Rethinking the Architecture of the Book: Unbinding the Spine of Paul Otlet’s Positivist Encyclopaedism

Wouter Van Acker

doi:10.5771/0943-7444-2018-4-281

Contents
- Chapter Expand | CollapseAuthorsPage
- I–II Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis I–II
- 273–280 Editorial 273–280
  - Knowledge Organization and the 2017 UDC Seminar: An Editorial Yazeed Alhumaidan, Megan Dowell, Jean Rene, Lisa Leverett, Laura Ridenour, Vanessa Schlais, Shengang Wang, Richard P. Smiraglia Yazeed Alhumaidan, Megan Dowell, Jean Rene, Lisa Leverett, Laura Ridenour, Vanessa Schlais, Shengang Wang, Richard P. Smiraglia
- 281–296 Special Section: Select Papers from ISKO France 2017 281–296
  - 281–291 Rethinking the Architecture of the Book: Unbinding the Spine of Paul Otlet’s Positivist Encyclopaedism Wouter Van Acker Wouter Van Acker 281–291
  - 292–296 Inked in Time and Space: Exploring the Documentality of Tattoos Alexandre Fortier, Elaine Ménard Alexandre Fortier, Elaine Ménard 292–296
- 297–318 Articles 297–318
  - 297–309 Subject Access in Swedish Discovery Services Koraljka Golub Koraljka Golub 297–309
  - 310–318 IFLA Library Reference Model (IFLA LRM)— Harmonisation of the FRBR Family Maja Žumer Maja Žumer 310–318
- 319–338 Reviews of Concepts in Knowledge Organization 319–338
  - Library and Information Science (LIS), Part 2 Birger Hjørland Birger Hjørland
- 339–339 Books Recently Published 339–339
- 340–341 Impressum 340–341
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KO KNOWLEDGE ORGANIZATION , page 281 - 291

Rethinking the Architecture of the Book: Unbinding the Spine of Paul Otlet’s Positivist Encyclopaedism

Autoren

Wouter Van Acker

DOI
- doi.org/10.5771/0943-7444-2018-4-281
- ISSN: 0943-7444
- ISSN online: 2942-3309
Abstract

Paul Otlet’s exploration of the idea to record information in separate chunks or units according to the “monographic principle” has provoked considerable interest in information history for the way in which it resonates with the present tendency to conceive of information as detachable and manipulable units, whose retrieveability has become more important than the information itself. This paper aims to dissect within Otlet’s historical and intellectual context the make-up of the positivist epistemology underpinning his concept of the “Universal Book.” The “Universal Book” was of central importance in his theory of documentation as it proposed how documentalists-the new experts trained in documentary procedures-were to operate. These professionals were asked to gather facts or objective knowledge by removing the unwanted “dross” of subjectivity, and to synthesize those facts in an encyclopaedic form in order to make them ready for public use. Through an inquiry into the wide-ranging epistemological views prevalent in the French intellectual milieu in the belle époque-notably monism, energeticism, materialism, idealism and spiritualism-this paper questions the positivist label that has been attributed to his concept of documentation.
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