New InfoFire Episode | Michael Buckland: Reframing Information and Rethinking iSchools
Dear Friends and Colleagues, I’m delighted to share the latest episode of *InfoFire*, featuring a thought-provoking conversation with Professor Michael Buckland from the School of Information, University of California, Berkeley. *Episode Title:* *“Reframing Information: From Information as Thing to Everything as Document to the Identity of iSchools — Conversations with Michael Buckland”* I’m sharing this here because I believe Michael Buckland offers a particularly insightful perspective on the evolution and future directions of the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). *Here is the link: * https://informationmatters.org/2025/05/reframing-information-from-informatio... This episode explores Professor Buckland’s personal and intellectual journey, tracing key milestones that shaped his influential thinking. We discuss several of his landmark works, including *Library Services in Theory and Context* (1983), *Information and Information Systems* (1991), *Emanuel Goldberg and the Knowledge Machine* (2006), and *Ideology and Libraries* (2020). We begin with his seminal essay *“Information as Thing”* (1991), which distinguishes information as process, knowledge, and object—challenging the ambiguity of the term. Buckland discusses how his document-centric perspective, shaped by Suzanne Briet and Paul Otlet, broadens the definition of “document” to include everything from museum artifacts to digital files. Most importantly he reverses the gaze from Information-Centric to Document-Centric Thinking. He reimagines information retrieval as delivering a “pincushion” of relevant documents, emphasizing context over precision. We also explore his historical recovery of pioneers like Emanuel Goldberg, whose early work prefigured modern IR systems. A key thread is the evolution of the iSchools movement. From the 1973 Wheeler Report to his role in shaping Berkeley’s program, Buckland sees iSchools as interdisciplinary hubs bridging theory and practice—provided they avoid narrow professional silos. Throughout, Buckland urges methodological openness and sees libraries as ideological agents with power to shape public knowledge. His rich insights offer a compelling framework for uniting libraries, archives, and museums under a dynamic, inclusive vision of information science. I trust you will find as much value in reading/listening to this episode as I did in conducting the conversation and preparing this write-up. Warm regards, Shalini Urs Host, *InfoFire* Associate Editor, *Information Matters*
participants (1)
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Shalini Urs