Knowledge Audit Final

Knowledge Audit: Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Page 1
Kerri Rosalia
Management and Leadership in the Knowledge Domain; IKNS 4301
November 11, 2012
Client: Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library
___________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The following is a knowledge audit of a suburban Public Library and specifically the Intranet for
the purposes of examining existing knowledge culture, knowledge/information flow, access to
explicit and tacit knowledge resources and knowledge management tools. The audit will
examine if knowledge management, services, and development can be enhanced with the
appropriate investment in an enhanced institutional Intranet.
____________________________________________________________________________
Audit Scope: Public Library Intranet
The following knowledge audit was undertaken to study the current Library Intranet
including departmental pages, contributors, and information/content. In addition to a
knowledge audit, a small information audit of content sources along with usage statistics
was completed as well. The scope will include a general overview of the institution to
contextualize the information presented with regard to KD/KS.
Specifically my analysis will look to identify inefficiencies in information flow and/or
knowledge gaps. I will create a knowledge management strategy for the Intranet and
related content. Recommendations will likely include capture of institutional information
and project data that is currently unstructured, in poorly accessible formats, or stored
across various platforms and software products.
“In most knowledge audits, the intention is to start small, with a named group or unit, but
once the project begins, the audit team can expect a considerable cross-functional
operational exchange of information, knowledge, and strategic learning references, a
situation that often requires a re-focus and a second look at resources committed to the
audit”, and clearly that has occurred in my audit. (St. Clair & Stanley, 2008) While I
originally set out to exclusively audit the Library Intranet, the quality and quantity of
knowledge resources which are shared through it or reside in it are reflective of the
knowledge culture of the broader institution. As such the scope of this audit has been
broadened to an institutional scope in some areas.

Relevant Stakeholders
For the purpose of this audit the following stakeholders were identified to target.
 Board of Trustees (5)
 Library administrators (2)
 Director of the Information Technology Department (1)
o Senior programmer (1)
 Library department managers (10 out of 10)
 Sample of general staff (25 out of 200+)
Organization Summary
Overview
The Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library is a large suburban Library located in
Suffolk County, NY that has been in existence since 1974. The institution is considered a
small government municipality based on the public tax base funding structure and
original charter with New York State to operate. The Library serves over sixty-thousand
residents with a staff of over two hundred employees. A ten million dollar annual
operating budget and a four million dollar capital reserve budget cover operational and
capital costs.
Governance and Roles
The Library is governed by a five person elected Board who are granted ultimate
authority over the finances, personnel, and long term strategy for the institution. The
Library Director is employed to run the day-to-day operations, handling all the strategy
design and implementation, achievement of objectives, oversight of personnel issues,
finance, legal, human resources, public service plans, information technology planning
and implementation, budgeting, customer service, research services, community
outreach, project management, and general oversight.
Organizational Mission
The following represents the official mission statement of the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley
Community Library as adopted by the Board of Trustees.
The Library (Community) provides Technology, Learning and Culture – all personalized
with a caring, friendly and non-judgmental attitude.
The Library does this by giving accurate information, supplying cutting-edge technology,
and supporting and promoting lifelong learning, the arts, entertainment, cultural
awareness and intellectual freedom.

