Information between the hammer and sickle: a historical analysis of Information Science in the communist bloc (1918–1990s)

Abstract

This historical analysis, based on a literature survey and review, examines how Information Science developed in the former communist bloc in the second half of the twentieth century. It looks at how socialist countries built their information services and their relationship with the bloc’s dominant power, the Soviet Union, as well as the main channels of theoretical and practical exchange. The article first analyzes the evolution, consolidation, and expansion of Librarianship and Information Science in the early decades of the Soviet Union, then turns to its sphere of influence (Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, and countries connected to Asia and Africa). The study found that, for decades, the Soviet Union sustained what Pamela Spence Richards called a “communist information empire,” supplying countries under its influence with scientific material and standardizing their information services—yet little of this survived after 1991.