Page 247 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

246 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol. 7, 2015

give full consideration to the reciprocal effect of four dimensions in this evaluation index, and add
some regulative factors to a more detailed exploration.

The retrospect, present situation and prospect of the research of Library and
Information Science in Taiwan: Based on the content analysis of theses and
dissertations

1 ∗
Beini YAN & Tong ZHANG
This paper is written from the perspective of Taiwan’s theses and dissertations, which were issued
in “Digital library of theses and dissertations in Taiwan” during 1982-2013 in the field of Library
and Information Science as the analysis object. The total number of the analyzed sample is 1 216.
By using the subject classification code table, the content analysis and quantitative analysis are
made in order to review the developmental path, understand the current status and predict the
future trends of library and information science research in Taiwan, China.
Content analysis is used as the main method and quantitative analysis as the supplementary
means. Firstly, the annual publication number, the number and proportion of the published
dissertations in every institution are quantitatively analyzed by using the excel in order to reveal
the external features. Secondly, the content analysis is used according to the subject classification
code table which has ten categories and sixty-six subcategories made by this paper to study
the subjects and time series, revealing its content features. The ten categories include theories
and development of library and information studies, library and information studies education,
collection development, organization of information and knowledge, information services and user
studies, management of libraries and information service institutions, information systems and
retrieval, digital collections and e-learning research, information and society and application of
information in related disciplines. Finally, it elaborates the history, current status and future trends
of information science research in Taiwan by combining the results of the content analysis with the
quantitative analysis.
Three main research results are gained. The first result is that the history of Library and
Information Science studies in Taiwan can be roughly divided into the foundation phase (1982-
1993), the transition phase (1994-2005) and the breakthrough phase (2006-present). The second
result is that the core subjects of current phase contain seven aspects, including information
users behavior, information services content, general management of libraries, informetrics and
knowledgometrics, human resource and performance management of libraries, information literacy
and information services quality. It also shows five features: both information services users and
providers are considered; the quality of information services product is promoted innovatively;

* Correspondence should be addressed to Beini YAN, Email: yanbenney@163.com, ORCID: 0000-0002-8437-0302