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Papers by Thomas Dousa

Technical Services Quarterly

Technical Services Quarterly, 2021

NASKO, 2019

The Indian librarian and library theorist S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1970) is generally recognized as... more The Indian librarian and library theorist S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1970) is generally recognized as a seminal figure in the development of facet analysis and its application to classification theory. In recent years, commentators on the epistemology of knowledge organization have claimed that the methods of facet analysis reflect a fundamentally rationalist approach to classification. Yet, for all the interest in the epistemological bases of Ranganathan’s classification theory, little attention has been paid to his theory of how human beings acquire knowledge of the world – i.e., his epistemology proper – or to the question whether this theory reflects a rationalist outlook. This paper examines Ranganathan’s statements on the origins of knowledge to assess if they are congruent with rationalist epistemology. Ranganathan recognized two different modes of knowledge – intellection (i.e., intellectual operations on sense data) and intuition (i.e., direct cognition of things-in-themselves)...

In light of ongoing debates about ontological vs. epistemological approaches to knowledge organiz... more In light of ongoing debates about ontological vs. epistemological approaches to knowledge organization (KO), this paper examines E. C. Richardson’s treatment of ontology and epistemology in his theory of classification. According to Richardson, there is a natural order of things in the world accessible to human cognition, which may be expressed in two classificatory orders: evolutionary classification, which ranges classes of things from the most simple to the most complex, and logical classification, which ranges classes of things in the inverse order, from the most complex to the most simple. Evolutionary classification reflects ontological order and logical classification reflects epistemological order: both are faces of a single natural order. Such a view requires adherence to a representationalist, or, in Hjørland’s (2008) terms, positivist understanding of epistemology, wherein human knowledge faithfully mirrors the structure of the external world. Richardson’s harmonization o...

Some scholars argue that certain classificatory structures possess inherent social-semantic value... more Some scholars argue that certain classificatory structures possess inherent social-semantic values and that the desirability (or lack thereof) of these values should form a basis for evaluating the classificatory goodness of such structures. Others hold that it is possible to distinguish between the structural properties of a given classificatory structure and the semantic content (and values) of the classification in which it is used, and that the classificatory goodness of a given structural form is best evaluated by its capacity to support effectively the organization of re-sources in a given context. This paper illustrates the second, “functionalist” position by means of a historical case study examining the contrasting evaluations of a single structural form namely, the flat (a)hierarchical structure known as constitutive classification by two early pioneers of knowledge organization, Julius Otto Kaiser and James Duff Brown. Both men knew of the use of constitutive classificati...

Hjørland’s typology of the epistemological positions underlying methods for designing KO systems ... more Hjørland’s typology of the epistemological positions underlying methods for designing KO systems recognizes four basic epistemological positions: empiricism, rationalism, historicism, and pragmatism. Application of this typology to close analysis of Julius Otto Kaiser’s theory of systematic indexing shows that his epistemological and methodological positions were hybrid in nature. Kaiser’s epistemology was primarily empiricist and pragmatist in nature, whereas his methodology was pragmatist in aim but rationalist in mechanics. Unexpected synergy between the pragmatist and rationalist elements of Kaiser’s methodology is evidenced by his stated motivations for the admission of polyhierarchy into syndetic structure. The application of Hjørland’s typology to similar analyses of other KO systems may uncover other cases of epistemological-methodological eclecticism and synergy. Introduction: The Theoretical Background In recent years, the fi eld of knowledge organization (KO) has undergon...

Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 2021

Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2020

The two bibliographical models currently informing the design of systems for the representation o... more The two bibliographical models currently informing the design of systems for the representation of bibliographical data – the IFLA Library Reference Model (IFLA‐LRM) and BIBFRAME 2.0 – do not seamlessly map onto one another. In particular, there are conceptual problems in mapping between the bibliographical entity BIBFRAME:Work and its counterparts, IFLA‐LRM:Work and IFLA‐LRM:Expression. To mitigate these difficulties, we argue for applying a set‐theoretical framework to the mapping between BIBFRAME:Work and IFLA‐LRM:Work and IFLA‐LRM:Expression.

