This study investigates the value of the public library service, and library buildings in particular, in qualitative terms, with a focus on how the public library can address issues of loneliness and belonging. A qualitative narrative approach is taken to develop "library stories" and provide a deeper understanding that complements quantitative studies and library statistics. A three-stage research approach is taken: an initial literature analysis to identify issues and themes leads to a directed content analysis of some of this material to generate micro-narratives, which are complemented by an evocative autoethnography. Interrelated connections emerge concerning where our bodies belong and regarding vulnerable and marginalized users. New types of knowledges are identified. This is a novel combination of methods for library/information research, with the potential to highlight in new ways the value of library services and buildings. The study deals with UK public libraries between 2000 and 2021.

Purpose: To give a review of the significance of Open Science for libraries in the context of the wider Open movement, with international perspectives and examples from national, academic, and public libraries. Methodology/approach: A qualitative synthesis of recent literature and web materials is presented. Results: Particular consideration is given to the need for open library infrastructures, support for Citizen Science, Open Science communication, and libraries as demonstrators of open technologies. It is suggested that libraries are well placed to support and promote the Open movement, but that practical issues of policy and resources, as well as philosophical aspects of Open movement, must be considered. Research limitations: The literature review is selective rather than comprehensive, and most material comes from Europe and North America. Originality/practical implications: The review should help librarians find a realistic appreciation of the opportunities offered by the Open Science movement.

Experiences of time and temporalities in contemporary life are analysed, with Floridi's conception of the infosphere as a central concept. The effects of instantaneous communication and digital information are shown to result not simply in the obvious acceleration of many aspects of life, but in multiple temporalities. The informational spaces of Floridi's hyperhistorical time form a new time‐based society, with our informational activities expressed in linear, cyclic, re‐cyclic, and iterative processes. Examples from the information sciences, particularly information seeking and “slow information,” are given, and an outline model for time literacy is presented.

Experiences of time and temporalities in contemporary life are analysed, with Floridi's conception of the infosphere as a central concept. The effects of instantaneous communication and digital information are shown to result not simply in the obvious acceleration of many aspects of life, but in multiple temporalities. The informational spaces of Floridi's hyperhistorical time form a new time-based society, with our informational activities expressed in linear, cyclic, re-cyclic, and iterative processes. Examples from the information sciences, particularly information seeking and “slow information,” are given, and an outline model for time literacy is presented.

The second edition of this definitive text gives a comprehensive overview of all aspects of the subject, bringing it up to date with analysis of the changes in the information environment, now largely digital, and their implication for the discipline and professions. Its approach is rooted in the philosophical, theoretical, and conceptual foundations of the subject and, in particular, in Floridi's ideas of the fourth revolution, hyperhistory, and onlife. The theory-practice relationship is strongly emphasised throughout, and the extensive literature coverage makes this a valuable sourcebook. This second edition is extensively revised, with largely new text, illustrations, and resources, and offers a global perspective. The main topics covered include: foundations: philosophies, theories, concepts, ethics, and historical perspectives organising, retrieving, and analysing information and data information behaviour, domain analysis, and digital literacies digital technologies, information systems, and information management information research methods and informetrics changing modes of information communication, and information society the nature and future of the information disciplines and professions.This book will be a standard text for students of library and information disciplines, including information science, librarianship, information and knowledge management, archives and records management, and digital humanities. It will also serve as an introduction for those beginning research in these areas, and as a resource for thoughtful and reflective practitioners.

COVID-19 illustrated health disparities experienced by racially minoritised people, with heightened risks faced by Black and South Asian communities lending the issue transparency and urgency. Despite efforts to decolonise medical education, deficits in racial representation in research and resources remain. This study investigates the potential and imperatives for healthcare information services to contribute to health equity through their collections. The literature analysis explores collection management, decolonisation, social justice in librarianship, and Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a framework for change in information contexts. A survey of UK National Health Service (NHS) librarians provides a snapshot of awareness of health information inequity. Semi-structured interviews explore information professionals' experiences of anti-racism in the system. The findings indicate strong engagement with the need for equitable resources but highlight some barriers to success. Opportunities identified include potential for addressing systemic racism in collection policy, capability of information services to influence, or engage in, authorship and publishing to address gaps, and the need for race-based data standards in healthcare. Synthesis of the findings through a framework of CRT tenets illustrates the relevance and utility of CRT as a tool for pursuit of equity in information practice, scholarship, and education.

The classification of Western art music is a complex area of knowledge organization, yet the reasons for those complexities have not been fully studied. This research dissects the concept of orthogonality, in particular regard to music classification. Orthogonality (antonym: dependency) means that one facet acts independently from another facet. Although orthogonality is an assumed quality of facets, it has attracted relatively little attention in knowledge organization discourse. This research utilizes bibliographic classification schemes, musicological writings, and musical works to analyze orthogonality in music classification. The relationships between the medium, form/genre, and function facets are unpicked and a strong dependency is found between these facets. Whether this orthogonality exists as a construct of faceted classification or stems from the domain knowledge is explored. Furthermore, the analysis initiates new thinking about the general concept of orthogonality. The idea of a spectrum of dependency is proposed. In addition, novel, orthogonality-derived phenomena are discussed—“dynamic facets” and “meta-dependency”—where the boundary between what is and is not a facet is blurred. The concluding model visualizes the chain of dependencies between music facets, ultimately showing how the lack of orthogonality plays a key role in the complexity and issues found in music classification.

