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Department of Information Science

The Centre for Information Science

Established within the Department of Information Science at City University London, CIS is the focus for teaching, research and scholarship in the core areas of information science.

The Centre continues the tradition of information science as an academic discipline, which has been present at City University since the teaching of this subject was established in 1961. Our emphasis is on the foundational principles of information science, as expressed in changing environments, and in developing technologies; we have a particular interest in Web 2.0 issues.

The Centre is led by David Bawden, Professor of Information Science, and Lyn Robinson, Director of the Postgraduate Information Studies Scheme.

Teaching

CIS hosts the Information Studies Scheme, an integrated set of Masters courses. Currently, the Scheme includes courses in Information Science and Library Science, and a joint course with City University's School of Arts, Information Management in the Cultural Sector.

The Centre runs several modules for these courses: Library and Information Science Foundation; Information Resources and Organisation; Information Management and Policy; Information Domains; and Libraries and Publishing in the Information Society.

We are actively involved in LIS curriculum development with UK colleagues and international partners, and in developing new teaching methods, particularly using Web 2.0 facilities.

Research

Research within CIS is carried out mainly by individual scholarship and publication, and through the research of an exceptionally capable group of doctoral students. We focus on four main areas:

A special issue of Aslib Proceedings [2007, 59(4/5)], edited by David, includes 12 papers showing the range of research carried out by CIS, and City's Department of Information Science. Our current and recent doctoral students, with their topics, are:

Jutta Haider
Open access and notions of "development"
Ahmad Khudair [completed]
A model for the development of healthcare information services in Saudi Arabia
Charlie Mayor [commencing October 2008]
Information practices in the biomedical sciences
Andrew Robson
Communication of pharmaceutical information
Sandra Tury
Information seeking behaviour of distance learning students
Tony Weller [completed] - now an associate lecturer
Social and cultural understandings and manifestations of information in nineteenth century England

CIS is also carrying out a University-funded project to set out an information research agenda for the next 20 years.

Professional and international activities

David edits Journal of Documentation, the leading European journal for information science, and is on the editorial boards of Portal: Libraries and the Academy, and is on the board of EUCLID, the European Association for Library and Information Teaching and Research.

Lyn is currently writing a book, to be published by Facet, on healthcare information.

CIS has active links (research collaboration, staff and student exchange, curriculum development and joint publication) with library and information science departments at the universities of Ljubljana, Prague (Charles University), Vilnius, and Zagreb.

We are the programme organisers for the CoLIS (Conceptions of Library and Information Science) conference, to be held in London in 2010.

Some CIS recent publications

For full publication lists, see individual web pages

D Bawden, L Robinson, T Anderson [Sydney], J Bates [Dublin], U Rutkauskiene [Vilnius], and P Vilar [Ljubljana], Towards Curriculum 2.0: library/information education for a Web 2.0 world, Library and Information Research, 2007, 31(99), 14-25

L Robinson and D Bawden, Evaluation of outreach services for primary care and mental health: assessing the impact, Health Information and Library Journal, 2007, 24(s1), 57-66

D Bawden, Facing the educational future, Information Research, 2007, 12(4), paper colise01, available from http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis/colise01.html

D Bawden, Information as self-organised complexity: a unifying viewpoint, Information Research, 2007, 12(4), paper colis31, available from http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/colis/colis31.html

L Robinson and D Bawden, Measuring the impact of healthcare information services, Informacijos Mosklai (Information Sciences, Vilnius University), 2007, 40, 95-103

D Bawden, J Bates [Dublin], J Steinerova {Bratislava], P Vakkari [Tampere] and P Vilar [Ljubljana], Information retrieval curricula: contexts and perspectives, in Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Teaching and Learning in Information Retrieval, A MacFarland et.al. (eds.), London: British Computer Society, 2007, pages, 55-60, available from http://www.bcs.org/ewic/tlir2007

D Bawden, Information seeking and information retrieval: the core of the information curriculum ?, Journal of Education for Library and information Science, 2007, 48(2), 125-138

J Haider and D Bawden, Conceptions of 'information poverty' in library and information science: a discourse analysis, Journal of Documentation, 2007, 63(4), 534-557

D Bawden, Organised complexity, meaning and understanding: an approach to a unified view of information for information science, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 307-327

A Khudair and D Bawden, Healthcare information in Saudi Arabia: an analysis and recommendation, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 328-341

L Robinson, Impact of digital information resources in the toxicology literature, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 342-351

T Weller, Information history: its importance, relevance and future, Aslib Proceedings, 2007,59(4/5), 437-448

J Haider, Of the rich and poor and other curious minds: on open access and “development”, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 449-461

L Robinson and A Glosiene [Vilnius], Continuing professional development for library and information science: case study of a network of training centres, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 462-474

T Weller and J Haider, Where do we go from here ? An opinion on the future of LIS as an academic discipline in the UK, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 482

D Bawden, Information Science at City University London, Aslib Proceedings, 2007, 59(4/5), 305-306

D Bawden, Users, user studies and human information behaviour: a three decade perspective on Tom Wilson's 'On user studies and information needs', Journal of Documentation, 2006, 62(6), 671-679

J Haider and D Bawden, Pairing information with poverty: traces of development discourse in LIS, New Library World, 2006, 107(1228/1229), 371-385

T Weller and D Bawden, Individual perceptions: a new chapter on Victorian information history, Library History, 2006, 22(July 2006), 137-156

J Morgan and D Bawden, Teaching knowledge organisation: educator, employer and professional association perspectives, Journal of Information Science, 2006, 32(2), 108-115

D Bawden and P Vilar [Ljubljana], Digital libraries: to meet or manage user expectations, Aslib Proceedings, 2006, 58(4), 346-354