Information units: terms and characteristics for a diversity of information environments

Abstract

Faced with the dichotomy around the library - now one of overcoming, now of valorization -, the term information units is adopted as to way to encompass the diverse information environments that are in line with the librarian practice. However, the modes of use of the term are distinct, do not respond largely to the reality of the labor market and are little problematized in the literature. Thus, the objective of the work is to explore the term information units, regarding the motivations and implications of its uses, especially in Brazil, and its possibilities of characterization. The methodology was based on a non-exhaustive survey of the literature regarding the issues placed in the subject, which was treated in four parts: the diversity of terms and concepts around the idea of information units; the types of information units that were the basis for the construction of the term, such as libraries, documentation centers and information centers, and some more recently created types; the characterization of information units as a system; and its mode of operation with regard to the internal and external conditions of the units. At the end, we consider the identification of the various ways of using the term information unit, not always linked to the field, and the need for term stability for the consolidation of a field.