Reading time: exploring the temporal experiences of reading

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore various concepts of time and temporal dimensions in the context of everyday reading experiences.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses theoretical bricolage that puts existing reading research into conversation with theories of time and temporalities.FindingsThree registers of time in reading are put forward: (1) libraries and books as places that readers return to again and again over time, (2) temporalized reading bodies and (3) everyday reading as a temporalized practice.Research limitations/implicationsUsing lenses of time and temporalities, everyday reading is shown to be central to ways of being in time. Subjectives experiences of time in the context of reading expand the limited ways that time is presented in much Library and Information Science (LIS) reading research.Originality/valueThis paper offers a new conceptual framework for studies of reading and readers in LIS.

Times new plural: The multiple temporalities of contemporary life and the infosphere

“…Of course, the examples are many, variable and subjective. In the information context, a good example is the study by Rothbauer and Cedeira Serantes (2021) of the temporal experiences of reading. In this sense, resonance is impossible to predict in any real way, should not be mistaken for necessarily harmonious and unifying, and is transformative due to the element of difference—even contradiction and/or opposition—that causes the resonance (Rosa, 2018).…”

“…Reading itself today, in online and physical formats, in text‐heavy communications and media, from instant messaging to newspaper articles, list recommendations, meme quotations, goes far beyond the book as model: “The intriguing temporal quality of reading is that it fits into daily routines and rhythms, but at the same time, it can be a revolt against temporal regimes. Reading in this register is about escaping time, or resisting the pressures of clock time—it is about making time” (Rothbauer & Cedeira Serantes, 2021, p. 121).…”

“…Reading “destabilizes time” even as, for the reader, it may well provide reassurance and stability within spaces of the day (Rothbauer & Cedeira Serantes, 2021, p. 119). So even the act of reading and absorption of information contains contrasts and paradoxes, even before we consider the intensification and new media environments of today's plural times.…”