Digital Libraries with Embedded Values: Combining Insights from LIS and Science and Technology Studies

Abstract

In the digital age, libraries are increasingly being augmented or even replaced by information technology (IT), which is often accompanied by implicit assumptions of objectivity and neutrality, yet the field of science and technology studies (STS) has a long history of studying what values are embedded in IT and how they are embedded. This article seeks to unite the strengths of STS and LIS. First, the relevant literature on the values embedded in technologies, IT, physical libraries, and digital libraries is reviewed. Next, empirical and theoretical approaches for studying the values embedded in digital libraries are proposed. Finally, the boundary objects with agency framework is applied to digital libraries as a possible way to address the need for comparative empirical research about what values are embedded in digital libraries, how these values are embedded in digital libraries, and the implications of these embedded values.