ABSTRACT
The 1966 publication of the fi rst volume of Annual Review of Information Science and Technology in many ways began the process of formalizing the study of information as a scholarly fi eld (Cuadra, 1966). During the late 1960s, professional and scholarly literature began to try to articulate a vision of the then new concept of “information science” (Borko, 1968; Miles, 1967; Taylor, 1966). These authors generally framed information science in terms of “properties and behaviors of information, the use and transmission of information, and the processing of information for optimal storage and retrieval” (Borko, 1968, p. 4). The social issues related to information typically were not emphasized in these discussions, while theory was acknowledged as having a role in informing practice, but in the most general terms. Unfortunately, the vagueness about the role of theory-including social theory-in the study of information issues has been perpetuated in the ensuing four decades.
