Brier, S. (2010). The foundation of LIS in information science and semiotics. LIBREAS. Library Ideas, 2(1).

http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/libreas/4/brier-soeren-5/PDF/brier.pdf

(p 10)..LIS has four major problems:

1. First the lack of a theory of how to design the best possible document- mediating system for one or more well-known user groups.
2. Second the lack of a theory of how to design interfaces for non-specialists for huge document bases originally created for documentalists within certain subject areas or domains, most often scientific and technical such as chemistry, biology and medicine.
3. Third the lack of full recognition from computer and software designers and from the arts and sciences of the interdisciplinary complexity and scientific depth of the problems of document mediation.
4. Fourth the lack of a full theoretical scientific foundation for the practice of librarianship in the age of the computer. LIS’ lack of a fully developed theoretical and scientific self-awareness is a problem for itself, for the recognition by other scientific subjects and research groups of the seriousness of the problems it addresses and the depth of the knowledge it has already acquired through centuries of practice.

(p 12) LIS: The science of document-mediating systems

The subject area of expertise of librarians, archivists and documentalists has always been the storage, indexing, retrieval and mediation of materials carrying data, knowledge, meaning and experience.

1. One can therefore define the objective of LIS as first and foremost to promote the communication of desired information from the producer to the user.
2. Information can include recorded measurements and observations, theoretical knowledge, meanings, visions and experiences, art and fiction.
3. I define data as a given input with a structure that the receiver regards as reliable and usable in a given situation.
4. I define a document as a human work with communicative intention recorded in a material way.