terms ‘disciplines of information’ that include study as diverse as
cybernetics, bibliometrics, semantics and systemics.
Information management as a discipline
It seems that a commonly accepted disciplinary paradigm for information
science remains some way off. A paradigm for information management is similarly
inchoate. Although some scholars have spoken of an information management
discipline, the relationship between what is pursued through research and what is
applied by practicing information professionals remains tenuous. Wilson has stated
that a coherent educational curriculum and a research agenda must be associated with
information management if it is to have a viable role in organisational performance,
with its functions being accepted as a key part of organisational structures14.
There appears still to be a lack of conceptual reinforcement between the science
of information and its application through management. However, there have been
attempts by Rowley to characterise information management as a discipline by
considering how information science principles are applied in practice15. Her work
13 D Khazanchi & B E Munkvold ‘Is information systems a science? An inquiry into the nature of
the information systems discipline’ Database for Advances in Information Systems vol 31 no 3 2000 pp24-42.
14 T D Wilson ‘Information management’ in J Feather & R P Sturges (eds) International encyclopedia of information and library science 2nd edn Routledge London 2003 pp. 263-277.
15 J Rowley ‘Towards a framework for information management’ International Journal of Information Management vol 18 no 5 1998 pp359-369; J Rowley ‘In pursuit of the discipline of information management’ New Review of Information and Library Research no 5 1999 pp65-77.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 232
builds upon studies that analyse the work carried out by people who are information
professionals16.
If we are to differentiate information management as the practice of information
science, then it is necessary to define a framework. As noted by Macevièiûtė and
Wilson17 the concept depends on the interpretation of the words ‘information
management’.
It is not only the concepts of "information" as such, but the multiple
meanings of the phrase, emphasis of its elements, or the word order as
well as the scientific perspective. The phrase is also used to mean
something other than what the LIS field considers to be the management
of information resources. For example, it is used as an abbreviation for:
the management of IT, information systems management, management
information systems, etc. The meaning of the phrase is even more
clouded by the emergence of new, related terms, such as "knowledge
management", which in many cases has an identical meaning to information
management …
These writers have later produced a compilation18 in which authors of earlier
original papers have been asked to revise those papers in order to address them to
researchers who are following discipline development. From these revisions
Macevièiûtė and Wilson noted such developments as the expansion of study of
16 A seminal study that identified broad categories of information work was A Debons D W King U
Mansfield & D L Shirey The information professional: survey of an emerging field Dekker NY 1981; Abbott op cit characterised the information professions as qualitative (principally librarians and journalists), and quantitative (a “complex and contentious group” including accountants, statisticians, operations researchers, and the like), and foresaw these groups coalescing under one jurisdiction stimulated by the joint catalysts of computing technology and of information science; the periodicals of professional information associations often examine the boundaries of the field, and what employment in it means, for example M Corcovan L Dagar & A Stratigos ‘The changing roles of information professionals’ Online vol 24 no 2 2000 pp28-33 report excerpts from an Outsell Inc study on information management roles
17 E Macevièiûtė & T D Wilson ‘The development of the information management research area’ Information Research vol 7 no 3 http://InformationR.net/ir/7-3/paper133.html [19th March 2006]
18 E Macevièiûtė & T D Wilson (eds) Introducing information management: An information research reader Facet London 2005. (updates of papers appearing published with the same title at http://InformationR.net/).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 233
information networking, the proliferation of application areas, and the emergence of
knowledge management (as a term rather than a new field). After conducting a
bibliometric clustering analysis using term association of research publications, they
remark upon the continuing diversity of the field.
Typical of the elements used to describe information management work are:
evaluation and selection of sources of information content; acquisition of sources and
services; information research; description, provision of metadata, and organisation of
information repositories; managing information content created by organisations;
preparing interfaces for presentation or processes for dissemination of packaged
information; undertaking information analysis and value-adding; determination of user
requirements of information systems and application of these to system development;
and training of users of information systems.
The most explicit attention to discipline formation in information management
has been paid by Rowley19. The approach that she has adopted is discursive, and
involves characterisation of what are perceived to be elements of the field taking
historical approaches into account. It is to some extent historiographic as a
contribution to its model building. She adopts a viewpoint that information is practice-
based with both systems and behavioural dimensions. She regards information
processing as an activity common to all information users, and information
management as being the province of professionals (albeit with imprecise professional
boundaries), who draw upon many contributing disciplines including management
science, information systems, computing science and cybernetics. She maintains that
the structuring of information is fundamental to the professional approach and requires
agents who will take responsibility for such structure, taking into account issues such
as selection, time, hierarchy and sequence.
With Butcher, Rowley has proposed model that they term the 7Rs. This involves
information passing through a cycle between individuals and organisations and
successively requiring Reading (where it comes from the public to the personal
domain) Recognition, Re-interpretation, Reviewing (following here it may pass back
to the public domain), Release, Re-structuring, Retrieval, then resuming the cycle.
Their approach would appear to owe something to the philosophy of Popper, for
19 J Rowley 1998, 1999 op cit
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 234
example the distinction between private knowledge and social knowledge as described
by Kemp. It also seems to reflect to some extent the models of scientific
communication explicated twenty years earlier by Garvey although there is no
reference to these as sources20.
Rowley also speaks in terms of information managers working at different levels
within the framework of an information environment that she in turn portrays as
having different levels: information contexts; information systems; and information
retrieval. Within each of these she sees information managers as working within
different levels of definition of information. Thus for her at the:
• Environment level, the information processors are society as a whole, the
information managers are corporations and educational institutions, and
information is a commodity and constitutive force.
• Contextual level, the processors are organisations, information is seen as a
resource and the information managers are working in strategic positions or
as organisational scientists.
• System level, processing is carried out by a system, the information
managers are system analysts and designers, and information is seen as data
or thing.
• Retrieval level, information processors are individuals, information
managers are indexers, database designers, interface designers and
information is regarded as subjective knowledge.
Frishammer, building upon Rowley’s work, has attempted to place information
management and related activities such as environmental scanning and market
research within an information processing context21. It is suggested that while Rowley
subsumes information systems within information management, that an alternative
20 D Butcher & J E Rowley ‘The 7 Rs of information management’ Managing Information vol 5 no
2 1998 pp34-36; D A Kemp The nature of knowledge: an introduction for librarians Bingley London 1976; W D Garvey Communication, the essence of science: facilitating information exchange among librarians, scientists, engineers, and students Pergamon Oxford 1979.
21 J Frishammar Characteristics in information processing approaches International Journal of Information Management vol 22 no 2 2002 pp143-156.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 235
perspective might actually be that the entire framework is concerned with information
systems, since either an organisation or an individual can be regarded as an
information system.
Rowley’s 4 levels may be contrasted with the 3 domains22 that are used to
explain information management and used in the case study protocol. The retrieval
level may have components that are operational or analytical (through evaluation); the
system level may be operational (system development and maintenance), or analytical
(system, user or requirements analysis and evaluation); and both the contextual and
environmental levels may be regarded as part of the administrative domain’s strategic
concerns.
As is the case with information science, information management is often
described as interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary. Its proponents have yet to settle
upon carefully developed procedures and methods that might assure disciplinary
integrity and coherence. However there are many professionals who believe they are
carrying out information management, and a variety of professional associations that
have been formed making claims on the terminology23.
The research reported in this paper attempts to extend the examination of
discipline formation by consideration of how information science principles have been
put into practice in the process of managing STI services. In this respect therefore,
information management is defined as application of information science. It is the
application of policy, analysis, and principles to techniques for improving
representation, organisation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.
Information management in STI service development
This work extends an earlier analysis that looked at information management as
applied in one Australian STI service24. It analyses several such services in order to
22 M Middleton 2002 op cit pp13-14 23 M Middleton 2002 op cit pp22-28 for examples 24 M Middleton ‘Discipline formation in information management: Case study of scientific and
technological information services’ Journal of Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology vol 2 2005 pp543-558. http://2005papers.iisit.org/I45f78Midd.pdf; http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00001433/
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 236
consider the extent to which their genesis and development has taken place within an
information management framework.
Services analysed are the Australian Medical Index (AMI); Australian Nuclear
Science & Technology Information (ANSTI); AANRO including in particular its
Informit component, the Australian Natural Resources Index (ANR-I); Australian
Transport Index (ATRI); AusGeoRef, the Australian component of the international
GeoRef service, and its forerunner AESIS; and ENGINE, the Australian engineering
database. Whereas Part I examined them in terms of characteristics, history and
development, here they are interpreted within an information management model, in
order to see the extent to which they exemplify such a framework.
The following analysis therefore looks at the extent to which the STI services
functioned within administrative, analytical and operational domains as defined for
information management.
Administrative domain
This domain of information management should embrace a planning and policy
framework and therefore take account of the environment in which the information
services operate, and strategy for implementation. Despite the struggle towards
information policy that was outlined in the accompanying article (Part I), there were
no concerted attempts by the STI services to embrace resource provision, to address
overlap of coverage between databases, or to provide a platform with a standard
interface through public policy.
However, that is not to say that a planning framework was absent. It existed
within individual institutions, and in some cases through collaboration between like-
minded parties who could see the benefits within their subject areas. Some examples
are as follows.
Genesis
The strategic planning that led to the creation of the various services with
their databases took place essentially within the disciplines that were interested in
the content and application of the databases.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 237
However, there were moves from narrowly focused internal institutional
approaches towards cooperative approaches in disciplinary areas. For example,
Levick and Russell who were prominent in agricultural database development,
were nevertheless pessimistic about cooperation in database development at the
end of the 1970s. However from it not being a practical short term ambition, by
1983 a different perspective applied:
… We felt that from a national viewpoint, the resources necessary to
achieve such contributions would be better devoted to efforts by these
organisations to improve their bibliographic control. What we did not
foresee was that in such a short time, these respective objectives would
no longer be seen by the organisations concerned as competing uses of
such resources: that they would find, as they have found, contributing to
a national effort one way of achieving internal objectives25.
In some cases it took visionary individuals to prime the pump. Max Lay,
then director of ARRB gave particular attention to the information needs of
professionals such as engineers working in roads research, and to the research
literature that had examined such needs26. He was fully cognisant of the
importance of cooperative input, and of bibliographic control standards for
documents. With respect to awareness of the importance of the role of unpublished
reports (elsewhere called ‘grey’ literature), and in reporting their content along
with that of the more formal documentation of published books, journals and
proceedings he wrote:
25 G Levick ‘Bibliographic systems and their development’ in P Montgomery (ed),Computerised
information systems in agriculture: proceedings of a national workshop on developments in computerised information systems in agriculture, Melbourne, Victoria June 22 and 23, 1983 Department of Agriculture Melbourne 1983 pp13-17.
26 ARRB was established in 1960 as a national research body financed by the federal government and State road authorities through the National Association of Australian State Road Authorities (NAASRA; subsequently known as Austroads). Included among its objectives was to provide a national centre for road research information.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 238
The problem with these less formal documents is collecting them and
ensuring that they are added to appropriate indexes. Often this task is
made more difficult by the poor bibliographic standards of the report in
question… The other problem related to the report literature concerns
the confidential and restricted nature of many reports. However, the
insertion into open indexes of bibliographic data for a confidential report
is always encouraged as even the fact that the report on a subject exists
is often a valuable guide to a searcher…27
ARRB did this through its library, through provision of a current awareness
bulletin based upon material coming into its own collection, and through a periodic
bibliography on roads and road transportation. However it was recognised that
service could be improved if road authorities nationally through cooperative effort
produced a joint index of publications. The National Association of Australian
State Road Authorities (NAASRA, predecessor of Australian Roads) financed a
pilot issue in 1973, which led to the first issue of Australian Road Index (ARI) in
1975.
The AESIS database was initiated in 1976, following a national meeting at
the Australian Mineral Foundation (AMF) in 1975, at which existing in-house
systems of different agencies were discussed. AMF was accorded a mediating role
for a national coordinated scheme with a governing council comprising
representatives of the petroleum and exploration industries (which carried the main
operational costs)28, along with professional and industrial associations and
universities. AESIS was created using computing facilities made available by
CSIRO who provided the platform for the database.
27 M G Lay The ARRB information system Australian Road Research Board Vermont South 1979
(ATM No. 7). 28 D A Tellis ‘AESIS: a cooperative public/private sector development initiated by the private
sector’ in G Peguero (ed.), Australian clearing houses and data bases: towards a national policy; proceedings of a national seminar conducted at Footscray Institute of Technology, 19 November 1982 Footscray Institute of Technology Footscray 1983 pp67-86.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 239
International relationships
There were efforts to reconcile Australian and international coverage of
information. ARRB became involved in OECD’s Road Research Program from
1977, and this entailed input of records of Australian documentation in order to
receive the International Road Research Documentation (IRRD) database.
They delegated all of the operations of Australia’s membership of that
program to the Road Research Board and membership of that program
involved not only scientific exchange and cooperative research programs
and international meetings ... They had a very strong information program
and membership of that program, which Australia joined as they saw it as
a means of getting access to the world’s information on roads and
transport. Membership of that program carried a commitment to
contribute as well as to use, and Australia began to contribute to the
international road research database in late seventies … ARRB set up its
information management library type systems to conform with the very
well documented standards that the International Road Research
Documentation system had. (S. Quinn, personal communication, 22nd June,
2004)
Whereas a subset of ATRI provides Australian international input, ANSTI
consists of Australia’s entire input to the International Nuclear Information System
(INIS) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), downloaded from the
international database and reformatted. Australia’s membership of IAEA obligated
it to begin contributing records to INIS from commencement in 1972. The entire
framework for the system including scope and forms of input, software support,
evaluation of potential use, vocabulary maintenance and establishment of a
clearinghouse for material, was created by a secretariat in Vienna, Austria. Any
influence on direction of the service from individual countries was provided by
national liaison officers.
Creation of AMI began in 1983 following discussion by the Life Sciences
Consultative Committee which was responsible for the administration of Medline.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 240
NLA committed funding for indexing and data entry for the first 7,000 items
which were complementary to the Australian Medline input that had been created
in the USA since the 1960s. Neither AMI nor Medline before it was introduced
within the framework of a general national information policy that tried to provide
guidance on how publishing and documentary output across the disciplines should
be reported and managed. Neither were there debates about institutional
responsibility for processing the material, particularly with respect to overlap with
other disciplines. Since 2001, some key Australian journals which are covered in
Medline have also been covered in AMI. All aspects of health and medicine are
covered, with emphasis on clinical medicine and paraprofessional fields.
Governance
AusGeoRef, ANSTI, AMI and ENGINE are each created by individual
institutions that administer all aspects of the service.
Because of ARRB’s founding membership within AUSINET, the
governance of that network was a significant influence on the strategic
development of ATRI. The ARRB was a relatively small institution among bigger
players on AUSINET, and the financial commitment as a member was
considerable. It justified this because it could use AUSINET as a database creator
as well as user; because it provided access to the systems staff, and more powerful
computing facilities than it could justify for its own purposes alone; because it
opened up access to a wider use community; and as it felt a commitment to support
for production and dissemination of Australian databases.
An AUSINET Users’ Committee had been established at the outset for
network management in 1977, with its first meeting in Hobart. It was to guide such
matters as negotiation with ACI Computer Services concerning access, costs and
scheduling of databases, negotiation with respective database suppliers, provision
of documentation, and maintenance of communication between users. The Users’
Committee comprised all organisations joining the network. There was also a
technical sub-committee, for resolution of technical issues such as database
conversion and structures, system performance, and scheduling, and an AUSINET
Liaison Committee, which was a committee of NLA’s Council and representatives
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 241
of database suppliers with an operational role advising on development and use of
resources29.
