Call for papers: Library Trends special issue on theory

[Bill]

From:  William E. McGrath, Professor Emeritus, Department of Information
and Library Studies, State University of New York at Buffalo

As Editor of a Library Trends special issue "Current Theory in Library
and Information Science (LIS)" to be published in the spring of 2002, I
am seeking a few additional papers.

Papers may be in either of two broad categories:

        1.Reviews of existing theory.  These papers may survey the existing
literature on a particular theory         of a particular domain, either
broadly or narrowly defined.  Papers may discuss the strength and
weaknesses of the theory.
        2.Original theoretical research--creating or building theory.  These
papers should explicitly discuss          the theoretical context in which the
research has been done and how it contributes to the theory.

There are many definitions of theory. The Shorter Oxford English
Dictionary defines it, in part, as:

        "A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or
account of a group of facts or   phenomena."

A definition I like is:
        "Any explanation that helps to understand the variance of quantifiable
phenomena (one or more   dependent variables)."

        The more satisfactory the explanation, the greater the understanding.
A good theory is simple, with   independent variables highly correlated
with a dependent variable and may be either deterministic or
probabilistic. This definition is within the tradition of orthodox
philosophy of science:  hypothesis      testing, confirmation,
verifiability, falsification, generalization, etc.

Possible topics are:
        Domain definitions and categories;
        Searching and retrieval theory;
        Definitions of Theory in LIS--a Typology;
        Fundamental Forces in LIS--Unifying Theories;
        Accounting for Variance in LIS;
        Reductionism in Library Theory;
        Contributions of LIS to other disciplines;
        Behavioral explanations;
        The sociology of LIS;
        The sociology of any discipline and its affect on LIS;
        The Unknowns of LIS.
        Reviews of literature on these or any other topic.

Library Trends is a highly cited journal with world-wide distribution,
worthy of your best work.  Papers should be written with a large
audience in mind.  This mandates that papers be written with minimal
mathematics-i.e., without mathematical symbols and equations if
possible, although mathematical concepts may be expressed verbally.   A
few illustrations, graphs and figures may be helpful in understanding
mathematical concepts.

Please send proposed title and abstract to

William E. McGrath,
P. O. Box 534,
Westford, MA 01886 USA

or reply by e-mail:  lismcgr at ma.ultranet.com