Information and Information Systems

MICHAEL BUCKLAND is Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of California, Berkeley. He is also author of Library Services in Theory and Context.

Michael Buckland offers an examination of information systems that is comparative rather than narrowly technical in approach. With careful attention to different meanings of information, Buckland examines the nature of retrieval-based information systems such as archives, databases, libraries, and museums, and their relationships to their social context.The introductory material examines difficulties of definition and terminology in relation to information systems. There is a systematic overview of the concepts and processes involved in the provision and use of information systems. Buckland's attention to unusual examples, to how different aspects interact with each other, and to how information systems are influenced by their contents and their context yields interesting insights and conclusions which force reconsideration of common assumptions in information science. This volume, with its subject index and bibliography, provides for students and professionals a valuable and readable introduction to this rapidly expanding field.

It is always a pleasure to read something by Michael Buckland. There is no individual in our profession who writes with both greater force and greater elegance, but for all his ideas he manages to convey them in words that are direct and straightforward... Buckland has done all of us an immense service. Herbert S. White Indiana University

PrefaceIntroductionInformationConceptsTheorySystemsKnowledge and InformationInformation-as-ThingInformation in Information SystemsInformation TechnologyAccess to InformationProcessesInquiriesPerceiving, Receiving, and RetrievingBecoming Informed: Information-as-ProcessInformation Processing and RepresentationDemandProviding InformationRelationshipsConnections and CoherenceExpertise and Artificial IntelligenceSocial ContextConclusionSummary and RetrospectReferencesIndex