Library and Information Sciences

Library and Information Sciences

Theoretical Evolution of the Concept of Author and its Implications for Information Organization Systems

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Ghasem Movahedian 1
Ahmad Shabani 2
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Kharazmi University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 Department of Knowledge and Information Science, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
10.30481/lis.2026.562746.2319
Abstract
Objective: The aim of the present study is to investigate the historical trajectory of the concept of author and the intellectual discourse surrounding its construction. It further examines the extent to which cataloging and organization systems in libraries have engaged with theoretical debates and semantic evolutions concerning authorship. Central to this inquiry is whether the understanding of information science specialists aligns with historical developments, or whether organization systems have instead followed an independent and divergent path.
Methodology: This is a theoretical research study that employs a descriptive-analytical method to examine the semantic evolution of the concept of the author from its origins in the Middle Ages to the present day. The investigation focuses on both the theoretical developments and how knowledge organization systems have conceptualized the author. Data was collected using a documentary method, and the content of the texts was qualitatively studied, analyzed, and compared.
Findings: The emergence of the term author dates back to the Middle Ages. Gradually, this term found its way into scholarly texts and subsequently into information organization systems such as cataloging rules. An examination of the historical trajectory reveals that the intellectual discourse surrounding the concept of the author from the Middle Ages to the present can be categorized into several distinct periods: The Middle Ages, where authorship was largely irrelevant, as the copying of books was primarily confined to monasteries under the supervision of the church. During this period, the concept of the author was equivalent to an authoritative figure, whose authority primarily stemmed from association with sacred texts. The period of the author's peak authority, which emerged after the invention of the printing press, enabling the reproduction of texts attributed to specific authors. The period of questioning the author's authority, which began with the New Criticism movement and continued with structuralist perspectives. Postmodern and post-structuralist thought, which rejected the authority of the author and the attributed text, ultimately speaking of the "death of the author" and the "birth of the reader." In modern cataloging rules, the role of the author has been prominently emphasized. However, in conceptual models, this role has gradually diminished, eventually being defined merely as an element in entity-relationship based standards such as IFLA Library Reference Model (IFLA LRM).
Conclusion: In modern cataloging rules, the theoretical aspects of authorship have not been significantly addressed, with focus often placed on pragmatic concerns of organization. However, in recent decades, the evolution from modern cataloging and organization towards conceptual models has also been influenced by intellectual discourses surrounding the concept of the author. In light of the rapid expansion of generative AI tools, a critical re-examination of the concept of the author in digital texts has become necessary.
Keywords
author
creator
work
information organization
cataloging
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