Ross J. Todd

Educating for a Knowledge Management Future: Perceptions of Library and Information Professionals.

The emerging diffuse and complex discourse on knowledge management has, amongst many things, given some focus to the nature of education and training for professionals engaged in managing knowledge. The complexity of charting an educational and training pathway becomes apparent when considered against the plethora of perspectives of what constitutes knowledge management, as well as the various underpinning assumptions about its nature, contextualisation, role, and indeed, the meanings of its constituent terms ‘knowledge’ and ‘management’. This paper is the second part of the findings of a research project undertaken in 1999 and 2000 to identify the perspectives of experienced professionals working in the library and information sector in relation to knowledge management, and in particular to identify directions for the education and training of library and information professionals who wish to be engaged in managing knowledge. Part 1 identified considerable variation in levels of awareness of the term ‘knowledge management’, in the perceptions of knowledge management, and its relation to information management, and in the perception of the institutional understanding of and responses to knowledge management (Southon & Todd, 2001).

Library and information professionals and knowledge management: conceptions, challenges and conflicts

The level of interest suggests that knowledge management needs to be taken seriously as an issue for information professionals and for the fields of librarianship and information science. Knowledge management is perceived to offer a substantial enhancement of the role of the information professional. However, the confusion, variations and concerns expressed indicate that knowledge management is a difficult area still requiring significant exploration and development. The definition of the area is still very open and in some ways quite problematic. There is an understandable desire for this to be resolved. A recognised definition provides people with a more substantive base to explain the concept and to argue for its adoption. It enables them to establish their identity with respect to a specific concept, program or set of tools. Further, the current lack of status of many information professions, and the pervasive uncertainty in many industries suggest substantial reasons for developing a more coherent and strategically relevant professional identity. However, the breadth of approaches represented just by this group of information professionals suggests commonality may be difficult to achieve within the profession, let alone outside.

Knowledge management in three organizations: an exploratory study

A major professional concern for people undertaking knowledge management initiatives is interpreting the field for managers and others in their organization. This exploratory research sought to investigate the dynamics of knowledge in organizations: how (if at all) it was perceived, interpreted, utilized, and integrated into the functions, processes, and outputs of the organization. Three organizations with differing functions and outputs were studied: a law firm, an educational institution, and a suburban local council, each being between 100 and 200 employees in size. Semistructured interviews (both individual and small group) were carried out with people at all levels to gather perceptions of the dynamics of knowledge in that organization. It was found that knowledge structures and cultures differed substantially between organizations, and were heavily influenced by the commercial environment and the governing structures. People at all levels had substantial awareness of the nature of knowledge within the organization, and there were a significant number of initiatives targeted at improving the way that knowledge was used. The concept of knowledge itself was quite unproblematic, although it was considerably more complex and nuanced than most definitions allow for. Information services had an important, although not a central role in knowledge dynamics. These findings raise a number of questions about the suitability of much knowledge management theory.

School Librarianship and Evidence Based Practice: Progress, Perspectives, and Challenges

Objective – This paper provides an overview of progress and developments surrounding evidence based practice in school librarianship, and seeks to provide a picture of current thinking about evidence based practice as it relates to the field. It addresses current issues and challenges facing the adoption of evidence based practice in school librarianship. Methods – The paper is based on a narrative review of a small but growing body of literature on evidence based practice in school librarianship, set within a broader perspective of evidence based education. In addition, it presents the outcomes of a collaborative process of input from 200 school libraries leaders collected at a School Library summit in 2007 specifically to address the emerging arena of evidence based practice in this field. Results – A holistic model of evidence based practice for school libraries is presented, centering on three integrated dimensions of evidence: evidence for practice, evidence in practice, and evidence of practice. Conclusion – The paper identifies key challenges ahead if evidence based school librarianship is to develop further. These include: building research credibility within the broader educational environment; the need for ongoing review and evaluation of the diverse body of research in education, librarianship and allied fields to make quality evidence available in ways that can enable practicing school librarians to build a culture of evidence based practice; development of tools, strategies, and exemplars to use to facilitate evidence based decision-making; and, ensuring that the many and diverse advances in education and librarianship become part of the practice of school librarianship.

Social Justice as Strategy: Connecting School Libraries, Collaboration, and IT

This article examines perceptions of social justice among a set of students undertaking a group research task in a New Jersey high school library. The purpose was for students to produce a coconstructed product that represented the negotiated understanding of their curriculum topic. The study involved 42 grade nine students in a language arts class focused on independent reading tasks emphasizing critical/reflective thinking, speaking, and independent learning skills as well as the effective use of research/knowledge construction strategies. The study used open-ended reflections and an asynchronous Google Docs–based environment to capture perceptions of the students’ collaborative processes and to examine collaborative knowledge-building dynamics and outcomes. This article proposes an action-level typology that maps the collective strategies used by students to negotiate socially just conditions during the collaborative process. The study also provides suggestions for and a methodological example of how social justice principles can be examined in information-intensive organizations.

