A framework for information management: using case studies to test application

An analysis is undertaken of a disciplinary framework for information management suggested by Rowley in 1998 in order to consider its applicability to information services. The analysis uses several case studies that have been conducted on the development of scientific and technological information (STI) services. These services have all been involved in the creation of bibliographic and associated databases of Australian STI material. The analysis examines information management domains through the looking glass of the Rowley framework which has as its elements the information environment, information context, information systems, and information retrieval. It is concluded that while STI services exemplify information management in terms of the framework suggested, that the framework could be adapted to be of more benefit in expressing the disciplinary basis and its professional setting. This might be achieved by removal of the differentiation between environment and context, and by elaborating the information systems and information retrieval levels further into analytical and operational domains. Keywords: Information management; Discipline formation; Information services; Information models; Australia