< Heather De Forest 1 , Luanne Freund 2 , Aleha McCauley 2 , Heather L. O’Brien 2 and Suzanne Smythe 1 > < 1 Simon Fraser University>, <Vancouver, BC, Canada> < 2 University of British Columbia>, <Vancouver, BC, Canada> Building infrastructures for university-community knowledge exchange: The Role of Information Professionals and Literacy Educators (Panel) Abstract or Résumé: This panel argues that information professionals and literacy educators play an important bridging role between universities and community groups and stakeholders. We describe the context of university- community knowledge exchange, which is increasingly expected, but remains under-supported and under-theorised, and consider new opportunities that exist to support and build capacity in researchers and communities to co-create, share, and use information. We focus on the training and professional development needed to position information professionals and literacy educators as knowledge brokers, and innovative projects that demonstrate their value and potential in this role. 1. Problem Statement Community engagement, knowledge exchange (KE) 1 , and open access to research data and products feature heavily in Canadian universities’ strategic plans and (inter)national funding agencies’ policies. There are growing expectations that university research be accountable to and benefit Canadians. Drivers of these movements include: 1) increased computational power and new media that are changing the nature of scholarly outputs (e.g., data sets, interactive and social media) and their evaluation (e.g., altmetrics); 2) growing concerns about the social and economic value of research and transparency in research practices (Acord & Harley 2013); and 3) the development of principles and practices to create more equitable relations between researchers and research participants, in particular among First Nations, Métis, Inuit and Indigenous peoples in Canada. 1 Shaxson, Bielak, Ahmed, Brien et al. (2012) use the term “KStar” or “K*” as an “overarching concept” and “useful shorthand” (Foreword) for knowledge translation, knowledge mobilization, knowledge exchange, and so on. We use “ knowledge exchange” in this proposal to reflect: reciprocity between researchers and knowledge users, evidence-based decision making, and the alignment research processes and outcomes with community needs and priorities (CMHA, 2018). KE is an appropriate term to describe the range of activities that occur in knowledge creation and sharing in diverse contexts and geographies.