A call for the library community to deploy best practices toward a database for biocultural knowledge relating to climate change
| Date | 11 January 2022 |
| Pages | 1164-1183 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2021-0135 |
| Published date | 11 January 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Martha B. Lerski |
A call for the library community
to deploy best practices toward
a database for biocultural
knowledge relating
to climate change
Martha B. Lerski
Lehman College, Leonard Lief Library, Bronx, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose–In this paper, a call to the library and informationscience community to support documentation and
conservation of cultural and biocultural heritage has been presented
Design/methodology/approach –Basedin existing Literature,this proposal is generativeand descriptive—
rather than prescriptive—regardingprecisely how libraries should collaborate to employ technical and ethical
best practicesto provide access to vital data, research and culturalnarratives relating to climate.
Findings –COVID-19 and climate destruction signal urgent global challenges. Library best practices are
positionedto respond to climate change.Literature indicateshow libraries preserve,share and cross-link cultural
and scientific knowledge. With wildfires, drought, flooding and other extreme or slow-onset weather events
presentingdangers, it is imperativethat librariestake joint action toward facilitatingsustainableand open access
to relevant information.
Practical implications –An initiative could create an easily-accessible, open, linked, curated, secure and
stakeholder-respectful database for global biocultural heritage—documenting traditional knowledge, local
knowledge and climate adaptation traditions.
Social implications –Ongoing stakeholder involvement from the outset should acknowledge preferences
regarding whether or how much to share information. Ethical elements must be embedded from concept to
granular access and metadata elements.
Originality/value –Rooted in the best practices and service orientation of library science, the proposal envisions
a sustainedresponseto a common global challenge. Stewardship wouldalso broadly assistthe global community
by preserving and providingstrea mlinedac cesst oinf ormationof instrumenta lva lueto addressing climate change.
Keywords Libraries, Open access, Local knowledge, Stewardship, Climate change, Best practices, Repository,
Database management systems, Traditional knowledge, Biocultural heritage
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Information about adaptive cultural heritage responses to a constantly-changing natural
world is dispersed. Much local, indigenous and traditional knowledge is only discoverable
through libraries’cataloging published—and publicly-inaccessible—academic journals and
books. Information and tangible and intangible heritage are vulnerable to disasters—as well
as to silos that frustrate access to knowledge. In addition, some conversations, conferences,
oral histories and intangible heritage traditions are shared via ephemeral systems; those
ongoing engagements associated with the development of a dynamic database are valuable
information sources in themselves. Furthermore, current open information architectures do
not adequately facilitate cross searching of scientific and cultural data and research. Libraries
have a special role to play in conserving, migrating, securing and providing access to
knowledge bases essential to proactively addressing what the UN secretary general
characterized as the defining challenge of our time (Sengupta, 2018).
JD
78,5
1164
The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their questions and suggestions.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 8 July 2021
Revised 17 July 2021
9 December 2021
Accepted 12 December 2021
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 78 No. 5, 2022
pp. 1164-1183
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2021-0135
Libraries, through a regularly-updated platform, can support collaboration among
Information Science professionals and can facilitate reciprocation of knowledge-sharing with
thosecommunities which mightnot broadly have accessto climate-relevantsubscription-based
information. In addition, members of the library community can support their individual
communities’climate interests, which have been exhibited through worldwide marches and
protests, by supporting a professionally-structured database that could also facilitate and
amplify engagementthrough citizen social (Kythreotis et al., 2019) and citizen science.
Global challenges posed by climate changes and related risks to material and intangible
culture require expertise beyond that of one individual or institution; hence this call to
members of the global library and information sciences community. For instance, the United
States Environmental Protection Agency Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center (EPA,
2021) effort proved unsustainable during the Trump administration because it was
dependent on the wisdom, funding and input of just one government—not a collective group
with dedication to preserving data (Weiser, 2017). Distributed systems and evolving
infrastructures should be considered in planning.
In addition, conceptual reorientations through the process of envisioning resources
which incorporate collaborative approaches (Kalafatis et al., 2019a,b;Whyte, 2013)could
illuminate additional paths toward addressing a unique and pressing global challenge
demanding novel avenues and partnerships. While this paper primarily presents an
argument based in scholarly literature, it opens to other developing information sources
supporting action—including gray literature, conferences and local and cross-disciplinary
engagements. This paper is an analytical foundation for a call to action.
Through easily-accessible linked data, scientific information systems and traditional and
local knowledge can provide co ntent and generate transdisci plinary approaches to
sustainable solutions to climate challenges. This project idea acknowledges and responds
to the symbiotic relationship between culture and nature, art and science, that has been
understood by native peoples—and is now increasingly understood more broadly, as
discussed below. Also, as COVID home confinements have taught those of us fortunate to be
able to work digitally in isolation, online platforms can facilitate that intergenerational
knowledge transfer and communication so valued by indigenous peoples.
Literature review and methodology
UNESCO’s extended definition of intangible cultural heritage is critical inunderstanding why this
proposed project is worth launching: “The importance of intangible cultural heritage is not the
cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted
through it from one generation to the next (UNESCO, n.d.b). Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples
can provide specific as well as paradigm-shifting potential paths (Rou
eet al., 2017). As Daniel
Wildcat argued in his keynote address at the “Climate Change and Culture in the Great Plains,”
conference (2021), Native American traditions view elements and living beings of the land, water
and air as relatives, not resources—and that a relational lens brings with it a sense of responsibility
rather than a perspective of extraction without considering long-term consequences.
Collaborative approaches may encounter skepticism. This conceptual article advocates
for a thorough consideration of ecological approaches which may accelerate climate planning
at a time when all reasonable modus operandi should be considered. During the Cold War,
multiple academic institutions and the military worked creatively and outside of standard
silos to create the Arpanet, an early distributed computing system and precursor to the
Internet that challenged traditional visions of information structures and organizational
responsibilities (Lukasik, 2011). Looking to memory institutions, Britain’sVictoria and Albert
Museum (n.d.),“founded in a time of optimistic belief in the power of industry, a point in
history which we now know has had devastating consequences for our planet,”includes
among its current concrete and conceptual sustainability initiatives a symposium to “explore
A call for a
biocultural
climate
database
1165
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