Library’s Slogan: Excellent Service Always
Organizational Philosophy
The Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Library (Community Library) Philosophy as adopted by the
Board of Trustees.
PHILOSPHY OF THE COMMUNITY LIBRARY
A philosophy of service constantly develops, broadens, grows, and changes. It is
useful from time to time, to evaluate where we are as an institution. What follows
is a summary of the Library’s current philosophy.
A community establishes a library to provide its public with service. Through its
elected representatives, the community itself decides what services it wants (and
is willing to pay for) and, to a large degree, how those services are to be
delivered.
After receiving input from the Trustees and the wider community, the staff
attempts to provide the type of service the public wants, in the manner the public
requires, as economically as possible. The Staff response is constrained only by
economic, legal and practical considerations.
That response should be two-fold. First, after ascertaining what the community
wants, resources are allocated by the priorities established by the public and
interpreted by the Library’s Board of Trustees. The collection is developed to
fulfill the needs of the public. It should not reflect the interest, biases, whims or
passions of the Staff, but should reflect those of the community, taken collectively
and in proportion.
Second, our public also decides the manner in which services are delivered.
What is convenient, comfortable, necessary, wanted, or expected by the
collective public always takes precedence over the way the staff would like to
deliver or is used to delivering services.
Organizational Purpose and Objectives
The following represents the official purpose statement as adopted by the Board of Trustees.
The Community Library’s purpose and function is to provide library service to the
entire population of the William Floyd Union Free School District. The wide variety of
services offered should give opportunity for the education, cultural enrichment and
development, recreation and entertainment of citizens of all ages from infancy through
the senior years.
Immediate objectives which will enable the Library to fulfill this purpose and

function are as follows:
I. To offer the services of the Library at a strategic location or locations through-
out the District so that all citizens have reasonable access to its facilities.
II. To provide general reading materials, audio-visual materials, reference and
information materials and other library services—including programs – for
all ages. The means to this end is to build a stronger collection of all
kinds of materials and make the Library an important center for
information.
III. To provide programs that will enlighten and enrich residents of all ages.
IV. To improve and enhance the public image of the Library in the community
and acquaint the public with its many services.
V. To strengthen and improve the library staff so that the best possible services
are delivered.
Organizational Knowledge Culture
Philosophically the public library as an institution was founded on the ideal of shared information
and access to the world’s knowledge. Library employees are trained to capture, organize, store,
and share information/transfer knowledge with/to our customers. Employees utilize both tacit
and explicit knowledge transfer. The culture readily supports knowledge sharing and transfer
when and where information/knowledge is codified, or where there is a traditional process/role.
(ex., staff is quite comfortable recording an oral history related to our local history, entering the
media file into a CONTENTdm™ system (CMS), assigning metadata for indexing and search,
and publishing to the Web. Resources are located on our public facing web site
http://www.communitylibrary.org/Adult/localhistory.aspx.) Employees do not currently undertake
any activity to capture their own tacit knowledge to share across the institution or with the
greater community they serve.
There are many reasons why knowledge is not being readily shared within the
institution. This can include: a lack of trust; different cultures, vocabularies,
frames of reference; lack of time and meeting places, narrow idea of productive
work; status and rewards going to knowledge owners; lack of absorptive capacity
in recipients; belief that knowledge is the prerogative of particular group;
intolerance for mistakes or need for help”. (Davenport & Prusak, 1998)
Where knowledge resides tacitly with employees the institution fails to capture that knowledge in
any codified way for future reuse or sharing. In conducting this audit it became clear to the
auditor that this will be a recommendation in the Knowledge Strategy.
The institution is segmented into ten major departments as represented in the organizational
chart (See Appendix A) It is apparent there is some level of information and knowledge sharing
taking place across the departments utilizing different mediums of communication including the
Library Intranet. The benefits of KD/KS have not been well articulated or supported by

