Knowledge Based

Management for
Higher Education

Robert D. Stueart
No activity in the world
is attracting as much
attention as that of
knowledge management
 Confusion over meaning of
Knowledge Management
 Some view it as a pretentious label for
Information Management
 Some use the term to signal more
complex work involved in organizing
access to networked information
resources
 Cynics simply dismiss it as the latest
management fad
All healthy organizations
generate and use knowledge
As they interact with environment,
they absorb information, turn it
into knowledge and take action
based on its combination with
their own:
 Experiences
 Values
 Internal rules
Knowledge Management,
then, is the process of
transforming

INFORMATION and
INTELLECTUAL ASSETS
into enduring VALUE
This requires a blend of:

PEOPLE
PROCESSES(Strategy)
TECHNOLOGY
 PEOPLE –
not technology –
manage knowledge

Organizations can promote those

policies and practices that build
teamwork to help people share and
manage knowledge – but people
ultimately “manage” knowledge
Quote from Andrew Carnegie, a
well known American Educator

"the only irreplaceable capital an

organization possesses is the
knowledge and ability of its people.
The productivity of that capital
depends on how effectively people
share their competence with those
who can use it."
 Knowledge
Management involves
connecting

• people with people

• people with information
 THE TRANSFORMATION OF:
•DATA
•INFORMATION
•RECORDED KNOWLEDGE

INTO
DIGITAL FORM

HAS PRECIPITATED
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Technology
Enhances the ability to rapidly disseminate
information and develop knowledge bases
thereby presenting opportunities to:
 change traditional organizational
structures
 inspire an informal style
 promote social networks

Knowledge-sharing underpinnings
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Should not be co-opted by

technology which, though
important, is not the focus of
knowledge management;
technology can capture
information but not create
knowledge
Remember: technology is a
tool

“when the only tool available

is a hammer, everything
looks like a nail”
(quote from Mark Twain
HOLISTIC VIEW OF KNOWLEDGE
 Present in ideas, judgment, talents,
root causes, relationships,
perspectives and concepts
 Stored in the individual’s brain or
encoded in organizational
processes, documents, products,
services, facilities and systems
Knowledge management
practices

Draw out the tacit knowledge

people have, what they carry
around with them, what they
observe and learn from
experience, in addition to what is
usually explicitly stated.
 ‘Explicit' and ‘Tacit'
Knowledge
Explicit knowledge is formal and systematic
and can be easily communicated and shared,
i.e., in a book or a database in the library, a
product specifications, or a scientific formula
or a computer program.
Tacit knowledge is highly personal, is
unrecorded and unarticulated and is hard to
formalize and therefore difficult, if not
sometimes impossible, to communicate.
ELEMENTS of Explicity:
 ACCESSING

 EVALUATING

 MANAGING

 ORGANIZING
 FILTERING
 DISTRIBUTING
 Tacit “information” is more
difficult to obtain because it is
buried :
in web-based links to other sites,
databases, publications, and in the
knowledge of experts employed in
institutions (the value-added dimension)
in the past, communication of this
information has always been informal,
word-of-mouth, and not the province of
any organizational unit
 Example: How many times is
something like this observed :

"If Mr. Smith gets run over by a bus

tomorrow, we're in trouble because only he
knows how the scheduling [or accounting
or other reporting] system actually works"
How then, do we take advantage of the
wealth of knowledge held only in our minds
and those of our colleagues?
 Unlike Information, Knowledge
is not just a:
“thing” to be“ managed”

It is a Capacity - of people and

communities - to continuously
generate and renew themselves to
meet new challenges and
opportunities; it is the collective
knowledge of the organization
 KNOWLEDGE
TRANSFORMATION:
 HUMANS: transform information
into a format that causes it to be
easily converted into knowledge by
another human being
 KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS:
statistical analysis software; data
mining tools, decision support
systems, AI, data visualization
tools, expert systems, decision
support systems, etc. are aids
THE TRANSFORMATION IDEA
ENCOMPASSES TWO CONCEPTS
 Utilizing and exploiting the
organization’s information
 Application of people’s
competencies, skills, talents,
thoughts, ideas, intuitions,
commitments, motivations, and
imaginations in that process
Knowledge should be
differentiated from other
levels in a heirarchy of
assimilation
HIERARCHY OF ASSIMILATION

ENLIGHTMENT
WISDOM
UNDERSTANDING
KNOWLEDGE
INFORMATION
DATA
 In order to
Understand one part of
that hierarchy
one should
Understand all of them
 Data:

Data is Symbols:
And has no significance
beyond
its existence;
No meaning in and of itself
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE ALL
SORTS OF DATA:
TANGIBLE DOCUMENTS: REPORTS,
PRESENTATIONS, FINANCIAL FACTS AND
FIGURES, ETC.

