Research Notes Paradigm Restrictions on Interdisciplinary Research Into Librarianship Jeffrey N

Research Notes Paradigm Restrictions on Interdisciplinary Research into Librarianship Jeffrey N. Gatten

Scholars are becoming increasingly interdisciplinary in their approach to research, but traditional structures of knowledge within the social sciences may limit their ability to view a phenomenon in its entirety. This citation study examines the extent to which interdisciplinary research into librarianship is restricted by paradigms. The study uses library science and sociology journal articles that address the sociological aspect of libraries. The data indicate that interdisciplinary research into the applied discipline of librarianship is inhibited by paradigms.

~ii!!iii~iilli....ll• ecent trends in social sciences this study-incorporates the disciplines - ~ research indicate that scholars of sociology and library science into a are becoming increasingly inter­ concentrated, specialized area of re­ disciplinary in their approach to search. This phenomenon provides a research, more so than researchers in the logical example, combining a research organized schools of thought (e.g., sociol­ discipline (e.g., sociology) and an ap­ ogy, political science, psychology) that de­ plied discipline (e.g., library science) for fine academic institutions.1 However, a which researchers could formulate a researcher investigating an interdiscipli­ new paradigm. Because the library is a nary phenomenon approaches the topic social institution, sociological research from a specific research paradigm rooted methodologies are appropriate in inves­ in a traditional structure of knowledge. tigating library science. However, the ex­ The paradigm may force a particular per­ tent to which research in library science spective or approach to conducting research, looks toward previous research in soci­ thus limiting the investigator's ability to ology for methodological or theoretical view the phenomenon in its entirety. The foundations or the extent to which soci­ extent to which interdisciplinary study of ological theories are of value to the prac­ librarianship is limited by paradigmatic tice of library science has yet to be structures is the focus of this study. determined. It could be argued that li­ Sociological aspects of libraries-the brary research studies that report the use ·interdisciplinary phenomenon used for of sophisticated sociological research

Jeffrey N. Gatten is Head of Collection Management at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.

575 576 College & Research Libraries November 1991 methodologies may reach only a small from which several antitheses (new number of librarians. 2 This report ques­ competitors) arise. Finally a synthesis tions the value of a research discipline's (a new paradigm) evolves which re­ methodology and theory to applied dis­ jects the worst of both existing para­ ciplines and examines the nature of in­ digms and the new competitors, while terdisciplinary studies and the extent to concomitantly retaining the best.6 which cross-pollination occurs between Martin E. Spencer suggested that the a research discipline (in this case, sociol­ social sciences do not advance in a dia­ ogy) and an applied discipline (in this lectic manner. Rather, progress is prob­ case, library science). lematic.7 The social sciences are "an aggregate of conceptual communities LITERATURE REVIEW that communicate only imperfectly with Florian Znaniecki' s work serves as an each other and that assert the correctness introduction to the concept of paradigm of their point of view while disdaining structures that may affect interdiscipli­ others." Spencer contrasted the physic(\! nary studies. Znaniecki presented the sciences and the social sciences using concept of the social circle, the audience Kuhn's paradigmatic dialectic and con­ to which one addresses ideas. Within the cluded that "the mere succession of the­ social circle is "a common bond consti­ ories" traced through history does not tuted by a complex of values which all of constitute progress.8 them appreciate positively."3 Some crit­ ics describe Znaniecki' s concept as more apropos to a small social group than to Low subject dispersion within the society at large. In Znaniecki's model, professional literature of library the originator of an idea is a member of science indicates little effort by the social circle, which-in turn-ex­ librarians at looking toward another pects the originator to meet certain de­ discipline (e.g., sociology) for theory mands in exchange for recognition. or methodology. Scholars "anticipate the demands of their public; and they tend to form self­ images, select data, and seize upon prob­ Communication within the social cir­ lems in terms of their actual or cle does not necessarily facilitate a dia­ anticipated audiences."4 lectic process and, Wells and Picou Thomas Kuhn made the concept of argued, the social sciences can provide paradigm primary to the study of the theoretical "puzzles," but not an "arse­ organization of knowledge in his work nal" of shared exemplars to guarantee The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. solutions to the puzzles, as is the case Kuhn defined paradigms as "univer­ with the physical sciences.9 Therefore, sally recognized scientific achievements the social sciences consist of a number of that for a time provide model problems partial, not full, paradigms. and solutions to a community of practi­ One method for identifying a partial tioners."5 Paradigms develop as differing paradigm within the social sciences is to schemes compete for wider acceptance define the social circle membership among scientists. Eventually, a paradigm through the professional literature. is established, becomes widely accepted, Thus, the development of professional and defines a given scenario of scientific literature within a subject area can be discovery. Anomalies can force changes one component of a paradigmatic struc­ in a paradigm; these changes result in ture.10 Gloria Stark Cline asserted, "The the creation of new paradigms. Richard intellectual base of any discipline is re­ H. Wells and J. Steven Picou consider vealed in its journal literature which Kuhn's model to be a dialectical one. serves, among other things, as a vehicle That is to say, the thesis (existing for disseminating information, introduc­ paradigm) provides its own contradic­ ing innovations, and reporting the find­ tions (crisis provoking anomalies) ings of research in the field." 11 Paradigm Restrictions 577