administration at this time. Employees are making an effort to collaborate on work utilizing
Google Drive and other cloud-based consumer focused product. More could be done to
increase and improve knowledge sharing. This will require a commitment from leadership to
organizational learning, change management, transformational leadership, and an investment in
a technology infrastructure to support the change.
Technology and Infrastructure Capacities
The following represents an overview of the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library
technology infrastructure as prepared by the Network Administrator, Dan Costa. There is a
serious need to rewire the facility with Cat 6 cabling, redirecting cabling to central wire drops
and closets. The clients and servers are on a technology rotation replacement schedule and are
kept current. There are adequate financial resources allocated to technology upgrades in the
operating budget to purchase a product such as Microsoft SharePoint ™ or a competitive
groupware product.
o Network: ISP - Verizon Business, currently a dedicated 20 Mbps. Planned
upgrade to a dedicated 30 Mbps line, Verizon Business… date to be determined)
o Firewall provided by Fortinet (Fortigate 100D).
o Web content filter provided by Fortinet (Fortigate 100D)
o Wiring: mixed Cat 5 and Cat 5e
 Switches are small business Linksys and/or Netgear. Closet mounted
switches are Gigabit, there are several 10/100 switches near endpoints in
offices
o Secured Wireless
 Powered by 5 Cisco business level devices
 Connected to our private wired network
 WPA-2 secured
 Broadcasting on a/g wireless
o Public Wireless
 Internet provided by Cablevision “power to learn”.
 Cable (shared) max 20Mbps line.
 5 Netgear/Linksys home devices around the library are broadcasting the
open wireless
 g/n wireless networks available
 This network is unfiltered
o Servers
o 10 physical servers
o An additional 6 virtual servers split between two physical servers
o Operating systems include:
 Windows server 2003 R2
 Windows server 2003 R2 64bit
 Windows server 2008 R2
 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64bit
o Clients

o Approximately 210 clients (staff and patron, desktops and laptops combined)
o Approximately 95 staff machines, approximately 115 patron machines (including
10 web OPACS)
o OS is mixed from Window XP up to Windows 7. There about seven Windows
Vista Laptops
o Antivirus on Staff Computers is Kaspersky Endpoint Protection version 6 or 8.
o Patron desktops/laptops are using Faronics Deep-Freeze.
o Productivity suite is currently MS Office 2007 professional Plus
o We also have about 14 Ipad 2’s and about 15 Ipods. Each public service
department had a staff Ipad as well (5).
o We have three public copiers and six private. One public fax.
o We have three b/w and three color public printers. 14 staff network printers (five
of which are copiers too)
o Web: Two physical web servers, one virtual.
o All websites were hand written using the free Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2007,
2008, or 2010. Graphics were edited with Photoshop CS3
o Public website is running on Server 2003 iis6.
 From Google analytics from October 2011 to October 2012:
 115,211 Unique visitors
 265,738 Visits
 600,930 page views
 2.26 pages/visit
 Average visit duration: 3min 37sec
 Approximately 300 active pages
o Friends of the Arts – Library 501c 3 website is running on Server 2003 IIS 6
 From Google analytics from October 2011 to October 2012
 783 Unique Visitors
 926 Visits
 1,801 Page views
 1.94 Pages/visit
 Average visit duration: 1min 15sec
 12 active pages
o Intranet staff pages running on Server 2008 r2 IIS 7.5 & (virtual) Ubuntu server
Apache 2
 Running Wordpress (10 blogs) – open source blog software (on ubuntu)
 Dokuwiki - open source wiki software (on ubuntu)
 IIS portion approximately 40 active pages
o Security:
o Network Security :
 Network resources are protected by an Active Directory domain
username/password
 Private wireless is protected by WPA-2 password encryption
 Fortinet firewall & virus intrusion protection on the perimeter of our
network

