Indigenous knowledge and libraries: an afterword.

Indigenous peoples and those who create, manage and value libraries and archives share a commitment to the preservation and transmission of knowledge. This superficial generalisation belies many complexities of culture and context. But it is crucial and consequently bears repetition: Indigenous peoples and those who create, manage and value libraries and archives share a commitment to the preservation and transmission of knowledge.

As has been illustrated in this collection, notably by Joe Neparrna Gumbula in his enthralling and engaging exploration of the Gupapuyna legacy, knowledge is at the core of being for Indigenous peoples. It locates individuals precisely and inextricably in their communities and interrelates individuals and communities with their natural and spiritual environments. It is conveyed through language and culture as traditional knowledge which is privileged and required to be used appropriately by those authorised within the knowledge system. It has a coherence and orthodoxy which must be maintained to preserve its integrity and passed on to provide meaning for future generations. But it is not static or frozen, not 'carbon dated', it is alive and in responsive dialogue with vibrant cultural life.

For library, archives and information professionals, knowledge is the stuff in which we deal. We have a responsibility to curate it and ensure its transmission through good times and bad to those who may need or appreciate it in other periods and places. Our responsibility goes beyond the artefact--be it clay tablet, manuscript, codex, photograph or dataset--to preserve and make available the knowledge it carries. This is a deeply felt commitment which goes to the core of our being as professionals. It is a commitment which has emboldened many to protect collections and to promote the transmission of knowledge in the face of repression and sometimes acute personal danger. The commitment defines a professional identity which determines the attitudes and behaviours of information professionals. It guides our professional practice and the ways in which we respond to the duties of preservation and transmission of knowledge and the needs of our clients. It is expressed through our body of professional knowledge and demonstrated through our methods and skills. In the dominant professional modality, it derives its primary warrant from Article 19…