This book invites us to imagine the future of information science, which the authors frame as a field of study (Chapter 1). Moving away from the pursuit of all-encompassing meanings helps us to navigate the complexity associated with various views in information science and, as the authors explain, ‘… be relaxed about the varied approaches and methods which may be applied to information problems.’ Information sciences (in the plural), they go on to explain, are dispersed. As an information researcher positioned in a centre of creative practice and cultural economy (areas unlikely to be considered traditional domains of information science), I welcome this pragmatism. It is nonetheless helpful to discuss (as the authors go on to do) whether or not we can identify a ‘core’ of information science and to consider the ‘big questions’ of information science in all their multifaceted complexity.

For me that complexity places information sciences at a crossroads as we face the challenge of handling ideas and knowledge. We need to balance our traditional areas of expertise in this regard with the new skills and strategies needed to thrive in contemporary digital contexts where, more than ever before, we have opportunities to creatively engage with information in a range of digital, analog and hybridized forms bouncing in-between. The pre-eminent role information plays in lives increasingly unfolding in digital and mobile spaces provides new opportunities for information researchers and practitioners to be cultural shape-shifters, guiding our communities and clients through the dynamic, highly mediated, networked worlds that require them to engage with information in increasingly inventive ways.

At this crossroads, the big question for me takes the following form: how can we continue to provide leadership in relation to navigating, using and managing information, while at the same time insert ourselves into conversations and planning about institutional and infrastructure strategies needed to cultivate and sustain the creative literacies increasingly called for in our information worlds? It is a question that presents challenges as well as opportunities for the field of information science.