o Website Security:
 Geotrust SSL certificate protecting & verifying our secure sites, including
the program registration payment sections
o Program Registration e-commerce
o Provided/processed by authorize.net
o Site secured by Geotrust SSL certificate
o Digital Signage
o Powered by Xibo – open source signage software.
o Meeting Room Technology
o Smartboard (1)
o Two mobile projectors and two mounted projectors
Organizational Structure:
o See Appendix A: Organizational Chart
Public Library Industry SWOT Analysis
The great American institution of the Public Library has a strong foundation in information and
knowledge sharing and transfer. Explicit knowledge in form of books, periodicals, databases,
and media line the shelves and pervade the computer networks in the form of reference
databases. Public Librarians filter information resources for the public through subjective
collection development. They are charged with providing timely and authoritative resources on a
broad range of subjects. Many act as SME’s for the internal and external customers, as well as
within the consortium in which they operate. Communities of Practice in public libraries abound
both informally and formally. Some formal CoPs are comprised of staffers brought together for
specific projects, systems, or processes while informal CoPs develop around staffers who
gravitate to each other based upon similar interests, work tasks, or challenges at hand such as
outreach services, digital services, services to a specific demographic group [teens, seniors,
etc], literacy services and more. CoPs extend beyond traditional departmental boundaries,
drawing members from across the institution and the broader regional library consortium. Most
are informal and supported by management.
Public Libraries are customer focused service business and are ever moving toward a demand
driven model for collection development, technology services/support, programming and
education. Based on Michael Porter’s description of different strategies it seems the Public
Library strategy is implicit. (Porter, 2008)
Strengths
Libraries offer a unique and encompassing service to the residents of their community in
a cost effective manner. They partner with other libraries in their geographic areas to
gain efficiency in providing digital information and databases, delivery of materials,
centralized staff training, shared software platforms and more. Savings are realized
through economies of scale. The last few years have brought an acceptance and move

toward outsourcing of certain processes as well as a heavy investment in shared
technology for materials management (RFID).
Weakness
As consumers demand more of their resources (both informational and recreational) in
digital format libraries struggle to compete with commercial enterprises that provide
content. Libraries must contend with limited supply and products that are subject to
DRM. E-books and streaming media offer immediate gratification through commercial
providers. Libraries are struggling to provide digital content utilizing an outdated lending
model fraught with wait times. Confounding the situation are publishers who are
concerned with DRM and new revenue streams and refuse to make titles available to
public libraries at all. The big six publishers who control the high demand author are
squeezing out the middleman. Libraries will need to find a way to gain access to the
most popular materials in digital format or they will cease to remain an effective provider
of these materials to the consumer.
Opportunities
There is an opportunity to re-define the Public Library and its services through strategy
and deliverables while the core values remain the same. The Public Library remains a
source of filtered/faceted information and knowledge resources that was designed as the
“people’s college”. Their mission is to make knowledge and information available to the
people in a democratic fashion. Through the explosion of data, information sources, e-
resources, and mobile computing, the Library has the opportunity to assist with
information overload, technology training, literacy services, and community based
programming. Outreach efforts continue to expand as library staff is distributed in a de-
centralized model into the business, government organizations, schools, community
partners, and more. Library facilities function as community centers, one of the last great
public places…the community resident’s “third place”.
Success is defined by maintaining public support, and branching out into our community
in new ways that help redefine our role. Libraries are actively embedding our services
within partnering agencies and groups, adding value to their organizational goals.
Threats
The Library industry is undergoing rapid transformation as consumers are increasingly
obtaining information, education and entertainment directly from the providers in a digital
and mobile format. Professional Librarian’s position of being the information experts
working repositories of all types of media has shifted. Today they aggressively try to
compete with consumer based information resources such as WebMD, Wikipedia, and on-
demand providers. Libraries are constantly practicing abandonment and realigning their
strategy, services, and deliverables to rapidly respond to market challenges. There is a
threat that the public will conclude their limited tax dollars could be spent for a different
purpose, or perhaps not spent at all. The recently enacted NYS Property Tax Cap limits tax
revenue increases to two-percent or CPI, whichever is lower. Decreasing revenues and
increasing fixed costs pose a threat to public institutions in general.

