Paul Otlet, Forgotten Forefather: A Review. I. Biographical, Historical and Theoretical Aspects

Abstract

The chronological scope of this bibliographical review about Paul Otlet, covers the period 1975-2007. As it is usual in this type of works, it sums up and integrates works in Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Except for one case, texts or handbooks were not used. The formats included are monographies, articles from specialized journals, preprints, congress speeches, master´s degree thesis, bachelor´s degree dissertation. The analyzed contributions were grouped together in four parts: 1. The construction of an image: the biographical account; 2. History of Documentation and Information Science; 3. Use of available technology and in-advance technology; 4. Internationalism, cooperation, and standardization, with a section, 4.1. The Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), where only the aspects stressed were the ones related  to the general section within which it was included. The article begins with an introduction that describes the motivations for its writing and ends with brief conclusions that explain some aspects applicable to the teaching of Library Science and Documentation in Argentina.