The Australian Library Journal

Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers?

Cathie Koina

Manuscript received July 2002

Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers. We all know that. After all, haven't we been the custodians of documented knowledge for centuries? Who could possibly do it better than us? Well, then why aren't people knocking down our doors, begging us to be the knowledge managers of the organisation? Are they just ignorant of how fantastic we are, or is it possible that librarians aren't the best people for the job? Most of the academic articles that deal with Knowledge Management (KM) in some way always start by trying to define it. This is because there is no standard or stable definition. I believe this is one of the issues causing confusion.

A definition that comes from the Gartner Group is:

Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, managing and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These information assets may include database, documents, policies and procedures as well as previously unarticulated expertise and experience resident in individual workers. Knowledge management issues include developing, implementing and maintaining the appropriate technical and organisational infrastructure to enable knowledge sharing...

I also like a definition of what KM is not, taken from Butler, 1999:

• Knowledge management is not the latest fad.
• Unlike other process improvement initiatives, knowledge management does not only rely on technology to make processes more efficient. It recognises that knowledge resides with people and that technology is merely the enabler.
• The foundation of KM is the power of learning. No organisation can improve without learning something new.
• Knowledge management is consistent with the currently emerging models of organisations, which involve people working in teams, coming together on a project basis, them moving on the new relationships. Knowledge clearly underpins these activities.
• It is not a new religion or spiritual calling - there are many 'evangelists' who treat KM as a religion - full of ideology and theory. Real knowledge management is practical and action-oriented.
• It is not an attempt to rally disgruntled employees around a new, philosophical concept that they cannot understand.
• Knowledge management is not new - it just hasn't had a label before.

According to the literature, many librarians still believe that knowledge management is simply managing information and explicit or documented knowledge, which is what they have been doing for many years, and that eventually everyone else will deduce this. However, information and knowledge are not the same thing at all. Information is simply contextualised data. To become knowledge, there needs to be an added human element. Information tends to be tangible, whereas knowledge is information that is interpreted and synthesised. In addition, many librarians seem to be missing the point that KM encompasses the whole organisation, not just the bits in the library, and it includes tacit knowledge, as well as explicit. Any KM program must be aligned to corporate goals, and so strategic thinking and alignment is part of the process.

What skills are needed by an effective knowledge manager?

Below is a table showing many of the skills required to be successful in knowledge management. It lists skills that librarians in general currently have, and those they may not necessarily lay claim to.

If this matrix is even approximately valid, there are a number of significant skills that librarians currently don't have. Perhaps this is why people are not routinely appointing us as knowledge managers

What about image?

Another issue to consider is that of the image of the librarian. Information which resides in the organisation has up till now always been treated in discrete sections, or 'silos' rather than as a whole. For example, librarians have focused on the acquisition or distribution of information acquired externally to the organisation, while records managers focus on documents internal or integral to its management. In such a scenario no one group appears to have an understanding of overall information needs. Librarians have recently moved to being 'information managers'; as such, 'librarians are seen by many as effective, intelligent, problem solvers with a high level of research, technical and specialist skills' (Houghton, Poston-Anderson and Todd, 1998). Unfortunately this often escapes the attention of senior management in organisations. There is also a perception that librarians seldom interact with 'the business', have a very narrow view of KM, and of the organisation as a whole. There is an acknowledgment within the literature that no matter which path librarians take for their future, a greater awareness of their value and skills within organisations needs to be promulgated.

Options

1. Acquire the necessary skills, including that of self-promotion
   If we are to have a place in knowledge management, many of us will need a mind shift; we will need to become more proactive, think more strategically, and align our work more closely with the goals of the organisation. We need to understand that KM is more than information and technology, and that tacit knowledge may be of critical relevance. Its collection, distribution and management are critical; if we are to play a significant role in this process, then how we relate to the organisational context and those at all levels within it will determine the extent of our success or failure. To do this, we will need to start thinking outside our box, and align everything we do with the broader objectives of our context. To do this we will need to work together to promote ourselves, and to start working more closely with areas such as HR, IT and senior management. A team approach is essential.
2. Find a balance, and play to our strengths
   There is definitely a role for us as autonomous information professionals in evaluating, filtering and managing information, including the skills of cataloguing and classification, indexing and abstracting. These are applicable in new information contexts, such as the management of metadata, the design and application of search engines or the creation of organisational thesauri. Other skills can also be useful in making the knowledge more accessible, including their knowledge of the organisation, customer service orientation, and their training skills.
3. We could do nothing
   As KM becomes more pervasive, we may merely drift or gravitate towards the KM context without taking any action to shape or control the process. This is not without its dangers; in that we may merely become passengers, rather than drivers and movers and shakers. As with any shift in professional values, there will be different answers for different people. The most important thing is for us to be aware that this is the way of the future, and to make sure we have a place in it, if we want one.

Conclusion

In answer to the question posed at the beginning of this paper - is it that employers are ignorant of the attributes of skilled librarians? In the event, some librarians will go forth, gain new skills, and become leaders of KM in their organisations, while others will move towards the important supporting roles of managing and retrieving information in using the power of such phenomena as metadata. Either way, we need to promote ourselves and our skills more to our lay management. We do have a lot to offer in the changing world - we just need to make sure other people can see that too.

Bibliography

Bishop, Karen 'Leveraging our knowledge: the skills and attributes information service professionals bring to new roles in information and knowledge management'. ALIA 9th Specials, Health and Law Libraries Conference. Available online: http://conferences.alia.org.au/shllc2001/papers/bishop.2.html

Bonner, Dede 'Enter the Chief Knowledge Officer.' Training and Development, Feb 2000, pp 36-40.

Broadbent, Marianne The phenomenon of knowledge management: what does it mean to the information profession? 1998. Available online: http://www.sla.org/pubs/serial/io/1998/may98/broadben.html

Butler, Yvonne 'Knowledge management - if only you knew what you knew'. STRAIT to the future ALIA 8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference. Available online: http://conferences.alia.org.au/shllc1999/papers/butler.html

Church, Doug. 'From librarian to knowledge manager and beyond: the shift to an end-user domain'. Available online: http://www.sla.org/chapter/ctor/courier/v36/v36n2a1b.htm.

Houghton, Jan, Barbara Poston-Anderson, and Ross Todd 'From obsession to power: changing the face of librarians'. Pathways to Knowledge, Australian Library and Information Association 5th Biennial Conference and Exhibition, 25-28 October 1998, Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, South Australia. 313-318.

Marconi, J 'Outside the square: library and information services innovations within a knowledge management context'. ALIA 9th Specials, Health and Law Libraries Conference. Available online: http://conferences.alia.org.au/shllc2001/papers/marconi.html

Milne, Patricia 'Information professionals and the knowledge-aware, intelligent organisation: skills for the future.' Australian Library Journal 49 (2), May 2000 139-150.

Skills for knowledge management a briefing paper by TFPL Ltd based on research undertaken on behalf of the [UK] Library and Information Commission. 1999. Available online: http://www.lic.gov.uk/publications/executivesummaries/kmskills.pdf.

Todd, Ross and Gray Southon, 'Educating for a knowledge management future: perceptions of library and information professionals.' Australian Library Journal, 50 (4) Nov 2001 313-326.

Biographical information

Cathie Koina has worked in the information industry since 1994, and completed a degree in Information Management in 2002. She currently works as a senior librarian at the Australian Taxation Office. She has co-written a number of conference papers, and presented at both ALIA and Special library conferences. This article represents her personal views.