Change management has become the norm as our business must remain agile and adapt
to unprecedented market challenges. Leadership is challenged with maintaining trust and
shared vision with the Board, customers and staff of the institution. Many resist the
substantial changes and challenges we face, clinging to past practice, strategies, market
positions, and activities that are no longer relevant to the public we serve.
Leaders are acting as change agents, re-defining strategy and a course of action for the
short and long term future. Defining the role of the public library for the next generation of
customers and financial supporters is consuming a great deal of time. Management is
charged with selling the new reality of public library collections, programs, and service to
our internal and external customers. Transformational leadership combined with change
management skills is pivotal to the future of our industry. The threat exists that we will not
be successful and the concept of the public library will be abandoned by the public
themselves. Lack of relevancy and perceived need are tangible threats as well.
In relation to Porter’s Five Forces we see biggest risk that public libraries face in general
are multifold. The threat of entrants is high. Low cost, high speed, business models are
gaining consumer favor which leads to conjecture as to the need for public library services
in today’s digital marketplace. This ties directly to a high threat of substitutes as consumer
generated information and ready access to online resources replaces professional staff
knowledge and traditional reference materials. The “products” Libraries provided as
middlemen are now available to consumers directly. As much of Libraries do is reliant on
the skills of Information Technology staff the threat of supplier power is also high. It is
difficult to attract and retain highly skilled staff most of whom will command higher salaries
in the for-profit arena. Buyer power is also high as consumers have ready access to free
products and information (Spotify, Wikipedia, WebMD, et al) (Porter, 2008).
Our Business in the Marketplace:
Where Do Public Libraries Compete?
We compete with regional libraries and for-profit providers of print and digital content.
Information consumers today have unprecedented access to digitally streaming media,
cloud-based content, downloadable books, and personal mobile technologies. Finding
answers to questions and gaining access to the world’s knowledge has never been easier.
Immediate gratification is the norm which is not a model that public libraries have been able
to adopt. Public Libraries are competing with companies such as Amazon, Spotify, Apple,
and crowd-sourced reference tools such as Wikipedia.
How Do Public Libraries Win and Sustain?
 Through differentiation from regional libraries, and by offering free access to products
that compete with the low-cost immediate access of commercial providers. Libraries
work to stay on the competitive edge of supply by providing in-library and remote access
to online products through our web page such as:
o Zinio (online magazines);
o Freegal (downloadable music);
o Overdrive (downloadable audio and e-books);
o Proprietary databases; (online periodicals)

 Lend hardware to access all these materials free of charge. Among the offerings are
laptops, e-readers, tablet computers, and more.
 Codify and make explicit the knowledge of the organization and a portion of the
community’s knowledge in relation to local history, events, et al
How Do Public Libraries Adapt and Sustain Competitive Advantage?
 Provide access to high quality and quantity of print and digital materials with highly
personalized services
 Contract with third party vendors to aggregate digital services for residents obtaining
high value due to economy of scale
 Codify knowledge and give access to “local” content that is not available in the for-profit
arena, and “local” conversations on social media
 Encourage the community to create knowledge providing residents access to content
creation tools/training, and the platform to share information they create
 Build strong partnerships with organizations that can’t do this for themselves. Focus on
local history projects that make tacit knowledge explicit. (for example, recorded oral
histories with long-time residents, digitization of local civic, historical, and service
organizations)
 Build customer loyalty to ensure continued tax support through outstanding customer
service; market one-on-one personal assistance as a value added proposition
 Invest heavily in continuing education for staff particularly in the area of digital
technology and communication and knowledge capture and creation
 Select and implement DRM or ERS as well as a groupware tool to improve our ability to
harness our own knowledge and share it with internal and external customers
 Implement a change management philosophy to remain agile in the marketplace
 Adopt mission statements, goals, and objectives that align with strategic plans reflective
of the changing market conditions
Current Intranet Analysis
Third party vendors typically supply the information architecture and access systems that the
public/students/corporate clients see when they are looking for information in the public library.
At this time there are a limited number of information/knowledge assets created by the Library
staff themselves. Many of the content repositories are not accessible in a digital format or
through search, thus remain largely unused.
The Library currently has one Intranet that was created by IT staff to improve access through
wiki/blog/web tools to a small subset of internal documents that have been deemed crucial to
all, such as:
 Policies (public and staff)
 Emergency manual
 Human resources
o PTO forms
o Time card management software
 Meeting room management calendar

