Libraries in contemporary science fiction novels: uncertain futures or embedded in the fabric of society?
| Date | 22 August 2022 |
| Pages | 546-566 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2022-0097 |
| Published date | 22 August 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Amy Duxfield,Chern Li Liew |
Libraries in contemporary science
fiction novels: uncertain futures or
embedded in the fabric of society?
Amy Duxfield
Parliamentary Library Te P
ataka Rangahau, Wellington, New Zealand, and
Chern Li Liew
School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington,
New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to examine the imagining of libraries and the depiction of library services in
contemporary science fiction novels. Analyses of libraries in contemporary science fiction may reveal
expectations of libraries and the roles they play in future societies. These may, in turn, be used by the library
profession to innovate and to discover opportunities to design and improve library services that meet the
expectations of library users now and in the future.
Design/methodology/approach –This research applied a content analysis approach to examine references
to libraries in a purposeful sample of science fiction novels published between 2009 and 2019. The sample
consists of 29 novels selected from the 2010–2020 winners of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, The Nebula
Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, The Philip K Dick Award and the
Arthur C Clarke Award.
Findings –This research finds that libraries are a common feature within contemporary science fiction novels,
primarily as part of the background setting of the narratives. Libraries are particularly common in peri-
apocalyptic novels, often as “reinvented”libraries. This research identifies considerable differences in the way
libraries and information access and use are depicted and documented in science fiction worlds of plenty,
compared to those of scarcity. Other key themes discussed include freedom of access to information, and the
supposedly common negative stereotyping of libraries.
Originality/value –Existing literature indicates anxiety about the future of libraries which the findings of
this research do not support. The insights gained suggested instead, the emergence of an image of libraries as
being embedded in the fabric of societies. This indicates the expectation of the place and role of libraries in
contemporary societies. Libraries and their services must be adeptly placed and woven into the many facets of
the societies they serve.
Keywords Future of libraries, Image of libraries, Information access and use in science fiction, Libraries in
popular culture, Libraries in science fiction, Libraries stereotype
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction and motivation for study
It is generally accepted within the library and information professional scholarship that the
imagining and depictions of libraries in fiction and popular culture reflect how lay people
perceive libraries and what they expect from library services (Adams, 2000;Highsmith, 2003;
Kaspar and Benefiel, 2003;Peresie and Alexander, 2005;Luthmann, 2007;Hulshof-Schmidt,
2008;Shaffer and Casey, 2013;Vassilakaki and Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, 2014). An
examination of libraries as depicted and documented in contemporary science fiction can,
therefore, be used to interrogate how the world at large perceives the future of libraries and
library services. This in turn can be used to inform innovations and to design and improve
libraries and library services that meet the expectations of library users. This study examines the
imagining of libraries and the depiction of library services in contemporary science fiction novels.
The use of science fiction as a lens for analysing the present and indicating
future technological developments is not without precedent in the library discipline.
JD
79,3
546
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 4 May 2022
Revised 28 July 2022
Accepted 31 July 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 3, 2023
pp. 546-566
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-05-2022-0097
The Imagineering Interest Group of the Library and Information Technology Association
(LITA) engages in futurism with the goal of promoting “imaginative forecasting and
planning for future information systems and technologies by the examination and analysis of
science fiction themes and works”(Imagineering Interest Group, 2021). Nevertheless,
scholarly and professional literature regarding libraries in science fiction is considerably
scarce, and existing works are becoming dated. The most recent work on this topic, although
published in 2010, examined science fiction works from the late 19th century (Hayes, 2010).
Another recent article that considered more contemporary science fiction was published in
2006, based on a speech given in 1984 (Gunn, 2006). There have been significant changes to
technology, Internet culture and libraries and, therefore, it is timely to examine the imagining
of libraries and library services in contemporary science fiction novels.
2. Literature review
2.1 What is science fiction?
There is no canonical definition of science fiction as a genre. Margaret Atwood has described
it as being like the proverbial elephant in the room: impossible to describe but recognisable
when one sees it (Atwood, 2012). This research draws on the definitions suggested by Atwood
(2012),del Rey (2021) and Wiseman (1994) and defines science fiction as a genre of speculative
fiction that explores plausible alternative futures, based on imaginative extrapolation from
the present.
Science fiction as a genre includes several subgenres, including “hard”science fiction,
social or “soft”science fiction, military science fiction, space opera, dystopian and utopian
fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction. Within these subgenres, further categories and tropes
can be identified: Lost colony, alien invasion, climate change or solarpunk, and cyberpunk, for
example. For the purposes of this research, a further subgenre has been noted: peri-
apocalyptic fiction. This subgenre encompasses:
(1) Narratives where the catastrophe is impending or is in progress.
(2) Narratives set in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe and before new social
structures have been established.
Post-apocalyptic narratives, where some catastrophic event has forever changed human
society and new social structures have been established.
While it may not seem immediately obvious that peri-apocalyptic fiction could lead to
insights about the future of library services, thinking about peri-apocalyptic scenarios may
encourage libraries today to prepare for uncertain futures. The library as both a physical
space and an array of services may be compelled to change in the context of world-changing
events, which may not always be positive. These anxieties are becoming less hypothetical
and more real as the world continues to respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic and
following the recent publication of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (2021).
2.2 What are libraries?
Some of the novels studied for this research explicitly designate certain buildings, spaces or
services as being libraries. For example, the community library in The Book of the Unnamed
Midwife (Elison, 2016), Nineteen Adze’s personal library in A Memory Called Empire (Martine,
2019) and the Gilgamesh’s shipboard library in Children of Time (Tchaikovsky, 2017).
Sometimes science fiction libraries are described in detail and bear some resemblance to
contemporary libraries, such as the Concord Public Library in The Last Policeman (Winters,
2013). Other novels merely mention a library in passing, such as the university libraries in
Libraries in
science fiction
novels
547
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