Analytical domain
The analytical domain of information management is part of both the operational
level through performance evaluation, and the systems level, for example through user
needs and requirements analysis. Although each of the services carried out informal
analysis, the extent of formal assessment of both requirements and performance varied
widely.
User needs
For AESIS was the major analysis of anticipated user needs for the service
was a 1972 survey. However although this survey sought information on
individual user needs within surveyed organisations, the resulting document
confined itself to reporting institutional coverage and current information provision
along with recommendations concerning an agency to handle an STI service30.
Subsequently, AMF strove to be comprehensive within the subject areas
delineated.
With AMI, there was no specific attention to user needs or requirements
analysis (for example by survey), as part of the process of establishing AMI.
Instead, the inclusive coverage of health materials, allied with flexible retrieval
software was assumed to address anticipated user requirements.
In the case of ATRI, no formal evaluation of user requirements preceded
database creation. Database elements were defined according to the full extent of
bibliographic data at the time, and most elements were made searchable for
29 The committee structure is described by Bays who was critical of the initial loose arrangement
and advocated a more formal arrangement with a secretariat: M Bays ‘The Australian Road Index: a cooperative venture’ Australian Special Libraries News vol 12 no 1 pp34-37 1978; M Bays The beginnings of Ausinet and the committee structure by which the network is currently managed Australian Road Research Board Vermont South 1978(ARRMS 78/152).
30 P Dixon & D A Tellis AMF information services survey Australian Mineral Development Laboratories, Adelaide (AMDEL Report; 911); an overview of the AESIS analytical approach is given in M Middleton 2005 op cit.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 242
flexibility using the AUSINET STAIRS software. This flexibility has been
maintained on the subsequent platforms and carried through to Informit.
Judgments about content were based upon the scope of what library users
required, and the already defined scope of IRRD. However, the database of
Australian Road Research in Progress (ARRP) that was built concurrently by
ARRB gave valuable insights into information requirements of users:
The other component … was the annual surveys we did of Australian road
research in progress with a triennial updating survey, … fully done to the
IRRD specs and that documented the research effort within Australia.
They were big survey exercises … information was not only available in
our local database but also in the international one, and we also printed it
in directories. (S. Quinn, personal communication, 22nd June, 2004)
System requirements
The initial development of services was before the online era. Development
of user interfaces was not yet on the agenda, and output requirements for batch
processes of what was then termed Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)
services were essentially developed experimentally. For example, before the
development of ANSTI an SDI service from INIS tapes was developed. It provided
a batched facility with limited Boolean search capability, data element and
category searching.
CSIRO, which had participated in a pilot current awareness service from
Chemical Abstracts from 1967, developed a batch current awareness search
facility at its Division of Computing Research. The search functionality was
notable for providing for a combination of Boolean and weighted search logic and
truncation which had to be established on punched cards, and was adaptable to
locally produced databases such as AGRIS and ABOA (precursors of AANRO).
The databases with Australian content were established within the online era,
and generally were created and searched on systems that had been developed
generically to deal with a range of databases (as Informit does now). IBM’s
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 243
STAIRS retrieval software was most prominent in this respect. Any development
of it to accommodate the specifics of STI services was limited, but would have
taken place as a result of representations of the AUSINET User’s Committee
mentioned above.
There were search functionality improvements in STAIRS such as the
Bibliographic Retrieval Services Inc version in 1979, and database structuring to
permit merged postings across databases. For the AUSINET implementation this
was CROS – after ‘cross-searching’ the index of databases, a searcher then moved
to the database of choice.
Resource identification
For AMI, the NLA was in a strong position to undertake journal coverage,
and it was seen as appropriate to begin a distinct national database.
I don’t think there was a lot of research but we were aware that some
other regions of the world had constructed regional adjuncts to Medline.
… because there were a lot of Australian journals and we (NLA) had
access …, … a useful thing for the library to do, and we had strong
support from the Department of Health. (S. Henderson, personal
communication, 24th June, 2004).
The identification and evaluation of journals to be covered was undertaken
by medical librarians in New South Wales.
For ATRI, the identification of documents required for coverage is carried
out based upon ARRB’s knowledge of material being published in Australia,
complemented by material being reported by the cooperating institutions.
Performance analysis
For AMI, performance evaluation of searches being conducted for ‘end
users’ by library intermediaries has been carried out, but in general there have not
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 244
been attempts to monitor the performance of searching either by intermediaries, or
by end users.
Another aspect of performance that might be monitored is the indexing
input:
… there was meant to have been an evaluation of the indexing services
but some of the evaluations were put back for various reasons, economic
and how many the library could handle at once…. It hadn’t been done up
until the time I left the indexing service, … (S. Henderson, personal
communication, 24th June, 2004)
For AESIS performance evaluation carried out included the use of an
evaluative framework set up in a study by Pruett on the international Georef
database. This was used with reference to AESIS to evaluate such things as subject
and material (e.g. thesis) coverage; currency (shown to be markedly higher than
other geoscience services); incidences of duplicate records; indexing; and training
programs. There was also examination of performance in terms of cost
effectiveness and benefit31.
Operational domain
This domain may be thought of as any technical operations carried out within an
information life cycle, ranging from creation of information and metainformation,
storage, organisation of the information (in this case within databases), retrieval and
presentation.
In the development phase of Australian services, storage was of much greater
concern than now. A cause of considerable issue with the then Medlars Advisory
Committee was the scheduling of aggregations of a database so that a span
accumulating to three years was produced, then the oldest year dropped off in order to
begin accumulating from the most recent 2-3 years. On AUSINET where a number of 31 D A Tellis ‘Management, control and cost benefit’ in P Judge & B Gerrie (eds.) Small scale
bibliographic databases Academic Press Sydney 1986 pp73-98; an overview of AESIS performance analysis is in M Middleton 2005 op cit.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 245
large international databases such as parts of SSCI, Compendex and INSPEC were
stored, there was scheduling of these databases so that different ones were online at
different days of the week. At the time (late 1970s), SSCI was about 100 Mb and
Compendex about 500 Mb (far bigger than the Australian databases mounted with
them). Even in the 1990s the Department of Health’s Medline platform had 1966 and
1972 backfiles online on Wednesdays only.
The issue faded away, not just because of leaps forward in storage capacity, but
because of greatly increased telecommunications bandwidth (and reduced access
costs) to international database, making their mounting in Australia unnecessary.
Creation of databases
The creation of the databases was initially undertaken via coding sheets
corresponding to database definitions, with data entry and batch creation of
databases taking place. For example the AESIS database was created on
CSIRONET by dispatch of coding forms to CSIRO from AMF for paper tape data
entry. Later data entry took place directly from AMF, and from 1982 this was
managed through a host DEC PDP11/44 minicomputer for validation, then storage
on a Cyber76 on CSIRONET in Canberra. Software support was provided by
CSIRO’s CILES System Development Group. The live database was updated
monthly on CSIRONET. From 1980, quarterly updates were also produced for
AUSINET where they were mounted after conversion to STAIRS with software
developed by ACI Computer Services.
Australia’s input to INIS (later to become ANSTI) also began by transfer of
coding sheets to paper tape which was sent to Austria for input to the international
database. Paper was soon replaced by magnetic tape, and eventually the database
went online. All of the indexing of documents is carried out by ANSTO. When
Australia first began contributing to INIS, it provided input on punched paper tape
according to a structured worksheet format. Before long, this approach was
supplanted by magnetic tape images of input.
ANSTI is now created by downloading the Australian affiliation content
using the BASIS software that supports INIS, and combining this with the
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 246
Australian source input, where together they are reformatted according to the
requirements of Informit.
Where documents include abstracts these may be written, or existing journal
abstracts may be used. For example, because ANSTO has since 1983 been part of
the CSIRO Library network, it has access to CSIRO’s journal publishing data, and
is able to use abstracts from relevant items:
… we’re part of the CSIRO electronic journal access which they run off
their own server in Canberra, what they call their CSIRO electronic
journal collection where they’ve gone out and negotiated with various
publishers and then they bring the data inhouse and then we’re part of
that … So we’re able to log in … for CSIRO electronic journal collection
and … can get Elsevier and …. CSIRO Publishing…. (S Gorringe, personal
communication, 28th June, 2004).
AMI data entry was initially undertaken at NLA from the worksheets using
an adaptation of the Health Department’s software for input to their library
catalogue, HEMLOC. This software, Data Input Management System (DIMS) was
converted to a generic form for data entry purposes. Validation was undertaken on
a batched basis of the MeSH indexing terms and for citation format. Subsequent
data correction was carried out manually. Now that Informit is the platform,
indexing is done directly into a DB/Textworks database and uploaded from there.
When ARRB became a member of AUSINET, it began producing the hard
copy of ARI as an equivalent Australian Road Research Database (ARRD), making
use of the Advance Text Management System (ATMS) for database creation.
Creators of records for all databases on AUSINET were introduced to the text
management software, and functionality such as tagging syntax and text
manipulation, by a series of ‘Learn ATMS’ lessons and an introductory manual.
This complemented a manual for using IBM’s STAIRS retrieval software.
A subset of ARRD comprising Australian input for IRRD that at the time was
growing at the rate of about 12,000 records per year. The IRRD database was
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 247
initially held in 2 forms: as a consolidated international database, and as a latest
month file that enabled current awareness profiles to be run off with each new
update.
… so that there were several really good cooperative reasons for having
that system. There was the national system of various state bodies and
the national research body that benefited by having a shared information
resource, and from that we could extract the material that was
appropriate to put into the international database and just spin it out and
send it away on a tape. The international database had more stringent
requirements for inclusion, anything that was included had to be
innovative, it had to be research oriented, it had to have an informative
abstract and it had to be indexed in a greater degree of detail. (S.
Quinn, personal communication, 22nd June, 2004)
IRRD became International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) and
ATRI and the ITRD component are now produced concurrently. Records are
tagged in ATRI and processed in monthly batches in-house in ITRD format and
emailed to TRL (UK) which manages the database.
Examples of elements of record formats for databases are in Part I.
Thesauri and indexing
For AMI, contract indexers provide input on a piecework basis. The rates
initially established assumed that they would be indexing 4 items per hour.
Worksheets require bibliographic details of documents received at NLA along with
an abstract if none was already provided, and indexing based upon MeSH,
controlled vocabulary of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Principles
adopted for indexing follow closely those that have been employed by NLM since
the initiation of its Medlars service.
The thesaurus used for indexing references that go into ANSTI is the INIS
thesaurus which has been utilised by all INIS contributors since the beginning of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 248
the database. The thesaurus has been reprinted regularly as part of a report series.
The thesaurus is used in conjunction with database building so that narrower terms
assigned by indexers automatically generate additional hierarchically broader
terms for the same record, to support searching. For example ‘iodine’ generates
‘halogens’, ‘nonmetals’ and ‘elements’.
A formal process enables contributing countries to propose and have terms
included. Therefore there are not local variations on the thesaurus, thus in
Australia’s case the vocabulary is identical for INIS and ANSTI.
Because of the extent of bibliographic control employed for INIS, and in so
doing also enjoyed by ANSTI, there is other documentation used to standardise
input, improve information quality, and thereby assist with searching. This
includes terminology and codes for countries and international organisations;
authority lists for corporate entries, report number prefixes, and journal titles; and
an outline of broad subject categories, their codes, and scope descriptions.
Training and user assistance
Training tools comprise database guides for individual databases that outline
their structure. In the case of AMI not only is there an AMI Manual but there’s a
Medlars Course Manual, a Medlars searching self-training guide, a NETSDI
manual and various working tools for MeSH – the Medical Subject Headings as an
annotated alphabetical list, in permuted form, and as hierarchical ‘tree’ structures.
Much of the material from different manuals, and in particular the interfaces
for online searching was brought together in the Recipe book service32. This loose
leaf service was commenced in 1980 and continued until 1995, in order to
consolidate in one document the information that online users needed to be aware
of in searching multiple databases in multiple services. It was organised according
to online service. Databases available on services were itemised, but the emphasis
was on operational aspects such as connection and charging. These accompanied
an overview of general approaches to searching, and therefore of the retrieval
software such as STAIRS on AUSINET and AUSTRALIS.
32 Recipe book service of online searching 1-14 edn Online Information Resources Ltd Doncaster
1980-1985.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 249
Current awareness
Initially SDIs were run on update tapes. For example with INIS and
Medline, a retrospective search was carried out, and the ongoing profile was
maintained for sequentially processing with batches of other profiles against
update tapes.
Other current awareness products were developed. For instance, from AESIS
there was Earth Science and Related Information Selected Annotated Titles
(ESRISAT) that selectively covered earth sciences serial publications received by
the AMF and South Australian Department of Mines and Energy libraries and
State Library of South Australia. Seven indexes: subject, locality, author, map
sheet, mine/deposit/well/name, stratigraphic and serial title were created for a
monthly service which also had semi-annual cumulations33.
Discussion The term ‘information management’ was not used during the genesis and
development of STI services in Australia. However, many of the principles by which it
is presently guided were employed, if not expressed. Most of the elements of
information management as it is currently practised were present during development,
and may in some cases be regarded as exemplary for present systems.
It is possible to look at the services from an information management standpoint
that considers the extent to which they have been developed within the framework of a
domain model. To an extent, the principles as expressed by Rowley are also
accommodated, although they would benefit from some modification using the
domain-oriented approach.
From Rowley’s environmental viewpoint, the services have certainly been
developed within a strategic planning framework. In these cases the planning has owed
more to the requirements of individual information sectors, than to a concerted public
policy approach. This has had the advantage of the engagement of the respective
sectors, but has led to uncoordinated coverage, unstandardised metainformation, and
33 D A Tellis 1983 op cit.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 250
therefore barriers to sharing information. It has also produced alternative approaches to
international coverage of material, so that there is no consistency in the way that
Australian material published locally and internationally is consolidated.
If Rowley’s contextual level is employed, there appeared to be significant
attention paid to establishing databases as information resources when they were first
created. However, there appears presently to be some risk to the continuation of these
resources, because their coverage is being constrained or poorly resourced, and there is
limited drive for their development to support other functions such as digital repository
linkage and research performance analysis. It is encouraging however, to see the
AANRO evolution to support a combination of a web-based knowledge base and an
alternatively formatted resource via Informit, with different groups of users in mind.
Although the environmental and contextual are separated above, there does not
appear to be any benefit in doing so, since an administrative domain with its focus on
policy and planning encompasses both. It could be that environmental and contextual
approaches are separable respectively into external and internal planning influences.
However, there are many information management situations, including those for STI
services, where it is problematical to differentiate these in relation to strategic
planning. Public policy and business-to-business relationships while external in origin,
greatly influence internal planning.
The analytical domain of information management was possibly the most
underdeveloped at the outset of services. Although there was some attention to user
requirements, the overall context in which databases were being used could have been
better researched. This omission continues to be reflected in the present. More
sensitivity to the context in which the services are operating may have seen them
produce more in the way of tailored or current awareness products, along with
alternative functionality such as ability to measure research performance through
citations. This domain may be construed as an element of Rowley’s system and
retrieval levels
At a system level the analysis required to develop the services in the first place
was experimental rather than user-directed, and subsequent performance analysis has
been relatively perfunctory. Nevertheless the way forward was shown. The analytical
domain at the retrieval level should principally be about performance evaluation and
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 251
quality control. While procedures are in place for monitoring and quantifying
throughput, little attention has been paid to areas of evaluation such indexing quality,
thesaurus utility, and retrieval effectiveness.
The operational domain may also be taken to be part of Rowley’s systems and
retrieval levels. At the systems level, the current platforms provided by Georef and by
Informit are established and provide routine functionality. The current Informit
platform provides a unifying influence for five of the services. It may also provide the
flexibility and the vitality to see them developed to support additional services.
