Information Science Defined by CASRAI as Distinct from Library Science
CASRAI, an organization focused on information science, has provided a clear definition of information science, distinguishing it from library science. Information science is described as the academic field that studies how information is created, represented, organized, found, shared, evaluated, and used by people, organizations, and software. It focuses on the properties, representation, organization, retrieval, and use of recorded information, along with the systems and human behavior surrounding it. This field is domain-independent, meaning its theories apply across various areas like medical literature databases or legal archives. In contrast, library science is presented as the applied, institution-centered side, dealing with running and preserving collections, cataloging, reference, instruction, and archives within libraries. While often taught together, information science addresses broader problems related to information, regardless of institutional involvement, such as how search engines rank res...
