Information management in business, libraries and British military intelligence: towards a history of information management

Abstract

This study explores, historically, that definition of information management (IM) which centres on the ordering and channelling of non‐publicly available information within organisations. Whereas IM as a discipline is relatively new, as an activity within modern organisations it has a long history. Three types of organisation are highlighted: the business corporation, the library and the state agency (specifically, British military intelligence). Sophisticated information systems in organisations are a core feature of modernity and can be traced back to the revolution in state administration in the nineteenth century and to the emergence of large corporations from about 1880 onwards. At about the same time, libraries too evolved systematic, internal information flows and regimes, often of a standardised nature dictated by library management theorists. Evidence from the government sphere is also presented: considerable space is given in the study to the role played by IM in the early years of MI5, Britain‘s counter‐espionage and counter‐insurgency military intelligence agency. Documents recently released by the Public Record Office, covering the first decade of MI5’s history between 1909 and 1919, point to a growing recognition of the importance of IM. In conclusion, a case will be made for the construction of a new subject field of ‘Information Management History’ which will enrich, particularly through potentially exciting research pathways, not just the established fields of business and administrative history but also the emergent discipline of IM itself.

Historicising knowledge-intensive organizations: The case of Bletchley Park

“…With the partial exceptions of the work of intelligence historians Budiansky (2000), Davies (2001) and Ratcliff (2006), there is little in this literature with a directly organizational focus although there is a wealth of incidental material of relevance. However, there is in addition a small scholarly literature (Black and Brunt 1999;Brunt 2004) concerned with indexing and information management at BP, which while different in focus to our study, is of considerable relevance to it. It is worth recognizing that although information about BP is now almost entirely declassified and in the public domain, the fact that it was secret for so long presents a particular challenge of reconstruction that is different in kind to, for example, conducting a company history.…”

“…McGrath 2005). Moreover, BP, while in many respects unusual and in certain respects unique, developed its knowledge-intensive character from a profusion of pre-existing organizational techniques, including those derived from libraries and commercial organizations, as Black and Brunt (1999) show, for example in the importation of indexing techniques used by Whitaker's Almanac into BP. Speaking of, specifically, information management, they conclude: 'far from being a recent development linked to the appearance of what some see as a post-industrial, information society, [it] commands a long tradition rooted in the pre-computer, industrial age' (1999,371).…”

Análise da produção científica brasileira sobre fluxos de informação

“…Estudos apontam a relevância da modelagem dos fluxos de informações como um fator crítico de agregação de valor, sendo a modelagem desse fluxo o processo descritivo de como as informações são transferidas ponto a ponto ao longo dos canais de comunicação na organização (BLACK; BRUNT, 1999;HIBBERD;EVATT, 2004;DURUGBO et al, 2013).…”

‘So wide and varied’: The origins and character of British information science

“…The increased awareness of technical information as a resource, for science-based industries in particular, led to the establishment of special libraries, and to the idea of 'information work' as distinct from librarianship, from the end of the nineteenth century [16,23,24]. These, compared with traditional libraries, had a much more pro-active role, a strong subject focus, and an interest in all forms of information, not just formally published documents [24,32].…”

“…We can identify, from the primary and secondary literature, three main forces driving the development of the new subject in Britain: the documentation movement; special libraries; and the need for better treatment of scientific and technical information. These have to be seen in the context of the time, with a number of other, more general, influencing factors identified by Robinson [18], including: the perceived 'information explosion' or 'publication explosion' [19,20]; the availability of new technological tools to handle information [19][20][21]; the new 'information theory' of Shannon and Weaver, which offered the prospect of a sound theoretical basis for a science of information [2,22]; and an increased awareness of information as a resource for governmental, industrial and military applications [23,24]. However, it is the three forces noted above which, together, gave British information science a unique character, and we consider each of these in turn.…”