Operational retrieval features including metainformation creation, vocabulary control,
information retrieval and presentation have been present since the initiation of the
services, and have been improved along with developments in software and
technology.
Conclusion
Part I of this work provided an overview of the characteristics of a number of
Australian STI services, with reference to the policy environment in which they were
developed, and with some commentary about their continuing utility. Part II takes
these same services and considers them as exemplars of discipline formation in
information management. This is done using making use of Middleton’s book on
information management and Rowley’s work on discipline formation, each of which
endeavours to articulate a framework in which information management takes place.
The analysis shows STI services provide useful models for expression of the
information management framework. The work is limited in scope by its restriction to
bibliographic services, and limited in detail by gaps in documentation about these
services and recollections of stakeholders. However it complements case study work
in information management documented for example by Orna34, and extends this work
by showing that a useful framework may be used for more discipline-based analysis of
such cases. The protocol that was employed provided a useful analytical approach that
may also be adopted to examine other information services and the information
management milieu in general. Hopefully, this will add to the rigour of case
documentation, which in turn will help to improve disciplinary definition.
34 E Orna Practical information policies 2nd edn Gower Aldershot 1999
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 6.2: AARL STI II) 252
Acknowledgements
This document draws upon a number of case studies to which many people
contributed through formal interview, or responses to queries. Particular thanks are
due to Bev Allen (Geoscience Australia), Lynne Beaumont (ARRB Group), Rob
Birtles (CSIRO), Warwick Cathro (NLA), Barry Cheney (VPL), Brenda Gerrie
(Infoscan), Lea Giles-Peters (SLQ). Sandra Gorringe (ANSTO), Hans Groenewegen,
Sara Hearn (Informit), Sandra Henderson (NLA), Mary Huxlin (ANSTO), Peter
Judge, Max Lay, Alison Martin (ARRB Group), Ian McCallum (Libraries Alive!),
Russell McCaskie (CSIRO), Sherrey Quinn (Libraries Alive!), Rosa Serratore (ARRB
Group), John Shortridge (VBM), Des Tellis, Elena Vvedenskaia (EA), Rolfe
Westwood (CSIRO), Janette Wright (Informit).
Thanks are also due to Christine Bruce and Guy Gable of QUT for comments on
work in progress, and to anonymous referees for constructive criticism on structure
and content.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 253
C h a p t e r 7 : I n f o r m a t i o n m a n a g e m e n t f r a m e w o r k
7.1. Journal article: Development of IM disciplinary framework
This paper analysed earlier material by Rowley (1998) and suggested a revision of
her framework for the information management discipline. It has been accepted for
publication in:
Middleton, M. (in press) A framework for information management: using case
studies to test application. International Journal of Information
Management
Abstract
An analysis is undertaken of a disciplinary framework for information
management suggested by Rowley in 1998 in order to consider its applicability to
information services. The analysis uses several case studies that have been
conducted on the development of scientific and technological information (STI)
services. These services have all been involved in the creation of bibliographic and
associated databases of Australian STI material. The analysis examines information
management domains through the looking glass of the Rowley framework which
has as its elements the information environment, information context, information
systems, and information retrieval. It is concluded that while STI services exemplify
information management in terms of the framework suggested, that the framework
could be adapted to be of more benefit in expressing the disciplinary basis and its
professional setting. This might be achieved by removal of the differentiation
between environment and context, and by elaborating the information systems and
information retrieval levels further into analytical and operational domains.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 254
Contribution to research
This work provides a critique of an earlier framework proposed for the information
management discipline, and proposes modifications to that framework based upon the
preceding STI case studies, which in turn draw upon the organisation of and examples in
the book.
It therefore enhances the conceptual framework for the discipline of information
management, provides for adaptation of a model within which the field may be
understood, and within which practice cases may be interpreted. These may in turn
contribute to disciplinary formation by improving definition of the professional and
providing pointers to curriculum development.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 255
Introduction
A recent study of Australian scientific and technological information (STI)
services was undertaken to examine their characteristics and progress. Part of the
analysis was concerned with the extent to which their development reflected discipline
formation in information management. The analysis was based upon case studies of
several services maintained by government and the private sector, and is reported in
detail elsewhere (Middleton, 2006a, 2006b). This paper draws upon that investigation
by making use of the case studies to examine the applicability of the framework of
information management suggested by Rowley (1998).
Studies of the disciplinary framework within which information professionals
practice have ranged from investigation of the boundaries of subject content, through
to analysis of the ways in which the members organise themselves and provide
education for those entering the profession. Subject content has been principally an
academic concern with a concentration upon the elements of information science, and
explanation of research areas to be pursued. Analysis of professional organisation has
come more from professional associations as they assert territory, or practitioners
within such associations who are interested in professional development.
This study attempts to bridge the discipline content and professional concerns by
investigation of information practice in a particular environment, and by relating that
practice to the disciplinary areas of information science. The Rowley framework is
chosen, since it is an endeavour to provide a model for that bridge. As the cases appear
to represent specific examples of information principles being put into practice, they
are worthy of examination with respect to an information management model.
This work begins with a brief review of studies of professionalism and discipline
formation. It then uses the chosen disciplinary framework that has been proposed, in
order to test its applicability to what might be represented as an information
management working environment.
Profession and discipline
Information professionals have for some time wrestled with the issue of whether
they comprise a profession that is based upon the tenets of a coherent discipline.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 256
Sociological enquiry into the features of professions in general has led to identification
of professional characteristics along the following lines:
i. An evolving corpus of tested knowledge that is generally accepted by its
adherents.
ii. Acceptance of underlying models of explanation for the knowledge base.
iii. Continuing effort to develop the knowledge base through research.
iv. Application of the theoretical and intellectual knowledge in a particular
ways to solve human and social problems.
v. Utilisation of guidelines for application of professional practice and
technical standards.
vi. Development of guidelines for conduct of professional practice, for
example through a code of ethics.
vii. Altruism, whereby unselfish concern for others is supposed, although this
may perhaps be ‘by means of a reward system in which moral obligation
and self-interest often coincide and fuse, the institutional arrangements of
the professions tend to make it a matter of self-interest for individual
practitioners to act altruistically’(Merton & Gieryn, 1982).
viii. Provision of guidelines for preparation and the training into the area.
The main emphasis of this paper is points iv and v from the list above. That is,
there is a consideration of the bridge between the theoretical principles that are
espoused in the field, and the way that they are put into practice using the development
of STI services as case studies.
Elements i to iii are principally concerned with an accepted knowledge base, and
are usually a focus for those who approach understanding of a discipline from an
academic viewpoint – continuing to ask the question of what constitutes information
science. A number of works have provided overviews and debate about information
science’s disciplinary boundaries. For example there have been compilations of papers
that endeavour to show the range of investigation within the topic. An early example
was that of Saracevic (1970), and in subsequent decades there have been similar
collections of papers accompanied by commentary on what constitutes the field, for
example by Meadows (1987) and Williams and Carbo (1997).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 257
These collections have been complemented by expositions that seek to provide a
consolidated overview of information science. For example the work by the Vickerys
has reached its third edition (Vickery & Vickery, 2004) since original publication in
1987, with later editions incorporating more on information seeking to complement
the systems-oriented information retrieval. Raber (2003) considers information from
physical, behavioural and social viewpoints after first considering the matter of
definition of information. Many enquiries take as their starting point the problem of
defining ‘information’, and some concentrate upon it. For example Bates (2005) has
reiterated the enduring designation of information as ‘pattern of organization of matter
and energy’ for its usability across the physical, biological and social contexts.
A continuing theme has been the interdisciplinarity or ‘boundary spanning’ of
research. Less often is there exploration of the application of information science in
areas such as systems and management, although Griffiths (2000) gives examples of
practice. If there is a discipline of information science then, it is perhaps a meta-
discipline that draws upon what Griffiths terms ‘disciplines of information’ that
include studies as diverse as cybernetics, bibliometrics, semantics and systemics. In
research terms, this has been recently manifest in the U.S.A. by the I-School
movement where there has been an alignment toward inclusion of multidisciplinary
approaches to information research, rather than attempt to create boundaries around
particular aspects of information study (Harmon, 2006).
Items vi to viii from the list above are about how entry of new professionals is
managed, and how the profession comports itself. Entry is managed through
educational requirements, and there has been a continually evolving discourse on
curriculum for example by Gorman and Corbitt (2002), and by Tedd (2003). This has
been accompanied by research into educational requirements, for example by Abbott
(2003), along with the suggested courses or curricula that are advanced by the
professional associations themselves. These same associations may also produce codes
of practice as in the case of AIIP (Association of Independent Information
Professionals, 2005).
Analysis of this connection between discipline and profession may take the form
of statements of what an information professional does and what principles this work
is based upon. For example Hornby and Andretta (2001) canvass contrasting views on
convergence and diversification of the profession. They maintain that in Britain
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 258
diversification has been turned into a strength by promoting information management
as a discipline that is highly flexible in addressing the diverse needs of the information
profession. This has been achieved for example through modularisation within
qualification degree structures. The changing boundaries of practice have been debated
at some length by Myburgh (2005). She considers that the traditional paradigm of the
profession is ‘riddled with anomalies’ and lacking fundamental theories, and looks for
a new way forward with less document-based interpretation of ‘information’.
This paper is less concerned with information science as a discipline, or the way
in which those who apply it organise themselves professionally. It is more concerned
with how the principles of the science may be employed in practice (as indicated in
items iv and v). This gives the opportunity for expressing information management as
a discipline with its own principles (drawing upon those of information science).
Although much has been written about the elements of information management, there
is relatively little that tries to express a framework of principles under which it is
carried out. One who has suggested a framework that associates principles with
practice is Rowley (1998; 1999). Her propositions are used as a lens through which the
case studies are examined with a view to test the framework’s application to a specific
setting for information management.
A discipline of information management
Both information systems and information management are spoken of as
disciplines in the practice of information science (Vickery & Vickery, 2004). However
there seem to be professional, research and conceptual barriers that inhibit an inclusive
approach to them as a discipline across such applications.
This disjunction has been observed repeatedly. For example Martin (1993)
observed that the data processing, management and information science fields showed
little overlap of coverage in three different databases with respect to information
management documents. Later, Ellis, Allen, and Wilson (1999) used citation analysis
of the subfields of user studies and information retrieval to illustrate the lack of
dialogue between respective fields. Markedly, a recent review of information science
as a discipline in the UK (Webber, 2003) makes little reference to studies in
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 259
information systems, or examination of an information systems/information science
boundary.
In disciplinary study of information systems, emphasis seems to be substantially
on the systems and process; in information science the emphasis seems to be
substantially on the information and its content. They have in common an emphasis on
social context and use, but this has not led to a mutual centre of attention. For example
a joint disciplinary consideration of information systems and information science
(Khazanchi & Munkvold, 2000) found a need to differentiate them, seeing information
science as a secondary reference discipline of information systems.
Wilson (2003) has stated that a coherent educational curriculum and a research
agenda must be associated with information management if it is to have a viable role
in organisational performance, with its functions being accepted as a key part of
organisational structures. Although some scholars have spoken of an information
management discipline, the relationship between what is pursued through research and
what is applied by practicing information professionals remains tenuous. If we are to
convey information management as the practice of information science, then it is
necessary to define a framework, but this is unfortunately clouded by the many
interpretations of the words ‘information management’. As noted by Macevièiûtė and
Wilson (2002) the term may be used to represent the management of IT, information
systems management, or management information systems, and may also be confused
with the more recent catchphrase knowledge management.
There continues to be limited conceptual reinforcement between the science of
information and its application through management. However, Rowley has attempted
to express a framework that characterises information management as a discipline by
considering how information science principles are applied in practice. Rowley adopts
a viewpoint that information is practice-based with both systems and behavioural
dimensions. She puts forward information processing as an activity common to all
information users, and information management as being the province of
professionals (albeit with imprecise professional boundaries), who draw upon many
contributing disciplines including management science, information systems,
computing science and cybernetics. She maintains that the structuring of information is
fundamental to the professional approach and requires agents who will take
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 260
responsibility for such structure, taking into account issues such as selection, time,
hierarchy and sequence.
Rowley envisages information managers working at different levels within the
framework. She portrays this framework as having different levels: information
environment; information contexts; information systems; and information retrieval.
Thus for her at the:
• Environment level, the information processors are society as a whole, the
information managers are corporations and educational institutions, and
information is a commodity and constitutive force.
• Contextual level, the processors are organisations, information is seen as a
resource and the information managers are working in strategic positions, or
as organisational scientists.
• System level, information processing is carried out by systems, information
managers are system analysts and designers, and information is seen as data
or thing.
• Retrieval level, information processors are individuals, information
managers are indexers, database designers, interface designers and
information is regarded as subjective knowledge.
Can such a framework be used to illuminate the information processing that
happens with provision of bibliographic information services? Case studies of STI
services in Australia are used to explore this.
Case studies of STI services
The study of Australian STI services was undertaken as part of research that
examined the influences on their initial development in Australia, but which also
analysed their progress from the viewpoint of discipline formation in information
management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 261
The services on which detailed analysis was conducted were: Australian
Agriculture and Natural Resources Online (AANRO), produced by Infoscan for several
government instrumentalities; Australian Medical Index (AMI), produced by the
National Library of Australia (NLA); Australian Nuclear Science & Technology
Information (ANSTI), produced by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation (ANSTO); Australian Transport Index (ATRI), produced by ARRB
Group Ltd (formerly Australian Road Research Board); AusGeoref produced by
Geoscience Australia; and the Australian Engineering Database (ENGINE), produced
by Engineers Australia.
The AMI, ANSTI, ATRI and AusGeoref databases are each coupled with pre-
existing international databases in the same subject area. AMI is supplementary to
Medline and ATRI to International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD),
although in each case there is some overlap of content. ANSTI is a subset of the
International Nuclear Information System (INIS) and AusGeoref is a subset of Georef.
Method
A descriptive case study methodology (Yin, 2003) was applied with the unit of
analysis comprising a system of action, applied over multiple cases. The case study
protocol was carried out with assistance from interviews with key participants, use of
different versions of databases, and reference to literature, archives, and supporting
material created to support database users.
Case study questions were structured according to the context of a recent book
where information management is expressed in terms of the domains: Operational (the
procedures required for structured information handling); Analytical (user, resources
and systems analysis and evaluation); and Administrative (policy and planning aspects
and strategic). These three domains of information management, outlined earlier by
Diener (1992), were expanded in some detail in the book (Middleton, 2002). The book
acts as a description of a disciplinary framework for information management, and its
precepts may be tested in environments thought to be representative of information
management.
The information collected from case studies exploring this work was reported by
Middleton (2006a; 2006b). The services examined were found generally to operate
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 262
within the information management framework expressed in terms of domains. This
paper takes the opportunity to examine the STI services more specifically with
reference to the alternative framework proposed by Rowley (1998) in order to consider
the extent to which these services may be explained within such a framework as
exemplary of information management. Thereby the explanatory power of the Rowley
model is tested. The following subheadings are based upon the levels of Rowley’s
framework. Within each, there is further subdivision to consider particular aspects of
the level with respect to the STI services.
Information environment
The STI services were initiated during the 1970s in the setting of an information
environment where the influences could be regarded as public policy development
(political element), along with a drive by some institutions and scientific disciplines to
provide for better information access through documents (societal element), and
improvements in information retrieval systems (technological element).
Rowley’s ‘environment level’ sees information management being carried out at
this level corporately – that is by institutions taking into account a societal framework.
