Integrating sustainability literacy in Portuguese LIS education

The social, economic, and environmental challenges the world is currently facing urges us to tackle climate risks, but also to raise awareness, assess and improve global knowledge on sustainable development. Higher education must play a key role for competence development for sustainability enabling people to acquire and produce knowledge, but also to reflect on further effects and the complexity of behavior and decisions on the future. However, there is still no agreement on the competencies that are considered essential (key competencies) for integrating sustainability in curricula and courses, as well as no consensus about the best practices needed. In what specifically concerns the intersection of Library and Information Services (LIS) Studies with Sustainability and Competences Management, the main research focus has been on sustainability literacy. We seek to contribute to the debate on sustainability transdisciplinary contexts and the relevance of reflecting on LIS students’ recognizable qualifications profile and employability. Thus, this paper discusses the strategic approach to sustainability competences in LIS studies followed by NOVA University Lisbon anchored in the creation in 2015 of the Master in Information Management and Curation, a joint venture between NOVA FCSH and NOVA IMS (Information Management School). The main outcomes emphasize that this approach prepare students for sustainability intervention areas:
(1) information and sustainability literacy trainers / facilitators for internal and / or external audiences;
and (2) advocacy and evidence-based management to promote information services’ contribution to sustainable development.