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This paper aims to identify the current state of knowledge management (KM) diffusion in LIS schools. In terms of content, we have identified two principal approaches to the perception of KM in the LIS community: an active approach, seeing KM as an opportunity for the LIS community to change; and a passive approach, seeing KM merely as a topic of information management with a new label. Our research analyzed study programs at 145 LIS schools and in 188 LIS study programs in the United States, Canada, Europe (in particular, Russia), Australia, India, South Africa, China, Japan, Singapore, and Brazil and observed the inclusion or non-inclusion of KM courses in those programs. We employ a narrower approach to defining a KM course as being one having the term “knowledge management” in its name. The findings indicate that KM courses are integrated in one-third of the LIS study programs analyzed, and in schools with an information science focus this figure can rise to around 45%. Given the importance of this area and various views regarding KM diffusion in LIS schools, we recommend that those who have already implemented a KM course in their LIS programs create an informal community of practice (CoP) on KM implementation in LIS schools and build an open database of lessons learned from such integration, thereby capturing and sharing this crucial knowledge in a single place.

The paper assesses the topicality of Vernadsky's concept of the noosphere, coined over almost twenty years starting in the early 20th century. Emphasizing the uniqueness of Vernadsky's concept of the noosphere as the transformation of the biosphere by a man using reason, we concentrate on the assessment of the utopian or realistic nature of his vision of the future of humanity. Based on the philosophical case-studies analysis, it identifies the ideological roots of the noosphere concept, the development of views on the concept in time, the role of reason and scientific thinking, the opinions of its supporters and critics, and Moiseev's related concept of co-evolution. We point out the correlation between Vernadsky's concept of the noosphere and Moiseev's bifurcation and his two imperatives as necessary conditions for the co-evolution of nature and man. We document that Vernadský did not only think about the positive role of reason in the creation and development of the noosphere, but he was also aware of the possibility of its misuse. We compare Vernadsky's idea of the collective reason creation with Kurzweil's concept of technological singularity, Crutzen's concept of the Anthropocene, Haff's concept of the technosphere and Cer's scenario of the possible future development towards the creation of tech subjects and the replacement of the biosphere with the technosphere. We also assess the possibility of approximating essential concept-forming elements, i.e. philosophical categories, collective reason, the collective intelligence of humanity, and scientific knowledge facilitated by information and communication technology. Ultimately, conclusions concerning the topicality of Vernadsky's concept of noosphere are formulated. We argue that Vernadský's concept of the noosphere is timeless and should be taken not as a utopia but, on the contrary, as a scenario of possible development along the line of geosphere – biosphere – noosphere, prospectively with its transfer to the cosmic dimension.

A characteristic feature of modern society is the ever-expanding information space. Hidden information attacks harm the lives of individuals and society in general. In this regard, studies of critical thinking seem particularly important to us. Therefore, critical thinking is interpreted in the academic discourse mainly in connection with the effort to cope with the growing amount of misinformation and hate speech. While teachers and policymakers consider critical thinking an important educational goal, many are unclear about developing this competency in a school setting. For many key competencies, the question is whether and how they can be acquired through planned educational courses/programs. Although there are specific training programs for critical thinking as a core competency, their design and effectiveness are scientifically controversial. Instruction in critical thinking becomes extremely important because it allows individuals to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the information they encounter and promotes good decision-making and problem-solving in real-world applications. Despite the ambiguity of the term critical thinking, its close connection with logical culture is evident. Logical culture is the culture of thinking manifested in the culture of written and oral speech. The starting point for developing critical thinking skills should be logic. Logic as a science of correct thinking is the basis on which the program for developing critical thinking is based. The paper’s main aim is to identify the status of critical thinking as an independent discipline. A partial aim of the paper is to define the relationship between critical thinking and logic. The paper is divided into six parts, while the main findings are summarised in conclusions. In its purest form, logic does not teach how to work with a changing context or apply it to the subject realities of various disciplines, but such characteristics as precision, clarity, provability, and persuasiveness are key for this science. It is through logic that the basic principles of thinking, which we call critical, are revealed, the rules of argumentation and definitions are explained, and misconceptions and errors are displayed. Logic is distinguished from other sciences by the fundamentality of the discussed problems. Logic is the only science that combines mathematics, computer science and humanities education. We believe that modern logic is only the beginning of the first of the sciences of a new generation, which will be invited to combine the analyticity of the scientific method with the synthetics of perception of the humanitarian point of view. Therefore, we believe that the development of critical thinking skills appears to be productive in combination with the study of logic and is a priority in the modern educational process. It is difficult to imagine the formation of critical thinking in isolation from the building of the logical culture of the individual, which gives him a solid foundation for understanding the essence of critical thinking.

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