CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS,
Transforming Library Standards and Practices
Through Knowledge Management Principles
A book edited by Karen Medin
Introduction
Knowledge Management (KM) is a multi-faceted movement, gaining momentum in the late nineties, and involving both professional service consultancies and academics. Each arm of the movement saw management of knowledge differently. The first saw hidden or tacit knowledge as the problem to be reigned in by technology. People had to divulge tacit information that then would be stored in user-friendly computer systems and the problem would be solved. The Information Age had arrived. Knowledge truly was power. On the other side of Knowledge Management, emerging in the 21st century, Knowledge Management was seen more as a people issue. Technology could not manage the knowledge but only human-centered means such as Communities of Practice, Situated Learning and the like could. Relationships, interactions within environments where processes occur must be the locus of KM. The interest in database design with its rule-based linear models of knowledge transfer shrinks as interest in sharing, creation, acquisition, exchange, and retention of knowing between living beings take the forefront.
Libraries, like other organizations, compete on knowledge. As the professional library literature attests, we academic librarians are in the midst of an evolutionary and perhaps revolutionary period marked by retooling. This is in part due to the fact that content is now produced on-line as well as in print. Furthermore, we are no longer necessarily the collectors, maintainers, and distributers of the human record. In many cases we are compelled to lease access and at a far greater price, especially when considering that it is ongoing. We band together to be able to afford that price and the number of people who can (according to lease agreements and Digital Rights Management Systems) have access is limited rather than limitless both by time and space. Libraries need new business models, new protocols for technology development, images for us as pioneers in entrepreneurship of all kinds.
On academic campuses library administrators need to take both arms of the Knowledge Management being into account as they begin to develop new standards and practices. Industry and academe can inform us in this endeavor. I proposed this reference book as a means to assist our community in finding out about Knowledge Management as it relates your field: Human Resource Management, Personnel Management, Business, Health Care, Education, Computer Science, Anthropology, Neuroscience, Systems, and the list goes on. From these chapters we hope to show how KM can inspire librarians to integrate the insights and products referred to and make the best of a powerful new field now flourishing with its own journals and conferences, global firms and consultancies. I hope that you will be part of that process by contributing to this seminal work with your contribution.
Objective of the Book/Target Audience
This comprehensive and timely publication aims to be an essential reference source, building on the available literature in the field of Knowledge Management. It is hoped that this text will provide the resources necessary for policy makers, technology developers, and managers to adopt and implement Knowledge Management in libraries and other organizations across the world.
Recommended topics include, but are not limited to the following:
Contributors are welcome to submit chapters on the following topics relating to
Knowledge Management adoption in technological or human-centered arenas as follows:
(NOTE: This is not a HOW-TO publication)
What is the relationship of the Communities of Practice movement with the Human Resource Development emphasis on team building? Mentorship?
Does the Community of Practice emphasis on professionals leave out paraprofessionals in libraries?
What are the up and down sides of Knowledge Management’s branding of the slogan “Knowledge is Power?”
Might Librarians learn anything from the systems side of Knowledge Management business models in terms of adjusting to the digital age of content access?
Submission Procedure
Researchers and Practitioners are invited to submit on or before
March 30, 2014 a 2-3-page proposal clearly explaining the nature and scope of your chapter. You will hear back on May 15 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are due by July 30, 2014. Include with your proposal 8-12 highlighted index terms. Please use MS Word format. References must be in APA style. Your biography should be of 50-100 words in length. Publication will be 150,000-180,000 words.
Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global, publisher of the “Information Science Reference,” “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This book is anticipated to be released in 2015.
Important Dates
1st Proposal Submission Deadline: March 30, 2014
2nd Proposal Submission Deadline: April 30, 2014
Last Call for Proposals: May 30, 2014
Full Chapter Submission: July 30, 2014
Review Process July 30, 2014-September 15, 2014
Review Results to Authors: September 30, 2014
Revised Chapter Submission: October 30, 2014
Final Acceptance Notifications: November 15, 2014
Submission of Final Chapters: November 30, 2014
Final Deadline: January 15, 2015
