This paper examines some characteristics of the ‘British School’ of information science, tracing its origins in the documentation movement, special librarianship, and the handling of scientific and technical information.

Brookes’ equation, hitherto regarded as a kind of non-mathematical shorthand description of information use in the cognitive paradigm of information science, is extended to show a qualitative pattern of information behaviour.

Describes the development of education for library and information science at City University London over a 50-year period, focusing on seven themes: the nature of the discipline; the library/information science spectrum; the student group; the academic/professional balance; curriculum design; local and global issues; and educational methods.

The changing nature of chemical information literacy over 50 years is examined by a comparison of a number of guides to chemical literature and information. It is concluded that: an understanding of the world of information is the sole aspect to have remained important and essentially unchanged over time; that knowledge of sources, ability to…[Read more]

Based on a paper given at the 2013 CoLIS conference in Copenhagen.

Rolf Landauer famously declared in 1991 that ‘information is physical’. Since then, information has come to be seen by many physicists as a fundamental component of the physical world; indeed by some as the physical component. This idea is now gaining currency in popular sci…[Read more]

The relationship between information and complexity is analysed, by way of a detailed literature analysis. Complexity is a multi-faceted concept, with no single agreed definition. There are numerous approaches to defining and measuring complexity and organisation, all involving the idea of information. Conceptions of complexity, order,…[Read more]

A review is presented of the relation between information and entropy, focusing on two main issues: the similarity of the formal definitions of physical entropy, according to statistical mechanics, and of information, according to information theory; and the possible subjectivity of entropy considered as missing information. The paper updates the…[Read more]

Assignment for the Information Retrieval (INM305) module, completed as part of the Information Science MSc at City, University of London. This report investigates pre-release rumours of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, and evaluates bag of words and Boolean searches when using online and web search engines.

A random sample of UK veterinary practitioners was surveyed to identify key issues in veterinary information use (IU) and information seeking behaviour (ISB) and the corresponding implications for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Wellcome Library (RCVSWL). Interviews were also conducted with a small cross-section of the sample population…[Read more]

Introduced in parliament in November 2015, the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill was the most recent version of legislation written to provide a statutory basis for a range of powers providing police and security services with various means of capturing or intercepting electronic communications. Previous efforts at legislating for these powers…[Read more]

This opinion piece considers the relative importance of individual and social factors in determining information behaviour. It concludes that individual factors are more central and fundamental, though they may certainly be qualified by social and cultural factors, and though there are good reasons for studying and analyzing information behaviour…[Read more]

The purpose of the paper is to examine the nature of chemical concepts, and the ways in which they are applied in chemoinformatics systems. An account of concepts in philosophy and in the information sciences leads to an analysis of chemical concepts, and their representation. The way in which concepts are applied in systems for information…[Read more]

The concept of ‘information’ in five different realms – technological, physical, biological, social and philosophical – is briefly examined. The ‘gaps’ between these conceptions are discussed, and unifying frameworks of diverse nature, including those of Shannon/Wiener, Landauer, Stonier, Bates and Floridi, are examined. The value of att…[Read more]

The complexities of the many concepts and models around information literacy are considered, and some personal views given as to how they may best be clarified, both theoretically and practically. A slightly adapted idea of the concept of information fluency can serve as a main general purpose for the promotion of information literacy, expressed…[Read more]

It is suggested that, in addition to data, information and knowledge, the information sciences should focus on understanding, understood as a higher-order knowledge, with coherent and explanatory potential. The limited ways in which understanding has been addressed in the design of information systems, in studies of information behaviour, in…[Read more]

Text of 15-minutes talk given at the CILIP Local Studies Group Conference 2018: Oral history and sound heritage. It briefly presents my Library Science master’s dissertation, ‘”The public libraries of London” collection: oral history in the digital age’, which can also be found in CORE.

This blog post gives an updated and modified text of a keynote address given at the Fifteenth International ISKO Conference, Porto, 9th July 2018.

DocPerform is a multi- and interdisciplinary research project based at City, University of London. Led by members of the Department of Library & Information Science, it comprises scholars and practitioners from the fields of performing arts and library & information science. The project concerns conceptual, methodological and technological…[Read more]

Photography students and the specific information resources they use represent a relatively unexplored area in the Library and Information Science literature. The intention of this study is to explore the relevance of the physical photobook and digital resources to this specific audience. A mixed method, pragmatic approach was deemed the most…[Read more]

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MSc in Library Science, City, University of London, September 2017.

This piece of research presents the process and outcomes of building ‘The Public Libraries of London’ collection of interviews with current and former staff members of a few public libraries of…[Read more]