If this is happening with respect to the STI services, we might expect them to be
developed within a public policy agenda, or to address the professional demands of the
scientific and technological disciplines that they may service, or to respond to
technological changes that facilitate improvement in information management. Each
of these elements is considered in turn:
Public policy development
With the exception of a government paper in the early 1990s that strove to
articulate the elements of a national policy (Australia. Parliament. House of
Representatives. Standing Committee for Long Term Strategies, 1991),
Australia has eschewed integrated information policy.
Present interest in the area is driven by communications, the media, and
development of information industries. However at the time of development of
STI services, public policy was focused more strongly on scientific information
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 263
provision, for example through the Department of Science (Australian
Department of Science, 1985), and as a result of the STISEC proposals
(Australia. Scientific and Technological Information Services Enquiry
Committee, 1973). These proposals included both the development of a national
information policy, and a national central STI authority to act as focus for
activities and promote their orderly development.
However, a focus for STI leadership was never satisfactorily attained,
because the interests of the two most prominent and likely lead agencies, the
NLA and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(CSIRO), were not fully reconciled. Nevertheless, piecemeal policy initiatives
within individual government departments did stimulate the progress of STI
services. In some respects the progress they achieved was in spite of policy and
the lack of coordination between the lead institutions that established and
provided the services. Regardless of the misgivings about coordination, the ad
hoc development resulted in extensive services based upon international
databases, complemented by the production of local databases. More detailed
discussion of public policy factors at the time is provided in Middleton (2004;
2006a).
From the viewpoint of information management, a lively policy
environment existed that had bearing upon the formation of STI services in the
1970s. There was recognition of the need for a framework to promote a more
significant role for STI resources in economic development, and a desire to
record comprehensively the national scientific documentation output. Strategies
to achieve this included improving representation of local scientific and
technological output within international databases, or complementing of those
databases with local material. These strategies were applied at the level of
particular scientific disciplines rather than across the broad range of science and
technology.
Disciplinary demand
Bibliographic control of STI in Australia was fragmented as noted by
STISEC. However at the disciplinary level this was addressed in a number of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 264
quarters by specific agencies that supported the professions. For example in the
case of earth sciences information, the Australian Mineral Foundation (AMF)
was established, among other things to launch a resource centre for the mining
and petroleum industries. It was given a mediating role for a national
coordinated information scheme.
This brought together in a clearinghouse, material from a variety of
agencies that generated significant amounts of information, among them the
State Geological Surveys, and Mines Departments; the national Bureau of
Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics (BMR); the mineral research areas
of CSIRO; and a number of mining and exploration companies that had
repositories of their own material, but had previously undertaken little
collaborative effort to share it. AMF began to produce print-based current
awareness services, and built the AESIS database which was the precursor of
AusGeoref.
In the case of transport information, ARRB was established in 1960 as a
national research body financed by the federal government along with State
government road authorities through the National Association of Australian
State Road Authorities. Its objectives included provision of a national centre for
road research information. The then director was a visionary who gave
particular attention to the information needs of professionals such as engineers
working in the area, and to the research literature that had examined such needs.
He was fully cognizant of the importance of cooperative input, and of
bibliographic control standards for documents, for example, with respect to
awareness of the importance of the role of unpublished reports (elsewhere called
‘grey’ literature), and in reporting their content along with that of the more
formal documentation of published books, journals and proceedings.
ARRB provided an information service through its library, through
provision of a current awareness bulletin based upon material coming into its
own collection, and through a periodic bibliography on roads and road
transportation. ARRB became involved in OECD’s Road Research Program
from 1977, and this entailed input of records of Australian documentation in
order to receive the then IRRD (now ITRD) database. In May 1979 a
participants group was formed for discussion of developments to, and
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 265
improvement of, the system and databases. ARRB subsequently hosted annual
meetings in order to foster continuing cooperation.
Both AusGeoref (formerly AESIS) and ATRI have for many years now
been online bibliographic databases that support professional needs.
Technological change
Initial development of services was undertaken at a time when systems
were moving from batch mode to online. Those working in the area were
beginning to realise the potential of moving on from what were initially
typesetting programs to assist the batch production of abstracting and indexing
services in print form.
The examples that follow are essentially the product of information
management at the systems level, but have arisen because of the capabilities
introduced by technological development of both software and hardware
capabilities.
Procedures were established that would enable building of search profiles
for searching of updates – selective dissemination of information (SDI). For
example CSIRO had participated in a pilot current awareness service from
Chemical Abstracts from 1967. Then, beginning with Chemical Abstracts
Service CA Condensates, it made available databases from 1972 for batch
current awareness searching through its Division of Computing Research. For
searching purposes, all overseas databases arriving on tape were converted to a
common local format aligned to the extant standards, MARC and ANZI Z39.2.
The search functionality was notable for providing for a combination of Boolean
and weighted search logic and truncation which had to be established on
punched cards.
The INIS service had begun in the early 1970s to create profiles for batch
searching of tapes from the consolidated INIS database. Similarly, both the
Victorian and New South Wales Departments of Agriculture experimented with
production of printed current awareness indexes using batch software. These
turned out to be forerunners for the current AANRO.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 266
These and the other STI services gradually moved to online delivery
beginning with the Medline service in 1975. Migration to Medline was
undertaken along with the reformulation of about 1600 existing current
awareness profiles for the new software (Middleton, 1977). The network
supporting Medline was then developed with links established initially to a
limited number of institutions.
These facilities were initiated to provide services from international
databases. However in a number of cases they engendered Australian databases.
The locally produced compilations became practicable with the advent of online
services. ANSTI begins life as a subset of the international database INIS, before
being hived off for local use. AusGeoref is created as a subset of the
international Georef database. ATRI is created along with input to ITRD. AMI,
AANRO and Engine are produced as stand alone databases of national material.
AMI now provides links to full text provision of material as well, AANRO does
this for material that is already digitally available, and the others are looking to
follow suit.
Information context
The contextual aspect is seen by Rowley as the second level of
macroinformatics, symbiotic with the environment. It is described variously as
institutional recognition of information as a resource, and as the circumstances that
affect the functions that a system is expected to perform. The context encompasses the
user, so information needs of STI system users should be taken into account.
If this ‘contextual level’ is interpreted, then we would expect to see attempts by
managers to value either qualitatively or quantitatively the resources being managed,
as well as to plan services to accommodate functionality improvement derived from
research and development. Further, the services should be managed to address user
needs through some formal analytical process. Examining each of these in turn:
Information as a resource
There is a lack of evidence that information has been treated as a resource
(in the sense of putting a monetary value on it as a product), by the organisations
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 267
that have created the STI services. There has however, been an appreciation of
the costs of maintaining such services. For example Tellis (1981) provided a
variety of details of costing for the AESIS database production. He published
direct costs of management and support services (processing and production), materials
and salaries. He used these along with amortisation estimates of development costs to
infer a unit cost figure for processing of metadata records. However, the figures
do not put a value on the accumulated information.
The database vendors were more forthcoming with information on costs
of maintaining databases. For example Klingender was associated with
AUSINET, which for a time provided the platform of several of the databases.
He considered ways in which public information should be delivered over a
private network, while justifying the unpopular decision to drop certain low use
databases from his network (Klingender, 1981). He was seeking more certainty
to enable the private sector to generate the profits to make service viable, such
as government commitment not to establish similar networks, fixed term
exclusive contracts, and release from obligation to mount databases.
Circumstances affecting functionality
All of the STI services have had to accommodate functionality change
over time. This may have been due to technological change as exemplified
above. It may also have been due to institutional policy change in areas like
platform and software support, or of scope and coverage.
Although all except one of the STI service databases are now available
through one vendor, Informit (2006), produced by RMIT Publishing they have
previously been migrated across platforms with different capacity and
information retrieval functionality. In Australia these platforms included:
• AUSINET which from 1978 used the computing facilities at what was then
ACI Computer Services (later Ferntree) at Clayton in Victoria, with initial
participants using leased line services. There was stress on the development
of uniquely Australian material. AUSINET functioned with IBM STAIRS
software which facilitated databases structured with paragraphs (text search
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 268
facilities such as Boolean and proximity), and formatted fields (coded data
permitting relational operations, typically used to refine a search); sorting of
search results and saving of search statements for re-use was possible.
• CSIRO’s AUSTRALIS which was initiated in 1987 to enable consumer
access to scientific databases reticulated through CSIRO’s
telecommunications network CSIRONET, or via the telephone service.
Databases were moved from it when Informit went online in 1998. Retrieval
software was also IBM STAIRS.
• The NLA’s OZLINE which ran from 1987 to 1998 with both a STAIRS,
and alternative SOFI public user interface.
Coverage and scope of the services had to be established initially and may
then have been varied over time. For example in the case of AMI, it commenced
in 1983 following discussion by the Life Sciences Consultative Committee
which was responsible for the administration of Medline. NLA committed
funding for indexing and data entry for the first 7,000 items which were
complementary to the Australian Medline input that had been created in the
USA since the 1960s.
User information needs
Most of the services were commenced without formal detailed user needs
analysis. In a number of cases, because locally built databases were created to
complement existing international equivalents, user needs were seen simply as
an extension to existing services in order to bolster local content. For example,
in the case of AMI, the inclusive coverage of health materials complementary to
the existing Medline database was thought to address anticipated user
requirements, given the flexible retrieval software. Similarly judgments about
ARRB content were based upon the already defined scope of IRRD and
influenced by requirements of existing library users. However, the Australian
Road Research in Progress (ARRP) that was built concurrently by ARRB gave
valuable insights into information requirements of users.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 269
In the case of AESIS there was a significant survey of anticipated user
needs (Dixon & Tellis, 1972). This sought information on individual user needs
within surveyed organisations. However the resulting document confined itself
to reporting institutional coverage and current information provision along with
recommendations concerning an agency to handle an STI service.
Information systems
Rowley, and later Frishammer (2002) point out that the entire framework under
discussion may be considered as an information system. However, this present
analysis follows Rowley’s initial proposition that the system is generally thought of in
terms of the technological capability for supporting the process. Therefore the
information managers are seen to be the systems analysts and designers.
Systems analysis and design is therefore taken into account. However, although
Rowley does not mention system evaluation in its own right, it is included here and
differentiated as an aspect of information systems that requires separate consideration.
Systems analysis and design
Initial development of services was undertaken prior to the online era.
Development of user interfaces was not an issue. Output requirements for batch
processes of what was then termed SDI services were developed for
intermediaries rather than end users. CSIRO developed a batch current
awareness search facility for databases. For its time it had advanced search
functionality notable for providing for a combination of Boolean and weighted
search logic and truncation. It was adaptable to locally produced databases such
as ABOA (a precursor of AANRO).
The databases dealing solely with Australian content were begun after the
commencement of the online era. Generally they were created and searched
using existing software that had been developed generically to deal with a range
of databases (as Informit does now). IBM’s STAIRS retrieval software was
most prominent in this respect. There was limited development of it to
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 270
accommodate the specifics of STI services. One mechanism for initiating this
was the AUSINET User’s Committee. For example it sought database
structuring to permit merged postings across databases. The AUSINET
implementation of this was CROS – after ‘cross-searching’ the index of
databases, one could then move to the database of choice.
Evaluation
Evaluation plays a significant part in information management, but it has
not been given any prominence by Rowley. It seems reasonable that it should
play a significant part in both information systems and information retrieval
level at least, and it is included here particularly to address system performance
analysis.
For the STI services of the case study, there are many aspects of
information management for which performance evaluation could take place.
These include assessment of the quantity of coverage and throughput of records,
interface evaluation, system online availability, and range of use by the market.
For information retrieval they may include indexing consistency and search
performance.
While some analysis has been carried out on an ongoing basis by the
different services, for example for internal annual reporting purposes, there has
not been much formal evaluation conducted for public scrutiny. An exception is
performance evaluation undertaken on AESIS that included the use of an
evaluative framework set up in a study of the Georef database (Tellis, 1986).
This was used to evaluate such things as coverage by subject and form of
material; currency; incidences of duplicate records; indexing; and training
programs. There was also examination of performance in terms of cost
effectiveness and benefit.
Evaluation includes determination of quality. It would normally be
accompanied by procedures for maintaining information quality, such as in the
case of STI services, the application of controlled vocabularies. Thesauri are
indeed used by each of the services in the study. However data are not
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 271
maintained regarding consistency of application of terms, utilisation of
uncontrolled keywords, or utilisation of vocabularies for searching.
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is conceived as the part played by individuals in the
information management process. It can therefore be undertaken by end users of
information, or by those who are concerned with getting the information to the end
users.
As information managers, these may be intermediaries such as database
designers, interface designers, and indexers. As identified in the case studies, these
may be regarded as those responsible for the processes of information selection,
design, organisation, and retrieval.
Information selection
Each of the STI services has operational procedures for selection of
material. In some cases, such as with AANRO there is a contextual setting
using a formal document that may be used for guidance. When the AANRO
databases were combined into one, a document was produced to provide
detailed guidelines on selection of material including differentiation by form
and level of description (collective and item level) (Quinn, 2004).
The ANSTI database includes material that is selected according to
detailed documents developed at the international level by the International
Nuclear Information System. The national database is created from material
that is transferred back from the INIS international database following
inclusion there. The ATRI database is also linked with an international service,
namely the ITRD. In this case the local database is created first and includes
local material of wider scope than the database on which it is modelled. About
30-40% of material annually is submitted to the international equivalent.
AusGeoref in its current form is created nationally but subsumed within the
international Georef database. It may be searched as a subset of the database
but does not exist independently.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 272
The health material included in AMI is substantially wider in scope than
that which is also provided as the Australian Medline component. Initially
there was a conscious policy of complementing rather than replicating any of
the Medline material. However in recent years material from the Australian
component of Medline has also been included in AMI.
ENGINE is not linked with an international service. It mainly covers
material published by Engineers Australia.
Information design
Many of the services were developed initially with internal structuring and
formatting, and were then reformatted for availability through online service
vendors mentioned earlier: AUSINET in the 1970s, CSIRO’s AUSTRALIS
facility and then the NLA’s OZLINE facility. In 1998, RMIT Publishing’s
Informit facility was commissioned and many Australian databases are now
aggregated for delivery through it, including all of the STI databases in the case
study except for AusGeoref.
Access to the databases is provided through a common interface, but the
databases each retain their own data elements. Standard metadata elements for
description and indexing, along with links to full text or websites where
appropriate are provided for all databases. They are complemented with
specialised metadata such as sponsorship elements in the case of ENGINE and
AANRO (which appears on Informit as ANR-I), and geographic data in ATRI.
In its earlier manifestation as AESIS, the earth sciences database had a
number of specialised data elements such as map references. Its structure and
presentation is now as per Georef. AANRO though appearing through Informit
as ANR-I is also freely available online through aanro.net (Infoscan Pty Ltd,
2006). The site is termed a knowledge base and provides a coherent integration
of references to documents, references to ongoing and completed research
projects, and a gateway to sites through search interfaces that include a graphic
interface based upon mapped regions of Australia.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 273
Information organisation
Indexing and classification is undertaken for each of the STI services. In
cases such as for Engine and ANSTI, this has been undertaken in-house by
librarians or information officers Contract indexing is also undertaken, for
example on a piecework basis for AMI.
Each of the services uses a controlled vocabulary based upon an
international thesaurus. For example ANSTI uses the INIS Thesaurus and AMI
uses MeSH. Although AusGeoref now works within the Georef framework,
when in its former manifestation of AESIS, a thesaurus developed in Australia
was used for the database. Some of the databases also use identifiers for further
uncontrolled subject description. ANSTI additionally makes use of INIS
category codes.
Information retrieval
Search intermediaries continue to provide information retrieval for end
users through the subscription-based Informit.
