Owing to the scope and pace of change, society has become increasingly knowledge-based so that higher learning and research now act as essential components of cultural, socio-economic and environmentally sustainable development of individuals, communities and nations. In this environment, it is essential that higher learning and knowledge creation involve effective partnerships among academic and non-academic learning institutions and communities to create and apply learning and knowledge with stakeholders that are managing and creating sustainable development initiatives. Growing concern regarding the importance of the contribution that higher education institutions make to society has aroused increasing debate about their relevance and credibility amid escalating social problems. An underlying premise of community engagement is the understanding that not all knowledge and expertise resides in the academy, and that both expertise and great learning opportunities in teaching and scholarship also reside in non-academic settings.
This conference will explore how LIS educators and researchers can develop curricula, programs, and research activities that enable active partnerships with communities and civil society to manage and create change. How can LIS programs increase opportunities for experiential, service oriented, and community engaged student learning? How can we develop further collaboration between LIS programs and their larger communities (local, regional/ state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity?
This paper draws on the discipline of Knowledge Management to outline a vision for workplace literacy instruction as students prepare to enter the workforce. This includes a definition of Knowledge Literacy that can go alongside instruction in Information Literacy. Recognizing that information literacy is still a missing yet much needed skill, it is necessary to extend these boundaries of what it means for a student to be workplace literate. Drucker (1993) noted that “The manual worker is yesterday….the basic capital resource . . . is the knowledge worker who puts to work what he has learned . . . rather than the man who puts to work manual skill or muscle.”