 Communication Tools
o Management blog
o Staff blog
 Department blogs
 Department schedules
 Department by department knowledge resources
 FAQ’s (Adult Services)
 e-book how-to’s (Children’s Services)
 Library app information (Digital Services)
 Digital subscription information (Digital Services and Adult)
 Departmental emergency procedures (Children’s Services)
 Job descriptions (Teen pages)
 Employee Information
o Employee contact list (includes photographs, phone #, email, birthday)
o Employee benefit information
o Employee newsletter
o Employee suggestion form/link
 Links to Library Web Page third party content repositories
 Links to Library catalogue
 Links to regional Library consortium web services
 Security incident logs
Documents that reside on the Intranet are in Adobe format, or hyper-linked and are do not have
any custom metadata attached. They are accessed by a hierarchical taxonomy. Procedures are
posted by department managers in blogs and are not efficiently available for reuse. Important
information is exclusively available in one department rather than in a central content repository
for all to access. The site does not have a search engine or search feature. Documents that are
included are not indexed, have no metadata attached, etc. Ironically the one knowledge
resource we created “Library Link” a director of local resources and agencies is only available
on our public web page yet its primary function is as a staff tool.

Intranet SWOT Analysis
The following analysis relates to both the existing and proposed Intranet.
Strengths Weaknesses
High visibility to staff and administration
Single access point for information and
knowledge
Improved work efficiencies
Staff training may be extensive for less skilled
employees (student workers, clerical staff)
Maintenance of site needed
Content monitoring necessary
Adherence to taxonomy/metadata schema
monitoring necessary
Threats
Lack of content resulting from low staff
adoption
Knowledge hoarding precludes sharing, lack
of trust
Funding required, resources limited
Technology becomes obsolete
Low demand
Opportunities
Build partnerships across institution
Increase collaboration
Reduce costs resulting from staff looking for
information/knowledge
High reuse potential
Staff elevation among peers
Staff rewarded for sharing
Information Flow
o See Appendix B: Knowledge Flow Map
Tools and Investments Made by Organization to Improve Flow
 The library invested in labor costs related to Information Technology staff creating an
Intranet site to improve access to information and improve communication. There has
not been an investment in groupware or any content management system for internal
assets.
 Currently there is no digital access to internal information assets of the library such as:
personnel records; board meeting agendas, minutes, and supporting documents; original
invoices from vendors; project documentation and residual project "knowledge".
 The Library does have a document management system (CONTENTdm ™) however the
system is only utilized to capture and give access to local history files, documents, oral
histories and the like for external customers.
User Opinions of the Intranet – See Appendix C: Stakeholder Surveys

Knowledge Resources
Following the basic principles of knowledge codification as described by Prusak and Davenport
managers must decide what knowledge employees have and what knowledge to codify (1998).
The following knowledge was identified during the course of this audit.
People Based (Tacit)
 Institutional history
 Project management information
 Contextualized service information
 Management techniques and best practices
 Technology skills and process knowledge
 Standard operating procedures
 Organizational progress towards strategic goals and objective in context.
 Cataloguing and technical processing best practices
 IT best practices.
The first step in any knowledge management program is to identify where knowledge is being
created, where it already exists and where it is needed to support decisions and actions.
Organisations that have not yet developed a strategy for managing their knowledge, or those
that have a strategy in place that could be working better are in an ideal position to go back to
basics and find out exactly what knowledge they need to manage to gain a competitive
advantage using an established information management methodology. (Henzcel, 2000)
Most of the library knowledge is being created by administration and management. Library
administrators and managers posses a high degree of tacit knowledge and information.
Communication of information and knowledge with non-managerial employees is lacking. The
current Intranet and management blog posting function more as online bulletin boards,
conveying data and facts required for compliance or HR issues. There is not an appropriate
means or method to deliver strategic information, project updates, or evolving objectives and
goals. The main method of communicating this information is through face-to-face staff
meetings and “water cooler discussions”. As the institution is open sixty-two hours per week
over seven days it is almost impossible to gather all the staff together to share information this
way. There are tremendous knowledge gaps between what leadership/management knows and
what non-managerial staff knows. This is a pressing issue for the institution as it is undergoing
tremendous change and relies on the employees to help facilitate the changes and embrace
them. There is no appropriate way to share documents, studies or project information across the
existing network. At best folders that reside on the servers are “shared” with specific staffers.
Content Based (Explicit)
 Contracts and licenses
 Employee information and data
 Official Library records (minutes, financial statements, financial audits)
 Library records
 Project management documents
 Business communications (letters, emails, blog postings)
 Demographic data about customers

