APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARIES Dr. M. Koteswara Rao University Librarian, University of Hyderabad, P.O. Central University, Hyderabad-500046
[email protected] ABSTRACT Knowledge management is basically a business concept aimed at enhancing and improving operations to gain profits and competitive advantage. However, the tools and techniques of knowledge management can also be applied to non-profit organizations such as libraries to improve their services to meet the changing user needs. The environment in which today’s libraries operate, has drastically transformed due to the arrival of e-resources and the Internet. As a result, the role of academic libraries is also changing to provide the competitive advantage for the parent organizations in the knowledge society. This paper aims at establishing the importance of knowledge in the knowledge economy, impact of information technologies on libraries, library’s role in knowledge management and improvements in library services and user satisfaction. Keywords: Knowledge Management; Digital information services; Academic libraries INTRODUCTION The management of information has long been regarded as the domain of librarians and libraries. Librarians and information professionals are known to be experts in information searching, selecting, acquiring, organizing, preserving, repackaging, disseminating or delivery. The basic functions of a library are to collect, process, organize, disseminate documents or information to its user community. In the digital era the academic library is a treasurehouse of human knowledge, participant in knowledge innovation, and an important link in the knowledge innovation. However, knowledge management should never be viewed as a way to control the process of knowledge creation. The growth of the Internet and digital technology has caused a dramatic change in the scholarly communication system. For academic libraries, which are responsible for preserving and providing access to the scholarly record, these changing scholarly communication practices are creating both new challenges and new opportunities. Academic Libraries have traditionally focused on acquiring externally produced work to make available to their local communities. Within the information chain, libraries perform an intermediary function between publishers and end users. Academic institutions exist to impart and create knowledge, and thus, they have a role to play in the knowledge management process. To achieve their institutional mission, that is, education, research and service to society, libraries need to be consciously and explicitly managing the processes associated with the creation and sharing of knowledge.
Knowledge management is an appropriate discipline for enabling a smooth integration of these new needs that have arisen from the present economic, social and technological context, into higher education. Academic libraries have always facilitated information exchange, so they are well placed to take on the knowledge management functions. It is clear in the era of a knowledge society and knowledge economy, university libraries have a major role to play. WHAT CONSTITUTE KNOWLEDGE? Because knowledge management is relatively a new concept it is viewed differently by different people from different backgrounds, and hence its definitions also vary. To determine what knowledge management is, it is helpful first to distinguish the differences between data, information and knowledge. The traditional paradigm of information systems is based on seeking a consensual interpretation of information based on socially dictated norms. This has resulted in the confusion between ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’; however, both are distinct entities. It is evident from literature that knowledge is an intrinsically ambiguous term, and therefore, defining it precisely is difficult. It is because different disciplines use the term to denote different things. Despite the difficulties in defining knowledge, it is well agreed that, “knowledge is the expertise, experience and capability of staff, integrated with processes and corporate memory”. Thus, knowledge management is concerned with the exploitation and development of the knowledge assets of an organization with a view to furthering the organizations objectives. The knowledge to be managed includes both explicit (documented) knowledge, and tacit (subjective) knowledge. Knowledge management entails all of those processes associated with the identification, sharing and creation of knowledge. This requires systems for the creation and maintenance of knowledge repositories, and to cultivate and facilitate the sharing of knowledge. THE NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE COMMISSION Realizing the importance of information in the knowledge society, the Government of India has set up an advisory body in 2005 called “National Knowledge Commission (NKC)”, which has five focus areas namely - easy access to knowledge, emphasis on education at all levels, creation of knowledge, application of knowledge to all sectors, and better delivery of services in all sectors. The NKC has also recognized public libraries as an important element in the knowledge economy. In order to facilitate sharing and access to information among higher education institutions the NKC has created a National Knowledge Network (NKN), a high speed data communication network, which interconnect Institutions of higher learning. It is a high capacity countrywide Infrastructure at education & research Institute level, to support education and research applications, and other application as envisaged by these institutions which require very high bandwidth. The National Knowledge Network is expected to facilitate creation, acquisition and sharing of Knowledge resources among the large participating Institutions; collaborative
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research; country wide classrooms (CWCR) etc. and help the country to evolve as Knowledge Society in the years to come. WHY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARIES? As a result of rapid environmental changes, academic libraries need to rethink their organizational structures in an attempt to provide quality service to the university community. The emphasis is more on the needs of the library user than the needs of the library. In the present era of information and communication technology, knowledge has become a key resource. Although the conventional function of libraries is to collect, process, disseminate, store and utilize information to provide service to their user communities; the environment in which libraries operate today has changed due to the developments in ICT, which necessitates new ways of information handling. Knowledge management is a viable means in which academic libraries could improve their services in the knowledge economy. This can be achieved through creating an organizational culture of sharing knowledge and expertise within the library. The success of academic libraries depends on their ability to utilize information and knowledge of its staff to better serve the needs of the academic user community. The changing role of academic librarians as knowledge managers emphasizes the need to constantly update or acquire new skills to remain relevant to the today’s library environment. Academic libraries may need to restructure their functions, expand their roles and responsibilities for effective delivery of library and information services to meet the ever changing user needs. Universities as Knowledge Producers Traditionally, universities are involved in knowledge production, storage, dissemination and authorization. Also, the acquisition of knowledge and learning forms the main focus of universities. It may be noted that the university is concerned with the conservation of knowledge and ideas; teaching, research, publication, extension and services and interpretation. Oosterlink and Leuven (2002) pointed out that “in our era of knowledge society and a knowledge economy, it is clear that universities have a major role to play”. In other words, universities are faced with a challenge to better create and disseminate knowledge to society. These demands require the development of partnerships between universities and curricula customized to meet students’ needs. It can be noted that universities are complicated environments, incorporating a variety of very different kinds of work. The present the structure and functioning of the university system is also undergoing rapid transformation due to globalization, developments in ICT, online education and changing user needs. Consequently, the libraries have to maintain the same level of information delivery mechanisms in a changed environment. Due to these challenges, it is clear that academic libraries are turning to be “libraries without walls” and the information is mostly in digital format.
