Concept analysis for library and information science: Exploring usage

• LIS scholars have noted the discipline's need for clear theoretical concepts.
• LIS literature features fewer descriptions of methodologies for exploring concepts.
• Conceptual clarification has long been a primary concern of nursing scholars.
• Nursing's “concept analysis” methodologies provide a model approach for LIS.
• Applying concept analysis to the LIS concept of usage reveals its complexity.

Although several library and information science (LIS) and information needs, seeking, and use (INSU) scholars have called for improving the discipline's conceptual and theoretical foundation, the LIS literature presents surprisingly few models for exploring and clarifying central concepts. While models for concept exploration such as the treatise or explication focus on determining “the” definition of a concept, other approaches, such as discourse analysis, have clear methodological and theoretical premises but lack sufficiently identifiable methods for application. The purpose of this paper is to describe, a collection of innovative approaches of concept analysis (CA) from nursing scholarship. While individual approaches to CA differ slightly from each other in terms of theoretical standpoint and method, all share the goal of clarifying individual concepts to establish a foundation for empirical research. This paper describes the theoretical foundations and application of CA approaches from nursing scholarship and presents an abbreviated case of its application to usage, a concept of interest to the LIS community. CA holds a great deal of potential for LIS scholars who seek to clarify the discipline's concepts, whether foundational and basic, or more obscure and specific.