KNOWLEDGE BUILDING AND MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARIES – THE NEED AND THE WAY – APPENDED WITH A SUCCESSFUL STORY OF ST.MARY’S COLLEGE, THRISSUR

Introduction

It is understood that ‘Resource’ in library is information/knowledge resource. And this knowledge resource is the corner stone upon which the library is built. It is very much true in the case of present day libraries irrespective of whether it is academic, research, special or public libraries, for, today’s societies are information societies and our economy is knowledge economy. “Knowledge economy is the use of knowledge to generate tangible and intangible values” (http://wikipedia.org/wiki/knowledge_economy ). So it is ‘knowledge building and management’ the paper is all about. Also there will be short description of the resource development and management initiatives of Library, St. Mary’s College, Thrissur, Kerala.

The libraries and librarians are the dealers of this inevitable information and knowledge resources. The history of evolution of libraries tells us how the written knowledge was collected sorted and preserved in the libraries. (We were developers of collection of information). Librarians were the safe custodians of these rare and valuable collections of knowledge. Once the general public is allowed to have the access to these knowledge resources, the librarians started to acquire the expertise not only to information searching, selecting, acquiring, organizing, preserving but also for repackaging, disseminating and serving the public with needed information. (Yes, now we do manage the collection through customization using the blessings of ICT and making the collection of information more user-friendly) In his famous five laws of Library Science, Dr. S.R. Ranganathan, father of Indian Library Science asserted that it is the duty of the librarian to give right information to the right reader at the right time in a right personal way. And this is what is the essence of knowledge management, though the term was coined long after Dr.S.R. Ranganathan. But, in this 21st century where ICT is more prominent, we are to approach the concept with a different perspective. Here the librarian need to be tech savvy person who can do wonders by collecting, organizing, preserving , retrieving and repackaging information to satisfy the precise need of the information seeker.

Knowledge and Information

Sometimes we are tend to use knowledge and information interchangeably. So it is essential to differentiate between knowledge and information. There is an array of terms which has got some connection but with difference in form and fruit. The terms are:

Data Information Knowledge Wisdom

This was first specified in detail by R.L. Ackoff in 1998.

Data: - Data is the collection of symbols, alphabets numbers etc..

Information: - When this collection of symbols, alphabets numbers etc… are arranged or processed to be meaningful and useful which can give answers to who, when, what, how much etc.., then it becomes information.

Knowledge:- when the user is able to use information either for further creation of new knowledge or for more value added activates like problem solving, decision making, money generation etc.., then the information becomes knowledge as far as that particular user is concerned. Hence knowledge is the property of the individual. In short, information is visible and tangible where as knowledge is intangible and not present in any particular format. The knowledge itself is categorized into three:

Explicit knowledge: Explicit knowledge is codified, and is sometimes referred to as know-what (Brown & Duguid 1998). It is therefore fairly easy to identify, store and retrieve.

Implicit knowledge: Implicit knowledge can be defined simply as knowledge that is not explicit. However it likely can be codified.

Tacit knowledge: Tacit knowledge is defined by Polanyi in 1966. It is sometimes referred to as know-how (Brown & Duguid 1998) and refers to intuitive, hard to define knowledge that is largely experience based. Because of this, tacit knowledge is often context-dependent and personal in nature. It is hard to communicate and deeply rooted in action commitment and involvement (Nonaka 1994)

Wisdom:- Wisdom deals with values. It involves the exercise of judgement. Russell Ackoff explains that although we are able to develop computerized information, knowledge, and understanding generating systems, we will never be able to generate wisdom by such systems. It may well be that wisdom – which is essential for the pursuit of ideals or ultimately valued ends – is the characteristic that differentiate man from machines (Ackoff R.L. 1989).

Definition of Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management “is the process of creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organisation. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieving organisational objectives by making the best use of knowledge” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management Retrieved on 11/12/2017).

Dr David J. Skyrrme a strategic analyst and management consultant with extensive knowledge and experience of information and knowledge management defines knowledge management as “the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated process of creating, gathering, organizing, diffusion, use and exploitation. It requires turning personal knowledge into corporate knowledge that can be widely shared throughout an organization and appropriately applied” (http://skyrme.com/insights/22km.htm, Retrieved on 15/12/2017 Knowledge management making sense of oxymoron.)

Knowledge management programmes typically have one or more of the following activities:

Appointment of a knowledge leader - to promote the agenda, develop a framework

Creation of knowledge teams - people from all disciplines to develop the methods and skills

Development of knowledge bases - best practices, expertise directories, market intelligence etc.

Enterprise intranet portal - a 'one-stop-shop' that gives access to explicit knowledge as well as connections to experts

Knowledge centers - focal points for knowledge skills and facilitating knowledge flow

Knowledge sharing mechanisms - such as facilitated events that encourage greater sharing of knowledge than would normally take place

Intellectual asset management - methods to identify and account for intellectual capital.

(http://skyrme.com/insights/22km.htm, Retrieved on 15/12/2017 Knowledge management making sense of oxymoron.)