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Knowledge management practices can be effectively applied to university libraries to enable them to provide services which meet the current user needs in a more realistic way rather than “spoon feeding” the students, faculty and scientists. The use of ICTs in universities makes it possible for courses, modules and training programmes that are interactive and multimedia based to be delivered on any time any place basis. Under this the mandate of future libraries should be based on the following four guiding principles: 1. Identifying what knowledge is sought by the users 2. Analyzing how we can add value to this knowledge 3. Specifying actions to achieve the above 4. Reviewing the usage of the knowledge by the users In order to achieve the above, we need to take into consideration the nature of information resources, technologies, linkages, sharing, delivery, user needs, and human factor (staff). CHALLENGES FACED BY ACADEMIC LIBRARIES The rapid growths of information and communication technologies have enabled libraries to collect less of print material and more of electronic material in multiple formats and media. These technologies have enabled academic libraries in providing services and resources to the university community on their desktop computers. It is a challenge that requires universities to restructure their services to meet the needs of the academic community. Academic libraries have to provide information services for users acting in the changing academic environment. Academic librarians need to liaise with library users, faculties and schools to support the effective teaching, learning and research in universities. The changes brought by electronic media necessitate transformation in the way librarians think about their jobs, the users of information and communication process of which they are part of. Academic librarians must strive to remain competent navigators of each medium on order to assist the library users. The challenge for academic librarians is to manage services, which offer users a carefully selected mix of multiple formats and media. Changing user needs Experts argue that knowledge workers will be the most important profession in this century. One of the major roles of academic librarians in the knowledge economy is that of knowledge managers. It is evident that academic librarians can no longer meet the information needs of the university community through the traditional supply-based means of collection development. They need to understand the information needs of users. In other words, academic librarians should extend their information management roles and enhance their knowledge management competencies. Due to societal and technological developments, traditional teaching changes increasingly in creating learning environments. Students participate in flexible learning processes via more ‘indirect’ contacts with teachers and facilities, including scientific information. The challenges require academic libraries to offer user-friendly ICT oriented facilities (like remote access to information and services), analyze the changing user needs and give support to users in new academic environments. 4
Organizational structures have to be established for acquiring information in digital form involving licensing and copyright. Thus, digital era has brought in changes in information formats, delivery models and technologies, which have given a new role to the academic librarian. STRATEGIES FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARIES Knowledge management process involves the creation, capturing, sharing and utilization of knowledge. Whether the key objective of academic libraries is to provide resources and information services to support the university community, the key resource that is required is knowledge. That is, the knowledge of the library’s operation, the knowledge of library users and their needs, knowledge of the library collection and knowledge of library facilities and technologies available. These types of knowledge must be put together so that new knowledge is created which leads to the improvement and development of service to the users. However, this diverse knowledge is rather dispersed across all library sections and up the library hierarchy. The knowledge is not held by one individual only but by a number of individuals. Academic librarians can become part of the knowledge creation process through participating in the teaching and research activities of the university. Knowledge creation in this context should involve all the management effort through which the academic library consciously strives to acquire competencies which are neither available internally nor externally. Successful libraries are those that are user-centric and are able to respond to users’ needs. As users became more sophisticated, academic libraries need to develop innovative ways to respond - to add value to their services. It is important to create good library website to enable librarians to not only provide an in-depth customized reference service but also to become knowledgeable about handling different user enquiries. For academic libraries to utilize their know-how, it is necessary that they become knowledge-based organizations. Academic libraries need to prepare themselves for using and sharing knowledge. The importance of knowledge sharing should be based on the capability of academic librarians to identify, integrate and acquire external knowledge. New Role of the Librarian The transformation from librarian to knowledge manager is clearly underway. However, this impending shift of incorporating knowledge management in the library activities requires a great deal of preparation. The challenge for the information professional lies in applying competencies used in ‘managing information’ to the broader picture of ‘managing knowledge’. A recent report issued by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) concluded that “publishing services are rapidly becoming a norm for research libraries.” The success of academic libraries depends on the capabilities and skills of its staff in fulfilling the needs of the university community more efficiently and effectively. To be successful in this environment, individuals need to acquire new combination of skills such as technical, organizational and interpersonal skills.
