Information history: its importance, relevance and future Toni Weller Department of Information Science, City University London, London, UK Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergent field of information history (IH) and to move towards a definition of IH. Some of the more traditional historical approaches to information science are challenged in their claims to be information history. Design/methodology/approach – The historiography of the field is discussed, and an analysis of the continuing development of IH is explored. Findings – IH is a field that has been attracting increasing attention in recent years from historians and information scientists alike. Although still a relatively young area, this paper argues that IH has the potential to develop into a highly relevant and dynamic field of research. The paper concludes with a look at the future for this area of research, with some suggestions as to how IH needs to develop in order to gain the credence and recognition it deserves. Originality/value – This paper attempts to augment the debate on IH and to encourage a broader recognition of this young and dynamic field within LIS. Keywords History, Information science, Library studies, Curricula Paper type Conceptual paper Defining information history Information history is a distinct form of historical study in its own right, which looks at the role of information within past societies. It is grounded in historical evidence and it operates within the structures of historical research. It is history. But it also adopts ideologies from information science. The fundamental questions of the LIS discipline have always been related to information in society, politics, economics, the media, and business, how people understand information, and how it is transformed by changes in society. When these conceptual questions are allied to a rigorous historical methodology, something quite distinct and powerful emerges. This is information history: the historical study of information for its own sake. Information science as a discipline has existed for perhaps 50 or 60 years. Information has existed for centuries, millennia. As long as there have been records of human existence, there has been some form of information. Information history is thus the study of the relationship between humanity and its different forms of knowledge – of recording, manifesting, disseminating, preserving, collecting, using, and understanding information. Of how these issues affected, and were affected by, social, economic and political developments. It is not just concerned with information technologies, but with all aspects of an information society – in the most catholic sense of the term. This is a slightly different emphasis than that taken by Alistair Black, the strongest advocate of information history to date. While Black has rightly always stressed the The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0001-253X.htm Information history 437 Received 28 September 2006 Accepted 10 June 2007 Aslib Proceedings: New Information Perspectives Vol. 59 No. 4/5, 2007 pp. 437-448 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0001-253X DOI 10.1108/00012530710817627