Librarians have begun to investigate sistently examined from two distinct the structure of knowledge and the de­ paradigms. velopment of paradigms in the distribu­ tion of knowledge.12 This investigation is Sampling Procedure occurring, in part, through the study of Two sets of source journal articles-li­ the nature of the professional literature brary science and sociology-were iden­ of disciplines.13 Tefko Saracevik and tified. Each set is devoted to the topic Lawrence J. Perk argued that library sci­ "sociological aspects of libraries." . For ence as a discipline has not developed library science source journal articles, "many interactions with other subjects the database Library & Information Sci­ as many other subjects have, subjects from ence Abstracts (LISA) was searched for which, for instance, tools for investigation all English-language journal articles may be borrowed."14 This statement sug­ published during the ten-year inclusive gests that low subject dispersion within the period between 1979 and 1988. This set professional literature of library science was then reduced to include only the indicates little effort by librarians at articles that had been assigned sociol­ looking toward another discipline (e.g., ogy-related subject headings in LISA. sociology) for theory or methodology. The following subject headings were se­ Specifically, Leigh Estabrook con­ lected after a thorough examination of ducted a citation analysis of library sci­ the preferred terms list in the USA Online ence literature to determine the extent to User Manual: "social aspects," "socializa­ which tools for investigation have been tion," and "sociological perspectives." A borrowed from previous sociological re­ list was generated of 201 source articles search. Estabrook discovered little ac­ representing research on various socio­ knowledgment of "those individuals logical aspects of libraries as published who are classically important to socio­ in library science journals. logical theory," including Karl Marx, For sociology source journal articles, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber. 15 Es­ the database Sociological Abstracts was tabrook concluded that approximately searched for all English-language jour­ 8% of the library citations can be consid­ nal articles published during the ten­ ered sociological, yet demonstrate an "ap­ year inclusive period between 1979 and parently limited sociological theoretical 1988. This set was then reduced to in­ framework from which library research­ clude only the articles that had been as­ ers have drawn."16 The result, by implica­ signed the subject heading "libraries," tion, is that library science researchers may determined after a thorough examina­ view phenomena sociologically, but tion of the Thesaurus of Sociological Index­ adopt unsophisticated analytical tech­ ing Terms. A list of 17 items resulted. niques and use limited theoretical After the investigator discarded one of frameworks. For example, only descrip­ the items because it was an occasional tive, rather than inferential, statistics paper and not a journal article, a list of may be used for data analysis, or the use 16 source articles representing research of one theoretical model may define the on various sociological aspects of librar­ type of research methodology employed.17 ies as published in sociology journals remained. This sampling procedure pro­ METHODOLOGY duced two sets of source journal articles The general objective of this study is from which citation patterns could. be to examine patterns of interdisciplinary examined: library science (n = 201) and research for the purpose of determining sociology (n = 16). and observing the existence of a partial paradigm. Specifically, it seeks to deter­ Classification mine whether the subject area "sociolog­ The source journal articles in both sets ical aspects of libraries" is composed of (library science and sociology) were clas­ researchers constituting a partial para­ sified by a variety of means, including digm or whether the subject area is con- identification of prominent