Unit:
Department of Primary EducationΒιβλιοθήκη Δημοτικής Εκπαίδευσης
Dissertation committee:
Κωνσταντίνος Φασούλης, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Δημοσθένης Δασκαλάκης, Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Ευθύμιος Βαλκάνος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Πανεπιστημίου Μακεδονίας
Ιωάννης Βρεττός, Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Αγγελική Βουδούρη, Καθηγήτρια ΕΚΠΑ
Κωνσταντίνος Σκορδούλης, Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ
Γεώργιος Α. Γιαννακόπουλος, Καθηγητής ΑΤΕΙ Αθήνας
Original Title:
Η διαχείριση της γνώσης στο περιβάλλον των ακαδημαϊκών βιβλιοθηκών: Ατομικές αντιλήψεις και οργανωσιακές πρακτικές
Translated title:
Knowledge management in academic libraries: Individual perceptions and organisational practices
Summary:
In the library environment, knowledge management (KM) has been recognised for improving overall performance and facilitating the creation of innovative services. Therefore, KM has attracted the interest of library and information science (LIS) researchers and practitioners. However, due to the complexity of knowledge, as well as the multifaceted nature of KM, there is no consensus among LIS professionals regarding its relation to information management. In this context, the current study aims at exploring how library employees perceive KM but most importantly if these perceptions, along with other factors, affect knowledge creation and innovation in Greek academic libraries. More specifically, based on a business-oriented approach, it empirically examines the influence of three factor categories, namely organisational, technological and personal, on both knowledge creation and innovation, using structural equation modelling. For the collection of primary data a structured questionnaire was developed and distributed electronically to the personnel of 28 academic libraries in Greece. The final study sample consists of 289 LIS professionals, 17 IT professionals and 12 employees from other disciplines. Vision and goals and organisational culture emerged as the most important influencing factors. Such findings indicate that library leaders should focus on building a common vision and goals and a knowledge-conducive culture, characterised by collaboration, trust and learning. Overall, the results suggest that a vision-based leadership, which nurtures a knowledge-friendly culture, encourages initiatives and provides the appropriate motivation schemes and technological context facilitates the creation of new knowledge. This new knowledge in turn helps libraries to provide innovative services, thus successfully adapting to the changing external environment. Furthermore, the results indicate that although library employees are aware of KM and appreciative of its benefits not only for library performance but also for LIS professionals’ future career options, there is a lack of clarity on fundamental KM issues. Finally, academic libraries take steps towards capturing the explicit knowledge of both their employees and their users; however, social practices such as communities of practice, which facilitate tacit knowledge and expertise sharing, are not adopted.
Main subject category:
Libraries
Keywords:
academic libraries, knowledge management, knowledge creation, service innovation, process innovation, vision, culture, organisational structure, formalisation, centralisation, information and communications technology (ICT), human resource skills, structural equation modelling
Number of index pages:
2σ.
Number of references:
473
Number of pages:
xix, 225σ.
