Bibliographical theory as the phenomenon of Russia library and information science. (On the occasion of Oleg P. Korshunov 95<sup>th</sup> anniversary)

Abstract

P. Korshunov’s contribution to the theory of bibliography is discussed; the discipline structure and development stages are analyzed. The main principles of Oleg P. Korshunov’s theory are outlined: dialectical method of rising from the abstract to the concrete applied to bibliographic phenomena studies; the view of document communication system as a metasystem of bibliographic functioning. The theory also sees the contradictions/information barriers existing in the system of document communications as an intrinsic reason for the emergence of mediating social institutions (libraries, archives, bibliography, etc.), which mission is to establish correspondence between documents and end users. Oleg P. Korshunov also developed the concept of bibliographic information as an intrinsic distinction of bibliography from other types of information activity; he derived the modes and functions of bibliographic information and common patterns of bibliographic activity. The author specifies several rival bibliography theories: information-cultural (M. G. Vokhrysheva, N. B. Zinovieva), ideographic (N. A. Sliadneva), management (A. A. Grechikhin), semiotic (G. Ya. Uzilevskiy), and synergetic (T. A. Novozhenova). The author points to the conceptual diversity of the theory of bibliography in Russia and current unavailability of the single theory. The author demonstrates the achievements and challenges of the theory of bibliography within the framework of academic studies, as well as maturity of bibliography subdisciplines, i. e. theory and methodology of bibliography, history of bibliography, management of bibliographic activities, bibliographic methods and technologies. The prospects of theory of bibliography are specified as stated by Russian scholars on the basis of Thomas S. Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions. They unanimously connect development history of theory of bibliography to the bibliological and documentological paradigms (in different terminologies), while interpreting the future of bibliography in different ways though always with dominating technological issues.