So to bring order out of chaos organizations

provide mechanisms to organize data into
information. Information systems, like
library databases, provide consistent and
logical treatment of data so people can find
things.
 Information:
Data that are processed to
be useful: "who", "what",
"where", "when,” data that
has been given meaning
 Knowledge:
Answers “How”, “Why”; involves
appropriate collection and
distillation of information

Knowledge Management is concerned

with developing organizations in such a
manner as to derive knowledge from
information.
 KNOWLEDGE
 enhances the learning process
 stimulates innovation in
education
 raise levels of productivity

 speeds development
 improves lives
 One major difference
between
Information & Knowledge
 Information is:
 Visible
 Independent from action and
decision
 Format changes after processing
 Physical product
 Independent from existing
environment
 Easily transferable
 Can be duplicated
 While Knowledge
 Can’t be duplicated
 Closely related to action and
decision
 Thought changes after processing

 Invisible
 Spiritual product
 Identified with existing
environment
 Transfer through learning
 Understanding:
appreciation of "why"

difference between
knowledge and
understanding is the
difference between
"memorizing” and
"learning"
 Wisdom:
Evaluated Understanding

calls upon all the previous

levels of consciousness;
human programming (moral,
ethical codes, etc.)
 Enlightenment

For my Buddhist
Friends this is
the ultimate level -
“be all you can be”
Categories
 First two of those elements (data
and information) involve the past
(what has been or what is known)
 Last four (knowledge,
understanding, wisdom,
enlightenment) address the future-
(people can create the future rather
than just grasp the present and
past).
EXAMPLES (1)

 Data represents a fact or

statement of event without
relation to other things.
 Example: It is raining.
EXAMPLE (2)
 Information embodies the
understanding of a relationship
of some sort, possibly cause
and effect.
 Example: The temperature
dropped 15 degrees and then it
started raining.
EXAMPLE (3)
 Knowledge represents a pattern
that connects and generally
providing a high level of
predictability as what is described
or what will happen next.
 Example: If the humidity is very
high and the temperature drops
substantially the atmosphere is
often unlikely to be able to hold
the moisture so it rains.
EXAMPLE (4)
 Understanding; embodies more of an
Understanding of fundamental
principles embodied within the
knowledge
 Example: It rains because it rains.
And this encompasses an
understanding of all the interactions
that happen between raining,
evaporation, air currents,
temperature gradients, changes,
raining.
 Knowledge
Management.

"...a discipline that promotes an

integrated approach to identifying,
managing and sharing all of an
enterprise's information assets. These
information assets may include
databases, documents, policies and
procedures, as well as previously
unarticulated expertise and experience
resident in individual workers." (Gartner
Group Inc, October 1996)
Applications in libraries and
other information centers
might typically fall
into broad categories:
 1)Knowledge databases and
repositories (explicit
knowledge)
storing information and
documents that can be shared
and re-used, for example: in
personnel data; meeting
minutes; research
reports; training packets, etc.
2) Knowledge route-maps and
directories (tacit and explicit
knowledge)
Pointing to: people, document
collections and datasets that can
be consulted: for example,
'yellow pages'/'expert locators'
containing CVs, competency
profiles, research interests
 3) Knowledge networks and
discussions (tacit knowledge)

Providing opportunities for face

to-face contacts and electronic
interaction, for example,
establishing chat facilities/'talk
rooms', and fostering learning
groups
Once we admit to ourselves
how loosely we may be
attending to the critical
knowledge assets of our
institutions, the sooner we will
be ready to embrace KM as a
valuable tool in both using and
protecting that asset.
A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
PROGRAM WOULD DECIDE:
 WHAT to share
 WITH WHOM to share
 HOW to share, and in fact
 DECIDING to share
 But:

