Information, Documentation or....? Do Paradigms (or Labels) Matter?
In 1996, "Documentation Studies" was established in Tromsø, Norway, and provided an alternative to the information paradigm within the library and information science world and it became more and more common to talk about documents and documentation, not only in LIS, but also in social sciences and in society in general. In 2001, Niels Lund, the founding professor of documentation studies, presented in Berkeley a complementary theory of documentation. Fifteen years later, he returns to discuss whether it is still relevant today both in research and society in general or if we now need a new label or paradigm.
Niels Windfeld Lund was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. An historian and ethnologist, he became associate professor at the Royal School of Librarianship, Copenhagen, 1975-88; founding professor of documentation studies at the University of Tromsø, Norway, 1996-2014 and, since 2014, professor emeritus. Niels Lund was co-founder of The Document Academy, 2001, and visiting professor at UC Berkeley in 2001 and 2005-06.