Information Science - Information Matters

When you step into your local public library on a typical afternoon, you might see children and their families gathered for story time, a retiree reading in a corner, or a student hunched over a laptop. But, just as often, librarians encounter a very different scene: a patron in crisis. Public libraries have increasingly become places where people facing houselessness, mental health crises, or other personal struggles turn for help.

Education Featured

August 6, 2025 Jasmine Wemigwans

Looping the Red Thread of Information: Painting a Path of Indigenous Knowledge

As a mixed Ojibwe woman from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory, I carry both pride and a sense of responsibility in how I represent my identity through academic and artistic spaces. I recently graduated from the Master of Information in Library Science Program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information. My goal is to become a full-time librarian who integrates Indigenous knowledge into library and information systems. I am excited to share my painting with the Information Matters community as one way to contribute an Indigenous perspective in our shared field. This acrylic self-portrait, funded by an Ontario Arts Council bursary, reflects the concept of the “Red Thread of Information” (Bates,1999) and visually embeds my Anishnaabe worldview. The piece invites viewers to reflect on how identity and information phenomenon can be fused together into creative expressions.

Featured InfoFire

May 16, 2025 Shalini Urs

Reframing Information: From “Information as Thing” to “Everything as Document” to the Identity of iSchools — Conversations with Michael Buckland

Michael Buckland, a pivotal figure in information science, has profoundly shaped the field through his scholarship and leadership. In this episode of InfoFire, Buckland engaged with me on foundational concepts, practical applications, and historical perspectives, offering provocative critiques that challenge conventional thinking. He declared “information” a problematic term— “It is a bad word; it is to be abolished”—arguing that its overloaded meanings obscure clarity. Similarly, he labeled bibliometrics a “pseudoscience,” questioning its methodological rigor. These rhetorical provocations underscore his effort to reframe information science around precise, document-centric frameworks.

Original

April 18, 2025 Elisa Tattersall Wallin

All Talk and Few Facts: Reflecting on the Role of Podcasts in Climate Obstruction

What role do podcasts play in spreading information about climate change? For a research project on environmental communication, I explored how these issues are discussed in podcasts. I found that serious channels with the ambition to inform about climate change issues share the space with channels with a dubious agenda and a loose relationship to facts.

Featured Translation

April 12, 2024 Frans van der Sluis

How Everyone Can Agree on What Counts as Quality Information

It’s tricky for people to agree on what counts as quality information. We see this every day with echo chambers on social media, where everyone has their own idea of what’s true or important. This suggests that information quality is a product of our own, individual minds—one that is best captured in “like,” “love,” “haha,” and “wow” buttons on social media. But our research suggests there’s a way to get people on the same page about information quality, and it involves making some changes to how we assess and share information online.

Featured Translation

January 22, 2024 Jesse Dinneen

Life and Death in the Information Society

Throughout our lives we create, consume and accumulate information. And then we die. But what happens – and what should happen – to our information after our death? This question is very complex and thus increasingly intriguing to researchers, but different groups of stakeholders have different values and interests that would shape a potential answer.

Education

September 14, 2023 Sigy George

Five Pillars of Reading

Reading is a fundamental skill that is essential for a child’s academic success in school and beyond. While some children are naturally gifted readers, other children have difficulty with reading and require additional instruction and practice. The five pillars of reading provide an effective framework for teaching and reinforcing these reading skills.

Education INFideos Multimedia

August 14, 2023 Jenna Hartel

“Library and Information Science” Explained and Embodied in 5 Minutes

“What is Library and Information Science?” in a 5-minute video. LIS is cast as the mediating force between publications and people. Further, the video distinguishes the academic discipline (library and information science) from the related concepts of its institution (the library) and profession (librarianship). Along the way, several key concepts are defined, such as the reference interview, reader’s advisory, bibliographic control, and information retrieval. Three distinct types of libraries are named (public, academic, special).