Mapping the dimensions of a dynamic field

Abstract

Over the last year a major revision of the core reading list that supports the comprehensive examination for Graduate School of Library and Information Science doctoral students at the University of Illinois has been underway. The goal has been to define a reading list for a comprehensive examination that provides: 1. a common grounding irrespective of the focus of students' individual interests in LIS, and 2. a theoretical base that will prepare them to deal with issues in the future. The ideas central to the field of LIS are embraced in the intersection of issues, research problems, and areas of professional practice relating to resources, technology, organizations, and social context. It was concluded that the schema itself, incorporating these four dimensions and their intersections, together with the concept of movement to more complex interactions, provide not only a useful heuristic to help guide doctoral students, but also provides a way of approaching the complex issues of domain specification that LIS presents.