 Business statistics
 Transactional data relating to our ILS
 Transactional data relating to our Web page, Intranet, Social Media outlets
 Budget data
 Computer logs
 Marketing and public relations information
 Federal and state reports
 Databases (See Appendix D)
Functions and Positions that Organize and Improve the Flow of Information Assets
Library administrators and the IT staff have a direct impact on knowledge creation, information
asset development and the flow of information to the internal and external customers. All work
related to the original designing of the Intranets was done by IT staff without substantive input
from other staff.
Findings and Knowledge Audit Recommendations
Current Knowledge Management Practices in the Organization
As stated earlier, Library lacks a document management system or electronic records system
for internal purposes. The lack of facilitated access to internal assets results in management
and administrators spending valuable time searching for information through print files or across
network folders. The lack of structure and governance for record lifecycle makes record
retention compliance a labor intensive affair. There is little to no employee engagement in the
creation and sharing of knowledge based in part on the absence of these platforms. Employees
are not engaged in the process of formal knowledge creation and we see they are not adding
value to what does exist.
The public library is clearly a social sector institution devised for the public good. “The decision
workers face regarding whether to participate in knowledge related activities has been
compared to a classical public good dilemma, with the knowledge workers have access to in
their own organizations being considered a public good” (Hislop, 2009) The challenge remains
for leadership and management to encourage and champion knowledge sharing within the
institution. The concept of a knowledge culture and KD/KS to achieve strategic goals should be
a logical fit.
Current Impediments to KM Success
As mentioned in the introduction, based on interviews I conducted, we know our managerial
staff spends up to twenty percent of their time looking for information that is not digitized,
indexed, searchable, faceted, filterable, or readily shareable. This inefficient utilization of time
distracts from employee ability to focus on customer engagement and project implementation.
Staff is engaged in tasks and process that can be improved with the aid of technology and
knowledge management tools.

 Content is stored onsite and offsite in print format
 Library owns the content and has full access to it
 Governance structure is in place related to the required retention of information
according to New York State records retention laws for municipalities
 Redundant storage is an important consideration as part of the institution’s
disaster plan
 Although some knowledge is codified but there is a lack of personalization.
Management and staff do not have an efficient way to share codified knowledge
with others in the organization
 Our plan must involve the digitalization of records; creating a taxonomy for
indexing and metadata; as well as finding tools such as an internal search
interface/engine
 In addition to the formal taxonomy we will consider enabling certain classes of
employees to tag documents and create context knowledge in a shared
database. Employees who can share lessons learned related to large projects
will be able to do so
Knowledge Management Goals
The goal of a KM plan is to improve employee and customer experience and operations
through the creation of knowledge management tools. The KM Intranet project will
improve access to our own internal knowledge, and improve efficiencies in process with
the addition of a stronger information technology infrastructure. The creation of
knowledge management tools through the codification of information and knowledge will
support our further goal to improve collaboration among employees through a groupware
product.
 Short-Term Goals
o Improved process and efficiency in locating institutional information and
knowledge
o Governance and policy outlined by management and board of trustees
o Information technology staff heavily involved in evaluation, selection and
implementation of technology to support the KM strategy
o Improve worker engagement in the process of creating knowledge
o Data will be tagged to create useful information
o Managers will have ready access to internal documents they need as part of
their daily work
o Share knowledge across the institution and with the customers through
social platforms where possible
 Long Term Goals/Outcomes
o Realize a substantial return on investment in labor costs saved and
improved efficiencies
o Management and leaders in the corporation can reallocate their time to align
with our strategic goals, utilizing knowledge management to support them
o Achieve long-term sustainable access to internal knowledge and information
that can be codified and contextualized

