There's a big difference between going through life with the wind at your back, and going through life leaning into the wind: Feminism in Post-World War II Information Science

This paper centers on feminism in post-World War II information science, namely in the context of the American Documentation Institute (ADI) and the subsequent American Society for Information Science (ASIS). We focus on the years between 1962, when ADI elected its first woman president, and 1988, when it celebrated its 50th anniversary—a period that overlapped with that of second-wave feminism in the United States. This research makes three scholarly interventions. First, we contribute to the history of information science, particularly to the history of women in the field. Second, we train a feminist epistemology lens on the field. This involves considering women's participation, representation, and marginalization in information science, on the one hand, and the ways in which information scientists approached women's lives, experiences, and bodies, on the other. Third, we situate information science in the broader history of science, juxtaposing ADI/ASIS with other scientific societies' engagement with feminism. In contrast to the national political, social, and cultural changes it wrought, feminism made little headway in information science during this period. The field largely denied women equity, inclusion, and belonging. 87 Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology | Oct. 25 – 29, 2024 | Calgary, AB, Canada.