This book explores changing understandings of literacy and its place in contemporary workplace settings. It points to new questions and dilemmas to consider in planning and teaching workplace education. By taking a social perspective on literacies in the workplace, this book challenges traditional thinking about workplace literacy as functional skills, and enables readers to see the complexity of literacy practices and their embeddedness in culture, knowledge, and action. A mixture of ethnographic studies, analysis, and personal reflections makes these ideas accessible and relevant to a wide range of readers in the fields of adult literacy and language education and helps to bridge the divide between theory and practice in the field of workplace education. This book features: (1) four distinct but related ethnographies of literacy use in contemporary workplaces; (2) a social practice view of literacy brought to the workplace; (3) collaborative research undertaken by experienced workplace educators and academics working in the areas of adult literacy and second language learning; (4) implications chapters for both practice and theory--presented not as a series of steps but rather as reflections by seasoned educators on shared dilemmas; and (5) engaging, accessible writing that encourages workplace practitioners to read, learn from, and do their own research. After a preface and an introduction (Nancy Jackson), this book is organized into two parts. Part I, "Literacies in Use" in Workplace Settings, presents: (1) Literacies, Compliance and Certification (M. E. Belfiore); (2) Paperwork as the Lifeblood of Quality (S. Folinsbee); (3) Working Life and Literacies at The Urban Hotel (J. Hunter); and (4) Literacies at Work in a Culture of Documentation (T. Defoe). Part II, Reflections on Learning, includes: (5) Workplace Learning and Literacies in Practice (M. E. Belfiore and S. Folinsbee); (6) Implications for Practice (T. Defoe, S. Folinsbee, and M. E. Belfiore); (7) Implications for Theory: Conversation on Collaborative Research (J. Hunter); and (8) Appendix: Notes on Ethnography as Research Method (N. Jackson).