Information Research Weblog

Very interesting site, Chris - it will also be interesting to see how the rankings change as other things come on line.

Your point about the lack of communication among the various areas of the 'information field' is also spot on - this is one of the things that IR is trying to change, by publishing information systems papers, as well as information management papers. David Ellis, David Allen and I wrote a paper a couple of years or so ago which looked at the lack of cross citation between information science and information systems in two areas where one might expect common interests - information retrieval and information seeking behaviour (user requirements in info. systems parlance). We found very few people who were cited in both fields.

Ellis, D., Allen, D.K. & Wilson, T.D. (1999) Information science and information systems: conjunct subjects disjunct disciplines. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50, 1095-1107

As I'm working here in Sweden at the Hogskolan i Boras, I thought that some readers of IR-DISCUSS and of this Weblog might be interested to know of new positions in the Swedish School of Librarianship and Information Science in this institution. Three new positions are being advertised, at the Professorial level:

1. Professor in knowledge organisation and Information Retrieval (IR) Professor or Guest professor for 3 years

This professor is expected to teach both at PhD and undergraduate levels within the area of knowledge organisation. This sub-area includes issues of representation and organisation of information. It is desirable that applicant has knowledge about sub-areas such as classification, indexing, IR-models, methods of evaluation and representation for different media.

2. Professorship of information seeking and use. Fulltime professor No 1 (tenure type position)

This professor is expected to teach the areas "information seeking" and user studies at PhD-level as well as undergraduate levels. The field includes issues on how individuals and groups relate to and use information in different contexts - such as in connection with school/learning, knowledge creation and decision making in everyday life - and in professional environments.

3. Professorship in organisation and management of library and information services. Fulltime professor No 2 (tenure type position)

This professor is expected to teach in areas related to the organisation and management of information services and information dissemination at the undergraduate and PhD levels. Knowledge about subareas such as service management, organisation and planning, knowledge management and development and quality management of library and information services, information economy and/or information policy is desirable.

Further information with reference numbers, persons to contact, etc., can be found on the Hogskolan Web site.