A New Year, New Challenges, and New Opportunities

The developers of technology are continuing to develop improved products which they tout as bigger and faster. Additionally, they are also working on new products which have the potential of impacting how we do our jobs--such as sophisticated intelligent filters. Technology has permitted us to provide service to each of our clients at their desktops regardless of their locations. New advances in technology will enable us to interact even more successfully with employees who are offsite. As information providers, we need to recognize the power technology has given us to do our jobs better.

A successful knowledge management system can only be implemented if we have visible buy-in from our premier clientele, senior management, and the IS department. This buy-in will allow us to develop a centralized vision. We must create a database which houses both "best practices" and "failed projects" in addition to other corporate information. This new knowledge ethos is built on teamwork reflecting company-wide information sharing including the integration of internal and external information resources. We need to create an esprit de corps where it can be truly said that "It is one for all and all for one." It is only within this atmosphere that we can truly leverage our organization's intellectual capital.

Having said this, what do I see as our role? We want to be a member of the knowledge management development team. We need to be perceived as the expert on information sources, as a developer of system standards, as an effective marketer of the system to the chief users and to senior management, as customizer of both traditional and non-traditional information products and as a trainer and retrainer par excellence. As the system matures and as the organization changes, we must actively seek new partnerships and alliances to strengthen the system as a powerful decision-making tool.

This means that we need to think entrepreneurially about our job as an information provider and look beyond the library to contribute your expertise. The knowledge manager must be found at the tables which decisions about product development are being made. You need to be seen as a strategic reactor to technology and to be willing to share your viewpoints with the IS Department as they develop proposals for new systems. You should not be perceived as an automatic "nay sayer" or "yes man" for their proposals. You need to promote and to facilitate communication within the organization regarding knowledge needs. You need to start thinking of yourself as a "change agent" within this new "Knowledge Age".

The customized customer service activity that is promoted as one of the chief assets of a knowledge management system is not that much different from what we have done in the past with more limited tools. Reliable and secure technology allow us to leverage the organization's intellectual capital in a manner which combines relevant external information with internal organization reports that will let project teams make strategic decisions. The time has come for you to leave your libraries and join with others in your organization as a partner in creating this valuable corporate asset. For those of you who are doubting that you have the skills to do this, revisit our Competencies document. You can do it! The power that an effective knowledge management process affords all of us is exciting and allows us to be seen as knowledge partners. Let's accept this challenge and join our colleagues who have already become knowledge managers.

Judith J. Field, president