Knowledge Management Adoption and Implementation Readiness: A Case Study of the National Library of Malaysia

Abstract

Knowledge Management (KM) refers to a range of practices used by organizations to identify, create, represent and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness, and learning across organizations. Libraries have always been regarded as a reader’s haven. With the proven advantages of KM, libraries are able to use this technology to improve their services and become learning organizations. KM can be used to assist librarians in changing their role to be knowledge managers. They need to constantly update or acquire new skills and knowledge to remain relevant to contemporary library environment. Libraries need to restructure their functions, expand their roles and responsibilities to effectively contribute and meet the needs of a large and diverse community and users. In this paper, we present the outcome of a survey on the perception and understanding of various aspects of KM by the librarians and staff of the National Library of Malaysia (NLM). The study investigates the current status of KM in NLM. The main objective of the survey is to discover how the organization goes about creating, disseminating and applying knowledge internally. It also tries to assess whether the working environment in the NLM supports the adoption and implementation of KM. The result of this effort can be used by other libraries and similar organizations which are considering adopting and implementing KM.