However, much information retrieval is undertaken by end users who use
the databases that have been created on internal networks at the creating
institutions, or through Informit, which provides access to all databases except
AusGeoref, or in the case of AusGeoref as a subset search directly from Georef.
AANRO is alternatively available freely and directly from a web portal as
part of a knowledge base that also includes links to non-bibliographic material.
This is based upon the principle that end users will search it directly from the
web, but that intermediaries will use the more advanced search features
available through its Informit manifestation.
Discussion
A paper of this constrained length provides limited opportunity for describing
the STI services as outlined. However its objective has been principally to see how
examples from this detail may exemplify the Rowley framework. Rather than
comprehensive description, selected examples have been provided.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 274
It has been possible to explain STI service provision in terms of Rowley’s
framework, so it can be said that information management is applicable in the situation
under consideration, even if it is not always being undertaken to the extent that
participants might wish. Still, there are ways in which the framework might be refined
to provide further illustrative capacity for information management.
It would appear to be preferable to identify the information processing
constituents as ‘assemblies’ (or a similar term), rather than ‘information processors’ as
they are now identified (Rowley, 1998). All of the information processors are
individuals (as are all the information managers), but they are functioning with
different levels of aggregation within the recognized levels. So while the information
processing happens with different degrees of aggregation, the processors in each case
are individuals, who may be contributing professionally as information managers, or
alternatively participating at a lay level.
‘Information retrieval’ may be a misleading rubric to use for those operations
inclusive of wider operations than retrieval itself. It is explained as including a range
of information organisation procedures (such as indexing) that facilitate retrieval. It is
also exemplified by Rowley (1998, p. 364) as including information selection by
individuals with particular information needs. It should also include selection
undertaken by information mangers as intermediaries. In the case of STI services, this
includes making decisions about scope of inclusion and about which material to
choose within the scoping policy. A more comprehensive term such as ‘information
processes’ may be appropriate. Given this, it would remain necessary to differentiate it
from the information technology procedures, supporting the ‘information systems’
rubric as defined.
Evaluation is a significant element of information management that has not been
emphasised by Rowley, perhaps because it is seen as happening at each level of the
proposed framework. For the cases under investigation it has been included under
information systems. Yet in the case of STI services it might well have been
exemplified under information retrieval as well. It would seem appropriate to find a
way to make it explicit.
Differentiation of environment and contextual levels by Rowley seems to have
been made with a view to separating consideration of information management
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 275
strategy and administration within organisations from those influences that come to a
business from outside. This may be useful for institutions that are primarily concerned
with creation and maintenance of internal information resources. Yet for the many
institutions continually participating in business-to-business interaction or subject to
government-to-business policy influence, it is difficult to separate environment from
context, and the two levels may reasonably be conflated for the purposes of the
framework.
The explanatory power might be increased if the levels were further explained in
terms of domains of interest (Diener, 1992; Middleton, 2002). Thus Rowley’s 4 levels
may be contrasted with the 3 domains that are used to explain information
management: operational, analytical, and strategic. The operational domain includes
carrying out the processes of information management; the analytical domain includes
determining the needs of information users, the value of information, and the
performance of information processes; the strategic domain includes planning and
contextualisation within policy agendas.
Conclusion
The framework proposed by Rowley may be applied to the case of provision of
STI services as an example of information management. Nonetheless, the framework
would benefit from further elaboration and modification to take account of explanation
of domains of information management. Such adaptation would provide the
framework with more universal explanatory power.
Adaptation could include the following:
• Removal of the differentiation between environment and context. In
situations where enterprises and their systems have significant
interaction with the wider community and other enterprises, separating
these into different levels is as difficult as separating the parts of a
jellyfish. They might reasonably be combined as an administration level
that is concerned with the strategic domain of information management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 276
• The information systems and information retrieval levels could each be
elaborated in terms of an analytical and an operational domain.
In the case of information systems, the analytical domain would be
concerned with determination of information seeking behaviours of
interest groups, carrying out requirements analysis for systems, and
evaluating the performance of systems. The operational domain would
be concerned with the development and maintenance of such systems
and training in their use.
In the case of information retrieval, the analytical domain would be
about the determination of value of information, the identification of
extent and scope of information repositories, and the evaluation of how
effectively the information is organised in and retrieved from such
repositories. The operational domain would be concerned with processes
including metadata provision, vocabulary control, search strategy
development, maintenance of business intelligence profiles, and training
in the application of these processes.
• The information retrieval level could be better named as an information
processes level. As presently explained by Rowley it concerned the
actions procedures and methods for recovering information from stored
data. As these processes include the preparation of the stored data by
information managers, a broader term would be more expressive of what
is happening.
Further interpretation of the parts played by information managers and
information processors is necessary. Managers are themselves processors, and users
may play a part in each of Rowley’s information processor levels, not just the retrieval
level. It may be preferable to speak in terms of information processing levels each of
which involves individuals, either as information managers or as users, but
differentiated by different degrees of assembly.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 277
Acknowledgements
Thanks to members of the QUILT group in the Information Use Research
Program at QUT for constructive comments on this work.
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Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 7.1: IJIM Frameworks) 279
Middleton, M. (2006a)(in press). Scientific and technological information services in Australia I. History
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Middleton, M. (2006b)(in press). Scientific and technological information services in Australia II.
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Raber, D. (2003). The problem of information: An introduction to information science. Lanham, MD,
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Rowley, J. (1998). Towards a framework for information management. International Journal of
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Rowley, J. (1999). In pursuit of the discipline of information management. New Review of Information
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Saracevic, T. (Ed.). (1970). Introduction to information science. NY: Bowker.
Tedd, L. A. (2003). The what? and how? of education and training for information professionals in a
changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of
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Tellis, D. A. (1986). Management, control and cost benefit. In P. Judge & B. Gerrie (Eds.), Small scale
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Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 281
C h a p t e r 8 : I n f o r m a t i o n m a n a g e m e n t i n l i b r a r y c o n t e x t
8.1. Book chapter: IM discipline and library development
Charles Sturt University’s Centre for Information Studies has commissioned a book
that investigates developments in library and information studies. I was invited to write a
chapter that deliberates information management development in this context, and took
the opportunity to use the defined disciplinary scope of information management in order
to contrast it with information management applied in the library context. The
submission is presently completed first review:
Middleton, M. (in press) Beyond the corporate library: information management in
organisations. In S Ferguson (Ed.), Libraries in the twenty-first century:
Charting future developments in library and information services.
The main thrust of the paper is to show with examples, how information
management in the wider corporate context may be differentiated from the way that it is
practised in the library environment.
Contribution to research
The prior research involved consideration of information management without
direct reference to the library context, except where in the case studies it provided a
support role for the STI services. However, it was established at the outset that
librarianship is one of the principal precursors of information management. This paper
addresses contemporary librarianship and analyses its role relative to information
management as comprehended through findings in the prior disciplinary studies.
It therefore assists with interpretation of information management using a broader
perspective, and clarifying its practicality with respect to information acquisition,
information organisation, current awareness, information resource evaluation and quality
control, requirements analysis, preservation and information policy in contexts other than
libraries.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 283
CHAPTER 13 Beyond the corporate library: information management in organisations
Michael Middleton
Introduction
This chapter examines information management beyond the library environment.
Therefore, for a variety of alternative information environments, it is an investigation
undertaken critically, of information management principles and applications.
The library has always been a primary cultural institution for managing
information. However, librarians didn’t make regular use of the phrase ‘information
management’ until the mid 1970s. This was after it had achieved currency outside the
library environment, a significant factor being that the US government had initiated a
Commission of Federal Paperwork (US Commission on Federal Paperwork, 1977).
The Commission extended its interest beyond its primary focus of paperwork
reduction, and used the term ‘information resource management’ as an expression
meaning the planning and controlling of information requirements in general.
Some information professionals had at the same time been using ‘information
management’ with approximately the same meaning. This has led to ongoing
academic and professional debate about whether ‘resource’ needs to be part of the
phrase. Although ‘resource’ remains prominent in such professional tags as the
Information Resources Management Association (IRMA), in recent years ‘information
management’ seems to have become the preferred term. Even so, its definition remains
tenuous.
A difficulty is that both ‘information’ and ‘management’ have nuances
influenced by context, discipline and application.
Information may be understood as intermediate in a continuum between data
(symbols arranged for interpretation) and knowledge (information that has been
absorbed and comprehended). However many users of the word do not differentiate
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 284
data, information or knowledge. Management too, is understood in different ways. It
may have an operational connotation (organisation of artefacts), a personnel
connotation (supervision of people), or a development connotation (strategic
planning). Correspondingly, many users of the term management, make no distinction
between the different applications of management.
So ‘information management’ taken together may be understood as any
combination of these interpretations. A more detailed discussion of terminology
appears in Wilson (2003), and there is an extended explanation of application in
Middleton (2002).
Roberts (1996) saw that there was much to be gained from a pooled view and
understanding of the library and information management settings. Further, having
proposed a set of conceptual principles for information management he mapped them
against consolidated principles for librarianship. He found that information
management had little to offer in terms of a surpassing paradigm. In this respect the
analysis following below respects his approach by itemising elements that are
generally well accepted in the library field, but exploring them in a wider context.
Other than IRMA, many professional associations lay claim to information
management. Their emphasis depends upon different points of reference. For example
Aslib (2006) which styles itself ‘the Association for Information Management’ has a
foundation in special libraries and information centres. It is oriented towards dealing
with information as a resource. By way of contrast, the Society for Information
Management (SIM, 2006) encourages a membership of academics, consultants,
professional leaders and managers in the information systems area.
There are other professionals associations that also see information management
as being within their purview. They include those whose centre of attention has been
records, document or image management. They now cast their net in a wider context.
This may well include knowledge management which is sometimes confused with,
sometimes differentiated from, information management.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 285
If we elaborate upon information management within its various interpretations,
it can be seen that it involves many elements that are familiar to libraries, but which
may be expanded beyond the library environment:
• Information acquisition, not only for purchase of and subscription to
material coming into repositories, but also for generation of information
within organisations through processes such as content management.
• Information organisation, not only by cataloguing and classification of
materials in a repository, but also by use of digital metadata for information
resources that may be records, databases, websites or other digital media.
• Current awareness, by reporting not only material incoming to collections,
but through provision of environmental scanning using tools such as
database posting, portals, and blogs to repackage and re-present.
• Resource evaluation, by determining not just the economic and intellectual
worth of material in library collections, but through audit of enterprise-wide
information sources.
• Information quality control, not simply through standards for cataloguing
and maintenance of authority files, but also by means of data dictionaries,
data sampling metrics and other means of database validation.
• Requirements analysis, not just through determination of sources that meet
individual user needs, but through explanation of processes by which they
use information so that system interfaces may be created.
• Preservation, not only of physical collections, but through development and
application of digital preservation and security procedures.
• Policy, not confined to such repository matters as collection and use policy,
but more broadly applied to corporate information policy.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 286
Thus there is an emphasis on information more so than the documents that carry
it. However, there is also a convergence between information management practised
within and without the library environment. As established libraries have moved into
the digital environment, librarians have become less concerned with collection, more
concerned with provision; less concerned with form, more concerned with content;
less concerned with comprehensiveness, more with pertinence and presentation.
Each of these concerns is essentially an extension of what librarians have been
doing applied within a broader framework, and often without reference to a collection
in the traditional sense. This is recognised at the preparatory level in the library
profession where many current information studies courses cater for this extended
context.
The following sections elaborate upon each of the information elements
introduced above and emphasise their application outside the library domain, but
illustrate their relevance to that domain.
Information acquisition
Libraries in their capacity as repositories have long been in the business of
acquiring documents. In recent years their construal of what is a document has been
extended to cover all forms of media including digital media. In harmony with the way
digital media are available, there has been a move from ownership to access.
Information management within libraries now includes a significant element of
attention to subscriptions and access mechanisms such as consortial arrangements for
utilisation of digital aggregations.
Libraries have generally been concerned with acquisition of, or access to
information produced outside their organisation. Usually it is published information,
although differentiation between what is published and unpublished is now a
problematic distinction.
It used to be that publishing of physical documents leading to printing was a
process accompanied by review, editorial and presentation procedures each carried out
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 287
by specialists, and meant to refine the content of the original authorship prior to
marketing and distribution. This of course still happens, and has in numerous cases
been transferred to the digital environment.
Nevertheless the advent firstly of desktop publishing making use of software
within the means of individuals, and then the web with its straightforward mark-up
language has given a new understanding to publishing. The less stringent meaning of
‘to bring to public attention’ can be applied in the digital environment. Vanity
publishing is given a new lease of life.
Along with personal publishing autonomy, corporate publishing has also become
easier to achieve, and the distinction between documents internal and external to
businesses has diminished.
Information management has promoted the value of the corporate memory
embodied in the documents produced by a business, many of which have a life that is
principally internal to the organisation. These documents may be in the form of
reports, forms and correspondence aggregated in files that record fiscal, policy,
historical, legal or research aspects of the business. Organisation of these documents
for internal use is undertaken using recordkeeping principles.
As enterprises convert to digital document production, they have sought ways of
associating document management and recordkeeping. They continue to seek ways of
balancing the production of internal and public information, so that for instance,
fragments of internal documents may readily be incorporated within published
documents for marketing purposes.
A development that supports such acquisition and dissemination of corporate
information is the concept of the content management system (CMS). The CMS has
stemmed from use of intranets to manage corporate information. Software support for
a CMS provides a mechanism for producing internal information and making available
via the internet anything that an enterprise also wishes to make external – in other
words, publish.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 288
As defined by J. Robertson (2003) a CMS supports the creation, management,
distribution, publishing, and discovery of corporate information. A successful CMS
will be able to support business objectives for information management that include
creation and controlled distribution of corporate information such as that dealing with
policy directives, lessons learned, recordkeeping and training. This may be achieved
most effectively via interfaces to internal databases, so that information acquisition is
database driven.
A CMS is sometimes characterised as having content creation, content assembly
and content management components (Asprey & Middleton, 2003).
Content creation is concerned with the authoring process. Software support for it
should include:
• Capability of undertaking authoring without reference to underlying mark-
up.
• Templates and style sheets that separate content and presentation.
• Metadata creation.
• Interactive help utilities that guide users through complex tasks (wizards).
• Controlling group use of individual documents as they are being developed
using check in/check out facilities.
Content assembly is concerned with adjuncts to creation that minimise data
duplication and support quality control. Software support includes:
• Integrated authoring environment for utilisation and incorporation of digital
data representing image, sound or text from outside sources.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 289
• Inclusion of multiple contributions through devices like bulletin boards.
• Database interfaces that provide for a single source of re-usable content.
• Maintaining links despite restructuring and presentation in different contexts.
• Authority management so that there are standard lists of names and subjects
that may be utilised within documents.
Content management is concerned, like document management systems, with a
system that ensures effective process control. Software support includes:
• A repository that locks pages in use and provides for utilisation of fragments
of documents.
• Versioning that supports sole use of a current version (integrity), along with
control for recovery and accountability.
• Security through access levels and audit trails.
• Workflow support through association with other business systems within a
framework that is adaptable to change in organisational processes.
• Management reporting of utilisation and performance.
The term digital assets management (DAM) may be used as an alternative to
CMS. This is when there is an emphasis on valuing of the information resources that
have been created, rather than the creation of them. So DAM is particularly associated
with the content assembly and content management points listed above.
Libraries themselves employ content management in conjunction with their
portals, and many applications have been described (Seadle, 2006), but from an
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 290
information management viewpoint, CMS have much wider application that the
library environment.