The classification of Western art music is a complex area of knowledge organization, yet the reasons for those complexities have not been fully studied. This research dissects the concept of orthogonality, in particular regard to music classification. Orthogonality (antonym: dependency) means that one facet acts independently from another facet. Although orthogonality is an assumed quality of facets, it has attracted relatively little attention in knowledge organization discourse. This research utilizes bibliographic classification schemes, musicological writings, and musical works to analyze orthogonality in music classification. The relationships between the medium, form/genre, and function facets are unpicked and a strong dependency is found between these facets. Whether this orthogonality exists as a construct of faceted classification or stems from the domain knowledge is explored. Furthermore, the analysis initiates new thinking about the general concept of orthogonality. The idea of a spectrum of dependency is proposed. In addition, novel, orthogonality‐derived phenomena are discussed—“dynamic facets” and “meta‐dependency”—where the boundary between what is and is not a facet is blurred. The concluding model visualizes the chain of dependencies between music facets, ultimately showing how the lack of orthogonality plays a key role in the complexity and issues found in music classification.

Open Access in Theory and Practice investigates the theory-practice relationship in the domain of open access publication and dissemination of research outputs.Drawing on detailed analysis of the literature and current practice in OA, as well as data collected in detailed interviews with practitioners, policymakers, and researchers, the book discusses what constitutes "theory", and how the role of theory is perceived by both theorists and practitioners.Exploring the ways theory and practice have interacted in the development of OA, the authors discuss what this reveals about the nature of the OA phenomenon itself and the theory-practice relationship.Open Access in Theory and Practice contributes to a better understanding of OA and, as such, should be of great interest to academics, researchers, and students working in the fields of information science, publishing studies, science communication, higher education policy, business, and economics.The book also makes an important contribution to the debate of the relationship between theory and practice in information science, and more widely across different fields of the social sciences and humanities.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss Luciano Floridi’s 2019 book The Logic of Information: A Theory of Philosophy as Conceptual Design, the latest instalment in his philosophy of information (PI) tetralogy, particularly with respect to its implications for library and information studies (LIS). Design/methodology/approach Nine scholars with research interests in philosophy and LIS read and responded to the book, raising critical and heuristic questions in the spirit of scholarly dialogue. Floridi responded to these questions. Findings Floridi’s PI, including this latest publication, is of interest to LIS scholars, and much insight can be gained by exploring this connection. It seems also that LIS has the potential to contribute to PI’s further development in some respects. Research limitations/implications Floridi’s PI work is technical philosophy for which many LIS scholars do not have the training or patience to engage with, yet doing so is rewarding. This suggests a role for translational work between philosophy and LIS. Originality/value The book symposium format, not yet seen in LIS, provides forum for sustained, multifaceted and generative dialogue around ideas.

This conceptual article argues for the value of an approach to privacy in the digital information environment informed by Luciano Floridi's philosophy of information and information ethics. This approach involves achieving informational privacy, through the features of anonymity and obscurity, through an optimal balance of ontological frictions. This approach may be used to modify models for information behavior and for information literacy, giving them a fuller and more effective coverage of privacy issues in the infosphere. For information behavior, the Information Seeking and Communication Model and the Information Grounds conception are most appropriate for this purpose. For information literacy, the metaliteracy model, using a modification a privacy literacy framework, is most suitable.

This conceptual article argues for the value of an approach to privacy in the digital information environment informed by Luciano Floridi's philosophy of information and information ethics. This approach involves achieving informational privacy, through the features of anonymity and obscurity, through an optimal balance of ontological frictions. This approach may be used to modify models for information behavior and for information literacy, giving them a fuller and more effective coverage of privacy issues in the infosphere. For information behavior, the Information Seeking and Communication Model and the Information Grounds conception are most appropriate for this purpose. For information literacy, the metaliteracy model, using a modification a privacy literacy framework, is most suitable.

The coming years will be interesting from the viewpoint of the open access movement. The year 2021 marks the implementation of the Plan S principles endorsed by national and supranational research funders. Concomitantly, publishers are increasingly adopting new agreement models including open access article processing charges. New tools of scientometrics, such as Unpaywall, have emerged that allow novel analyses of the publishing landscape. Given the recent advances, it seems certain that open access publishing will continue to spark the interest of both Library and Information Science (LIS) scholars and research-oriented professionals.

The classification of Western art music is notoriously complex, and the classification of opera subgenres provides distinct challenges. So, this paper considers the classification of opera subgenres from a knowledge organisation perspective. The paper starts with a short examination of key ideas from genre theory and musicological writings on genre, as well as the idea of opera subgenres. The categorisation of opera subgenres in the music domain is examined, utilising key music essays and sources. The large number of opera subgenres is identified, and the subgenres are explored using the framework of hierarchical, equivalence and associative relationships. The treatment of opera subgenres in eight bibliographic classifications is examined, where it is found to both reflect the disarray of the music domain and offer distinct discords. A model is proposed which considers the classification of opera subgenres on two planes, combining the web of relationships between subgenres (inter-subgenre plane) with the categorisation of the subgenre's constituent attributes (categorisation plane).