source au- 578 College & Research Libraries November 1991 thors, prominent source journals, and organizational administration or the dis_. prominent source subject areas. In addi­ semination of information (typically in tion, prominent cited authors, promi­ electronic format). nent cited journals, and prominent cited disciplines from the source articles were Sociology Source Articles identified. ("Prominent" was defined as In the sociology journals, only one au­ a relatively high frequency of appear­ thor was discovered to have written ance.) Source subject areas were identi­ more than one article on sociological as­ fied by using the subject headings that pects of libraries. This one author ac­ had been assigned to the article by the counted for 9.5% of all the authors database producer. In some cases, sim­ within sociology source articles. Not ilar subject headings were tabulated as only did a number of the source journals one. For example, some articles from originate from outside of traditional so­ LISA were assigned the subject heading ciology (e.g., Journal of Management), but "intellectual freedom" while other arti­ the most frequently found source journal cles were assigned the subject heading in the Sociological Abstracts database "censorship." In compiling the data, the relevant to this study was Library and investigator tabulated these two subject Information Science Research, a library sci­ headings as if they were the same. ence journal. The plurality of the articles The Standard Periodical Directory (SPD) (31 %) was dedicated to the subject area supplied the appropriate discipline to of education. which a cited journal should be as­ signed. If a journal could not be classi­ Examination of Study Questions fied using SPD, the investigator viewed To what extent does research into the OCLC records to determine the Library sociological aspects of libraries, as pub­ of Congress subject classification, which lished within library science journals, was then used to assign the journal to a draw on previous sociology research? discipline. For example, when the jour­ This question was answered by first nal Administrative Science Quarterly was identifying the prominent cited authors, cited, the discipline to which it is as­ journals, and disciplines. One hundred signed by either the SPD or the Library and twenty-seven of the 201 source li­ of Congress via OCLC classified it. This brary science articles identified through journal was assigned to the discipline LISA were used for the citation study. "management." These 127 articles were found in the Kent In some cases, similar disciplines were State University Libraries collection of combined into one larger discipline. For library science journals supporting a example, some journals were assigned to graduate library science program. the discipline "communications" while Only 33 (2.7%) of all cited authors (a other journals were assigned to "televi­ total of 1,207) were cited more than three sion." In compiling the data, the investi­ times, representing 12.8% (198) of the gator tabulated these two disciplines as 1,541 citations. An author was consid­ if they were the same. ered to be cited each time a different work by that author was referenced RESULTS within a source article. Citations were Library Science Source Articles tabulated as follows: one work by an In the library science journals, 15 au­ author referenced one or more times thors were discovered to have written within one source article equaled one more than one article on sociological as­ citation; multiple works by an author pects of libraries. These 15 authors ac­ referenced within one source article counted for only 8% of all the authors equaled one citation per unique work; within library science source articles. and one work by an author referenced in Twenty-one (28%) journals accounted different source articles equaled one ci­ for 55% of all citations. Almost 50% of the tation per source article. The ten most source articles' subject areas focused on frequently cited journals represented Paradigm Restrictions 579

