The definition of Library Science is the study of collecting, preserving, cataloging, and making available books and other documents in libraries.[1]Simple right? Unfortunately, no. Whole systems were created to manage and organize books, magazines, newspapers, later videos, CDs, audio books and DVDs.The items that the library manage were the original modes of communicating and sharing information between people. Libraries were also the meccas of education, B.B. King once said “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take that from you”.
How does Library Science compare to Information Architecture? Both are trying to organize information materials for human input. They both organize content into simple buckets. Look at any Barnes & Noble and the signs directing you to each section of books. You can also speak to the centralized help desk so they can search for a book if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for. Digital book sites like Amazon are similar except your initial step is not to find it yourself, rather it is generally to search for it by typing in keywords. A study that focused on information architecture has seen a change in the way people are searching for library information from keyword searches to more general bibliographic searches.[2] Information Architecture and Library Science are also similar in that they bridge mediums. You can go to a Library in Connecticut or California and easily find the same book using a similar process. You can access a website across devices and still generally see the same buckets of information to find what you are looking for.
An obvious difference between Information Architecture and Library Science is the labeling of information. Libraries have simplified buckets based on the books produced. Information Architecture is trying to organize all types of content within those buckets. At a normal library or book store once you get to Self-help they organize by the Dewey decimal system or author last name respectively. Once you get to a category on a self help site, they can continue to break down the information into smaller and smaller buckets bringing you directly to the content you think you want.
Today Libraries are trying to adjust to the digital world. I recently took my oldest daughter to get a library card, due to this article I reminisced on the library in my childhood and what an important role it played.
In the first chapter of Information Architecture, in the section “More Ways to Access Information” as they discuss the physical books versus digital books, they focus on decoupling information from its containers and how it has been made more accessible but, in my opinion, not more cost efficient. Without the costs of printing on paper how do they justify selling a book on a Kindle for the same amount as its paperback or hard cover equal.
[1] library science. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/library-science (accessed: September 8, 2017).
[2] “Evolution of research subjects in library and information science based on keyword, bibliographical coupling, and co-citation analyses” Scientometrics, 2015, Volume 105, Number 3, Page 2071; Yu-Wei Chang, Mu-Hsuan Huang, Chiao-Wen Lin