ISSN : 1229-2435
This study identified the cognitive and structural differences between news discourse and academic discourse in the field of Library and Information Science regarding aging. Using topic modeling and co-occurrence network analysis, the research analyzed 80,000 news articles and 46 peer-reviewed LIS journal articles published in Korea from 2010 to 2025. The findings are as follows. First, news discourse framed aging primarily as a ‘passive subject of management’ within political, administrative, and local welfare contexts, with keywords such as ‘region,’ ‘government,’ and ‘welfare’ showing high centrality. Second, conversely, LIS research perceived the elderly as ‘active information agents’ and addressed digital exclusion and the information gap as core agendas. Network analysis revealed that ‘digital,’ ‘satisfaction,’ and ‘behavior’ emerged as key nodes, demonstrating a clear cognitive disparity from news discourse. Third, while news discourse emphasized cognitive decline issues like dementia, LIS research tended to focus on programs for cognitively healthy seniors. Based on these results, this study proposes future research directions for the LIS field: (1) expanding social advocacy for the basic information rights of the elderly, (2) broadening ‘information care’ research to encompass those with cognitive impairments, and (3) adopting an integrated approach centered on ‘digital quality of life’ beyond mere technical proficiency.