TABLEl FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS IN "SOURCE" LIBRARY SCIENCE ARTICLES No. of citations %of Total Cited Journal Discipline (n=679) (n=227) Library Journal Library 86 37.9 New York Times General 32 14.1 Wilson Library Bulletin Library 19 8.4 Library Quarterly Library 15 6.6 Library Trends Library 15 6.6 South African Libraries Library 13 5.7 Top of the News Library 13 5.7 American Libraries Library 12 5.3 College & Research Libraries Library 11 4.8 ]. American Society for Info. Science Library 11 4.8 Total"' 227 99.9 *The 227 citations represented in this table constitute 33.4% of the toatl number (679) of citations to journals from 127 "source" articles. The"% of total" column totals to 99.9% due to rounding.

33.4% of the 679 citations to journals, but cipline the cited journals belonged. Table only 4% of the 249 journals cited. There­ 1 illustrates the 10 journals cited most fore, of all the citations to journal articles, frequently in source library science arti­ one-third were to 4% of the titles. Ap­ cles. These 10 titles represented 33.4% of proximately 52% of all citations were to all the citations to journals, with 237 ti­ journals within the discipline of library tles accounting for the remaining 66.6% science. Only about 3% were to journals of citations to journals. Within this top within the discipline of sociology. (The one-third cluster, library science journals term "discipline" refers to a cited journal's composed 86% of the citations. One title, general orientation, not to the specific the New York Times, represented there­ focus of the cited article that appears maining 14% of these citations and is, (1) within a journal.) not associated with any particular sub­ ject discipline and (2) not a professional scholarly journal. Moreover, none of the This study examines the nature of in­ citations within the top 33.4% of cita­ terdisciplinary studies and the extent tions was to sociology journals. In fact, to which cross-pollination occurs be­ sociology journals did not appear in the tween a research discipline (in this top 66% of the citations. case, sociology) and an applied dis­ Therefore, library science research ap­ cipline (in this case, library science). parently does not look toward the field of sociology when investigating socio­ logical topics. The lack of citations to Next, the cited authors from source contemporary sociologists publishing in library science articles were compared the same area and the overwhelming with the sociology source authors. Of the tendency of library science articles to cite 1,207 authors that were cited in 127 articles from a core of library science source library science articles, none au­ journals support this conclusion (see thored the 16 source sociology articles. table 1). Also, the observation that soci­ The cited journals from library science ology journal articles represented only source articles were then examined to 3% of the citations to journals within the determine the journals cited most prom­ entire sample-less than, but similar to, inently and to determine to which dis- journal articles in education (4.7%) and 580 College & Research Libraries November 1991

TABLE2 FREQUENTLY CITED JOURNALS IN "SOURCE" SOCIOLOGY ARTICLES No. of citations %of Total Cited Journal Discipline (n=130) (n=55) Academy of Management Journal Bus.Adm. 9 16.4 Administrative Science Quarterly Bus.Adm. 9 16.4 Human Organization Sociology 6 10.9 College & Research Libraries Library 5 9.1 International Library Review Library 5 9.1 Public Administration Review Pub.Adm. 5 9.1 American Political Science Review Political 4 7.3 American Sociological Review Sociology 4 7.3 Journal of Business Bus.Adm. 4 7.3 Urban Life Sociology 4 7.3 Total* 55 100.2 *The 55 citations represented in this table constitute 42.3% of the total number of citations to journals from sixteen "source" articles. The"% of total" column totals to 100.2% due to rounding. administrative sciences (3.2%), as well as cited journals belonged. Table 2 newspaper articles (12.4%)-demonstrates illustrcltes the 10 journals cited most fre­ a lack of attention focused on previous quently in source sociology articles. sociolo~calresearch. These titles represent 42.3% of all the To what extent does research into the citations to journals, with 55 titles ac­ sociological aspects of libraries as pub­ counting for the remaining 57.7% of cita­ lished within sociology journals draw tions to journals. Within this top on previous library science research? two-fifths cluster, sociology journals The same method described above composed only 25.5% of the citations. was used to answer this question. Only The remaining titles were dispersed 5 (1.4%) of the 364 authors were cited among several other disciplines. Library more than three times, representing 6.1% science journals represented 18.2% of (27) of all citations. The 10 most frequently these citations. cited journals represent 42.3% of the 130 citations to journals and approximately 15% of the 65 journals cited. Therefore, of Library science research apparently all the citations to journal articles, just does not look toward the field of soci­ over two-fifths were to 15% of the titles. ology when investigating sociological Approximately 19% of all citations were to topics. journals within the sociology discipline. Just over 26% were to journals within the library science discipline. Therefore, it appears that sociology re­ Next, the cited authors from source search into libraries looks to previous sociology articles were compared with library science research. While 3 of the the library science source authors. Of the authors cited in the sociology source ar­ 364 ·authors that were cited in 16 source ticles also were authors of library science sociology articles, 3 were authors from source articles, this constituted less than the 206 source library science authors. 1% of all authors cited. However, within The cited journals from sociology source the top 10 journals cited (see table 2), the articles were then examined to deter­ frequency of citing library science jour­ mine the journals cited most frequently nals (18.2%) was similar to that for soci­ and to determine to which discipline the ology journ!ils (25.5%). Moreover, Paradigm Restrictions 581

