Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

ambiguous. In spite of its frequent appearance and discussion in LIS literature since Library Journal commenced publication in 1876, use is very rarely defined, even when it is used as an operationalized concept in empirical research. This dissertation will apply discourse analysis methodology to investigate the construction of the concept of use in the LIS journal literature from 1876 to 2006, framing the discussion in several broad periods in the development of LIS during those 130 years: the professionalization of librarianship (1876-1927), the establishment of the discipline of library science and documentation in America (1928-1947), the establishment of information science and information theory (1948-1967), the merger of information science and library science to create library and information science (LIS) (1968-1993), and the impact of technology on information science, librarianship, and LIS, especially as represented by the Internet (1994-2006).