“Before an organization can

adopt a knowledge
management strategy, it must
develop a knowledge
management culture” Sivan (1999
Core Idea of Knowledge
Management

Establish an environment where

information is shared and
openly accepted
Requires change in
organizational culture because
people are not accustomed to
“sharing”
“Knowledge management
should not strike library
institutions as a radically
new idea; rather it is a new
way of reasoning their
existence
KM and how it is being
discussed in
LIBRARY SITUATIONS
Libraries and information centers
today are asking themselves
difficult questions about
accountability:
 Which programs and services are integral
to the vision, mission and goals of the
university or other organization
 How to better meet the needs of students
 How to encourage and support faculty
research and creativity
 Educational quality assurance
Some repositories of explicit
knowledge in libraries:
 volumes in the library,
 the institution's official business records,
 a recorded history of constituent
problems with technology.
An effective KM system would attempt to
identify, index, store, and relate these
disparate pieces of information which
could then be of value to the institution
 This Development Probably
Requires:
 Thoughtful consideration of the educational
mission and the interdisciplinary relationships
with other units in the larger organization
 Greater oversight of all learning repositories
and resources, ranging, for instance, from
libraries to scientific and technological
laboratories or other governmental agencies
 Facilitating the development of an
administrative infrastructure that combines
strategic budgeting with the management of
programs and services
Technologies are effective KM
tools in managing explicit
knowledge
 Intranets,
 Videoconferencing,
 Chat rooms,
 Collaborative groupware
 “E” whatever

allow members of an online learning

community to capture and disseminate
explicit knowledge
 But, in libraries:
 Most of the tacit knowledge is
associated with the area of
information services which
gives a “value-added”
dimension – that great “old”
reference service aspect
The library community has just
tentatively begun to more
systematically collect tacit
information

Examples:
 take the form of bookmarks or
“pointers” (both physical and
electronic)
 manifests itself in the form of hot-links
that connect related Web sites
BARRIERS TO KNOWLEDGE
ACCESS IN LIBRARIES
Decisions are often impaired
by what one might call

 Information silos (confining

structures)
 Information politics (knowledge is
power; humans resist sharing)
Information “silos” examples:

 certain data may be kept in the technical

processing department;
 another set stored in information
services;
 other records housed in technology.

Instead of communicating and sharing this

information, silos are formed, preventing
the integration of these data for more
system-wide decision-making
Information politics,
people are:
 proprietary towards data
 block the flow of information,
 control the use of data for their own benefit
 enact their own interpretation of the classic
phrase, ‘information is power”.

which can lead to missed opportunities in

planning and forecasting as well as difficulties
in day-to-day decision-making
 IS THE INSTITUTION ON A
DATA-INFORMATION-KNOWLEDGE
TRACK?
Conduct an Information audit:
1)Examine how data is shared throughout
the organization,
2) Look at possible satisfaction survey
3) Examine work-flow processes. how do
they change, and how long does it take for
something to get implemented
Example:
Information stored in paper files or in
computer files of a former employee might
not be accessible, but the use of this
information could enable the organization
to do something in a more productive
way.
Example:

 Through cross-functional examination,

the organization may be able to meet
some of the needs by locating information
in other units.
 Knowledge Audit:

 Assess how information is controlled in the library by

exploring how information is provided, understood
and made use of;
 how, and if, people are rewarded for sharing
information;
 what type of subtle information sabotage might be
taking place (this could take the form of databases
that aren’t regularly maintained, corrections that aren’t
entered into systems when reported, or duplicate
paper versions of information that are maintained in
addition to a library-wide information system)
 Some possible outcome
activities

