Knowledge management and corporate libraries
While doing my regular search for new items on corporate libraries, I ran across Primary Research Group Inc.’s Corporate Library Benchmarks 2004-05 Edition. You can get the table of contents as a .txt file here. Much of the contents of the report, as summarized in this press release, are no surprise: less space for libraries, not much growth in budgets, increased spending on electronic information.
But this jumped out at me:
Attitude of Library Management Towards Knowledge Management
For about half of the libraries in the sample, knowledge management software and practices had little impact on their day to day work life, while for a third, the impact was quite important.
What’s wrong with this picture? If corporate librarians aren’t involved in the aggregation and dissemination of information, doesn’t that hurt our position in companies? I’m flabbergasted, honestly. I looked at the SLA’s Competencies for Special Librarians document, just to make sure I wasn’t misremembering.
Participates in knowledge management activities that create, capture, exchange, use and communicate the organization’s “intellectual capital”
That’s from a SLA publication that’s now 10 years old:
Remeikis, Lois A. “Knowledge Management — Roles for Information Professionals.” Business and Finance Division Bulletin, SLA, 101, Winter 1996, 41-43.
