Library and Information Science

The following basic models pervasive in library and information science were examined; 1) ‘Scientific Information Flow’, in which original discoveries in science are transferred via various kinds of scientific literature, until they are integrated into scientific ‘knowledge’, 2) ‘Information Transfer’, in which information is transferrable through media, like liquid through a conduit. In order to study ‘Scientific Information Flow’ in people's practices, of their social activities, a new framework for studying ‘Scientific Information Flow’ was proposed. By regarding ‘Information Transfer’ as being constructed in an on-going social interactions which are achieved by generating and recognizing ‘scientific texts’ in each social setting, ‘Scientific Information Flow’ can be handled as a series of scientific texts. This movement leads us some core issues in studying ‘Scientific Information Flow’, namely 1) sameness and differences, 2) relevance and 3) paraphrasability, in a series of scientific texts. Furthermore, some textual features such as intertextuality, replicatedness, signifiance and reflexivity are then introduced as key notions, which will extend and enrich the studies of ‘Scientific Information Flow’. But this new framework is in itself to be generated and recognised in interacting with future studies of ‘Scientific Information Flow’.