An example of CMS deployment at an Australian university is described in
some detail by Williams, Boulton, and Bartosiewicz (2003). They discuss its design
and implementation at RMIT and give illustrations of downloadable templates,
metadata forms, and screens from the document authoring and publishing
environment. They also undertake initial evaluations of use.
An example of the association between recordkeeping and CMS is described by
Sprehe (2005). He emphasises the need for recordkeeping to support compliance
requirements of legislation. Then he goes on to outline three brief case studies of US
government agencies in which electronic recordkeeping has been enhanced through
alignment with content management and portal management. Improved support is
provided for case file management, electronic publishing, financial management,
forms management and executive decision making.
CMS is naturally of interest to organisations that are rich in content such as
publishers and broadcast media, who want the ‘essence’ of their content to be
produced and disseminated through multiple outlets. Mauthe & Thomas (2004)
provide examples of application in media environments.
Information organisation
Organisation of information continues to be a major preoccupation of
information professionals. The library profession showed the way to information
organisation through internationally accepted cataloguing standards, and a relatively
limited number of classification schemes established to cover the whole field of
knowledge. Libraries have a legacy of doing this for physical documents. Further, they
have adapted their metadata manuals to deal with digital document description – for
example cataloguing rules for machine readable formats and web documents. In this
way, MARC, the commonly used library metadata format is able to accommodate
descriptions of digital media.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 291
Despite this, the digital environment has encouraged a great number of
alternative approaches to information description, particularly for databases. These
range from specialised metadata schemes to specialised taxonomies to cover the
domains of subject matter.
Any database definition for an in-house database is effectively a metadata
scheme. It is of interest to information management when the metadata must be shared
among different applications. This is almost inevitable as companies try to integrate
internal systems through enterprise wide applications, share with other businesses for
e-commerce, or establish data warehouses that share the same data that may be known
in different parts of a company by different names.
Standardised approaches to naming and defining data across databases are aimed
for in data dictionaries (or what the International Standards Organisation calls an
Information Resource Dictionary System framework). Utilisation of these provides an
information manager with a tool for information quality maintenance, and a
mechanism for controlling information sharing within an organisation. It also
formalises information requirements analysis and specification. Such dictionaries are
now also being used among organisations, notably in the health field, to achieve
agreed definitions. An example is the data dictionary published, with supplements by
the AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2003).
Between organisations, information sharing is also facilitated by metadata
standards. Whereas the library environment essentially has the one scheme, MARC
(albeit with variations) for sharing bibliographic data, there are many other schemes
used in different environments, for example:
• EDIFACT, an international electronic data interchange standard developed
under the auspices of the United Nations for administration, commerce and
transport; the scheme and syntax are documented by ISO (International
Standards Organisation, 2002).
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 292
• A variety of geospatial metadata sets that facilitate organisation and sharing
of mapping information, such as those of the U.S. Federal Geographic Data
Committee; there is an international standard ISO 19115 of relevance, and
there are implementations such as that adopted in Australasia (ANZLIC,
2001).
• AGLS, the Australian Government Locator Service (Standards Australia,
2002) designed to provided a limited set of metadata for describing
government websites, based on an extension of another metadata scheme,
Dublin Core.
The focus of both data dictionaries and metadata schemes is the description of
the different elements of an agent that carries information. A database may be such an
agent irrespective of the digital medium on which it is resident. An agent may also be
any document in the broad sense of an artefact holding information. If the elements of
an agent such as a compact disk include its title, creator and playing time, then a data
dictionary controls the format of each of these elements. MARC might reasonably be
used as a contribution to a data dictionary in a non-library environment.
An extract from the AGLS metadata element set reference description is shown
in Table 13.1. Such a reference set may be used as a standard to form the basis of
internal data dictionaries created by different institutions, and then used to share data
between institutions in a common format. In the example, a single element, in this case
DATE is used.
Dictionaries are also structured to call upon other metadata that describes the
subject content of the agents that carry the information. If the compact disk contained a
documentary film, then the subject content might draw upon a classification scheme
for documentaries. MARC has data elements set aside to accommodate instances from
sets of subject headings, and classification schemes. Similarly, schemes such as AGLS
provide for use of a range of taxonomies and schemes.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 293
Table 13.1. Extract from AGLS reference description (National Archives of Australia, 2002);
reproduced with permission of NAA.
Element Name: DATE
Label: Date
Definition: A date of an event in the lifecycle of the resource.
Obligation: Mandatory
Comment: Typically, Date will be associated with the creation or availability of the resource. Recommended best practice for encoding the date value is defined in a profile of ISO 8601 [W3CDTF] and follows the YYYY-MM-DD format.
Qualifiers
Qualifier Name: created
Label: Created
Qualifier Type: element refinement
Definition: Creation date of the resource.
Qualifier Name: modified
Label: Modified
Qualifier Type: element refinement
Definition: Modification date of the resource.
Qualifier Name: valid
Label: Valid
Qualifier Type: element refinement
Definition: A date (often a range) of validity of a resource.
Comment: Typically, a date the resource becomes valid or ceases to be valid, or the date range for which the resource is valid.
Qualifier Name: issued
Label: Issued
Qualifier Type: element refinement
Definition: A date on which the resource was made formally available in its current form.
Many classifications, thesauri and comparable controlled vocabularies have been
established for description of specialised material. Some examples are:
• COFOG: Classification Of the Functions Of Government, one of many
schemes maintained by the UN, in this case to categorise expenditure
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 294
according to purpose; it is part of their international family of economic and
social classifications (United Nations, 2002).
• ICONCLASS (2005), an iconographic classification system developed from
the work of van de Waal at the University of Leiden; it is a collection of
ready-made definitions of objects, persons, events, situations and abstract
ideas that can be the subject of a work of art.
• AGIFT, a three-level hierarchical vocabulary that describes the business
functions carried out across Commonwealth, State and local governments in
Australia (National Archives of Australia, 2005).
These vocabularies are published for use by allcomers. They may be contrasted
with the many examples of in-house database definitions and taxonomies that are
particular to databases in businesses and research institutions. The in-house
vocabularies may in a way be map of an organisation’s intellectual assets. They
represent enterprise knowledge. However, even in such cases there is a growing need
to formalise and share description of structures for others to use between businesses or
for e-research.
An analysis of three in-house examples was undertaken by (Kremer, Kolbe, &
Brenner, 2005). These were the introduction of a glossary for an insurance company;
setting up a corporate taxonomy at an international professional services firm; and
combining a glossary and taxonomy for document classification and retrieval at an
educational institution. From their findings they proposed a procedural model for
terminology management that combines glossary and taxonomy use.
The taxonomies that are referred to above are typically controlled vocabularies
where objects are described together with relationships such as subsumption (for
example ‘a plum is-a fruit’) or meronymy (‘a plum skin is part-of a plum’). However,
they are unlikely to comprise a complete formal ontology where for a domain of
interest, knowledge is represented in terms of concepts, their characteristics and all of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 295
the relations between them. Thus a cooking ontology would also need relationship
attributes such as grown-in to show origin of the plum or mixed-with for use in recipes.
It is the development of such formal ontologies that will help to underpin the
aspirations of the so-called semantic web in which software can be developed better to
interrelate search strategies and documents.
Another aspect of information organisation concerns the way that websites are
organised. This is called information architecture (Rosenfeld & Morville, 2002),
although the terminology is also be applied more widely to the design and
development of many other information products and systems. In the case of the web it
involves the design and coordination of interfaces that draws upon databases,
metadata, content management and presentation.
Information organisation for the information manager therefore involves a
judicious combination of metadata (which requires constant attention behind the
scenes), and presentation, which is the scene.
Current awareness
Provision of current awareness services by libraries pre-dates libraries’ use of
computer systems. When the first text-based retrieval systems were developed in the
1960s as a by product of the publishing process, an initial application was selective
dissemination of information (SDI). Librarians acted as intermediaries (and still do) by
developing profiles (search term formulations) for their patrons.
System development has seen an emphasis on patrons (often now clumsily
termed ‘end users’), setting up their own profiles. Many database services facilitate
this self-management through fairly straightforward procedures. However many end
users are not in a position to put the time and understanding into developing their
profile. They may therefore profitably turn to information professionals for profile
maintenance. The support may come from librarians, consultants, or information
officers working independently of any library.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 296
SDI depends upon extraction from databases of new incoming material. It has
the advantage of reliability, normally obtained through the controlled description of
material that has been through editorial and reviewing processes. However, users may
be prepared to reduce reliability in favour of immediacy and subjectivity. For this
reason, the blog (short for weblog: web page containing brief, chronologically
presented items of information) has become a popular current awareness device.
They are often ephemeral, but when sustained, blogs, many of which are
maintained by individuals, may be useful combinations of a diary, discussion, current
references, news, book reviews, images, and opinion and links on specialist topic
areas, thereby achieving ‘guru’ status for the blog maintainer . Could this be the
information manager as guru? As pointed out by Clyde (2004) the best blogs are
authoritative sources of current information and opinion related to their topic. They
may be created by subject specialists, and they may well include contributions from
other specialists. Examples of specialist blogs are UK Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) (Wood, 2006) maintained by an academic, and Internet Legal Research
Weekly’s Inter alia (2006). Blogs are also obvious tools for libraries and there are
many cases where institutions or individuals are now utilising them.
The web portal is more formal approach than the blog. It usually works with the
combined resources of an institution, and likely to combine current awareness with
access to database and archives. Libraries often play a lead or support role in such
endeavours, for example Australia dancing (National Library of Australia, nd.).
Environmental scanning is a label that is sometimes applied to current
awareness. In some cases libraries have appropriated it to refer to their SDI services.
However, in an information management sense, it is generally more about evaluation
and interpretation of the information as well. It is the process by which an organisation
extracts information about the general societal, technological, economic and political
environment in which it operates, and combines this information with business
intelligence about its competitors in order to assist its own strategic planning.
Disengagement with the material that is scanned (in the sense of a library
leaving a patron to do the interpretation of retrieved material) does not apply. There
must be analysis and use of the information within the strategic planning framework of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 297
the organisation. This may be undertaken by a special unit in an enterprise, or by an
organisational strategy that requires sections of a company to undertake environmental
scanning as part of their duties.
Choo (2002) has interpreted the framework of environmental scanning to
consider organisations as open systems interacting with the environment. He sees
these enterprises as ‘intelligent’: that is, they are learning organisations that set
objectives and improve competitive position, consciously creating, acquiring,
organising, and using knowledge to support their direction. Thus a learning
organisation operates by carrying out appropriate strategies and responses within a
continuing cycle of activities that involve sensing the environment, perceiving change,
and interpreting the significance of the change. The business literature is replete with
many characterisations of how environmental scanning may take place, In Choo’s
case, he opts for four modes: undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, enacting, and
searching. These represent progressively greater levels of engagement with scanning.
There are many documented case studies of scanning application. An example in
which enterprises were analysed to see how scanning influenced strategic decision
making was reported by Frishammar (2003). He studied four medium-sized companies
listed on the Swedish stock exchange with respect to specific strategic decisions. The
companies were in the heavy vehicle, information logistics, environmentally friendly
product development, and biotechnology sectors. Unsurprisingly, all were found to
employ information in strategic decision making. Yet there was varying reliance on
‘hard’ (numerical, quantitative), and ‘soft’ (qualitative, discursive, visions, ideas,
cognitive structures) information.
The combination of soft and hard information requirement seemed to vary over
time in each enterprise. Most respondents to his survey started out with soft
information, then moved to hard information as a process continued.
The picture provided by respondents was that soft information served as a basis
for interpreting which hard information is relevant and which is not. At that stage hard
information became more important, leading to the application of analytical methods
for studying figures. After this however, many respondents returned to soft
information. A sentiment of many of the respondents was that it was impossible to
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 298
‘count all the way’. At the time when the actual decision (strategic choice) was taken,
intuition and cognitive structures again came into play (Frishammar, p. 321).
In each case companies tended to rely heavily on solicited information.
Unsolicited information was less frequently used, although its importance was still
recognised. In all companies, information classified as unsolicited was more
undirected than directed (that is, the source being intentional or purposeful in
information provision).
Two of the companies ranked their customers as the most important source of
information, and the three highest ranked sources in both companies were personal
sources. The data show a pattern for three of the four companies where internal
sources of information were preferred over external ones.
Current awareness is a significant aspect of information management that
supports strategic decision making. It involves a combination of obtaining information
from a range of structured and unstructured sources, interpreting the information, and
converting it to corporate knowledge in relation to the business’s objectives.
Resource evaluation
Determining the extent and value of library collections is part of the collection
management process. Collection assessment has been quantified in the past with such
tools as Conspectus, which was structured to provide overviews of strengths,
weaknesses and directions of academic collection levels. On the other hand,
information resource evaluation in an information management context sees a library
collection as just one of the information resources for the whole enterprise.
Establishing the extent and effectiveness of an enterprise’s information resources
is a fundamental aspect of information management requirements in order to
appreciate how the information resources support the mission and objectives of the
organisation.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 299
Simply identifying and categorising the range of information resources can be
problematic. However the process may be assisted by tools such as the Harvard
Information Business Map (Oettinger, McLaughlin, & Birinyi, 1999). This schematic
is a two-dimensional representation of information resources that has its horizontal
axis plotted from form to substance (with increasing value added), and its vertical axis
plotted from product to service. Information resources such as paper, PABXs, financial
services, or databases are then positioned on the map.
Such identification of resources may be extended by determining the extent of
information that there is, who uses it, which processes it supports, and how well the
processes are supported. In the form of an audit, this should help to identify
discrepancies, as well as those of the resources that may be better applied or funded,
and those that may be unnecessary.
Resource evaluation that distinguishes information resources as sources, systems
and services is detailed in the seminal work by Burk and Horton (1988). They used an
approach called ‘Infomap’ and suggested various ways of assessing resources, but
ultimately these are grouped under determinations of the importance and the
effectiveness of each resource. Infomap also takes into account a third factor: the
importance to an organisation of the activities that are supported by each of the
information resources. A formula is produced to combine the three elements.
Their method may be criticised for providing an unsubstantiated formulaic
approach that leads to ratings that are apparently quantitative, though based upon
many subjective impressions. It also has the major drawbacks of the time and
resources required to obtain and reconcile all those impressions about resources.
However, the method recognises the importance of accounting for policy influences
(see later section on information policy), and together with a software instrument for
capturing data, it caters for managers who like to be able to obtain pictorial overviews
of usefulness.
More recently Henczel (2000) describes a seven stage information audit model
which specifically excludes computer systems on the assumption that a systems audit
will follow and complement an information audit. She is at pains to differentiate
information needs analysis from an audit. The latter she sees as identifying not only
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 300
resources and services, but also how and by whom they are used. Presumably because
she is excluding computer systems, she does not make any association between needs
analysis and requirements analysis, a term commonly used for helping to design
systems, which is described in the later section on requirements analysis.
Like Burk and Horton, Henczel emphasises the alignment of the audit process
with organisational goals, and she sees the process as a continuum that continues to
modify those goals. In each case the writers exemplify their procedures with case
studies. Burk and Horton provide a detailed analysis of a resources company so they
are able to provide many examples of sources such as remote sensing data or
correspondence files, services such as couriers or information locating, and systems
such as drafting/graphics or contracts process control, all assessed within the
framework of the activities that they support.
Henczel’s case studies are less detailed, but they explain the information
gathering methods and purpose. For example in the case of an Australian government
department (Henczel, 2000, p. 212), the assessment is described as being within the
framework of a broader knowledge management strategy. It addresses issues relating
to governance, electronic recordkeeping and document management, information
access and retrieval, and information management tools and infrastructure.
