Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers?

The Australian Library Journal
Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers?
Cathie Koina, Manuscript received July 2002

Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers. We all know that. After all, haven't we been the custodians of documented knowledge for centuries? Who could possibly do it better than us? Well, then why aren't people knocking down our doors, begging us to be the knowledge managers of the organisation? Are they just ignorant of how fantastic we are, or is it possible that librarians aren't the best people for the job? Most of the academic articles that deal with Knowledge Management (KM) in some way always start by trying to define it. This is because there is no standard or stable definition. I believe this is one of the issues causing confusion...

Bibliography

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Bonner, Dede 'Enter the Chief Knowledge Officer.' Training and Development, Feb 2000, pp 36-40.

Broadbent, Marianne The phenomenon of knowledge management: what does it mean to the information profession? 1998. Available online: http://www.sla.org/pubs/serial/io/1998/may98/broadben.html

Butler, Yvonne 'Knowledge management - if only you knew what you knew'. STRAIT to the future ALIA 8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference. Available online: http://conferences.alia.org.au/shllc1999/papers/butler.html

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Skills for knowledge management a briefing paper by TFPL Ltd based on research undertaken on behalf of the [UK] Library and Information Commission. 1999. Available online: http://www.lic.gov.uk/publications/executivesummaries/kmskills.pdf.

Todd, Ross and Gray Southon, 'Educating for a knowledge management future: perceptions of library and information professionals.' Australian Library Journal, 50 (4) Nov 2001 313-326.

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