A new space for the critique without censorships within the sciences of information recorded in documents has been born: Library and Information Science Critique: the Journal of the Sciences of Information Recorded in Documents, by: Zapopan Martin Muela-Meza (MEXICO),

pp. 4-7

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This editorial introduces the reader to the work behind the creation of the journal Library and Information Science Critique: Journal of the Sciences of Information Recorded in Documents (LIS Critique). It argues that LIS Critique comes to be a journal that will challenge the mainstream LIS communication venues, both from traditional publishers and Open Access. It describes the aims, the editorial board, the peer review process and the collaboration of the first issue.

Articles

Six theses about the economy of information, by: Enrique de-la-Garza-Toledo (MEXICO),

pp. 8-13

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On the problem of why the concepts of the Information Society or the Knowledge Society--although they do not form a theory--are being imposed as part of an international consensus of academic and public policies, and why this has to do, not with their intrinsic truth, but because those who promote them have sufficient power to impose meaning on them as accepted concepts.

An introduction to the critical and skeptical thinking in the sciences of information recorded in documents, by: Zapopan Martin Muela-Meza (MEXICO),

pp. 14-40

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An analysis and critique is made of a reduced sample of contemporary deceptive ideologies within the research of Library and Information Science, defined as the science of documental information, as well as within the institutions of documental information, i.e., libraries, as applied by the professionals of documental information, i.e., librarians providing service both theoretically and practically to users of
documental information. The analysis employs terms such as documental information or information recorded in documents as conceptualized by Rendón Rojas (2005), and is based on the critical and skeptical thought of Sagan (1997). Examined are deceits specific to ideology associated with the dominant Alfa social classes executed against all the dominated ones--unto the Betas to the Omegas--communicated through arguments containing logical and rhetorical fallacies (Bowell and Kemp, 2005). Here they are examined as possible valid elements for analysis to be researched in LIS. The following fallacies were found: a) to call on authority; b) of Common Practice; c) selection from an arbitrary observation; d) epistemic fallacy. According to the data obtained through the literature reviewed it could be observed that these fallacies occured mostly around the following examples of the most representative ideological and pseudo-scientific deceits: 1) concerning the primacy of pragmaticism against theory in LIS research; 2)
concerning the impregnation of LIS research with pseudo-science; 3) concerning the ideologies of the Information Society and/or Knowledge Society (ISKS); 4) concerning “social capital” and “human capital”; 5) regarding the commercialization and marketing of the documental information in the ISKS; 6) regarding “knowledge and information as generators of material wealth” in the ISKS; 7) regarding the competition to find the foundation/origin/canon of all the ISKS ideologies. Intertwined throughout the
argumentation of the paper there is proposed an adoption/integration of a learned epistemology, scientific and humanistic, as the core of LIS research, education and training, so that students, faculty and professionals can base their library research and practice on critical and skeptical thought.

A critical analysis of the copyright and its negative impact on the Mexican institutions of information recorded in documents, por: José Antonio Torres-Reyes (MEXICO),

pp. 41-49

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This paper offers the conclusions of a revision and critical analysis of the Author Rights Federal Law of Mexico (LFDA), current as of the year 2003, from the perspective of the implications that this law has for the ambit of information and documentation services offered by those institutions specializing in documental information: libraries, archives and information documentation institutions (IID). It presents and describes some of the characteristics of the LFDA that impact negatively on efforts to make optimal
use of this information on that part of Mexican society as represented in this study of IID users.

An approximation to the critique of the library and information science management models, by: Tatiana M. Carsen; Marcel Bertolesi; Veronica Lencinas (ARGENTINA),

pp. 50-65

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Regarding questions raised during a virtual debate conducted among the three authors; some points are proposed for a critical consideration of some concepts regarding current methods and models of library
management involving the library service area (marketing studies/user satisfaction in library services); also considered: product development (marketing) and its technical platform (marketing of products involving user/client relations); the “client” dimension as a mode of relating with the user; strategic planning and the management of total quality (the significance of the Toyota management model).

Information Literacy: project or kimera?, by:: Carmen Garcia-Colorado; Rosa María Irigoyen-Camacho; Antonia Llorens-Cruset (MEXICO),

pp. 66-79

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This paper is a critical analysis of information literacy; we describe its origin, the diverse connotations of the term and its economic, ideologic and pedagogic implications. Information literacy is presented as a way to attain an “information society”; the latter concept is also analyzed in this work. We reflect on the role that information literacy is playing on the transformation of the ideas that librarians have regarding their professional functions.

