The library terminology: Theoretical and practical approaches

Abstract

The author responds to the article by Elena I. Kozlova and Valentina A. Tsvetkova "Terminological aspects in the processes of standardization of library and information activities" (published in the journal "Scientific and technical libraries", № 3, 2020) devoted to the draft state standard of basic terms and definitions of library and information activities. The author objects to their interpretation of mathematical induction method in formal logic, by which they justify the attempt to standardize the concept of "library and information activities". Through this method, the opposite result would be achieved; redundancy or even artificiality of the proposed phrase is demonstrated consequentially. The author argues that, within the framework of the Federal Law "On librarianship", the term "library and information activity" as proposed for federal standardization along with the term "information and library activity" as it appears in the current standard, are both wrongful. The author also criticizes other theoretical and methodological provisions proposed by the state standard writers.The author suggests to improve the system of standards for information, library and publishing (SIBID) by segregating the competence areas of information, library and publishing activities, without mixing them in any proportion or combination. SIBID must comprise the concepts of "library" and "publishing", since these terms are embedded in the name of the system and, therefore, they make the original reference points. The terminology set must be based on the key terms of laws and other national regulatory and legal acts, though the definitions of these terms may differ, and even radically differ, from those fixed in legal acts where they convey juridical conceptions while the standard is to regulate their professional, scientific, and practical meaning, which indeed completely corresponds to the legal interpretation. The author introduces the following approach to these general terms: since the library system is essentially of document and communicative character, the key concepts of the system shall form its foundation: library, librarianship, document, library collection, reader (user), reader (user) group, material and technical resources of library, library re-source studies, library model, library collection model, and other general terms within the discipline.