The role of the library and the librarian in knowledge management

Sajó Andrea <sajo.andrea@hif.hu>

Hírközlési Főfelügyelet

Knowledge management is a hot topic nowadays. It’s a great thing, the only problem is that we don’t know what it exactly means and what is it good for. Knowledge in itself is intangible, it cannot be handled as documents, consequently knowledge management requires new ideas and new techniques. It is not even clear who is in charge of managing knowledge. Does it require new types of professionals with new qualification or it can be managed with existing capabilities? Can one person be knowledge manager, information broker, information manager and librarian at the same time? Maybe knowledge management is restricted to information technology professionals? What is the driving force behind this debate? Is it a struggle for survival? Or for a professional renewal? Can this huge task be taken up by the representatives of a single profession? If not, what role can (might) play librarians in this field? These are the main topics of the paper and tries to find a guideline among the uncertainties.