TABLE3 FREQUENCY OF AUTHORS CITED IN BOTH LIBRARY SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY "SOURCE" ARTICLES Cited in Library Cited in Science Sources Sociology Sources Authors n rank• n rank• Asheim, L. 1 21.0 18.0 Berelson, Bernard 3 5.0 1 18.0 Berger, Peter 1 21.0 1 18.0 Blau,P. M. 2 9.5 18.0 Braverman, M. 5 2.5 1 18.0 Carpenter, R. L. 2 9.5 2 5.0 Chelton, M. K. 2 9.5 18.0 Chen, C. 1 21.0 1 18.0 Chisholm, M. E. 1 21.0 1 18.0 Cooper, M. D. 21.0 18.0 Danton, J. D. 21.0 18.0 Dervin, Brenda 2 9.5 9 1.0 DuMont, R. R. 3 5.0 1 18.0 Estabrook, Leigh 3 5.0 18.0 Garrison, Dee 6 1.0 18.0 Goodman, Paul 1 21.0 18.0 Hughes, E. C. 1 21.0 18.0 Katz, J. 21.0 18.0 Lazarsfeld, P. F. 21.0 18.0 Liesener, J. W. 1 21.0 18.0 Olsen, Harold A. 21.0 1 18.0 Palmour, Vernon E. 21.0 1 18.0 Roderer, N. K. 21.0 1 18.0 Strauss, Anselm 2 9.5 3 3.0 Toffler, Alvin 5 2.5 1 18.0 Van House, Nancy A. 21.0 2 5.0 Warner, E. 5. 21.0 18.0 Zaltman, Gerald 1 21.0 2 5.0 Zweizig, Douglas L. 2 9.5 4 2.0 • corrected for ties. rs = + .444 library science articles were cited more science and sociology. These cited au­ often than sociology articles within thors represent the extent to which both source sociology articles. library science and sociology draw on a To what extent does a partial para­ common body of specific authors when digm, constituting sociological aspects studying sociological aspects of librar­ of libraries, exist? ies. For library science source articles, Table 3 lists the 29 authors who were table 3 lists approximately 4.5% of all cited in both source article sets-library authors cited. For sociology source arti- 582 College & Research Libraries November 1991

