Indigenous knowledge, the library and information service sector, and protocols.

The increasing global recognition of Indigenous knowledge as distinct, legitimate, valuable and vulnerable systems of knowledge raises a range of issues that pose challenges for the library and information services (LIS) sector. Professionals and organisations are increasingly aware that they deal with aspects of Australian Indigenous knowledge within their collections and services and that these require culturally appropriate management. This chapter discusses Indigenous knowledge and its intersection with the LIS sector in Australia, drawing attention to its significance and relevance to Indigenous Australians. It concludes by emphasising the need for Indigenous involvement in the LIS sector and the importance of protocols to guide practice in this most complex of intersections.

Indigenous Knowledge

The challenges for LIS professionals begin with the imperative to recognise Indigenous knowledge as a distinct system of knowledge that requires handling and management regimes for its materials that are different from those applied by the Western system of knowledge management.

Indigenous knowledge defies simple definition. 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. (1) Despite contentious terminology, Indigenous knowledge is understood to be the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples. In Australia, a common misunderstanding is that this equates Indigenous knowledge to 'past' knowledge, when in fact Indigenous people view their knowledge as continuing.

Whilst Indigenous knowledge systems are now recognised as dynamic and changing, orally transmitted from generation to generation and produced in the context of Indigenous peoples' close and continuing relationships with their environment, definitions, nevertheless, tend to reflect or include the particular focus of those who define it. The following definition of traditional knowledge from the Working Group on the Implementation of Article 80(j) and Related Provisions for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2) outlines some characteristics of this knowledge and underlines its position in relation to global environmental concerns:

 
   Traditional knowledge refers to the knowledge, innovations and 
   practices of indigenous and local communities around the world. 
   Developed from experience gained over centuries and adapted to the 
   local culture and environment, traditional knowledge is 
   transmitted orally from generation to generation. It tends to be 
   collectively owned and takes the form of stories, songs, folklore, 
   proverbs, cultural values, beliefs, rituals, community laws, local 
   language, and agricultural practices, including the development of 
   plant species and animal breeds. Traditional knowledge is mainly 
   of a practical nature, particularly in such fields as agriculture, 
   fisheries, health, horticulture, and forestry ... There is a 
   growing appreciation of the value of traditional knowledge ... This 
   knowledge is valuable not only to those who depend on it in their 
   daily lives, but to modern industry and agriculture as well. Many 
   widely used products, such as plant based medicines and cosmetics 
   are derived from traditional knowledge. 

The World Intellectual Property Organization's definition reflects its focus by setting out aspects of knowledge that warrant protection.

 
   '[T]raditional knowledge' ... refer[s] to tradition-based literary, 
   artistic or scientific works; performances; inventions; scientific 
   discoveries; designs; marks, names and symbols; undisclosed 
   information; and all other tradition-based innovations and 
   creations resulting from intellectual activity in the industrial, 
   scientific, literary or artistic fields. 'tradition-based' refers 
   to knowledge systems, creations, innovations and cultural 
   expressions which: have generally been transmitted from generation 
   to generation; are generally regarded as pertaining to a particular 
   people or its territory; and, are constantly evolving in response 
   to a changing environment. Categories of traditional knowledge 
   could include: agricultural knowledge; scientific knowledge; 
   technical knowledge; ecological knowledge; medicinal knowledge, 
   including related medicines and remedies; biodiversity-related 
   knowledge; 'expressions of folklore' in the form of music, dance, 
   song, handicrafts, designs, stories and artwork; elements of 
   languages, such as names, geographical indications and symbols; 
   and movable cultural properties. Excluded from this description of 
   TK would be items not resulting from intellectual activity in the 
   industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields, such as human 
   remains, languages in general and other similar elements of 
   'heritage' in the broad sense. (3) 

Indigenous knowledge, although increasingly recognised and valued for its role in sustaining the livelihoods of millions of people globally, and for its potential for innovation, nevertheless remains devalued when attempts to define it do so by contrasting it with Western knowledge. Many attempts to understand and explain the characteristics of Indigenous knowledge as a system through contrast to the Western knowledge system simplify Indigenous knowledge systems and misrepresent them. (4) For example, there is a tendency to view Indigenous knowledge as an unevaluated or untested data set for the scientific community to extract, validate and incorporate into scientific frameworks. (5)

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. It has been driven by research into sustainable development practices in developing countries (supported mainly by UN programs and non-government organisations) as well as the scientific community's concern about conservation/loss of biodiversity. (6)

The convergence of global sustainable development, conservation, scientific and capitalist interests has increased interest in activities like bioprospecting and gene-harvesting which harness multinational corporate interest via, for example, the pharmaceutical industry for the purposes of innovation based on the continued and largely unacknowledged use of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Indigenous knowledge, from these sets of interests, is increasingly viewed as a commodity--something that can be utilised, transferred to other contexts, developed, innovated, integrated, extracted, and patented.

The difficulties in protecting Indigenous people's intellectual property rights are associated with the oral nature of Indigenous knowledge and concepts of communal ownership. Western regimes for management of intellectual property do not provide effective mechanisms for recognising and protecting Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. The question of how to give recognition, protect, and recompense what is often communal intellectual property…