The design of information tools and services is an integral component of librarianship, yet American librarianship has self-identified as a social science for more than 100 years. This article suggests an alternative epistemological perspective to the scientific tradition in librarianship: design epistemology. The article discusses key elements that compose design epistemology and presents examples of manifestations of these elements in librarianship. Analysis reveals that librarianship has much in common with design epistemology, yet the field lacks explicit acknowledgment of design as a fundamental epistemological framework. The article concludes with a call to reconceptualize librarianship as a design discipline.

中文翻译：

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走向图书馆学的设计认识论

信息工具和服务的设计是图书馆管理不可或缺的组成部分，但美国图书馆管理已自认是一门社会科学已有100多年的历史了。本文提出了图书馆学科学传统的另一种认识论观点：设计认识论。本文讨论了构成设计认识论的关键要素，并提供了这些要素在图书馆学中的体现示例。分析表明，图书馆管理与设计认识论有很多共通之处，但该领域缺乏对作为基本认识论框架的设计的明确认识。本文最后呼吁重新将图书馆学概念化为设计学科。