The Synergistic Information Professions: Applications of the Information Process

Abstract

Information studies is the set of basic principles that underlie the information professions. Information professions are those in which the theories and principles are those of the information process—in other words, those professions that provide services that allow people to become informed. For purposes of this overview the information professions are grouped into two main categories—institutions (libraries, archives, museums) and organizations (knowledge management, management information systems, information architecture). Librarianship is the profession that has evolved around the management of libraries—institutions that house deliberately-constructed collections of publications for the common use of a group of people. Archives and Records Management are professions that manage the raw data of history, the sources from which scholars create filtered narratives; their role is to preserve the historical record of society. Information professionals who work in museums might be, or might work alongside, archeologists, anthropologists, classicists, and scientists for whom the acquisition and analysis of artifacts is a primary science. Museums have archivists whose job is to focus on the internal records of the museum. There will also be conservationists and preservationists whose job it is to see that the artifacts are maintained and not allowed to deteriorate. Knowledge management is the largely corporate school of thought having to do with the means by which organizations create and govern their collective knowledge base. The information process is central to the roles of all information professionals, facilitating the transfer of messages among humans for the purpose of allowing them to become informed. Information professionals all serve as gatekeepers in their cultures.