As is typical within the management area, there are variations on the auditing
process that help to blur just what is being audited (Middleton, 2002, p.360). An audit
may emphasise either the information flow or the information value. In the case of
information flow, it may be called a communication audit, and focus on the short
interactions of managerial work, many of which are oral. Therefore the ways in which
flows are compartmentalised may be addressed along with appropriateness, clarity,
and efficiency. Information value audits are more concerned with information systems
processing activities, and the integrity and security of these.
A useful definition that encompasses the above variations is given by G.
Robertson (1997) as ‘systematic examination of information use, resources and flows,
with verification by reference to both people and existing documents in order to
establish and monitor the extent to which they are contributing to an organisation’s
objectives’.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 301
When there is an attempt to ascertain information value as part of an audit, a
number of ways have been employed to attempt to quantify value. Two of these are
risk analysis and information attribute assessment.
Risk analysis tries to quantify information assets in terms of threats and
safeguards associated with them. It includes trying to answer the questions of what it
might cost an enterprise if some of its information is stolen, lost, insidiously modified,
or even simply viewed by an uninvited party. For example, what is the likelihood of a
competitor gaining access to research data leading to a patent application, and what
financial affect might this have on the corporation? Algorithms have been developed
that normalise and sum all such identifiable risks including those pertaining to
disasters such as sabotage, in order to establish some insurance value with respect to
information.
Alternatively, Oppenheim, Stenson, and Wilson (2003) adopted a repertory grid
technique to ask managers about numerous attributes of nominated information assets.
The assets were identified as information about each of: business processes, customer,
product, organisation, management, personnel, suppliers, accountability, and
competitors. Examples of information attributes that were assessed included ‘changes
made to information’ (on a scale from slow to quick), and ‘level of control of
information’ (scaled from low to high). By averaging ratings given for these and
seventeen other attributes they developed a metric that gave an indication of corporate
information value.
Determining information value in a quantitative way is a problematical area, but
to the extent that value can be estimated, it forms a useful part of an auditing process.
Quality control
Quality control procedures range from software support for data processing at
the technical level, through to scrutiny and performance review of management
processes. In libraries the data processing quality control may be per medium of
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 302
authority files that support cataloguing processes; the performance review may be of a
task such as average time to undertake reference queries.
Each of these procedures has its equivalent in the information management
world outside libraries. For example many data dictionaries provide for data elements
to have validation lists. That is, the data instances for a particular data element such as
person’s name, may have only certain allowed values. Correspondingly, query answer
throughput is a significant aspect of performance review in call centres.
Data dictionaries provide for formalising and controlling the naming of entities,
attributes and their relationships within databases, for example by inclusion of:
• Data entities such as elements, tables, rows, and keys.
• System entities such as programs and modules.
• External entities such as description of people, documents and devices.
• Identification attributes such as naming along with synonyms or aliases.
• Representation attributes such as data type or number of characters in an
element.
• Control attributes such as ownership – who is allowed to change data
instances for an element.
• Cardinality relationships: the number of instances one entity that may be
related to instances of another, for example, a table has a certain number of
rows.
• Subtype or subsumption relationships that indicate whether one entity is a
part of another, for example a sedan is a subtype of car.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 303
When put into effect, data dictionaries support quality control of data as the data
are entered. For example, when an operator is required to enter the postcode for an
address into a database, a data dictionary may be used to:
• Validate the operator as a user who is allowed to enter postcodes.
• Have a postcode data element of a limited number of characters.
• Allow postcodes to appear only within the numerical range associated with
the country of instance.
• Provide a picklist of allowed postcodes from a scrollable dialogue box for
the data element.
• Provide alternative names to be used for the element (e.g. zipcode) by
operators in different countries.
• Maintain a history of versions of naming and allowed values provided for
any picklists.
Although dictionaries help to control data, they have limitations when it comes
to fields that are more difficult to validate such as name and address. Data entry
operators inevitably make keyboard transcription errors; they may be unable to
differentiate forenames from family names; and the same customer may have their
name recorded in different ways in the same organisation: with initials, with full
forenames, with slight spelling variations in family name, or with family name
changes over time. These present problems with identity tracking, or with matching
say a purchase order and a complaint by the same person.
The standards authorities, attempt to provide assistance in this area, for example
Standards Australia has a standard for client interchange information that is presently
under revision. Nevertheless, large corporations, even if they heed standards, find it
necessary to carry out monitoring of their large data sets. Similarly, smaller
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 304
organisations responsible for key information used by larger ones must have many
data quality checking approaches. An example would be a credit reference agency like
Baycorp Advantage which sells crucial credit checking information to businesses. The
businesses themselves will have supplied much of the information that the agency
uses. However it can maintain data quality using: highly structured data; validating
data with source bodies, for example address data with Australia Post; or by using
specialist software such as comparators (comparing strings of data for likeness) or
soundex (making phonetic matches), in order to identify element instances that are
effectively the same even if they are recorded differently.
Turning our attention from databases to websites, since the advent of the
web, much has been written about maintaining the quality of web pages. Relevant
advice appears in the many style guides that include recommendations about site
quality. Corresponding guidance is provided in the checklists that support approaches
to website evaluation. FAVORS (Queensland University of Technology, 2006) is one
such list maintained online with examples and references . A summary of the website
evaluation criteria that it illustrates is shown in Table 13.2.
Information quality is maintained as much as possible at the information
acquisition stage for databases, but attention must also be paid to the forms of
presentation, typically through websites.
Table 13.2. Website evaluation criteria based upon FAVORS
Criterion Factors Functionality Active links; errors in mark-up; help facilities; layout; search
facilities; site maps; alternate text for images. Authority Affiliations indicated; Copyright indications; creator
responsibility; credentials; editorial oversight; funding source indication; viability.
Validity Feedback; Ratings and awards; Refereed content; Referring links; Reviews of site; Usage figures.
Obtainability Cost of access; Format support; Load factors; Metadata; Naming mnemonic; Security protection; Speed.
Relevance Audience; Balance; Breadth; Controversial content; Currency; Depth.
Substance Accuracy; Coverage; Detail; Evidence; Explanation; Readability.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 305
Requirements analysis
Librarians are familiar with determining the information requirements of
individual patrons per medium of the reference query. They may also be called upon to
determine the information seeking behaviour of groups in order to provide services for
a particular set of users. This contributes to information needs analysis. The needs
analysis process also occupies systems analysts, who may describe it in terms of
requirements analysis. When user needs are being determined as part of a systems
analysis process, the analysis is in order to find out the process by which information
is sought, more so than the particular sources that might be appropriate.
Information managers may have to analyse information seeking behaviour of a
group in order to provide a strategy for providing for the group, or they may at a finer
level of granularity, be required to identify information requirements in such a way
that the requirements may be used to describe processes for system design.
The broader needs analysis approach usually tries to frame the information
seeking approach within a behavioural context. For example Choo, Detlor, and
Turnbull (2000) consider that seeking behaviour is influenced by cognitive, affective
and situational factors:
• Cognitive factors apply when there is knowledge deficiency, and a choice
must be made between alternative courses of action in order to make
decisions, or because a person needs to make sense of a situation by better
understanding of the elements that comprise it. For example a project
manager embarking upon a new project will be seeking knowledge to
address the functional, management and political factors that may impact
upon the task. There is an expectation that the information that creates this
knowledge will be accurate, reliable and pertinent.
• Affective factors apply in relation to emotions such as apprehension or
anxiety. A person may be motivated because of uncertainty about a frame of
reference. It could be a matter of not knowing what is going on with a
project stage, and therefore seeking understanding to instil self-confidence.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 306
At an initial phase of uncertainty too much unique information can alienate
the person from the information subject. Their learning process may then be
abandoned in frustration. Instead, if there is persistence and a growing
appreciation of information relating to the query, it can be refined, patterns
are recognised, hypotheses may be formed and the accretion of knowledge
continues with growing confidence.
• Situational factors are influenced by the amount of time and effort necessary
to carry out the search, or by whether it will be rewarded within the
environment in which it is being undertaken. Beyond the cost and
accessibility of material, this may involve the time necessary to learn a
retrieval technique for a particular resource, or the time spent in interpreting
information that is presented in reports that have not been aggregated for ease
of use.
Although there are yet to be generally accepted models of information seeking
behaviour, there is a vast corpus of studies of behaviour. As can be expected, much of
this is undertaken in the area of marketing, where purveyors of products and services
are attempting to anticipate how potential customers seek information.
Information management is principally concerned with services, and there are
many studies where a key factor being considered may be a personal attribute like
youth, gender, aged, or disabled; a discipline such as scientist, or journalist; or a
community need such as health, or small business. Case (2002) provides a detailed
study of research into information needs, and illustrates it with case studies that focus
upon occupation or social role or demographic group.
The procedures for gathering information include:
• Interviewing which may be of individuals or focus groups, and which may
be structured using questionnaires, follow-ups for clarification, explanation
of critical incidents, or recollections of procedures.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 307
• Self-reporting of procedures undertaken.
• Prototyping or developing of experimental or mock-up versions of systems
and their interfaces, possibly accompanied by usability testing.
• Observation of use behaviours, perhaps accompanied by verbalisation, or
recorded behaviour such as interface interactions or query logs.
If determination of user needs has a system orientation, and understanding of
associated processes is to be conveyed to the stage of system design, then the
requirements analysis must proceed through a process of data and process modelling
in order to make more explicit the level of abstraction that describes information
requirements.
There are numerous associated techniques including: use of structured English;
work process analysis (narrative description of process steps); and more formal
graphical approaches including flowcharting, data flow diagrams; or enterprise
modelling. There are also hybrid approaches such as soft system methodology, which
combines description and graphic representation, and object modelling, which
integrates data and process approaches to systems analysis. An example of software
that provides presentation support for a variety of these techniques is SmartDraw
(SmartDraw Software, nd).
Preservation
Ensuring that the corporate memory is retained and available is a key element of
information management. Having in place procedures to achieve this should stem from
the information policy level, and employ both technical and managerial strategies.
The technical strategies should encompass:
• Media preservation so that the physical medium holding the information is
stored in non-invasive conditions – this may mean pest-free, climate
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 308
controlled storage for paper; storage sites physically remote from a business;
a system of reproducing analogue or digital records; or a means of
converting documents in one medium to alternative or additional media.
• Technology preservation involving refreshing of data for new technology,
and migration from outmoded technology – this may mean migrating the
software with the data, or alternatively providing effective metadata so that
new software may continue to process data that had been managed by
different software on outmoded technology.
• Intellectual preservation, meaning that the integrity and authenticity of
information as originally recorded must be addressed to avoid changes that
may be accidental, or may be intentional (either well meant or fraudulent).
If the integrity of ideas is to be maintained, then this means keeping the
substance of the ideas constant at different levels of abstraction – from data (bits) to
text (information). This maintenance must be continued with ‘fixity’ (Hunter, 2000).
The information should not be subject to change through technology updates and it is
necessary to differentiate update versions, perhaps by digital signature.
Other assistance to digital information integrity includes referencing for
example through persistent Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that provides a
reliable approach to citation; an ability to track provenance through tracing sources
using metadata; and continuation of context with respect to the wider environment,
such as links to other documents, and identification of hardware and software
dependencies.
From a managerial viewpoint, decisions about preservation and disposal of
documents have long been formalised in the recordkeeping environment, using
procedures such as appraisal, and tools such as retention and disposal schedules. These
schedules record metadata about appraised documents that indicate whether they are
subject to regulatory constraints such as taxation legislation; how long they should be
retained; who has custodianship of them and may make decisions about disposal;
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 309
whether they should be maintained in different forms (paper, microform, digital); or if
they are vital records, never to be destroyed.
Enterprises may use two types of retention schedule. A functional schedule is
based upon business functions such as personnel, sales, or travel. These may be
repeated in many divisions of the same organisation or within government
departments. A functional schedule can be applied across these for consistency of
application by the corporation as a whole, or by a central organisation such as a state
archive body. On the other hand, a departmental schedule is specific to a division or
department and uses language particular to its own policy and administration.
Such scheduling information may itself be held in a database and refer to both
paper and digital material. It could in fact be integrated with data dictionary
information as explored earlier above, so that at document description level, all the
retention information is maintained with other metadata.
An initiative that is helping to provide guidance in this area is the Data
dictionary for preservation metadata (PREMIS Working Group, 2005). It has
formalised preservation description that is necessary for websites, digital versions of
newspaper articles, dissertations, and photographs.
The proliferation of digital documents in organisations and the regulatory abuses
that have led to litigation and demise of some large organisations make the
development and application of such tools an imperative.
However organisations are still coming to terms with what must be done. For
example, in Singapore a survey of email users was conducted to assess the
understanding of email management as official records (Seow, Chennupati, & Foo,
2005). Emails were found to be recognised as important business records and most
employees acknowledged their critical importance to work and practice compliance.
Yet they were typically left to manage their email on their own. The survey showed
that 33% of the respondents saved their emails into personal folders, 25% printed and
filed hardcopies in personal files, 19% saved to corporate servers, and 18% printed and
filed hardcopies in shared files. Many of the respondents expressed increasing
difficulty in retrieving their own or colleagues’ emails when required.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 310
Although email contains much information of significance to a business, it is
unlikely to considered among the vital organisational records in a recordkeeping sense.
Vital records support critical business processes and must be available for business
continuity with backup and re-establishment procedures. A necessary element of a
preservation program is a strategy for disaster preparedness that identifies vital records
and makes provision for their safety and reconstitution.
Institutions are working in an environment where regulatory efforts concerning
information use are intensifying. They must be in a position to respond quickly to legal
or corporate requirements for information that may seemingly be moribund. This
requires a concerted technical and managerial framework for document preservation.
Information policy
In the earlier section on information resource analysis, it was regarded as being
considered holistically within an enterprise. Likewise information policy is concerned
with the planning framework for an enterprise as a whole, rather than being confined
to any particular resource within the organisation. As such, it must therefore be
informed by public policy and work within the framework of corporate policy.
Public policy that is likely to have an impact upon corporate information policy
includes policy that has been enabled within legislation such as data protection, and
policy which has been made explicit as directives within government such as dealing
with provision of access to services. It includes policy to do with:
• Intellectual property, which has implications for how an organisation makes
use of information produced by others, and how it protects its own research
and development, for example through the patents process.
• Privacy, which for example will provide a framework spelling out what
information about customers may be released to other parties, and how and
why.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 311
• Access, which in the case of government departments will spell out the
extent of the publishing obligations by means of which the public may have
access to bureaucratic workings, and data, for example through websites.
• Repositories, which spells out the extent to which private corporate
documents and published documents should have copies deposited in state or
national repositories.
Table 13.3. Corporate policy constituents adapted from Middleton (2002).
Definition • Define the knowledge that is needed to achieve goals, the information needed to maintain the knowledge, and the ways in which people in the organisation need to use knowledge and information.
Acquisition • Ensure that appropriate information is acquired from externally, and generated internally.
Utilisation • Exploit information fully, to meet all current needs, and to help meet changes in goals and in the operational environment.
• Use knowledge and information ethically in all internal and external dealings. • Provide appropriate human and financial resources for managing and developing the use of
information and knowledge. • Organise information to facilitate tailored access to individuals and groups and sharing
between systems. • Ensure that information reaches all the people who need to use it on time, and in the right
format.
Evaluation • Audit the use of information and knowledge regularly to ensure that what is needed is available, of appropriate quality, and used appropriately and to good effect.
• Provide for a coordinated overview of total resources of knowledge and information. • Develop and apply reliable means of assessing the costs and value of information, and the
contribution it makes to achieving objectives.
Authority • Identify the people responsible for managing specific information resources, and those who are ‘stakeholders’, and ensure that the authority of the managers of information resources matches the responsibility they carry.
