In this essay, the authors will discuss the similarities and differences of knowledge management and librarianship. They will propose and articulate the emerging role of academic and research libraries as the integrators of digital knowledge and research methods among academic enterprises, a role which they believe will transform librarians to knowledge professionals. The authors will try to answer or stimulate further discussion of multi-dimensional and provocative questions such as: What are the critical differences between knowledge management and library and information science? Will emerging functions or services, such as digital scholarship centers and research data management practices, allow academic and research libraries to more fully perform the functions of knowledge management? Will libraries’ emerging role in the knowledge creation ecosystem help define their new value proposition, from a collection-centric to knowledge-centric service model? How should libraries position library-based digital scholarship centers to be digital integrators for enterprise-wide digital learning, research, and knowledge creation?

This chapter describes the Queens Borough Public Library’s WorldLinQ™ (URL: http://www.worldlinq.org), a unique Internet-based multilingual information system to provide user access to global and local information resources, currently in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Russian and French. WorldLinQ™ comprises a multilingual Web resource collection, multilingual access to the Library’s online catalog (InfoLinQ™) and international resource sharing. The W-Team selects and maintains the content, with a goal of covering the major languages spoken by immigrants in Queens. Content includes topics academic, business, technology and entertainment, in multilingual and multimedia format, from anywhere on the Internet. Alliances with corporate (AT&T) and library partners (the Shanghai Library and the National Library of China) have played a crucial part in the project’s development. The network configuration of the Queens Library and the software setup of WorldLinQ™ are also described.

No abstract

No abstract