Information Technology and School Libraries: A Social Justice Perspective

This research takes an emergent approach to data analysis (Charmaz, 2008) through the use of an emic/etic data coding process, and proposes a typology for understanding the connection between social justice principles and the provision of information technology services in school libraries. The study used data from seven school libraries in the state of New Jersey, obtained from focus groups consisting of forty-eight teachers, eighteen librarians, ten department supervisors, eleven principals/assistant principals, four district directors, and three librarian-teachers. The emergent process and typology employed in this research can aid school libraries in assessing how particular factors of the school/school library environment influence the provision of IT services to school library users. This study confirmed that school librarians and teachers rely on several social justice principles, such as distributive justice, utilitarianism, and egalitarianism, in making decisions regarding how to provide information technology services within the school environment. In particular, it was found that the type of social justice principle used in the school environment depended on the school librarians’ and teachers’ perceptions of the information competencies of their constituents and the availability of resources within the school environment. This research contributes to the study of social justice in the library and information science (LIS) professions in the following ways: first, by expanding ideas of “social justice” in LIS beyond traditional notions of “disenfranchised groups”—such as people having lower socioeconomic status, racial/ethnic or sexual minorities, and individuals with physical or mental disabilities—to include any group that may experience injustice in the context of information, such as school teachers, librarians and students; second, by portraying how social justice principles are enacted as strategies in school librarianship and pedagogy that advance student information-seeking and learning objectives; third, by highlighting the value of social justice to both practice and scholarly research in school and school library environments; and fourth, by proposing a methodology for studying social justice in a library environment.

Challenging the Boundaries of Graduate Education for Information Professionals in Australia: Real World Learning for a Virtual Information World

Developments in Australia over the last ten years have challenged traditional approaches to the delivery of graduate education for the professions. The recent focus on lifelong learning, flexible learning, work-based learning, situated learning, constructivist and contextualised learning have created rich opportunities to rethink the boundaries of time, place, space, approach and means to learning, and the roles of students in relation to these opportunities. This paper examines the dynamics of shared responsibility for learning in the provision of graduate education for the library and information sector, as realised through a strategic collaboration between the State Library of New South Wales and the University of Technology, Sydney.

Accessing networked information: Research, issues and implications

The provision of information services has changed dramatically over the last few years, particularly with developments in access to networked information technology and the shift from a paper‐based to a digital information environment. The development of the ‘digital library’ or ‘virtual library’ in particular has created an information environment that is complex and fluid, connective and interactive, and diverse and unpredictable. It is an environment that now places considerable responsibility on information users to be able to navigate this complex and often ambiguous information space. This does not happen by chance, and calls for considerable attention to be given to reshaping the role of information professionals in enabling users to effectively interact with this information. Against this backdrop, this paper will examine current research on information user behaviour in digital environments, particularly in relation to using Web‐based information services. It will highlight substantive issues in relation to education and training, particularly in the context of information literacy and its development in digital environments.

The collection of library statistics for supplier evaluation: A user-friendly guide

Abstract In the light of recent economic constraints and a rapidly changing, if not volatile, publishing industry, supplier evaluation is a critical component of library collection development and management. The paper presents a number of guiding principles considered important in the collection of library statistics with a view to supplier evaluation. It identifies approaches to descriptive statistics; presents some helpful guidelines for decision making based on descriptive statistics; and discusses some issues relating to selecting a sample and establishing an appropriate sample size.

Ethical tensions in research: the influence of metatheoretical orientation on research ethics

When developing ones own research agenda, early and mid‐career researchers continually negotiate how best to meet ethical standards and resolve ethical constraints using methodologically sound approaches. Often such struggles occur behind closed doors, their outcomes reflected in the institutional language of an ethical review board. This panel seeks to bring these struggles to the forefront by having panelists who study various populations discuss how they approach ethical challenges in their research. Due to the nature of the groups these panelists study, the panel provides a context where the site of ethical struggles, challenges, and tensions are exacerbated. Key issues to be discussed are: informed consent, risks to participants, and research design and dissemination. Discussion of these issues will be oriented around each participants metatheoretical orientation to research in library and information science (LIS). Adopting such an approach will highlight some of the main challenges when engaging in ethical practices that may not align with institutional standards, as well as denote possible strategies for addressing them.