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[tjhe widespread pattern of system 
failure in the late 1960’s and early 
and mid-1970’s is now generally 
felt to have arisen out of a concen 
tration on technical questions and 
a substantial neglect of institu 
tional factors. 
Although the institutional challenge is still 
staring us in the face, academic programs 
(with few exceptions) have been slow to 
move into this area. Similarly, indi 
viduals that have been schooled in the 
institutionally-oriented disciplines (busi 
ness administration, political science, 
etc.) have not moved across to deal with 
these issues in an interdisciplinary 
environment. This trend is changing and 
we are now seeing some representation 
from these disciplines at national LIS/GIS 
meetings. Given the importance of these 
institutional issues and the fact that 
technology always operates within some 
socioeconomic and cultural environment 
(which in turn defines the institutional 
arrangements), it is imperative that this 
dimension be recognized as a valid part of 
LIS/GIS. 
There can be little argument that advances 
in mapping and GIS technology have 
shaped, to some extent, the field of 
LIS/GIS and the problems we can now 
address. This trend is not unprecedented 
and we can find examples in other fields 
such as economics. Several decades ago 
T.C. Koopmans, a noted mathematical 
economist, wrote a series of essays one 
of which was entitled “The Interaction of 
Tools and Problems in Economics.” In 
this essay he comments that: 
If we look with a historian’s in 
terest at the development of a 
science, however, we find that 
tools also have a iife of their own. 
They may even come to dominate 
an entire period or school of thought. 
The solution of important problems 
may be delayed because the requisite 
tools are not perceived. Or the avail 
ability of certain tools may lead to an 
awareness of problems, important 
or not, that can be solved with their 
help. Our servants may thus be 
come our guides, for better or for 
worse, depending on the accidents 
of the case. But in any case changes 
in tools and changes in emphasis on 
various problems go together and 
interact (Koopmans (1957, p. 170). 
Thus, we would expect the introduction 
of LIS/GIS technology to impact not only 
the efficiency with which we currently do 
things, but also to change the nature of 
the things we do. 
The debate as to the importance of a tool 
like GIS in LIS/GIS education often 
focuses on the question of how much • 
training is necessary in order to support 
the education of a student in this area. 
The learning curve associated with many 
GIS’s is steep and can demand a 
significant proportion of the time 
allocated for a particular course. Of 
course, this problem is not new and has 
been faced for many years in surveying 
and photogrammetry. 
One of the factors that complicates this 
issue, and provides further ammunition 
for the pro-training school of thought, is 
that unlike most other mapping-related 
technologies GIS is an analytical tool. 
By moving from a purely measurement 
technology to one that focuses on 
analysis, we are essentially making the 
system more ‘intelligent’ so that it can- 
perform certain analytical processes 
automatically. The implication of this to 
LIS/GIS education is that we need to 
know more about the system so that we 
can take advantage of these analytical 
capabilities and tap this ‘intelligence’ in 
an effective manner. This, however, is a 
dangerous conclusion to reach since 
simple training in system analytical 
commands is no replacement for 
education which stresses the development 
of the students’ ability to think in a 
spatial, analytical fashion. In much the 
same way, learning a wordprocessing 
package like WordPerfect does not teach 
one how to write. However, technology 
such as GIS can significantly enhance 
the student’s capabilities in this area when 
(s)he has acquired the necessary con 
ceptual background in spatial analysis. 
Initially GIS and related database 
management technology was oriented 
towards the automation of traditional 
manual mapping tasks. Since then the 
emphasis has moved increasingly 
towards the analysis of spatial data and 
information. During the former period 
LIS/GIS was narrow in scope as it was 
embraced by the mapping disciplines 
almost exclusively as a means of 
improving the efficiency of mapmaking