Librarians' perceptions of knowledge management in developing countries: A case with Indian academic libraries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine librarians' perceptions of knowledge management, including its concept, potential applications, benefits and major challenges of its applications in Indian academic libraries. A structured questionnaire, containing both open and close-ended questions, was sent by postal mail to 30 librarians of academic libraries in India of which 15 questionnaires were returned. Respondents were asked to define knowledge management and answer questions on its potential applications, benefits and major challenges of the knowledge management applications in academic libraries. Respondents were also allowed to specify their own views on the subject. The findings of the study show that there is a minor difference in how librarians define knowledge management. However, most of them focus on the use of technology or specific processes for the capture and use of explicit knowledge, rather than sharing and using more intangible knowledge embedded in the employees. They have positive attitude towards the applications of knowledge management into academic library practice, and not only because this can bring academic libraries closer to their parent organization, but also because it may help them to survive in an increasingly challenging environment. Although, librarians in the present study acknowledged that they are involved in the practices of knowledge management, but these were perceived as basic information management activities. Lack of understanding of knowledge management concepts, knowledge sharing culture, top management interest, incentives and rewards, financial resources and information technology infrastructure are perceived as the major barriers for incorporating knowledge management into academic library practice. Highlights The term 'intangibles knowledge' has been replaced by 'tacit knowledge' as suggested. KM initiatives in India The full names of the research laboratory acronyms "CSIR, ICMR and ICAR" have written. Discussion Typographical errorsAll the typographical errors, which were pointed out, corrected accordingly. Detailed Response to ReviewersHighlights  Librarians' perceptions of KM in India are shallow dealing with the management of only explicit knowledge or information management rather sharing and using tacit knowledge embedded in employees.  Respondents of the study have positive attitude towards the applications of KM into academic library practice, and believe it can improve library operations and services and bring academic libraries closer to their parent organizations.  Librarians in India are mostly involved in applying IT-based solutions, either for the management of various library operations and services or the development of intranets and institutional repositories, but no evidence has emerged for involvement in the creation and sharing of tacit knowledge.

Pemetaan Pengetahuan Eksplisit Tentang COVID-19 pada Website Perpustakaan

“…Penelitian Wulandari et al menitikberatkan pada hubungan latar belakang sosial dengan kemampuan menyerap pengetahuan tentang COVID-19, sedangkan penelitian ini berfokus pada pemetaan pengetahuan tentang COVID-19 yang diunggah oleh website perpustakaan. Aurum, Daneshgar, & Ward dalam Nazim & Mukherjee (2013) secara sederhana menjelaskan pengetahuan eksplisit sebagai pengetahuan yang telah tersusun secara sistematis dalam teks, angka atau gambar. Pengetahuan ini terdokumentasi dalam benda yang dapat dipegang (fisik nyata) atau tersimpan dalam pangkalan data online.…”

Knowledge management processes at St Paul’s University Library in Kenya

“…(Participant 3, librarian, female) Given that the participants were drawn from three different groups, it is apparent that the understanding of knowledge management was mostly among the senior management staff. The literature reveals a lack of understanding of knowledge management concepts and their benefits by librarians in academic libraries who tend to misinterpret them as information management or content management (Nazim 2013;Roknuzzaman & Umemoto's 2009). The levels of understanding of knowledge management concepts among librarians are varied, and most of them understand knowledge management as the management of information resources, services and systems using technology or specific processes for the capture and use of explicit knowledge, rather than sharing and using tacit knowledge (Nazim 2013).…”

Exploring the need of knowledge management education within library and information science educational courses

“…Today, India is becoming the knowledge capital of the world, as more than 300 Multinational Corporations have already set up their R&D facilities, while many more are expected to join. This is mainly because of availability of world class skilled workers at comparatively low salaries (Malhan, 2006 (Nazim and Mukherjee, 2013a;Raja et al, 2009) identified the following major barriers to incorporating KM into Indian academic library practice:…”