Knowledge Management for the Information Professional

Citation

Burke, M.E. (2002), "Knowledge Management for the Information Professional", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 58 No. 2, pp. 240-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/jd.2002.58.2.240.8

The purpose of this book is to explore knowledge management from a realistic perspective by examining the subject in a broad transorganisational context. This is achieved by the discussion of five major areas:

1. 1.

   (1) an overview of knowledge management;

2. 2.

   (2) background and issues in knowledge management;

3. 3.

   (3) creating a culture of learning and knowledge sharing in the organisation;

4. 4.

   (4) an examination of the tools; and

5. 5.

   (5) applications of knowledge management.

The sections contain four or five chapters based around one of the five themes and each opens with a detailed set of introductory notes which are useful as quick guides to the areas.

The first section gives an overview of knowledge management and contains new ideas on mainstream theories. The chapters contained in this section which include “From information management to knowledge management” are particularly sound. The authors deal effectively with the standard arguments in this area – but from new perspectives. The second section allows for discussion of the background and the pertinent issues in knowledge management. All ideas are challenged and none are “glossed over” which makes a refreshing change in this fluid area. Section three deals with the related knowledge management culture in organisations and contains much important information, the underlying theme being that knowledge management can only be truly successful if there is a supportive culture in the organisation that provides the mechanism for the concept to work effectively. The fourth section contains quite technical chapters and deals with such matters as information mapping and information coding. The whole area of telecomms and networks is also dealt with in this fourth section, making it quite ambitious, but the basic principles have been clearly conveyed. The potential applications of knowledge management are dealt with in the fifth section which deals with practical issues in different sections of society e.g. law, health and business enterprises. These chapters are of particular use to the practitioner.

The appendices are very useful, well researched and contain meticulous detail of all sources (and formats) of knowledge management information. Appendix A outlines the course syllabus for knowledge management at the School of Library and Information Science, Dominican University. This provides a detailed account of the week‐by‐week content of the syllabus. Appendix B contains a full and comprehensive bibliography on knowledge management – 611 items in total including Web sites and videos. This appendix is in itself a fantastic resource. Appendix C is an extension of Chapter 3 and gives a thematic model of information‐driven management. Interesting, but I would question whether an edited version of this should have simply been included in Chapter 3. Information about the contributors is contained in Appendix D.

One mild criticism of the book is that it needed to be clearer about its intended audience. From the title I would expect it to be aimed at the practitioner, but from the content it could be aimed at students, practitioners or the information world in general. It seems to try to be all things to all people – but to some extent this is a characteristic of knowledge management itself rather than any fault of the editors.

All the chapters are well written and diagrams are clear and fully explained. This is a comprehensive textbook which combines established thinking with new areas of research and is a welcome addition to the literature on this subject. The editors claim that the book is “a relatively straightforward account of the development of knowledge management” and this fact is borne out throughout the work. Priced at $44.50, this is an essential guide to the changing world of knowledge management in the twenty‐first century.