Both these books, though slim in pages, pack a powerful theoretical and conceptual punch. The books’ audience is more for the academic, scholarly level or anyone who would like to think about information behaviour at a deeper level. They are not light reading. However, if the reader persists with the somewhat densely packed content, they will be rewarded with some new ways of looking at information behaviour, how it is shared between communities and what unseen forces can act upon how we perceive information.
Information as an interscience asks the reader of not only rethinking science but to consider information science as an interscience that can act in many ways; as a ‘rhizome’, a network or in terms of actor–network theory. To do this, information science needs to move beyond the linear and critical to a more acritical approach using different methodological approaches. These approaches are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6. The last chapters in the book discuss new ways of embracing the new knowledge culture and the author’s background (philosophy, communications, information science) is apparent in the presentation of these new practices and ideas.
Information cosmopolitics explores the interaction between nationalism and information behaviour in academic communities. The author draws on his own experience as an academic working in the former Yugoslavia (1980s) and through the rise of extreme nationalism in the Balkan Wars (1990s). Tabak argues that current thinking of particularism versus universalism encourages researchers to take a prior position before they start their study. Tabak argues that actor–network theory is more useful in these areas as an intersection. That is, a ‘group that is held together’ rather than ‘something that holds the group together’ (p. xii). Instead of trying to reveal the hidden forces behind information practices and behaviour, Tabak argues it is better to look at the ways in which individuals and groups exchange processes through the constant circulation of information practices.
Both books give the reader a lot of conceptual ideas to think about. Information science is often criticised as having no theoretical depth; it is regarded as being a mashup from various intellectual disciplines. These two books suggest alternative conceptual models and theories; that rather than being regarded as an isolated field information science is an interscience; it acts as an intermediary through actors and networks for other intellectual disciplines. These two books are more suited for an academic library, particularly for graduate level or academic staff.
National Library of New Zealand
© 2016 Diana Fehsenfeld
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2016.1250327