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The purpose of this paper is to explore various concepts of time and temporal dimensions in the context of everyday reading experiences.

The study uses theoretical bricolage that puts existing reading research into conversation with theories of time and temporalities.

Three 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.

Using 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.

This paper offers a new conceptual framework for studies of reading and readers in LIS.

Content analysis was used to determine how a sample of 32 gay and lesbian novels for young adults were treated in 158 reviews from five prominent reviewing journals. Findings indicate that most reviews (84.8 percent) were favourable, many (79.7 percent) contained clear reference to the homosexual content, and there were few differences between the individual reviewing journals. Some reviews contained cautions and warnings about the gay and lesbian content, some denied or downplayed it, some justified the content if it was used to teach a lesson, and most described these stories as “problem” novels. Analysis also showed that gay and lesbian fiction is now regarded as a distinct genre of young adult literature. While librarians wishing to identify gay and lesbian fiction for collection development will be able to do so through the reviewing media, ambivalence about this literature and the young adults it represents was also evident in the reviews.

The purpose of this study was to determine if young adults, or others interested in literature for teens, have access through public libraries to novels with homosexual content. A random sample of 40 English language young adult novels with gay/lesbian content was checked against the holdings of 40 medium and large Canadian public libraries having remotely accessible catalogs. The average number of titles held by all libraries was 16.2 (40.4 percent). There was no significant relationship found between library size and number of titles held (r = 0.302; CV_{0.05 (38)} = 0.311). The results of this study suggest that, while some libraries seem to be doing a good job of providing these potentially controversial titles, others are not. Suggestions for further research are included.

Neutrality and diversity are the bedrock of public libraries. Yet, public libraries are also steeped in white privilege and many have yet to examine the effects of anti-Black racism. Amidst an ever-growing crisis of inequity, this chapter explores the development of the Black Community Public Library and its roots in Black-centered and community-based perspectives. It provides important insights into how public libraries can transgress the centrality of whiteness in traditional public libraries through community-led and community-based partnerships within collaborative anti-racism and justice frameworks. Opening in January 2022, the Black Community Public Library is the first of its kind to conceptualize and highlight the need for Black-centered services and collections in Canadian public libraries. Located in the Where We Are Now Black Community Centre, the library is the result of a year-long partnership between the Black Community Centre, local higher education institutions, and the municipal library system. It holds an initial circulating collection of 600 titles representing a variety of equity-seeking perspectives. Detailing the development and launch of the Black Community Public Library, this case study demonstrates how to re-envision library spaces with and for communities that have been historically under-represented and provides invaluable insight into how the public library sector can support and engage with Black communities through meaningful partnership and collaboration. Furthermore, it will substantially contribute to the growing body of collaborative knowledge on advancing anti-racism in LIS.

The 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.

The 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.

The 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.

By 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.

Although there is a growing body of work on immigrants' information behavior, little is known about the pre-arrival information experiences of immigrants who consult formal information sources such as immigration agents. Drawn from a larger study on the information behavior of immigrants, this paper mainly reports the semi-structured interview findings on the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants who used formal information sources with discussion on how that affected their post-arrival settlement into Canada.

The study used a mixed method approach with semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with participants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Data were collected from May 2017 to February 2018.

Although the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the pre-arrival information experiences derived mainly from an analysis of interview data. This study provides insights into the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants consulting formal information sources such as immigration firms, individual immigration consultants and more formal government agencies. The author introduces a new concept of “information crafting” by exploring the negative consequences of selective information sharing by immigration consultants/agents in newcomers' settlements in Canada, primarily positive information about life in Canada, sometimes with exaggeration and falsification. The interview participants shared story after the story of the settlement challenges they faced after arriving in Canada and how the expectations they built through the information received from immigration consultants and government agencies did not match after arrival. This study emphasizes the importance of providing comprehensive information about life in Canada to potential newcomers so that they can make informed decisions even before they apply.

The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for policy and research. This study provides insights into the complicated culturally situated pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants. Moreover, the study findings encourage researchers in various disciplines, including psychology, migration studies and geography, to delve more deeply into newcomers' information experiences using an informational lens to examine the information newcomers receive from diverse sources and their effects on their post-arrival settlement in a new country. The study challenges the general assumptions that formal information sources are always reputable, useful, and comprehensive, and it provides some future directions for research that seeks to understand the culturally situated information behavior of diverse immigrant groups.

Studies on the information behaviour of immigrants including refugees across the globe show a significant dependency of immigrants on their informal networks for meeting various settlement and everyday life information needs. Although there are quite a few studies in LIS that globally report the dependency of immigrants on their personal networks, very little is known about their experiences with their informal personal networks in the contexts of their settlement in informational terms. This paper explores the information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in Canada consulting informal networks including broader Bangladeshi community people in pre- and post-arrival contexts.

The study uses a mixed-method approach including semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with Bangladeshi immigrants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Interview data were analysed thematically, and descriptive statistics are used to describe the survey data relevant to this study.

Although the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the information experience derived from an analysis of the interview data with some relevant references to the survey data when deemed appropriate. This paper provides insights into the information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants within their personal networks, including friends, family and ethnic community people. The findings of this study show that participants sometimes received discouraging, unhelpful or wrong information from their personal networks. The multiple dimensions of the information experiences of the study participants show the many consequences for their settlement lives. For some participants, settlement was particularly impacted by the concept of “information sharing fear” that emerged from the interviews. Information sharing fear relates to concerns that sharing information about the challenges faced by newcomers could be considered by potential immigrants as a kind of active “discouragement”. Participants described being sensitive to charges of envy or jealousy when they shared information related to challenges newcomers face, as friends and family see them as trying to prevent competition for social status.

The findings related to the information experiences of immigrants consulting informal networks has potential implications for research in various discipline such as LIS, migrational studies and psychology that explore the benefits of social networks in newcomers' settlement. The study also sets a ground to take a more holistic approach to the information experiences of newcomers, not just naming the sources newcomers utilize in settlement and everyday life contexts. The study also provides some future directions to comprehensively understand the culturally situated information behaviour of various immigrant groups.