Object and Subject of Library Science: Towards the Formation of the Methodological Paradigm of the Russian Library Science

Since the 1970s, library science has realized itself as a full-fledged scientific discipline with a developed methodological apparatus. The attention to such basic attributes of scientific status as object and subject is sharply increased. In the 1970s — 1980s on the pages of library periodicals there are discussions about the object and subject of library science. In the scientific community two main ideas about the object of library science are formed: the communicative system “book — library — reader” and the system object “library consisting of four elements”. They are fixed in the academic literature as a palliative solution to the problem. The author critically analyses the established ideas about the object/subject of library science on the basis of the concept of “three worlds” of cognizable objective reality by S.N. Egorov and the concept of methodological knowledge by E.G. Yudin: “the object of research in the methodological sense means not just an external reality, but a reality that is specifically identified and delineated in its boundaries by science”; “the object of study, the research task, the system of methodological tools and the sequence of their application in their totality create a special object of study”. The scientific category, chosen with the help of the institutional approach, allows to holistically reflect the “library cross-section” of society’s life activity, which is the concept of a “library social institution”. The definitions of the object and subject of library science are given. Conclusions are made about the importance of the institutional approach to the formation of the methodological paradigm of library science, its positive impact on library practice. The definition of the library branch is presented, the necessity of forming a private scientific discipline “Library Jurisprudence” is shown.

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