The shifting terminologies of information

At the heart of any discussion of the information sciences, at least when t his discussion is held in the English language, lies the problem of the var iant, and shifting, set of concepts and meanings of the terms 'library' and 'information'. The term 'information', in particular, has a variety of mea nings in different contexts and communities of discourse, providing an exce llent example of Wittgenstein's 'language game'. This implies that any term inology built around this central concept is in danger of being constructed on 'shifting sands'. This article outlines, for the English language only, some of these diverse meanings of information, and their consequences for the terminology of the information sciences. It focuses on the variant relationships between info rmation and related concepts, particularly data and knowledge. It also incl udes an account of the view of information taken in the hard and soft metho dologies of systems science, as well as the new discipline of 'information physics'. From this, some remarks may be made on the changing meanings of complex ter ms such as 'information technology' and 'information literacy: as well as t hose complex terms involving 'management', information management, knowledg e management, document management etc. A similar, though shorter, treatment will be given to terminology around th e 'library' concept, particularly in view of the change toward viewing a li brary as an organised virtual information space, rather than a physical env ironment.