Tahur Ahmed :
Sir Francis Bacon told “Knowledge is Power”. In this sense we can say, library is the storehouse of knowledge. But managing the information and knowledge is very challenging job. Only librarian can play the key role for managing information and knowledge in the library for creating knowledge based society.
Librarians have already posses many of the skills, including information literacy, database design and management. They identified as requirements for knowledge Managers. What librarians need within the context of information and knowledge management is high degree of commercial awareness and a strong business orientation. It will be interesting to observe the growth and implementation or otherwise of knowledge management over the next several years. Information after all provides the raw material for knowledge. It will be interesting to watch its development in relation to librarianship and information management.
Meaning of key terms
Data – Data is raw, scattered, unrelated facts, numbers so symbols and each data has multiple meanings which are context dependent.
Information – Information is a data that has been organised and communicated. Information relates to description or perspective.
Knowledge – The word knowledge has several meanings; the simplest among them is, an assured belief or that which is known. Knowledge is a set of organised statements of facts or ideas which present an experimental result which is transmitted to others through some communication excuse in some systematic form, the facts, feelings or experiences known by person or a group of people and erudition or informed learning. There are two types knowledge, one is explicit knowledge- this is documented, public, stretched and externalised and the other is tacit knowledge which is personal, dynamically created and derived.
Management – Broadly, management is the art of guiding actions and controlling situations in a manner that yields results that best meet the objective of an organisation or institution. Management responsibilities include planning, organising, directing/ motivating, controlling, making decisions, and solving problems. To fulfill their responsibilities, managers need information about what is occurring internally and in the external environment.
Data and Information – Data can be numerically expressed, that is, quantified, quantifiable or objective. Data is highly repetitive. Information is not highly repetitive or quantified or quantifiable. It is characterised as narrative and subjective. Data then are number or unit facts, frequently repeated. Wherever, information is an idea. Information is a symbol or a set of symbols, which has the potential for meaning.
In general terms, the processed data is information. Information consists of data which have been retrieved, processed or otherwise used for informative, inference purpose, argument or decision making. The process in which the data of a message are structured is crucial to their effect as information.
Information management – Information management (IM) is concerned with the promotion of organisational effectiveness through the enhancement of the capabilities of the organisation in coping with the demands of its internal and external environments in dynamic as well as stable conditions. Information management is viewed as the planning, organising, directing and controlling of the information within an open system. Information management is viewed as using computers, information systems, IT, information auditing effectively and efficiently to manage information resources. IM useful for internal and external sources for meaningful dialogue and understanding to enhance proactive decision-making and problem solving to achieve aims and objectives on a personal, organisational and strategic level of origination.
Knowledge Management – Knowledge management (KM) plays an important role in the modern world of organisation. KM is the explicit and methodical management of emergent knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organising, diffusion, use and exploitation of information.
The spread of knowledge is a significant consequence of the process of globalisation. Shelda Debowski told “Knowledge management is a set of processes that govern the generation, collection, distribution and use of variant forms of knowledge and is about enhancing the overall gathering and use of it for human advancement.” Some consider it as a refined label for information management, but is much more than that. The management of knowledge requires technical, organisational and interpersonal skills and everyone involved in the process, as managers in varying degrees, should have basic competence in handling information and using information technology.
Knowledge management in libraries should be focused on effective research based work, development of knowledge, creation of knowledge bases, exchange and sharing of knowledge between library personnel, training of library personnel, speeding up explicit processing of the implicit knowledge and realising of its sharing.
Libraries are knowledge centers – Libraries have been the repositories of an intangible asset, the divergent forms of knowledge. The asset has been termed diversely as facts, figure, data, information knowledge depending on the level on its processing. Probably the libraries in the future will continue to be the major repositories of knowledge in a more diversified manner. Libraries in the past were mainly focusing on the then onerous task of preservation of the fewer knowledge materials available in the libraries. Libraries are now finding it difficult to carry out the twin duties of providing worlds literature- not only in print form but also in other forms.
With the advent of ITs and modern library technologies, the environment where we work had been transforming itself into an information society. In this situation, the role of the library as a keeper, manager and provider of information has become divergent. The resourced abundance in print and digital forms poses challenges in the library scenario. Knowledge is essential to succeed in any endeavor particularly in an information society that deals with abundant information materials n diverse formats.
Changing role of libraries – Libraries and information centers are intermediaries, between information suppliers and information users. Library and information professionals have must to play a key role. Traditionally, library has managed the key academic resources of the institution. Now, librarians should be active in using and managing latest library tools and technology for providing up to date services for users. So librarians should assume the role to raise awareness about these issues among academics and institutional managers.
The libraries have to build into their future strategies:
o Establishing a homepage having information about the library and its services
o Providing links to a collection of electronic resources, online databases / journals and other Internet resources
o Setting up institutional repositories
o The concept of continual change
o Developing subject gateways and library portals
o Providing information about events like discussions, conferences and seminars
o Giving information about job opportunities
o Electronic document delivery system
o Library calendar, online reference service
o Communicating with user’s via-e-mail, instant messages service
o Providing Citation management service and article request service
o Introducing innovative technologies to improve services and facilities for the library users
Need for Information and knowledge management – Knowledge is as an asset and it is re-usable, as well as capable of being used by more than one person at a time. The whole of a pool of knowledge, or knowledge base, is greater than the sum of its parts. Knowledge and resources are growing and increasing, rather than shortening overtime. Knowledge needs to be managed as it is so valuable. Knowledge needs to be managed so that the library knows what it knows and also that it owns what it knows. This is particularly important for human-centered assets.
Overall, knowledge needs to be identified and managed because the alternative is too expensive. Successful knowledge management can provide a number of potential benefits to the libraries, better decision making, faster response time, improved productivity, const reduction, sharing of best practice, improving library services and better user attraction.
Information and Knowledge Management in Libraries – The role of information and knowledge management in libraries is becoming more and more important along with the development of knowledge economy. Human resource management is the essence of knowledge management in libraries. The most important resource in the knowledge economy era, the libraries will attach importance to vocational training and lifelong education of library personnel to raise their scientific knowledge level and ability of acquiring and innovating knowledge.
Information and Knowledge management encompass a wide range of technologies in the libraries which include:
o Web technologies- includes meditate tagging, intelligent search, library e-marketing, content management, record management, archiving and backup.
o Training includes e-learning, distance training, multimedia and intelligent tutoring systems.
o Systems- case management, workload management and integrated performance support.
o Communication-includes document management, collaboration, groupware and directly creativity technologies.
o Artificial intelligence- includes expert systems machine learning, text generation and natural language.
o Virtual Reference Service- includes for instant messaging
o Integrated Library System – includes for complete library automation solution
o Discovery Tool – includes for searching e-content
o Remotely access of library by using Remote Access Software
o Using of Institutional Repository in the library
o Using of Citation Management Software
o Using of Social Networking Tools in the library
Information and knowledge management in libraries provide proper information and knowledge to the library users by using modern library tools and technologies and also play an important role for creating knowledge based society.
(Tahur Ahmed, B.A & M.A in Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka & MPhil Researcher, Currently Working as: Assistant Librarian at East West University; email: [email protected])
