Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment
In this paper, we examine the roles and responsibilities of Knowledge Management (KM) librarians in a University and outline the skills and knowledge to illuminate and maximize the possibilities of the position, to provide new content in new mediums to an increasingly discerning user community. This...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Proceeding Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IFLA
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/1/S5-2018-Hassan-en.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848788932872896512 |
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| author | Hassan, Basri Abdullah, Sarifah Albert, Geeta Ibrahim, Nor Takrim Goh, See Kwong |
| author_facet | Hassan, Basri Abdullah, Sarifah Albert, Geeta Ibrahim, Nor Takrim Goh, See Kwong |
| author_sort | Hassan, Basri |
| building | IIUM Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In this paper, we examine the roles and responsibilities of Knowledge Management (KM) librarians in a University and outline the skills and knowledge to illuminate and maximize the possibilities of the position, to provide new content in new mediums to an increasingly discerning user community. This relatively new position is being created as libraries strive to manage collaborative knowledge management technologies, upgrade the service model in reference, in particular enhancing the skills of ‘liaison officers’ when engaging with their patrons’ point-of-need preferences at their site, quality of knowledge, device choice, and their knowledge sharing and seeking behavior. We draw upon our own experiences in implementing a virtual knowledge sharing community in the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) as well as referring to the latest literature on the topic. Our three-year implementation journey encompassing unforeseen problems and discussions in building workarounds, in how best to manage tacit knowledge amongst academic and non-academic staff, provided valuable insights, focusing in particular on KM training for all librarians, the development of an ‘unofficial’ knowledge management implementation curriculum (KMIC) and the formation of the IIUM KM Task Force to sustain KM initiatives in the academia.
While many skills and experiences analyses have been conducted on other library positions, at the onset, the emerging KM librarian’s roles and responsibilities remained vague, leaving librarians interested in the position, unsure of what knowledge and skills to obtain. Hence, the need of a clear and robust KMIC policy framework was first seen to be crucial to sustain an effective KM implementation. Special emphasis was made in building the skills in intra-organisational cooperation and academic engagement for meeting the challenge of ‘capturing’ and codifying tacit knowledge and ultimately the successful cultivation of communities of practice in promoting a new form of ‘collective intelligence’ in the university. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T17:48:41Z |
| format | Proceeding Paper |
| id | iium-80297 |
| institution | International Islamic University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T17:48:41Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | IFLA |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | iium-802972020-07-09T04:18:06Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/ Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment Hassan, Basri Abdullah, Sarifah Albert, Geeta Ibrahim, Nor Takrim Goh, See Kwong Z665 Library Science. Information Science ZA Information resources In this paper, we examine the roles and responsibilities of Knowledge Management (KM) librarians in a University and outline the skills and knowledge to illuminate and maximize the possibilities of the position, to provide new content in new mediums to an increasingly discerning user community. This relatively new position is being created as libraries strive to manage collaborative knowledge management technologies, upgrade the service model in reference, in particular enhancing the skills of ‘liaison officers’ when engaging with their patrons’ point-of-need preferences at their site, quality of knowledge, device choice, and their knowledge sharing and seeking behavior. We draw upon our own experiences in implementing a virtual knowledge sharing community in the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) as well as referring to the latest literature on the topic. Our three-year implementation journey encompassing unforeseen problems and discussions in building workarounds, in how best to manage tacit knowledge amongst academic and non-academic staff, provided valuable insights, focusing in particular on KM training for all librarians, the development of an ‘unofficial’ knowledge management implementation curriculum (KMIC) and the formation of the IIUM KM Task Force to sustain KM initiatives in the academia. While many skills and experiences analyses have been conducted on other library positions, at the onset, the emerging KM librarian’s roles and responsibilities remained vague, leaving librarians interested in the position, unsure of what knowledge and skills to obtain. Hence, the need of a clear and robust KMIC policy framework was first seen to be crucial to sustain an effective KM implementation. Special emphasis was made in building the skills in intra-organisational cooperation and academic engagement for meeting the challenge of ‘capturing’ and codifying tacit knowledge and ultimately the successful cultivation of communities of practice in promoting a new form of ‘collective intelligence’ in the university. IFLA 2018 Proceeding Paper PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/1/S5-2018-Hassan-en.pdf Hassan, Basri and Abdullah, Sarifah and Albert, Geeta and Ibrahim, Nor Takrim and Goh, See Kwong (2018) Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment. In: IFLA WLC 2018, 24 - 30 Aug 2018, Kuala Lumpur. https://www.ifla.org/ |
| spellingShingle | Z665 Library Science. Information Science ZA Information resources Hassan, Basri Abdullah, Sarifah Albert, Geeta Ibrahim, Nor Takrim Goh, See Kwong Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| title | Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| title_full | Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| title_fullStr | Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| title_short | Knowledge management librarians: Evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| title_sort | knowledge management librarians: evolving competencies in knowledge capture and dissemination in an academic environment |
| topic | Z665 Library Science. Information Science ZA Information resources |
| url | http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/80297/1/S5-2018-Hassan-en.pdf |