Paul Otlet's Documentation: A proposal for the rational organization of intellectual man production.

Author: Marcelo Carneiro da Fontoura
Supervisor: Professora Dra. Elmira Luzia Melo Soares Simeão

Thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in Information Science at the University of Brasilia as part of the requirements for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Science

Submitted and approved on August 12, 2012.  

Link: http://bd.camara.leg.br/bd/handle/bdcamara/10431

ABSTRACT

The research seeks to identify and analyze the circunstances and motivations that led to theoretical emergence in the late nineteenth century, the area of study called Documentation.
Presents biographical information about the principal architects of this project, the lawyers and Belgian bibliographers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine. Seeks to understand the social and cultural environment in which acted as well as broaden the discussion about the factors that motivated its proposal for rational organization of the entire intellectual production of man.
Presents a comprehensive and integrative Documentation vision in relation to nrestricted access to archival, bibliographic and museum collections. Discusses the use of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) in Universal Bibliographic Repertory and analyzes the process that led to the emergence of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC).
Concludes by suggesting the inclusion of this extensive and inclusive vision of the Documentation of Paul Otlet, to the theoretical reference of Information Science. Suggests that the theoretical rescue may contribute to better addressing the problems of recorded knowledge management, produced and accumulated to the present day, in various formats, media and repositories.

Keywords: Paul Otlet, Documentation, Henri La Fontaine, Information Management,
Bibliography, Library Science, Universal Decimal Classification