Technology, libraries and the geographies of information: A case study of the University of Southern California.

摘要

This thesis analyzes historic and ongoing technological changes at the University of Southern California library and relates them to wider globalizing processes, using a perspective enabled by geographical categories. Embedded case studies—of the Information Services Division, the Collection Information System, and a wide range of digital archives—are supported by public documentation and in depth interviews with key individuals directly involved in these transformations. Emplaced change related to the creation of information access occurs in different local, urban and global contexts that are characterized by particular kinds of financial, institutional and professional activities. Technological changes are among the factors and processes operative at multiple scales that affect the ways in which emplaced social, cultural and economic relations at the scale of the university determine how, why and how much information is made accessible.