Patterns and outcomes of federal agency funding for libraries and information science

Abstract

Based on an extensive literature search as well as additional information gathered from federal agencies, including congressional budget requests, congressional testimony, issue summaries, news releases, and personal interviews with federal agency leaders, this poster addresses the patterns and influence of funding in the United States for research and development involving a broad range of topics subsumed under the diverse field of library and information science (LIS). These topics include traditional support for library development and operations, literacy programs in libraries, digitization and preservation of significant library collections of all kinds, disaster recovery, research on all aspects of information services, retrieval, use, and access, as well as developments in technologies for enhanced access to information in all forms and formats, and more. This broad perspective is necessary because the LIS field is fragmented, multi-and cross-disciplinary, with little consensus about a central paradigm or research agenda.Based on an extensive literature search as well as additional information gathered from federal agencies, including congressional budget requests, congressional testimony, issue summaries, news releases, and personal interviews with federal agency leaders, this poster addresses the patterns and influence of funding in the United States for research and development involving a broad range of topics subsumed under the diverse field of library and information science (LIS). These topics include traditional support for library development and operations, literacy programs in libraries, digitization and preservation of significant library collections of all kinds, disaster recovery, research on all aspects of information services, retrieval, use, and access, as well as developments in technologies for enhanced access to information in all forms and formats, and more. This broad perspective is necessary because the LIS field is fragmented, multi-and cross-disciplinary, with little consensus about a central paradigm or research agenda.