Kendra S. Albright

The thesis of this paper is that, despite its substantial accomplishments over the past 40 years as a professional practice, knowledge management (KM) has yet to mature as an intellectual discipline. The goal of this conceptual paper is to accelerate this maturation by generalizing KM. The paper does so by identifying KM’s generic social phenomena and how these phenomena can be better understood through the development of theory oriented around knowledge that defines, predicts, and explains them. KM theory is examined through an extensive review of the existing literature. Four levels of organizational KM are offered, including two that examine an organization’s basis (resources) and essence (ideas and actions), while the second two build upon these to examine resource management in general, and the management of knowledge resources specifically. Treating KM as a theoretical object will lead to greater understanding of KM. This enriched understanding will lead to a more effective performance of KM. The achievement of this paper’s goal (i.e., generalizing KM) will facilitate the maturation of KM into a discipline and practice that consistently contributes to organizational effectiveness. Little KM literature exists on the conceptualization of knowledge as a theoretical object, which offers the opportunity not only to develop theory that defines, predicts, and explains KM within organizations more systematically but also ultimately to understand better the ways in which KM contributes to individual happiness, community cohesion, and social prosperity.

Knowledge is a broad concept whose epistemological construct has been debated since the days of the early Greek philosophers. Knowledge was discussed extensively during the Renaissance, became a central area of study during the Scientific Revolution and was applied extensively within organisations throughout the Industrial Revolution. Knowledge became an organisational resource of significant interest, emerging over the past 25 years as a unique field of study called knowledge management (KM). Much of the KM literature addresses matters of practice and application; what is missing is a deep and conceptual analysis of the activities that drive KM processes. This article provides a conceptualisation of KM activities focusing on the underlying foundations of these activities. The result is a rich framework of KM activities that can be used to pursue important research areas involved in studying KM processes, including theory development, areas of overlap and where further research is needed.

As a dynamic and interdisciplinary field of study, information science has a diverse set of methods, theoretical frameworks, tools and processes that continue to be developed, adopted, and extended through further research, teaching, and practice. Some of the methods and frameworks have origins in other disciplines. The interdisciplinary nature of information science may have enabled the field to grow in stature but it may have also contributed to it being perceived, often unfairly and mistakenly, as lacking a strong identity, brand, and reputation, leading to a possible fragmentation of the field. Continued conversations around factors that may help and/or hinder the field from fulfilling its full potential and how it can position itself to build an identity on a strong track record are necessary. The panel has two main goals: (1) to engage researchers and educators in an interactive discussion on the contributing factors and ways in which information science can remain a diverse and interdisciplinary field, realize its full potential, and build a strong identity as well as identify potential barriers it needs to overcome; and (2) to delineate the roles its stakeholders and allies need to play to achieve that goal of a field with “Unity in diversity”.

Recently, in the election that took place in the United States, we have heard a lot about “fake news” and its influence. The discourse regarding “fake news” and “alternative facts” points to the importance of information literacy, a set of skills that enables people to seek, evaluate and use information in an effective way. The objective of this panel is to bring together experts from different countries to discuss how they perceive the future of information literacy (IL). The question that arises is will IL be the sole focus of librarians, information professionals and educators, or will it be regarded as a lifelong learning skill that affects different aspects of our everyday life such as health, workplace and even culture? The session will begin with a short overview of the recent literature on this issue, followed by the panellists' findings and examples of research projects, as well as their insights about new approaches in the area of IL. The panel will conclude with an engaging discussion with the audience to identify future trends in IL.