Principles of Knowledge Management:

Different people have uniquely approached the concept of knowledge management, and hence different sets of principles of knowledge management were formulated. Among them most popular knowledge management principles are the set of principles formulated by Thomas H Davenport (Some Principles of Knowledge Management Thomas H. Davenport, https://www.strategy-business.com/article/8776?gko=f91a7). There are ten principles according to Thomas H Davenport. They are as follows:

Knowledge management is expensive (but so is stupidity!)

Effective management of knowledge requires hybrid solutions involving both people and technology

Knowledge management is highly political

Knowledge management requires knowledge managers

Knowledge management benefits more from maps than models, more from markets than hierarchies

Sharing and using knowledge are often unnatural acts

Knowledge management means improving knowledge work processes

Access to knowledge is only the beginning

Knowledge management never ends

Knowledge management requires a knowledge contract.

Major Characteristics of Knowledge Management in Libraries:

https://eric.ed.gov/?q=knowledge+management+in+libraries&id=EJ1158514

Tang Shanhong in his paper ‘Knowledge management in libraries in the 21st century’ presented in 66th IFLA Council and General Conference hosted in Jerusalem, Israel has contributed the characteristics of knowledge management in libraries. According to him, it’s a new management mode. And it has the following characteristics which are incomparable with conventional management.

The first characteristic he has enumerated is that human resource management is the core of knowledge management in libraries.

The second characteristic of knowledge management in libraries is in terms of its objectives. The objective of knowledge management in libraries is to promote knowledge innovation.

Third one is accrued because of the application of ICT in libraries. He is of the opinion that Information Technology is a source as well as tool for knowledge innovation and hence a major tool for knowledge management in libraries.

Knowledge Management Initiatives: Humanity is always on transition from one age to another – from Stone Age to Agricultural age to Industrial age and latest to Information age which is characterized by knowledge economy. Knowledge economy is knowledge based economy. The term was popularized by peter Drucker as the title of chapter 12 in his book “The age of discontinuity” (1969). Here in this book he envisioned and prophesied that “knowledge” would replace land, labor, money, machines etc… to become the chief source of production. But prior to Peter Drucker, there is information theory by Machlup (Machlup, 1962). Though these farsighted and enlightened literatures were there upon knowledge economy, the emergence of knowledge economy was the child of the need of the market and boom in massive education programmes in the world countries. The transition to knowledge economy was driven by a growing recognition that long term economic growth, employment and social welfare are increasingly dependent upon a nation’s capacity to generate, appropriate and use new knowledge (Archibugi & coco, 2005). Knowledge is the base of power or else knowledge is power itself. So knowledge management becomes very crucial to attain power, development etc… It is the proper and timely use of knowledge that brings development to an individual, to an organization, to the state, to the Country and to the whole world. The decisive role of knowledge in development can be illustrated by various threshold points. For example, it is generally estimated that sustainable economic takeoff cannot take place below a threshold literacy rate of 40 percent and a minimum telephone density of 30 percent (World Bank 2003c). Yes, knowledge has always been an essential force of economic development, individual development, and national development. If knowledge matters this much for the well being and overall development of human being, the same needs to be managed well. The concept of knowledge management builds on the exiting management practices, integrating them into a philosophy for improving performance.

Knowledge Management and Academic Libraries:

The role of knowledge management in libraries will become more and more important along with the development of knowledge economy. As a learning organization, libraries, especially the academic libraries should provide a strong leadership in knowledge management. The practice of knowledge management is different from that of knowledge management in business organizations. In business organizations, the main thrust is to tap the tacit knowledge of the workers within, store it for future use and share the same for better development. The following are the reasons which compel the academic librarian to implement the knowledge management in libraries:

The information explosion and that also in multiple and varied formats,

The Advent of ICT which brought a drastic change in means and methods of delivery of information

The change that has taken place in teaching learning (e.g. Teachers are only facilitators, and students are to learn by themselves)

changes in organization structure

‘Information overloaded’ is the current situation in the field of information generation. It is difficult for a user to search the whole literature available in a specific field or topic and come with most meaningful, effective and current information that is available. It requires patience, true interest, lot of time and huge finance. Here comes the importance of practice of knowledge management in libraries. Library needs to use new approach to capture web information by cooperative efforts such as Dublin core and metadata and the cooperative resource catalogue. The very title of an article by Turvey and Letarte (2002) gives us an impression that cataloguing is same as knowledge management . According to their view “the library world is characterized by fast-paced change, and perhaps no other area as much as field of cataloguing and they tied to define cataloguing as very important aspect of knowledge management in an increasingly digital world. (Cataloging or Knowledge Management: Perspectives of Library Educators on Cataloging Education for Entry-Level Academic Librarians Michelle R. Turvey & Karen M. Letarte Cataloging & Classification Quarterly Vol. 34 , Iss. 1-2,2002 aylor and Francis.

The survival of the library depends on its ability to provide the right information to the right reader at the right time. So knowledge management is a life saving medicine for libraries, which calls for its allied activities like information accessioning, organizing, repackaging retrieving and disseminating the same as value added goods and services to the users in a smart way. Otherwise smart phones, google, social medias and other new gadgets and technologies will take away the structural libraries.