A new Biographical Directory of Documentation and Information Science (https://asist.a2hosted.com) has been created under the auspices of the Association for Information Science and Technology Special Interest Group in the History and Foundations of Information Science, using wiki-style presentation. It rescued, updated, and extended the “Pioneers of Information Science” webpages created by the late Robert V. Williams in the 1990s. The historical background, technical decisions, and policy options are summarized.

The article discusses two traditions of documentality: that of social ontology and that of neo-documentation, and it contains an appendix on artificial intelligence.

This study investigates whether German-language fan fictions featuring lesbian and gay characters within the anime and manga domain can be regarded as genuinely queer. It situates these fan works within the specific traditions and practices of German fandom. Employing qualitative content analysis, the research examines two prominent fandoms, Naruto and Sailor Moon, focusing on the presence of heteronormative narrative patterns in fan fiction with queer protagonists. The study analyzes which aspects of the original media are adapted and how these adaptations shape the portrayal of queer identities. Furthermore, fan comments are examined to assess the extent to which readers recognize or challenge heteronormative tropes, providing insight into fans’ critical engagement with these narratives. The concept of world-queering (Floegel, 2020) is applied to determine if German-speaking fans actively create queer worlds through their fan works. Findings indicate that although queer pairings are common, heteronormative structures persist, suggesting that world-queering occurs only superficially. Overall, the research highlights the complexity and limitations of queer representation in German-language fan fiction and calls for deeper reflection on the negotiation of heteronormativity in these communities.

This paper explores the historical and contemporary practices of documenting urban planning in Tampa Bay, emphasizing the role of sensory experiences in fostering sustainable and equitable development. Using the 1989 Future of Hillsborough Transportation Concepts white paper as a case study, the research critiques the dominance of efficiency-focused documentation in urban policy. This study highlights how such frameworks often neglect cultural and sensory dimensions critical to community well-being. The research calls for a shift towards documenting sensory experiences, drawing on the concept of the sensorium, to bridge the gap between technical data and lived urban experiences. The paper argues that integrating sensory and cultural narratives into urban planning can create more inclusive and responsive cities, as illustrated through the case of La Segunda Bakery and the community protests against highway expansion. This approach provides a more holistic understanding of urban spaces, advocating for planning methodologies that extend beyond economic efficiency to support vibrant and socially connected communities.

The U.S. Census is mandated in the U.S. Constitution and has been recorded decennially since 1790. Its primary purpose is to record every person in the U.S. in order to apportion House of Representative seats and distribute federal funding based on state populations. But for many genealogists, the census is often used to research ancestors who lived in the U.S.; however, it can be difficult to identify people in early census schedules due to limited enumeration and questions asked. Reform in 1849 proved to be beneficial, not only at the time for gathering statistics about the growing country, but also for genealogists today as the 1850 census enumerated more people and asked more questions. The Daughters of the American Revolution are noted as the first to use census records for genealogy at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, technologies such as microfilm and optical character recognition have created easier access to census schedules up to 1950. By examining the format and delivery, questions asked, and history of its institutionalization, the census proves to be one way of examining the country’s transformation over time.

As documents are inherently tied to humans and their expressions (Lund 2024), facilitating communication across time and space, we might have historically reflected on the implications of inserting a computer or information system between humans. If we envision the human as a handyman engaged in technical engineering, we can comprehend the development of AI, Artificial Intelligence, as part of a much longer history of creating instruments and machines to support human endeavors. These include the printing press, musical instruments, steam engines, typewriters, microphones, and progressing to digital musical instruments that create their own music.

