Past Presidents of ASIS&T;

Melvin S. Day
For generations scientific Journals and technical book literature have been principal media for communicating scientific, engineering, and medical information. World War II gave the technical report a life of its own even within an environment of controlled access to security-classified information. Nowhere was this limitation more pronounced than on the nation's Manhattan Project (atomic bomb project) from 1942 to 1946. Compartmentalization of information was a way of life for all of us on the project. I knew the details of what I was doing and I knew what my staff was doing. I did not know, nor was I supposed to know, what my immediate management was doing or what my colleagues in other laboratories were doing. The only reports I wrote were to my supervisor. The only reports I read were from my own staff... [more]

More Information Science Pioneers

About ASIS&T;


Since 1937, the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) has been the society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.

ASIS&T brings together diverse streams of knowledge, focusing what might be disparate approaches into novel solutions to common problems. ASIS&T bridges the gaps not only between disciplines but also between the research that drives and the practices that sustain new developments.

ASIS&T counts among its membership some 4,000 information specialists from such fields as computer science, linguistics, management, librarianship, engineering, law, medicine, chemistry, and education; individuals who share a common interest in improving the ways society stores, retrieves, analyzes, manages, archives and disseminates information, coming together for mutual benefit.

Techniques and technologies emerge daily in the fields of library and information science, communications, networking and computer science. Yet information professionals in one discipline are often unaware of key developments in others. What an irony that a field advocating the development, sharing and use of information is itself isolated.

If you don't like working in isolation, examine what ASIS&T; has to offer. This Web site will introduce you to ASIS&T; and the ways it can make you a more effective information professional... and more indispensable to your company, institution or organization.

Purpose

The Society seeks to stimulate participation and interaction among its members by affording them an environment for substantive professional exchange.  It encourages and supports personal and professional growth through opportunities for members to extend their knowledge and skills, develop and use professional networks, pursue career development goals and assume leadership roles in the Society and in the information community.  ASIS&T increases the influence of information professionals among decision-makers by focusing attention on the importance of information as a vital resource in a high-technology age and promotes informed policy on national and international information issues by contributing to the formation of those policies.  It supports the advancement of the state-of-the art and practice by taking a leadership position in the advocacy of research and development in basic and applied information science.

To accomplish these goals, ASIS&T edits, publishes, and disseminates publications concerning research and development; convenes annual meetings providing a forum for papers, discussions, and major policy statements; ASIS&T hosted the first Information Architecture Summit and continues to do so annually, holds smaller chapter and special interest meetings, as well as special symposia; and acts as a sounding board for promotion of research and development and for the education of information professionals.