Communication • Promote information interchange between managers of information resources, and between them and stakeholders.
Infrastructure • Develop and maintain an infrastructure of systems and ICT to support management of information resources and interactions within the organisation and externally.
Access • Pursue openness of access to information inside the organisation and externally. • Provide for ongoing awareness in disciplinary and managerial specialities. • Provide appropriate security levels. • Safeguard current and historical information resources so that they remain accessible for use
at all times.
Preservation • Ensure preservation of the organisation’s ‘memory’ in the form of its knowledge base. • Provide for business continuity with backup and re-establishment procedures for records
supporting critical business processes.
Disposal • Identify conditions under which information media may be eliminated.
Familiarisation • Provide appropriate education and training to enable members of staff to meet their responsibilities in using knowledge and information.
Evolution • Align the definitions as goals evolve and change. • Seek to use knowledge and information to support the management of change initiatives to
benefit the organisation, and to create new knowledge. • Use the policy as the basis for information strategies which support business strategy.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 312
Jurisdictions typically have an agency which acts as a focus for the development
of, and pointers to, public policy. An example is AGIMO (Australian Government
Information Management Office, 2006).
Corporate information policy will normally be an element of corporate policy as
a whole. It should address aspects of strategic planning in order to provide an agenda
for each of the sections that has been looked at in earlier sections. Table 13.3 shows an
itemisation of the constituents that policy may include. Orna (1999, 2004) provides
elaboration on these with examples of strategies that may accompany them, and case
studies that illustrate policies for public and private sector organisations.
Corporate information policy should be framed within an enterprise’s mission
and objectives, and should produce strategies for dealing with each of the information
management elements that have been described preceding it.
Conclusion
Information is now generally taken to be a business resource. Its effective
management will contribute to business performance. Elements of information
management as itemised above, if applied using strategies developed from information
policy, and undertaken efficiently will contribute to enterprise performance.
Many enterprises are still coming to terms with differentiating information
technology management from information management. In some cases they have
turned to knowledge management to give more focus to the content rather than the
technology for dealing with it. However information management still seems to be the
most appropriate term for describing the recorded information that must be managed
by an enterprise. Associated techniques such as information orientation (Marchand,
Kettinger, & Rollins, 2001) are leading to a measurable way to establish the
relationship between information use and business performance.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 8.1: Library context) 313
Further reading
Chaffey, D & Wood, S 2005, Business information management: Improving performance using
information systems, Prentice-Hall/Financial Times, Harlow, UK.
Macevièiûtë, E & Wilson, TD (eds.) 2005, Introducing information management: An information
research reader, Facet Publishing.
Vickery, BC & Vickery, A 2004, Information science in theory and practice (3rd ed.), K.G. Saur,
London.
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Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 317
C h a p t e r 9 : D i s c u s s i o n a n d c o n c l u s i o n s
9.1. Achievements of research program
The research program comprised two phases:
• The creation of a document that endeavoured to establish a consolidated
description of the information management discipline.
• The testing of the principles expressed in the book with respect to a distinct
working environment in which it was anticipated that the principles might be
practiced.
The document took the form of a book that was an exposition of information
management principles within the framework of domains that had previously been
proposed. It was produced after reconsidering earlier works in the field of information
management as a discipline. Its early chapters form a redaction of earlier work in that
they bring together and consolidate prior accounts through reference to the information
professions, information science and information’s role in organisations.
The early chapters of the book set a scene for three subsequent parts of the book
that comprise exemplification of information management in practice as carried out at
three differentiated levels. The first of these is the operational level which refers to
techniques of information management that are applied at the different stages of an
information life cycle. These techniques are used principally with information about
the information passing through the life cycle (metadata or metainformation). The
second is the analytical level which refers to the processes employed to determine and
design what is carried out at the operational level, and then to evaluate such
operations. The third is the administrative level which is concerned principally with
strategic planning. As such it considers information as a resource. Its use must be
planned in an institutional environment that takes account of internal corporate policy
along with external social and political influences.
The excerpts in Chapter 3 of this thesis endeavour to capture the spirit of the
book, by including the book’s Introduction along with an excerpt from each of the four
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 318
Parts of the book so as to provide the configuration that represents the information
management discipline.
During the course of the literature searching for the book and subsequently, it
was noted that the databases which describe the literature of the field did so in an
inconsistent manner. This prompted an investigation of the controlled vocabularies
that are used, an appraisal of the nomenclature employed in them, and support for the
proposition that professionals in the discipline are still to find a consistent vocabulary
for describing themselves.
Following publication, the book was used as an instrument for examining
application of information management in a particular working environment. STI
services were chosen for the study for a number of reasons. A primary stimulus was
my own involvement in the initial development of these services. From this, I
imagined that they would represent many of the purposes to which information
management principles could be put into practice. They comprised a relatively distinct
set of cases for examination, and documenting their early evolution seemed a bonus
quite apart from any disciplinary consideration. They each provided an example of a
service produced by one institution principally for the benefit of many others, and
were therefore not necessarily constrained by internal corporate imperatives. Their
early development occurred prior to when articulation of information management
principles was initially undertaken in the academic sphere. In this respect they appear
to be examples of a practice that could have given rise to subsequent moves to
establish principles and a disciplinary framework.
The case studies were undertaken over a period of three years. Analysis was
firstly undertaken by reference to the literature of the services. This was accompanied
in part by examination and use of the databases that have been created by the STI
services on their current platforms. Having identified key individuals involved in the
establishment and maintenance of the services, informal interviews were undertaken
with parties in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, or by telephone. These enabled the
refinement of an interview protocol based upon the configuration of the book. This
protocol was then employed to conduct formal structured interviews which were
carried out in Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra. The interviews were recorded and
transcribed for analysis with NVivo software.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 319
The interviews were complemented with archival research of records undertaken
at CSIRO’s headquarters in Canberra, and at the NLA in Canberra. Interview, archival
and database material was refined by follow-up with interviewees or correspondence
and telephone conversations with current service providers.
At the outset, the findings from this process were principally to support the
investigation of disciplinary formation. However it was found following presentation
of a paper based upon initial findings for one service at a U.S. conference on the
history of such services, that there was interest in the historical formation of STI
services per se.
Therefore the findings were subsequently divided into those that emphasised the
historical aspect, and those that emphasised discipline formation.
The material with historical emphasis is presented in Chapter 5. Together the
two papers in that section characterise the STI services, and analyse the public policy
framework that influenced their establishment. The first paper includes a cursory
overview of database development. This was elaborated in much more detail in the
second paper in Chapter 5, which from the characteristics identified, was able to lead
to proposals for refinement of coverage, metadata and citation in database production.
The material with discipline formation emphasis is presented in Chapter 6. This
comprises an initial foray into disciplinary analysis with reference to the AESIS
service, and a more detailed paper that takes into account each of the case studies, and
is complementary to the second paper in Chapter 5. It was found that the approach of
conceptualising information management in operational, analytical and administrative
levels could be undertaken effectively in these instances. The STI services provided
useful models for expression of the information management framework.
On completion of case studies, it was considered worthwhile to revisit a model
for an information management proposed in earlier literature (Rowley, 1998), and to
reconsider it in the light of findings. As a consequence, a revision of this model has
been proposed that modifies it to embrace the approach of my own work using levels.
As Rowley also used the terminology of ‘levels’ I have differentiated her
conceptualisation from mine by reverting to ‘domains’ for my own interpretation of
spheres in the discipline. This paper is presented in Chapter 7.
While completing the work, I was offered the opportunity to contribute to a book
looking at contemporary developments in librarianship. This gave the impetus to
produce a paper that uses the research to delineate the differences between information
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 320
management as understood inside and outside the library context. This contribution
comprises Chapter 8.
Together, the works comprise a detailed investigation of the disciplinary
framework of information management, proposals for improved characterisation of the
framework, understanding of its relevance with STI services, and its relationship to the
library environment.
9.2. Methodological critique
This work was a journey that comprised a number of different projects each of
which formed part of the analysis of discipline formation. The approach was shown
schematically in Figure 1.1. There the methodological approach is described as
‘mixed’. However, it is essentially segmented into two principal parts. The first of
these I described in the method section as redaction because of its consolidation of
prior accounts of information management with reference to the information
professions, information science and role of information in organisations. However the
redaction is articulated within the framework of a model suggested by characterisation
of domains.
This model is then tested in the second part by examining whether it may be
applied in an information services field. In this respect, I have adopted an approach
alternative to other studies that have been identified in the literature review. Those
studies in Section 2.6 that specifically identify information management as a discipline
are essentially conceptual expositions carried out either to promote a research
framework within which the discipline should be studied, or to support an educational
agenda that prepares for entry to the field. They are supported by the literature and by
the experience of the writers, and provide leadership, but they are not supported by
specific case studies of the discipline. When case studies have been carried out by
others (as noted below in 9.5) they have made assumptions about the discipline
without endeavouring to frame them within a disciplinary model.
The prior disciplinary studies in information management may be characterised
as epistemological rather than sociological. This distinction was described in section
2.1 for disciplinary studies in general. Epistemological analysis tends to be undertaken
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 321
by those working within the discipline, whereas sociological analysis, as is to be
expected, is undertaken by sociologists. A sociological approach was adopted by
Abbott (1988) as outlined in 2.3. His work is of relevance because although not using
the term information management, he investigates the information professions. He also
used the term case study, but in his case it is with respect to detailed historiographic
analysis of the literature. In contrast my approach has been to use case study for
detailed analysis of practice through interview and examination of systems. It is case
study to help understand epistemology of the discipline’s practice rather than
sociology of its practitioners.
Is this methodological approach therefore of utility for defining the discipline?
The initial epistemological definition of the field appears to be, judging by the
adoption of the book to support courses in the area at a number of Australian
universities. The case studies corroborate the framework adopted in the book, though
of course they are conducted in but one area of information management. However the
cases in turn provide a framework for further study in other areas. The general
approach of utilising a model to typify the field has proved useful for developing a
case study protocol. Future case studies of the discipline’s applications can benefit
from such an approach.
9.3. Problems encountered
Production of the book was a process drawn out longer than anticipated for a
number of reasons: addressing reviewer questions, adapting to editorial requirements,
negotiating the many copyright clearances for illustrative material, and dealing with
the formatting problems introduced by typesetters.
Conducting the case studies themselves was a protracted process as they all
involved interstate interviews carried out as opportunities arose. However, the
interviews themselves were all fruitful. At the outset, I had also proposed also to
undertake a survey of information professionals. The richness of the case study data,
and the ability to conduct detailed interviews with information professionals as part of
those studies, meant that the survey phase became unnecessary for the project.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 322
The archival research was problematical because of incompleteness of records,
poor information organisation within some of the records, and the time-consuming
nature of going through the material. However this part of the work still proved useful
for raising questions, reconciling some issues, and placing me closer to the milieu of
those working in the STI services.
9.4. Limitations
Although the work comprises a proposed disciplinary framework and a test of
the application of that framework, the proposal is itself compromised by the
definitions that are adopted in order to establish the framework. That is, the domains,
while proposed earlier in prior literature, along with the understanding of ‘information’
and ‘management’ may really be at the whim of the ‘understander’. They need to be
consistently subscribed to in professional groupings in order to have more substance
(see suggestions for further work below).
The book which describes the general area of information management is
coloured by my own experiences working in the area, by the difficulty of coherently
consolidating material from a range of disciplines across which the depth of my
knowledge varies, and by the challenge of expressing such a range of material in a
relatively succinct and useful manner.
The case method relied in part upon managers’ recollections of involvement in
STI services. Many had either moved on to other employment or are retired, so a
limitation is the assumption that their recollections will be accurate. The
documentation that describes these services is also incomplete and politically
influenced.
The structured interviews were limited by the selection and range of participants,
my ability to extract their answers and assimilate their views, and their ability to
articulate them.
9.5. Further research directions
A disciplinary framework in any area of social endeavour necessarily evolves to
accommodate the way humanity performs with respect to that endeavour. It is to be
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 323
expected that discipline formation will be subject to rolling review and re-
interpretation in order to support professional development, standards of practice,
models of understanding, and curriculum development.
Earlier, and in some detail in Chapter 7, reference was made to a refinement of
an earlier framework proposed by Rowley (1998; 1999). Rowley includes an
illustration that she uses to exemplify a structure for knowledge, research and practice
for information management. Adaptation of her illustration according to the
framework established in this thesis is shown in Figure 9.1.
Environment/context (strategic domain)
Information systems (analytical domain)
Information systems (operational domain)
Information retrieval (analytical domain)
Information retrieval (operational domain)
Information systems (operational domain)
Information systems (analytical domain)
Figure 9.1: Information management framework
Rowley proposes her framework not only to provide a structure, but also to help
with identification of the level of aggregation (from individual through corporate to
society), and recognition of which types of information managers are involved in
different types of information management processes. The above figure simplifies and
assists that same process. As such it should contribute to better understanding of the
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 324
discipline, as well as providing assistance with forming an approach and scoping case
studies that further describe and analyse the discipline.
As a discipline drawing from other disciplines, information management will
continue to have to accommodate models that are developed elsewhere from fields as
diverse as psychology, linguistics, commerce, systems, communications and public
policy. The challenge will continue to be to contain these within a coherent framework
that may be employed by a professional grouping.
Although there are many examples in the professional literature of information
professionals describing how and why they operate particular information services or
systems, it is seldom that they are described within the framework of an overarching
set of information management principles. Reference is made elsewhere in this work
to case studies brought together by Simmons (1999), and Orna (1999), in the case of
the latter making use of some information management policy and planning principles.
My work adds some critical assessment of information management application to the
dossier. However the field could benefit from many more case studies in other areas of
application and with respect to disciplinary principles, in order to test and evolve those
principles, to establish consistencies and divergence across areas of application, and to
assist with benchmarks for services and systems.
More specifically with respect to work arising from my own research, analysis
of the individual services has produced a detailed summary of each service somewhat
like that provided for AESIS in Chapter 6.1. Although that overview has contributed to
the publications in Chapter 5.2 and 6.2, the detail provided therein is limited by
publication and refereeing constraints. Each of these STI services could be described
in more detail in separate publications or in a monograph that reviews each of them in
detail, should a publisher consider that there is enough interest to warrant this. Within
such a composition the AESIS paper itself needs to be revised to take account of the
later AusGeoref development.
9.6. Significance and conclusion
The work succeeded in presenting a disciplinary framework for information
management, and showing that this framework was an effective representation of the
discipline in a bibliographic information services environment.
Conceptual framework for information management (Chapt 9: Discussion) 325
It can be noted that the book is now used in a number of Australian universities
where information management courses are taught. Further, it is used not so much as a
text, but as intended: as a disciplinary purview, a course text that provides a context for
specific subject texts.
Research contributions within the publication framework are:
• An explanation of the principles utilised in information management and the
way that they are practiced within different domains.
• An explanation of the manner in which the information management
discipline has been formed which should assist with direction of future
research and scholarship.
• An analysis of the information management factors important for the
development of information services and indicators for their successful
application in future.
• A description of the extent to which the practices across the range of
interpretations of information management can be given common expression,
so that practicing information professionals can appreciate the relationship of
their own work to disciplines that are converging towards similar purpose.
• A clearer indication of the extent to which technical and management
standards may be applied and performance analysis undertaken.
Some additional outcomes not planned for at the beginning of the undertaking
are:
• A comparative analysis of thesauri in the information field that shows how
expression of employment within the discipline is still unreconciled.
• A historical examination of Australian STI services that provides pointers
to their effective continuation.
• A reconsideration of the relationship between librarianship and information
management.
Conceptual framework for information management (References) 327
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