TABLE4 FREQUENCY OF JOURNAL TITLES CITED IN BOTH LIBRARY SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY "SOURCE" ARTICLES Cited in Library Cited in Science Sources Sociology Sources Journal n rank* n rank* Academy of Mgt. Review 1 18.0 9 1.5 Admin. Science Quarterly 2 10.0 9 1.5 American Pol. Sci. Rev. 18.0 4 6.5 American Soc. Review 1 18.0 4 6.5 College & Research Libraries 11 4.0 5 4.0 Inti. Forum Info. & Doc. 1 18.0 1 19.5 Inti. Library Review 7 8.0 5 4.0 ]. of Academic Libr. 1 18.0 3 9.5 f. of Educ. for Libr. 10 5.0 2 13.0 Journalism Quarterly 1 18.0 1 19.5 Library Journal 86 1.0 3 9.5 Library Quarterly 15 2.5 2 13.0 Library Trends 15 2.5 2 13.0 Management Science 1 18.0 3 9.5 Monthly Labor Review 1 18.0 1 19.5 North Carolina Libraries 18.0 1 19.5 Public Admin. Review 2 10.0 5 4.0 Public Interest 1 18.0 1 19.5 Public Opinion Quarterly 2 10.0 3 9.5 Science 8 7.0 19.5 School Library Journal 9 6.0 19.5 Social Forces 1 18.0 19.5 Sociological Quarterly 18.0 1 19.5 Urban Affairs Quarterly_ 18.0 1 19.5 *corrected for ties. rs = + .361 des, the same table lists approximately tion. For table 3, the relatively high cor- 12% of all authors cited. relation could be artificial and explained A Spearman's correlation, which mea- by the high number of ties on the low sures the relationship between two sets number of occurrences. of rankings of the same observations, Table 4 illustrates the comparison of was comryuted for table 3. It indicates both the library science cited journals that amo~g the common authors cited in and the sociology cited journals in an both sets there exists a degree of relation- attempt to discover common titles. ship (rs = + .444). However, the existence Twenty-four journals were cited in both of a common body of specific authors library science and sociology source ar- who are cited in both library science and tides. These journals represented 26.5% sociology source articles does not neces- of all the journals cited in library science sarily imply the existence of a paradigm. source articles, and 53.1% of all the jour- It is a necessary, but insufficient, condi- nals cited in sociology source articles. A Paradigm Restrictions 583

Spearman's correlation of ranked data digms for research disciplines may be indicates that among the common journals structured around a theoretical or meth­ cited in both sets there exists a degree of odological approach rather than around relationship (rs = +.361). However, only topics. This would explain why the top­ one of these titles, College & Research Li­ ical focus of this study, sociological as­ braries, appeared in both table 1 and table pects of libraries, resulted in a clearly 2, the tables that listed the most fre­ defined body of literature within library quently cited journals for each source science and the absence of such a body set. Because of this, one could conclude in sociology. that rather than illustrating the existence This study examined the extent to which of core journals within a paradigm, table cross-pollination can occur between a re­ 4 reflects the tendency of sociology arti­ search discipline (e.g., sociology) and an cles to draw on the published literature applied discipline (e.g., library science), of other disciplines, as made evident in resulting in a new paradigm facilitating table 2. interdisciplinary research. The research discipline and the applied discipline do Limitations not share a paradigm. The applied discipl­ Examining citation patterns only ine ap~ars to be more self-contained, within journal articles limits this study. while the research discipline appeared Monographic and other material was more likely to draw on resources from a not used because journal literature pro­ variety of disciplines. Paradigms are per­ vided a focus on current interdiscipli­ petuated by rewards through publication nary communication. Also the study is and other means. The reward system re­ limited by the citations from library sci­ inforces the perception within the social ence source articles available in the Kent circle that an internal focus is superior. State University Libraries. Furthermore, As long as the rewards are greater for the low number of source sociology arti­ paradigm membership, the traditional cles (n = 16) may not be a large enough partial paradigm structures of the social sample for conclusive data analysis. sciences will continue.18 However, this low number is also indic­ This study could be restructured. ative of the direction and level of inter­ Rather than approaching the study from disciplinary relevance between applied a specific topic, the investigator could and research disciplines. The examina­ have studied a content analysis of arti­ tion of the research discipline's literature cles from sociology (research discipline) revealed few instances of empirical core journals and defined paradigms study into how that discipline's research based on observations of the theoretical is applied in a given field. or methodological approaches. Once this was accomplished, the presence or DISCUSSION AND absence of specific phenomena could RECOMMENDATIONS have been noted from one paradigm to This study affirms that research re­ the next. Library science (applied dis­ ported in the library science literature cipline) literature could have been ap­ does not often cite relevant research proached in the same manner in order to from other disciplines. The observation confirm or deny the concept, introduced that an applied discipline-in this case, in this study, that an applied discipline's library science-demonstrated a strong paradigms are organized differently tendency to cite its own body of litera­ from a research discipline's paradigms, ture reinforces the notion that paradig­ which may, in turn, inhibit scholarly inter­ matic structures do not cross the disciplinary research into librarianship. traditional boundaries of established disciplines, thus inhibiting interdiscipli­ CONCLUSION nary research. The research discipline, Librarians need to be conscious of the sociology, seems to indicate that unlike existence of paradigms, how library sci­ paradigms for applied disciplines, para- ence paradigqts are organized, and how 584 College & Research Libraries November1991 paradigms shape practice within the situational issues toward the building of profession. In order for librarianship to "the theory base which supports and en­ incorporate new ideas and to challenge hances the library and information pro­ existing structures, theory and research fessions."19 The first step in this process methodologies from a variety of dis­ is to understand that existing paradigms ciplines should be used. This utilization may inhibit the interdisciplinary inquiry would allow movement from topical or necessary to accomplish this task.

