Thomas M. Dousa

University of Chicago | UC · Libraries

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were a time when a number of pioneering knowledge organization systems (KOSs) originated. They were also a time when various forms of imperialism influenced social, political, and economic life in the countries where these KOSs were developed. Adopting a case study approach, this paper examines the influence o...

The two bibliographical models currently informing the design of systems for the representation of bibliographical data – the IFLA Library Reference Model (IFLA‐LRM) and BIBFRAME 2.0 – do not seamlessly map onto one another. In particular, there are conceptual problems in mapping between the bibliographical entity BIBFRAME:Work and its counterparts...

The Indian librarian and library theorist S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1970) is generally recognized as a seminal figure in the development of facet analysis and its application to classification theory. In recent years, commentators on the epistemology of knowledge organization have claimed that the methods of facet analysis reflect a fundamentally rati...

The Indian librarian and library theorist S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1970) is generally recognized as a seminal figure in the development of facet analysis and its application to classification theory. In recent years, commentators on the epistemology of knowledge organization have claimed that the methods of facet analysis reflect a fundamentally rati...

In recent years, Hjørland has developed a typology of basic epistemological approaches to KO that identifies four basic positions—empiricism, rationalism, historicism/hermeneutics, and pragmatism—with which to characterize the epistemological bases and methodological orientation of KOSs. Although scholars of KO have noted that the design of a singl...

Some scholars argue that certain classificatory structures possess inherent social-semantic values and that the desirability (or lack thereof) of these values should form a basis for evaluating the classificatory goodness of such structures. Others hold that it is possible to distinguish between the structural properties of a given classificatory s...

Information retrieval (IR) is a central task of information science (IS). Traditionally, IR has focused on document retrieval: however, another, long-established approach to IR—that of information analysis—has sought to decompose documents into retrievable units of information. This paper examines the method of information analysis propounded by on...

This book addresses some of the key questions that scientists have been asking themselves for centuries: what is knowledge? What is information? How do we know that we know something? How do we construct meaning from the perceptions of things? Although no consensus exists on a common definition of the concepts of information and communication, few...

This book addresses some of the key questions that scientists have been asking themselves for centuries: what is knowledge? What is information? How do we know that we know something? How do we construct meaning from the perceptions of things? And how do we communicate this meaning to others--that is to say, inform them? Although no consensus exist...

Julius Otto Kaiser (1968–1927) was a special librarian and indexer who, at the turn of the twentieth century, designed an innovative, category-based indexing system known as “systematic indexing.” Although he is regarded as a pioneer of indexing and classification, little is known about his life. This essay seeks to fill in some gaps in Kaiser’s bi...

Pragmatism is a metatheoretical perspective within knowledge organization (KO) that derives from an American philosophical tradition active sincethe late 19th century. Its core feature is commitment to the evaluation of the adequacy of concepts and beliefs through the empirical test of practice: this entails epistemological antifoundationalism, fal...

In recent years, evolutionary order has been used as the favored mode of determining class sequence by classificationists using integrative levels as a theoretical framework for classification design. Although current advocates of evolutionary order are based in Europe, use of the concept in library and information science (LIS) can be traced back...

Although general categories are an important feature of many KOSs, they are difficult to define. If we are to understand the factors that render category definition difficult, we should consider how designers of past KOSs have defined the categories in their systems. This paper presents, as a case study, an analysis of the formulation of categories...

By virtue of both their context and their content, the “Orphic” gold plates occupy a singular place among the religious texts of the classical and early Hellenistic world. Deposited in tombs in sites as far afield as southern Italy, Thessaly, and Crete between the end of the fifth century bce and the second century ce , these thin pieces of gold fo...

Pragmatism has often been invoked as a fruitful metatheoretical perspective for knowledge organization (KO). Historically, the form of Pragmatism serving as a philosophical resource for KO has been classical pragmatism (CP). More recently, some KO researchers have begun appealing to another form of pragmatism known as neopragmatism (NP) as the meta...

In light of ongoing debates about ontological vs. epistemological approaches to knowledge organization (KO), this paper examines E. C. Richardson's treatment of ontology and epistemology in his theory of classification. According to Richardson, there is a natural order of things in the world accessible to human cognition, which may be expressed in...

This session explores three basic notions: events, facts, and narratives. Events play a large role in our lives. Our sense of identity is largely shaped by events we have experienced. Our understanding of history is a narrative of events in the past. The humanities and social sciences are concerned with the human experience, with actions and intera...

Hjørland's typology of the epistemological positions underlying methods for designing KO systems recognizes four basic epistemological positions: empiricism, rationalism, historicism, and pragmatism. Application of this typology to close analysis of Julius Otto Kaiser's theory of systematic indexing shows that his epistemological and methodological...

This article deals with the publication (transliteration, translation, extensive commentary and discussion, photographs) of P. Berlin 6848, which is a Roman period temple inventory from the Fayum. In addition, it includes an appendix consisting of a list of items found in P. Berlin 6848 with their Greek equivalents, as well as a selection of other...