INLS 247: SPECIAL LIBRARIES AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Spring 1999
Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30-10:45 am

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Course Description

"Information professionals ... are not in the information business per se,
but in the business of ... whatever product the enterprise as a whole is engaged in."


Brown, Susan A., "Marketing the Corporate Information Center ..." Online 21 (July/Aug 97) 75.

This course examines the work that special librarians do in a variety of organizations under a variety of titles (knowledge manager, technical information specialist, information analyst, information resources manager) or independently as an information consultant or fee-based information provider (information broker). The relationship between the type of organization and its knowledge management requirements will be explored.

Professional competencies addressed include: strategic planning for client-centered services, techniques for developing expert knowledge in the business of an organization or client and the "best" information resources for that context, training and instructional techniques, design of value added information services and products, application of information technologies to the acquisition, development, and dissemination for use of information products and services, management and communication skills in running a library or information service business and serving as a member of key management or research teams, evaluation of service use, customer satisfaction, and impact of services on the bottom line of the organization.

Course Objectives

"The core of knowledge management is the organization of processes in which
new knowledge is developed, knowledge is distributed to those who need it
knowledge is made accessible for current and future use
and use by the whole organization and knowledge areas are combined."

Who said this?

The goal of the course is that each student learn
  • To define potential career paths in knowledge management and special librarianship
  • To consider current trends in knowledge management and their manifestation in business and industry
  • To develop appropriate physical and virtual collections, services, and products for a selected special library or information service environment
  • To develop management competencies in the operation of a special library or information service business
  • To achieve self-reliance and self-confidence in presenting the need for information support services to upper level management.

Textbooks

"The ultimate corporate resource has become information --
the ultimate competitive advantage is the ability to use it --
the sum of the two is knowledge management."
Nigel Oxbow and Angela Abell, "Putting Knowledge to Work"
SLA Institute on Knowledge Management, 1997, p.25.

Two books are required texts and are available in the bookstore:
Porter, Cathy A., et al. Special Libraries; A Guide for Management. 4th ed. Washington, DC: Special Libraries Association, 1997.

Davenport, Thomas H. and Laurence Prusek. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997.

Additional materials are on reserve and are assigned each week. Relevant websites are indicated on the class outline.
Note: You may always substitute a reading of your choice for an assigned reading.

Please also become familiar with the Special Libraries Association website and SLA's publication, Information Outlook. Please look at recent back issues of the latter and read current issues as they come in.

If your interest is in information brokering, you may want to obtain a copy of the following book although it is on reserve.

Rugge, Sue and Alfred Glossbrenner. The Information Broker's Handbook. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1997. Soft cover 0-07-057871-0 ($34.95); Hard cover 0-07-057870-2 ($49.95).

Course Requirements

The course will be conducted by lecture, classroom discussion and student presentation. Readings, visits, and invited speakers will extend understanding of possible career options and the dynamics of particular settings and functional activities.

You will be asked to complete a number of assignments as follows:

  1. a Career Exploration via Case Study
  2. a Plan for an Information Support Service
  3. Intranet Design, Collections, Performance Measures
  4. Demonstrating the Value of the Library
  5. Issues Paper or Proposal
Each assignment has a written and a presentation component. Assignments 1 and 5 are to be done independently. I encourage you to work in a team of 2-3 people on assignments 2, 3 and 4. For team assignments, each person on the team will receive the same grade, unless there is overwhelming evidence to do otherwise.

Options to each assignment may be proposed to allow each person to tailor class activities to his/her particular interests.

Grades will be based on the following weighting scheme:

Please note: A grade of incomplete may be taken only because of illness or special circumstances and only with the permission of the instructor.

Honor Code

As you know, UNC-CH has a student-administered honor system that encourages and promotes the individual's adherence to the ethics of academia. Essentially, the honor code means that information taken from the work of other is always attributed and that work that you submit is your own (or your team's in the case of group work). In this class, collaboration, discussion, and the use of assistance from other class members is encouraged and is not inconsistent with the honor code.

Page revised 1/7/99.

Send me an email with any questions or comments to Evelyn Daniel.

INLS247-01 is the class listserv. To subscribe, from your email account, send an email to listproc@ils.unc.edu with no subject and the message "subscribe INLS247-01 " [omit quotes and small brackets in your message]. Let me know if you have any difficulties.