Engaged Scholarship

Information is power. As a result, the investigation of information creation-organization- management-dissemination and communication processes has the potential to address, and rectify, historically imbalanced social, cultural, political, and economic inequities in our global networked information society. As scholars and educators in the library and information science (LIS) professions we have a tremendous responsibility to apply our knowledge and information practices towards making progressive community-wide changes that make a real difference in the lives of disadvantaged people on society’s margins.

My engaged scholarship draws on intersections in research-teaching-service opportunities provided in the American academy towards this goal and furthers social justice and social equity agendas to meet the needs and expectations of minority and underserved populations dispersed across local, regional, national, and/or international boundaries.

The figure visualizes select details of conceptualization and application of my approach. The existing information (and communication) world presents a possible scenario for needed action via information and communication in terms of an underserved population and a lack of social justice they might experience. The LIS educator and American academy is part of this reality that they choose to proactively address and change via drawing intersections and generating impact of their information-related research-teaching- service obligations (to various degrees of engagement). Examples of information work in different domains (e.g., information management, information literacy, information technology use, etc.) is orchestrated via community engagement (i.e., collaborating with diverse community stakeholders) to result in positive social justice outcomes (e.g., increased community capacities, community solving problems, etc.) in a changed information world.

This conceptualization and application of my LIS and communication scholarship has been applied externally in developing collaborations with community stakeholders. It is also represented internally within the academy in engaged scholarship that is an intrinsic part within a holistic model attempting to draw connections between research, teaching, and service components in an integrated manner and participate in community building, community development, and academic outreach activities. Within a specific lens of analysis, such an outlook provides a deeper understanding (and participation) of the users and their social, cultural, and behavioral contexts in the LIS and communication professions. At one level, the implementation of my community engagement involves research activities that inform my teaching and service; also, my teaching practices and service became part of a ‘community engagement laboratory’ (or engaged scholarship) that are grounds for reflection, research and analysis.

Key components of engaged scholarship:

  • Collaborative and shared decision-making in the “doing” of information-related work
  • Ethical sharing in the investments, benefits, and outcomes (corresponding to roles & efforts)
  • Development of tangible “products” and concrete deliverables
  • Change in status quo and change agency
  • Documentation and dissemination, adding to the body of world knowledge