Positioning "Informetrics" in student training programs in departments and institutes of library and information science in Algeria

Abstract

The subject of Informetrics is considered one of the controversial topics at the level of terms and concepts, methods and tools that are built and developed by professors and researchers from various scientific disciplines in Western societies. First interests in Informetrics were linked to traditional laws developed by library specialists from different backgrounds (who usually were trained in mathematics), where they worked to develop mathematical and statistical rules and equations to measure professional practices within libraries and information institutions (Hamburg technique, Orr technique, Saracevic technique, Morse technique, etc.). The applications of these rules and measurements have been widely popularized in professional circles during the 19th century, but this has not lasted long, especially for Arab societies where such practices remain absent within libraries and various information spaces, and are not strongly visible in the programs adopted to train students in library science. Dealing with Informetrics in the classic form in which they appear makes it a frequent practice of the same techniques, which may be a party to the question posed by professionals working in the library sector in Arab societies, especially on the argument of science and technique, The inability to understand the real scientific object or constructed object of library science despite its recognition as a discipline at universities leads to alienation. The subject of Informetrics and its techniques falls within the context of this contemporary argument, Contemporary societies therefore usually use research and training as essential inputs for the development of each science's vocabulary, and to strengthen its methods and tools, which we are actually trying to focus on with this scientific paper through which we stand on one of these inputs, which is related to training. In this study, we are presenting the form and formula of the subject of Informetrics in student training programs in departments and institutes of library and information science in Algeria, to try to give an explanation of the phenomenon students reluctance to use mathematical and statistical measurements as a method in their studies, and lack of knowledge of it as a scientific subject in terms of its vocabulary, and its concepts and terminology, the philosophy on which its rules and principles are based, and its developability.