Information systems

Abstract

An information system is commonly a computer-based system for providing information to an organization to help guide its actions.[1] The term “information system” is also sometimes used in information science to refer to information retrieval systems based more on documents than on data, an application domain familiar to libraries, in particular. The term is sometimes also used very generally and informally, without reference to either computers or organizations. People sometimes refer to their own personal information systems, for instance. In this entry, we take the organizational perspective, which has its origins in business, but applies to organizations of every kind, including libraries.