In 1965 the Syracuse University School of Library Science held a symposium to explore the nature of the relationship between the structure and transmission of knowledge, on the one hand, and the array of bibliographic devices which have been developed to facilitate access to that knowledge, on the other. Papers presented discussed the need for a basic discipline of social epistemology to study the way knowledge is differentiated and integrated within complex social organizations. A view of society as an information processing system was presented. The systems implications of certain basic concepts of automated information retrieval was defined and examined. The development of differentiation among academic disciplines was outlined with emphasis on the relationship between conceptual and empirical progress. The value of informal communication as a means of obtaining information was pointed out. The role citation networks play in developing bibliographic controls and writing the history of science was discussed with particular reference to the Science Citation Index system. Some conditions necessary for a meaningful dialogue between scientists and humanists were enumerated. (Editor/JY)