The Freedom of Information Access: Evaluation of the organization and contents of the Web pages of the institutions of the Peruvian State, by: Rosalia Quiroz (PERU),

pp. 80-90

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The Investigation evaluates the fulfillment of the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information, in a real and particular situation, on the basis of the organization level and the contents of the web pages
of organizations and Ministries of Peru , in addition, search to know the level of participation of professionals in information, in the organization and the diffusion of the information. The work was
developed taking as example the Regional Governments since they are decentralized institutions with democratic representation all over the country. Consequently, it was investigated the aspects that the Law
forces the organizations to show and incorporate as basic information in its respective Internet sites as: the organizational charts, the Unique Text of Administratives Procedures (TUPA), the remunerative level, and the acquisition of goods and services; therefore, the analysis units were conformed by the web sites of
each one of these organizations.

Strategic view of the library and information science management from a perspective of the information management, by: Ada de Jesús de-la-Cantera (CUBA),

pp. 91-102

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In this article, an analysis of the library and information science management is made as a component of a Dynamic and Complex System, which responds to a strategy of inquire from a framework of interpretation of the Complexity Thinking. The application comprises a strategic approach and a view to the performance in perspective of the management of information recorded in documents in a macro social context. It is explained a series of knowledge products that justify a new style of non-linear, holistic, and more dynamic thinking with
a search strategy more oriented towards the dynamics. It is proposed a reflection about the dynamics totality compounded of diverse aspects of the processes of interaction and information management.

Librarianship in Mexico: a discipline in crisis, by: Jose Angel Gonzalez-Castillo; Carlos Alberto Martinez-Hernandez (MEXICO),

pp. 103-110

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Library Science in Mexico is a discipline at crisis. On one hand, in the search for integration into the information society its Study Program changes towards a more administrative and technical model of
education; on the other hand, as our introductory example shows, the lack of a humanistic education for librarians, is leaving them in a very unethical position since they do not have what is needed to understand the political and social relevance of knowledge production and transmission. A positivist perspective of reality has invaded classrooms, conferences, publications and research. There is no critical or theoretical thinking in Mexican librarianship at all nowadays and this determines an apathetic and passive performance from librarians, especially in public libraries since these public spaces are open to the social, economical and political characteristics of the place they were built on. More over, the mission of public libraries as social change agents does not accomplish due to the fact that they are not offering any objective alternative to mass media standardization of public opinion. And as TV and media-based democracy spreads throughout the whole country, librarians seem oblivious to this situation. It is because
of this, that we believe it is necessary for librarians to get a theoretical and humanistic education while they are in school in order to be prepared and committed with their social role.

Nicaragua in the scenario of the Freedom of Information Access Legislation: the role of the National Library and Archive, by: James Campbell-Jerez (NICARAGUA),

pp. 111-120

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In Nicaragua, the recent promulgation of the Law of Access to Public Information (Law No. 621) should call public attention to the importance of the country’s libraries, documentation centers, and archives. It
should also highlight the role played by the National Library and Archives of Nicaragua (or in any case, the role they should be playing). This essay provides a brief overview of the situation of the organization of information before and after promulgation of this law, highlighting how the legislation left out the normative capacity regarding the compilation, organization, preservation and access to information on behalf of the National Library and Archives. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges faced by
information professionals in this new era.

Essays

Books of the Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM) through Google, by: Gonzalo Clemente Lara-Pacheco (MEXICO),

pp. 121-125

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Within the framework of the agreement signed by UNAM and Google in 2007 to digitize the National University's collection of books, there needs to be a means of promoting UNAM's Biblioteca Digital (BiDi-UNAM), which has been digitizing its collection of bibliographic holdings dating from 1950 to the present. The early experiences of BiDi-UNAM, the use of its technical resources and staff, and its policy of open-access e-book production should be
considered as a case study for the new digitization project (the 2007 agreement).

Book reviews

Book review: Gimeno Perelló, Javier, López López, Pedro, & Morillo Calero, María Jesús (Eds.) (2007). De volcanes llena: biblioteca y compromiso social (Of Volcanoes Full: Library and Social Compromise). Gijón, Asturias, Spain: Ediciones Trea, ISBN: 978-84-9704-317-5. por: Javier Gimeno PerellO (SPAIN),

pp. 126-134

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Bios of authors,

pp. 135-139

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