ABSTRACT
Library and information science (LIS) is an interdisciplinary domain concerned with the creation, management, and uses of information in all its forms. Emerging from parallel developments in libraries and in information science, the field now encompasses diverse activities that are part of the information transfer cycle—such as the creation, instantiation, communication, acquisition, organization, management, regulation, preservation, distribution, and use of information. This entry traces the development of LIS from its beginnings in thinking about libraries and the growth of library science as a field. It then explores the nature of information science and the interweaving paths of the two—which eventually encountered the field of communications. The entry concludes with current trends and emerging areas in the field that present both challenges and opportunities in terms of defining LIS as a vast, interdisciplinary area.
