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Library Science

INFideos
Jenna Hartel

An Award-Winning Conference Paper and An Educational Video that Situate Generative AI in Library and Information Science

The paper, “Theorising Notions of Searching, (Re)Sources, and Evaluation in the Light of Generative AI” (Sundin, 2025) won the Best Long Paper Award at the 2025 Conceptions of Library and Information Science (CoLIS) conference in Glasgow, Scotland. For me, reading it sparked a eureka! moment. The author, Olof Sundin, argues that generative AI has a precedent in the European Documentation movement of the early 20th century. In addition to historical insights, the paper analyzes how today’s search systems increasingly provide answers or facts, whereas conventional retrieval tools point information seekers to sources.   

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FeaturedTranslation
Siyao Cheng

Navigating the Landscape of Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) in Library Settings

Managing traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) within library settings can be cumbersome for any librarian, and is especially challenging for those lacking adequate training to handle the complex legal and ethical issues involved in collection development and managing collections including TCEs. Below, we explore intersections between TCEs and librarianship, including current issues and potential remedies within LIS education. 

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EducationINFideosMultimedia
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).

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Translation
Tom Mason

Times New Plural – The Multiple Temporalities of Contemporary Life and the Infosphere

We might illustrate the infosphere by picturing a person walking down a street in the weather of the day (rain, sun, wind, etc), negotiating traffic, other people, obstacles, using services, all the while with their smartphone; messaging, listening to a podcast, on a video call, checking bus times, etc. This example highlights everyday plural temporalities; as the various activities occurring here include the general time, work time and ‘free’ time, the temporalities of the online network their device is operating within, the device’s battery life, the time of whoever else is being communicated to via messaging or video call, the time(s) of other people around.

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