A documentalist is a professional, trained in
documentation science
Documentation science is the study of the wikt:recording, recording and Information retrieval, retrieval of information. It includes methods for storing, retrieving, and sharing of information captured on physical as well as digital documents. T ...
and specializing in assisting researchers in their search for scientific and technical documentation. With the development of
bibliographical databases such as
MEDLINE
MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, or MEDLARS Online) is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medic ...
, documentalists were professionals who searched such databases on the behalf of users.
When the field of documentation changed its name to
information science, the terms information specialist or
information professional often replaced the term documentalist.
See also
*
Archivist
*
Information scientist
*
Information professional
*
Librarian
A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
Literature
* Bowles, M. D. (1999)
The information wars: Two cultures and the conflict in information retrieval, 1945-1999 In: M. E. Bowden, T. B. Hahn, & R. V. Williams (Eds.)
(pp. 156–166). Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc. for the American Society for Information Science and the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
*
Bradford, S. C. (1953). Documentation. 2nd ed. With an introd. by Jesse H. Shera and Margaret E. Egan. London: Crosby Lockwood.
* Meadows, A. J. (1990). Theory in information science. Journal of Information science, 16, 59–63.
* Olsson, L. (1991).
* Olsson, L. (1992). I&D och profession - en fråga om teknik? Bidrag til 8:de Nordiska IoD, Helsingborg 19-21 maj, 1992. 10 sider. (I proceedings kun résumé på 1 side - manuskript udleveret på konferencen).
*
Shera, J. (1960). School of Library Science annual report (1960–61). Cleveland, OH: Western Reserve University.
* Williams, R. V. (1998). The Documentation and Special Libraries Movement in the United States, 1910–1960. IN: Hahn, T. B. & Buckland, M. (eds.): Historical Studies in Information Science. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc. (pp. 173–180).
External links
LIBRARIAN VERSUS DOCUMENTALIST1953 Article by
Eugene Garfield
Eugene Eli Garfield (September 16, 1925 – February 26, 2017) was an American linguistics, linguist and businessman, one of the founders of bibliometrics and scientometrics. He helped to create ''Current Contents'', ''Science Citation Index'' ( ...
{{Authority control
Information science