Technical Services Quarterly, 2020

initiatives like the Florida Academic Repository (FLARE) and Journal Retention and Needs Listing ... more initiatives like the Florida Academic Repository (FLARE) and Journal Retention and Needs Listing (JRNL). Mr. Walker outlined some of the desired outcomes for participation in shared print initiatives. Those involve compatible data requirements, efficiencies in workflows, and benefits to stakeholders, all of which point to the promise of shared print programs and their contribution to the greater good. Equally important, they signal long-term implications for the future of libraries. At the same time, he noted that there are a number of challenges standing in the way of this vision. Among them are the difficulty of getting data out of a variety of systems, bad or incomplete legacy data, automated processes that can introduce problems, and limited resources. Communication among stakeholders is another issue. For instance, the Smathers Libraries has hundreds of employees and multiple branches. Like its shared print partners, its organizational structure spreads responsibilities for these kinds of programs across multiple departments and units. There can be a lot of crossover in duties, as well. Because of this, internal and external communication can be problematic at times. He ended with some thoughts for the audience. These included recognizing that shared collections are important; acknowledging that we need to identify our core mission so that competing initiatives can be prioritized; understanding that we need to create mechanisms to support complex workflows and processes; and realizing that we have to make choices in the face of limited resources. With just under 100 attendees, the audience was treated to a synchronous lineup of presentations from some of the leading members of the profession. Ms. Robare and Mr. Long recounted noteworthy projects aimed at increasing the cataloging community’s practical knowledge of identity management best practices, while Mr. Walker outlined the value of participation in shared print programs and offered several important considerations for participation. Yet in a serendipitous turn, the program ended up as an examination, from several angles, of a larger issue facing many department heads; how to best allocate limited staff time and other resources to projects like these in the face of competing priorities. Of course, this issue is somewhat of a Gordian knot, but it was encouraging to see the resolve of each speaker to engage in creatively addressing it in their respective circumstances.

Slavic & East European Information Resources, 2016

College & Research Libraries, 2011

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 2013

Information retrieval (IR) is a central task of information science (IS). Traditionally, IR has f... more Information retrieval (IR) is a central task of information science (IS). Traditionally, IR has focused on document retrieval: however, another, long-established approach to IR—that of information analysis—has sought to decompose documents into retrievable units of information. This paper examines the method of information analysis propounded by one of its pioneers, the business librarian Julius Otto Kaiser (1868–1927), and its theoretical presuppositions about the nature of information. Kaiser viewed information almost exclusively in terms of text and recognized that it had both ontological and epistemological dimensions. On one hand, he held that textual information is an entity of some sort and so capable of being indexed: on the other, he deemed it to be both the product, and occasion, of interpretation on the part of author and reader alike. Kaiser’s method of information analysis sought to decompose documents into units of information on the basis of their semantic content, using a documentary language as a tool for demarcating such units. Analysis of this language indicates that it both incorporated objective features of texts (i.e., extracted terms) and gave indexers considerable interpretative leeway in establishing the boundaries of information units. Kaiser’s version of information analysis constitutes an early attempt to take account of both the ontological and epistemological features of information and so enriches our image of the information-analytic approach, which has traditionally been construed as founded in a positivistic. “objective” view of information alone.

In recent years, Hjørland has developed a typology of basic epistemological approaches to KO that... more In recent years, Hjørland has developed a typology of basic epistemological approaches to KO that identifies four basic positions—empiricism, rationalism, historicism/hermeneutics, and pragmatism—with which to characterize the epistemological bases and methodological orientation of KOSs. Although scholars of KO have noted that the design of a single KOS may incorporate epistemological-methodological features from more than one of these approaches, studies of concrete examples of epistemologico-methodological eclecticism have been rare. In this paper, we consider the phenomenon of epistemologico-methodological eclecticism in one theoretically significant family of KOSs—namely analytico-synthetic, or faceted, KOSs—by examining two cases—Julius Otto Kaiser’s method of Systematic Indexing (SI) and Brian Vickery’s method of facet analysis (FA) for document classifi-cation. We show that both of these systems combined classical features of rationalism with elements of empiricism and pragma...

Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2009

College & Research Libraries, 2007

College & Research Libraries, 2010