Indigenous Knowledge, the Library and Information Service Sector, and Protocols.

The article discusses the importance and significance of indigenous knowledge and its intersection with the library information services (LIS) sector in Australia. Indigenous knowledge is commonly understood as traditional knowledge, although there is debate about whether the term indigenous knowledge should be used interchangeably with the term traditional knowledge or whether it is more accurately a subset of the traditional knowledge category. In Australia, a common misunderstanding is that this equates indigenous knowledge to past knowledge, when in fact indigenous people view their knowledge as continuing. Recent interest in indigenous knowledge across the globe, although linked to indigenous peoples' political and cultural reassertion, has primarily emerged from humanitarian and scientific activity. Documented indigenous knowledge forms part of the documentary heritage of the nation and in this capacity intersects with the library and information sector. It concludes by emphasizing the need for Indigenous involvement in the LIS sector and the importance of protocols to guide practice in this most complex of intersections.