Birger Hjørlandʹs Manichean misconstruction of Marcia Batesʹ work

It is argued and demonstrated that Birger Hjørlandʹs critiques of Marcia Batesʹ articles on the nature of information and the nature of browsing misrepresent the content of these articles, and further, frame the argument as a Manichean conflict between Hjørlandʹs enlightened “discursive” and social approach versus Batesʹ benighted behavioral approach. It is argued that Batesʹ work not only contains much of value that has been ignored by Hjørland but also contains ideas that mostly complement, rather than conflict with, those of Hjørland.