 Compile a yellow pages directory for

library-wide networking
 Share library-wide information on
personal and departmental resources
(including library-wide resources,
software, conference attendance &
proceedings)
 Swap experiences, trends and opinions
 Experiment with tools and techniques
Activities (cont’d)
 Act as catalyst for providing a total
system that transmits a lucid relationship
between explicit and tacit knowledge
 Facilitate staff development: encouraging
them to examine practices in their area of
responsibilities to determine how
knowledge is best transmitted by joint
discovery and construction of meaning
with peers
Activities (cont’d)
 Integrate resources in institutional research
and information technology to promote a
knowledge management systems approach
 E-learning is one of the most important KM
practices, with focus on “just-in-time
knowledge,” delivered anytime and anywhere
in order to capitalize on the total staff’s
knowledge as an intellectual asset.
Other areas:
 Institutional planning offices can serve as
the nucleus of information and facilitate
the flow of information throughout the
organization
 Administration can encourage managers
to use data and information for decision
making, and to ensure that there is an
information-based culture of research and
inquiry in place
 Three concepts are required for
knowledge management to
succeed
 Cooperation - information sharing, serving on
committees together, while allowing participants
to remain separate and continue to function in a
more-or-less autonomous manner
 Coordination - actual resource sharing, filling in
the gaps that participants would not be able to
accommodate individually, while adapting and
accommodating differences in order to achieve
a common goal
 Collaboration - actual commitment and
investment of resources, based on a shared
vision that can develop
 Therefore : Aim of a Knowledge
Management Strategic Plan
should be to create a framework to enable
all members of the library community to
seamlessly and easily connect to the
information they need, whenever they
need it, wherever it resides and to be able
to use it effectively in providing
information services.
Having set the stage, let me
comment more specifically:

 What is the role of libraries in

supporting the larger
organization’s initiatives and
developing the traditional library’s
own knowledge management
systems
There is no segment of
society that has
experienced a greater
impact of Technology
than Libraries
Libraries are experiencing a
transformational change as
digital technology has
fundamentally altered: how
services are provided;
research is conducted; and
learning occurs. Digital
technology is dramatically
changing the print-on-paper
library model that has been the
mainstay of library services.
More than any other traditional
asset, the library is the means
by which society can
transform itself into something
entirely new
The traditional role of
libraries
The management of information
has been the domain of librarians
and information professionals
trained to be experts in
information searching, selecting,
acquiring, organizing,
preserving, making it available to
users, that explicit information.
Libraries have focused
effectively on:
 collecting,

 organizing and
 making explicit
information/knowledge
available
A VISION OF KNOWLEDGE
BASED LIBRARY - INFORMATION
SERVICES

A guarantee of universal electronic

access to the collective corpus of
our traditional libraries, as well as
the inclusion of Web-based
materials and certain other kinds
of tacit information.
THIS DREAM WOULD
INCLUDE THE INTERNET
AND MEAN:
 All relevant publications be universally
available on the Internet to seekers of
knowledge
 Implies that appropriate description and
validation of content would occur: and
 Must recognize that access may be free,
licensed, or available through micro-
payments
Of course there is no clear
plan, yet, for

how we might achieve this

dream and get from here to
there!
 In the print-only world there
has been
 a complex but well-defined system of
content validation and description that
involves librarians, referees, reviewers
and publishers; and
 after going through those various
defined processes, its selection gave
that material a legitimacy that students
and scholars came to depend upon
 Electronic Information
Resources
 freely accessible through the Internet has
disrupted this relatively efficient system; and
 there is no clear and defined role for libraries
with regard to the selection, preservation and
provision of access in regard to the digital
resources accessible through the net;
additionally
 users must learn how to evaluate these new
information resources, and it is far more
difficult to do so on the Web than in a
traditional library
 This implies
people (users or seekers of
information) doing this
searching have the ability to
discern the quality,
authenticity and validity of
the information that they
find on the web
 Librarians as
Knowledge Intermediaries
 negotiators – identifying needs
 facilitators – providing effective search
strategies
 educators – familiar with the literature and
information in many formats
 information intermediaries – providing
current awareness services and liaison
between the seekers of information and
that information itself
 information advocates
LIBRARIANS ARE:

The ultimate search tool, with a

more interactive and human
touch
 LIBRARIES
PARADIGM SHIFT
Resources
Preserve Purvey
Own Collection Virtual Library
One Medium Multiple Media
Services
Ware House Supermarket
Custodial Access and Deliver
Buy for a rainy day Just in time deliver

Users
Wait for Users to Come Promote Links to Users
Staff Authority User Empowerment