Instances of ideology in discursive practice: Implications for library andinformation science

The growth of knowledge in any discipline depends on discursive practice fo r the assertion of claims and the assessment of claims. At times, however, that discursive practice may be ideological in nature. Ideology is here def ined as being grounded in efforts at domination-the ascendance of some idea s over others. Examination of tire incidence of ideology in discourse is ne cessarily interpretive; part of this article explores the application of he rmeneutics to the analysis of discourse. A set of examples of discursive pr actice in library and information science (LIS), purposely selected, is exa mined for ideological intent. Ultimately, the aim is to demonstrate that so me discourse is ideological in nature and purpose, and to point out tile im plications of such discursive practice for knowledge growth in LIS.