Bibliometric studies about the scientific production of the thematic information and communication technologies in libraries

Abstract

To measure the scientific activity, it has used the bibliographic indicators that are based on statistical analysis of quantitative data found in scientific and technical production. The aim of this study was to delineate an overview of the scientific production of the theme Information and Communication Technologies in libraries, in order to identify: the most productive authors (Lotka's Law); the historical development of number of publications and journals that published on the subject (Bradford Law); and the main approaches that cover the topic (Zipf's Law). The methodology followed four steps: choice of Web of Science as the basis for query data; setting the parameters of search strategies and the coverage period; clearance of the results; and processing of survey data. The results showed that the first works indexed in the Web of Science dating back to 1988 and that by 2014, 458 articles were produced. The scientific production remained stable in recent years. The most productive authors were Gomez, Fourie and Aharony. There was no a high concentration in a particular group, but rather a widespread authors. It was identified that there are five journals with higher productivity, account for one third of the total scientific output: Electronic Library, Program Electronic Library and Information Systems, Library Hi Tech, Library Trends and Libri. The main keywords indexed by Web of Science were: Academic Library, Internet, Digital Library, Information Retrieval, Librarians and Mobile Services. They are very present approaches in product development, services, software and applications in today's society.