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Academic librarian should focus more on user-centric services that meet the objectives of the university. There are many new initiatives that can be taken up by the academic librarians such as: • Creating institutional repositories to support the archiving and distribution of a wide range of scholarly and teaching materials produced by faculty at their institutions. •
Developing digital publishing services to support the design, management and distribution of online journals and monographs, and
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Engaging in education, outreach and advocacy activities addressing scholarly communication issues.
University libraries can add value to the knowledge creation process in a number of ways and some of them are given below: 1. By working closely with the academic staff (faculty) in the selection of library Resources. 2. By working closely with the publishers in negotiating access terms – price for content access, use and distribution. 3. Providing facilities for on-demand printing of material for users within the library. 4. Providing on-line & off-campus access to aggregated, value-added and subscribed resources in electronic and/or print form. 5. Market intelligence for the publishers through a number of channels ranging from reviews to the ‘blogs’ to be produced from the new system and adding value for the users within their institutions. The ALA’s Association of College and Research Libraries has listed the following “top ten” assumptions for libraries of the future: 1. Digitization and digital collections and preservation 2. Data storage and retrieval skill set for librarians will continue to evolve in response to changing needs and expectations. 3. Demands for faster and greater access to services 4. Debates about intellectual property more common 5. Growing demand for technology-related services; additional funding 6. Higher education will increasingly see the institution as a business 7. Students will increasingly see themselves as customers and consumers 8. Distance learning more common in HE alongside traditional model 9. Free public access to information stemming from publicly funded research will grow 10. Privacy will continue to be important in Librarianship. CONCLUSIONS It can be clearly seen that the environment in which academic libraries operate today is changing. It is both faced with challenges and opportunities thrown open by the information and communication technologies particularly the Internet. The Academic libraries need to respond to these challenges in order to better serve the needs of the entire academic community. One way of doing that is engaging in knowledge management activities, that is, creating, capturing, sharing and utilizing knowledge to achieve the library goals. Knowledge
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management is a viable means in which academic libraries could improve their services and become more responsive to the needs of users in the university. It is important for academic libraries to encourage librarians to constantly update their skills and competencies in this changing environment. With a concerted effort, Knowledge Management will help to increase libraries’ operational efficiency and cater to the everincreasing needs of their clientele. While the world is poised for change in the new knowledge economy, libraries of all types are undergoing drastic changes too in the digital era. The new role of libraries in future might be as a learning and knowledge center for their users as well as the intellectual commons for their respective communities where people and ideas interact in both the real and virtual environments to expand learning and facilitate the creation of new knowledge. REFERENCES: 1. Adamson, V; Bacsich, P and others (2008). Library management Systems Study: an evaluation and horizon scan of the current library management systems and related systems and scope for UK higher education. 2. Branin, J J (2003). Knowledge Management in Academic Libraries: Building the Knowledge Bank at the Ohio State University. Journal of Library Administration, Vol. 39 (4); pp 41-56. 3. Foo, S; Chaudhry, A S; Majid, S M and Logan, E (2002). Academic libraries in transition: challenges ahead. Proceedings of the World Library Summit, Singapore, April 22-26. 4. http://islab.sas.ntu.edu.sg:8000/user/schubert/publications/2002/02wls_fmt.pdf 5. Hans-Christoph Hobohm “Knowledge management: libraries and librarians taking up the challenge”; IFLA Publications (Volume 108); K.G. Saur; 2004; 220 pages. 6. Krogh, Georg Von: Ichijo, Kazuo; and Nonaka, Ikujiro (2000). Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press. 7. Oosterlink, A and K U Leuven (2002). Knowledge management in post-secondary education: universities. http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00027000/M00027356.pdf 8. Roknuzzaman, Md and Umemoto, Katsuhiro (2009). How library practitioners view knowledge management in libraries - a qualitative study; Library Management 30 (8/9), pp. 643–656. 9. Sharon Teng and Suliman Hawamdeh (2002). Knowledge Management in Public Libraries. Aslib Proceedings 54 (3), pp. 188-197. 10. Upendra Prasad Mainali (2010): The Role of Knowledge Management in Libraries; Infolib, 3 (3).
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