REFERENCES AND NOTES 1. Julie Thompson Klein, Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory, and Practice (Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Pr., 1990), passim. 2. Leigh Estabrook, "Sociology and Library Research," Library Trends 32:465 (Spring 1984). 3. Florian Znaniecki, The Social Role of the Man of Knowledge (New York: Columbia Univ. Pr., 1940), p.14. 4. Lewis A. Coser, "Sociology of Knowledge," in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, v.8, ed. David L. Sills (New York: Macmillan, 1968), p.433. 5. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2d ed. (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1970), p.viii. 6. Richard H. Wells and J. Steven Picou, American Sociology: Theoretical and Methodological Structure (Washington, D.C.: Univ. Pr. of America, 1981), p.22. 7. Martin E. Spencer, "The Imperfect Empiricism of the Social Sciences," Sociological Forum 2:331 (Spring 1987). 8. Ibid., p.358-59. 9. Wells and Picou, American Sociology, p.51-52. 10. Lee Harvey, "The Nature of 'Schools' in the Sociology of Knowledge: The Case of the 'Chicago School,"' Sociological Review 35:248 (May 1987). 11. Gloria Stark Cline, "A Bibliometric Study of Two Selected Journals in Library Science, 1940-1974" (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Southern California, 1978), p.l. 12. Don R. Swanson, "Libraries and the Growth of Knowledge," Library Quarterly 50:112- 34 (Jan. 1980). 13. William Brace, "A Citation Analysis of Doctoral Dissertations in Library and Informa­ tion Science, 1961-1970" (Ph.D. diss., Case Western Reserve Univ., 1975), p.v. 14. Tefko Saracevic and Lawrence J. Perk, "Ascertaining Activities in a Subject Area through Bibliometric Analysis," Journal of the American Society for Information Science 24:133 (Mar./ Apr. 1973). 15. Estabrook, "Sociology and Library Research," p.468. 16. Ibid., p.471 17. Ibid. 18. Ellsworth R. Fuhrman and William E. Snizek, "Syntheses, Delusions, and Metasociology," International Journal of Contemporary Sociology 19:22 (Oct. 1982). 19. Robert Grover and Jack Glazier, "A Conceptual Framework for Theory Building in Library and Information Science," Library and Information Science Research 8:227 (July 1986).