Time and temporality in library and information science

Abstract

PurposeThe article introduces selected theoretical approaches to time and temporality relevant to the field of library and information science, and it briefly introduces the papers gathered in this special issue. A number of issues that could potentially be followed in future research are presented.Design/methodology/approachThe authors review a selection of theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of time that originate in or are of particular relevance to library and information science. Four main themes are identified: (1) information as object in temporal perspectives; (2) time and information as tools of power and control; (3) time in society; and (4) experiencing and practicing time.FindingsThe paper advocates a thorough engagement with how time and temporality shape notions of information more broadly. This includes, for example, paying attention to how various dimensions of the late-modern time regime of acceleration feed into the ways in which information is operationalised, how information work is commodified, and how hierarchies of information are established; paying attention to the changing temporal dynamics that networked information systems imply for our understanding of documents or of memory institutions; or how external events such as social and natural crises quickly alter modes, speed, and forms of data production and use, in areas as diverse as information practices, policy, management, representation, and organisation, amongst others.Originality/valueBy foregrounding temporal perspectives in library and information science, the authors advocate dialogue with important perspectives on time that come from other fields. Rather than just including such perspectives in library and information science, however, the authors find that the focus on information and documents that the library and information science field contributes has great potential to advance the understanding of how notions and experiences of time shape late-modern societies and individuals.

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

“…Here and elsewhere, we are reminded that time is not something to which we have equal access or affordances (Sharma, 2014a, p. 133). This is reflected in some of the specific concerns about temporal issues in studies of information access and behavior (Haider et al, 2022), and particularly in an interest in “slow” information/scholarship/librarianship/and so forth as an antidote to the perceived damaging increase in the speed of all information process (see, e.g., Poirier & Robinson, 2013; Berg & Seeber, 2016; Beene & Thompson, 2022). This is reflected in components C, D and F of the outline model.…”

“…Time, while essentially unseen, “helps us make sense of the world and our social lives” (Haider et al, 2022, p. 2). As Hoffman (2009, p. 182) points out, time is inextricably associated with meaning, and “problems of information are frequently formulated as problems of time, and vice versa” (Haider et al, 2022, p. 3).…”

“…This “content” exists in often barely‐ordered collections of postings, files, shared photos, existing in clouds and the memory of any number of devices. Here we find “multitudes of variously enduring and interconnected, personalised, ‘archives’ of past events, imbued in constructions of the present” (Haider et al, 2022, p. 5).…”

“…External events within uncertain and disruptive times have influence on our sense of time and what lies ahead, and this can “quickly alter modes, speed, and forms of data production and use” (Haider et al, 2022, p. 13), so that information services must become aware of, assess, include to greater or lesser degree, updating accordingly. The nature of the internet itself, upon which ICT's operate and connect, is one of data in states of emergence, submersion, disappearance, and modification (Groys, 2020, p. 37).…”

“…This article examines time, and some of its implication for the information sciences. Time has been studied before from a specific LIS perspective; see, for example, Savolainen's analyses of time in information seeking (Savolainen, 2006, 2018), and the contributions to a special issue of Journal of Documentation on time and temporality (Haider et al, 2022). Older studies examined temporal factors in the context of information systems, and of organizational structures, themselves reflecting information communication (see, e.g., Clark, 1985; Lee, 1999; Lee & Liebenau, 1999, and references therein).…”