Relevance is regarded as centrally important in documentation and information science but has resisted satisfactory definition. The literature presents vague, subjective descriptions and/or operational definitions based on untenable theoretical assumptions. The “work” is a similarly central and poorly defined concept in bibliographic theory and cataloguing. This short essay summarizes previous scholarship that reformulates concepts of relevance in information science as functions of use and works in bibliographic theory as useful sets of objects. Conceptual utility in both cataloging theory and information science is sought by developing descriptive models that attend to the positionality and temporality of “works” and “relevance” as they have been reformulated by de Fremery and Buckland (2023, 2024). Importantly, the descriptive models suggests the importance of context in formulations of relevance as a function of use and works as useful sets of objects. It concludes by suggesting that bibliographies, library catalogs, search engines and retrieval systems can be considered context engineering systems, thereby productively reorienting the discourse about these documentary technologies to suggest the important role these systems play in formulating contexts in addition to existing in or describing contexts.Relevance is regarded as centrally important in documentation and information science but has resisted satisfactory definition. The literature presents vague, subjective descriptions and/or operational definitions based on untenable theoretical assumptions. The “work” is a similarly central and poorly defined concept in bibliographic theory and cataloguing. This short essay summarizes previous scholarship that reformulates concepts of relevance in information science as functions of use and works in bibliographic theory as useful sets of objects. Conceptual utility in both cataloging theory and information science is sought by developing descriptive models that attend to the positionality and temporality of “works” and “relevance” as they have been reformulated by de Fremery and Buckland (2023, 2024). Importantly, the descriptive models suggests the importance of context in formulations of relevance as a function of use and works as useful sets of objects. It concludes by suggesting that bibliographies, library catalogs, search engines and retrieval systems can be considered context engineering systems, thereby productively reorienting the discourse about these documentary technologies to suggest the important role these systems play in formulating contexts in addition to existing in or describing contexts.

Historically, university libraries have been defined by the collections they housed and it was the collection that formed the basis of their identity and organization. However, societal developments have shifted this focus, leading to significant changes in both the content and conditions of these collections. What was once predominantly characterized by printed materials has now transitioned to primarily electronic resources. This paper explores how the concept of documents can be utilized to examine the identity of contemporary university libraries. Specifically, it employs David Levy’s notion of documents as ‘talking things,’ examining their relationship to various genres and rhythms. Furthermore, the material, social, and mental dimensions of documents are also considered.

Anime and manga have seen exponential growth in market value, and popularity, over the last decade. This boom of popularity for anime has been matched in recent years by an increased interest from fans in anime and manga studies. This project seeks to document the contents of anime studies research guides, with the goal of seeing what specific resources, popular media, and fan media like blogs, are listed within these guides and recommended to fans seeking to explore this budding area of scholarship.

The study aims to discuss document productivity in the case of the Samudera Raksa Ship Museum. To answer this, the researchers made a productivity document study based on (1) Blasius Sudarsono's axiom, which states that "In the beginning, it was the human will to express what he thought and/or felt;" (2) Sudarsono's thoughts regarding documents as processes and products; (3) Lund’s concept of document creation; (4) Sabine Roux's thoughts on the rhizome concept in the document productivity process; and (5) the concept of museum communication by Yudhawasthi. Based on these theoretical frameworks, an analysis of the document productivity in the case of the Samudra Raksa Ship Museum is outlined with the formulation of research questions: (1) Is the document productivity a cycle? (2) How is the document productivity cycle in the case of the Samudra Raksa Ship Museum? This research was a qualitative study and research data were obtained through an in-depth interview process with three research informants, literature search, and field observation. The informants are (1) curator of the Samudera Raksa Ship Museum and Borobudur Temple area management, (2) the leader of Digital Technology Development of the Samudera Raksa Ship Museum, and (3) a former crew of the Samudera Raksa Ship. From the mapping, the researcher found the dimensions that reflect a cycle: 1. document creation stage where knowledge, the object/message/document as well as the media and technology are used to produce. 2. The product produced does not stop as a work, but humans can continue to interpret and reinterpret it, thereby producing knowledge and/or knowledge. Then, 3. returning to the initial cycle, namely creation, which drives the next creation process. 4. All of these steps involve communication and documentation 5. All of the processes are human brain simulations.