o Business performance outcomes improve as our processes for retrieving
information will be streamlined and more efficient
o Personalization strategy will improve our social process through the sharing
of knowledge internally and externally
o The institution will be positioned to push personalized knowledge and
information to employees and customers
o Metrics will be developed to gauge internal and external adoption and
participation in the knowledge management project
o Continue the practice and reinforce the value of change management while
remaining agile in the marketplace
As illustrated in the following graphic, developing a KM strategy and governance plan is a pre-
requisite to moving forward with other KM initiatives. Once the strategy and governance are
clearly articulated, and there is leadership buy-in, data and information created by the
employees need to be codified. Processes should be evaluated and technical platforms should
be put in place to support the information/knowledge needs. Only then can various initiatives
take place to work collaboratively, share and transfer knowledge, and contribute to the
knowledge repositories.
Remembering “information technology is only the pipeline and storage system for knowledge
exchange. It does not create knowledge and cannot guarantee or even promote knowledge
generation or knowledge sharing” (Davenport & Prusak, 1998), the Library Board and
administration must be sure that through transformational leadership and KD/KS champions
they proceed with the following recommendations to ensure success.
Graphic IKNS 4300

KM Strategy and Governance
Before undertaking any expense related to technology solutions or major project management
costs:
 Gain administrative support and the resources necessary to implement
recommendations
 Redefine the mission of the institution to meet current industry trends and the
expectations of customers.
 Redefine goals and objectives to align with the mission and are SMART (Specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic, time bound ),
 Identify opportunities that exist as stated in the SWOT analysis and determine how the
new Intranet (Knowledge Nexus) will aide in taking advantage of those opportunities.
 Align the KM initiatives with the vision, mission, values, goals and objectives of the
institution.
 Commit to explicit and tacit knowledge sharing, particularly between Library
administrators and managers and general staff. Consider online meeting forums
embedded in the intranet to enable staff to participate from remote locations.
 Meet the knowledge management mission of convening others by forming a community
of practice around the project including internal and external customers
 Identify change agents and early adopters in each department to support the process
 Engage staff at all levels in the re-design of the Intranet and creation of KM tools through
feedback and input into the new system design and organization.
 Clearly identify and share the value of the new system over the old.
 The knowledge audit, if it is successful, will be thought of as a “living” process, and the
procedure will be looked at on a regular basis, with up-dating as required, and treated as
a standard management tool. (St. Clair & Stanley, 2008)
 Support Organizational Learning by formally creating/supporting communities of practice
around strategic areas of the services and functions of the Library
 Promote a knowledge sharing culture with recognition and incentives
KM Content and Structure (Includes Information Audit recommendations)
There is substantial work to be done on the data/information front before KM initiatives can be
completely effective. Data cannot become information that is transformed to knowledge made
explicitly available if it is not captured in the first place. The following recommendations are
made based upon the information audit that was conducted.
 Begin assigning metadata to internal documents with the use of a controlled vocabulary.
 Require employees to save work-related documents in a central repository. Without this
centralization employees will make it impossible for others to find and benefit from their
information.
 Develop a schema for internal documentation or use one the Library already have
access to (MARC, Dublin Core)

 Develop curatorial and governance policies for internal documents
 Begin assigning metadata to internal documents that fit curatorial and governance
policies
 Utilize LOC authority files for controlled vocabulary subject metadata
 Develop a faceted taxonomy to achieve relevant search results in the future
 Create internal document content repositories to eliminate employees looking for their
own information/knowledge resource
 Digitize and make accessible institutional knowledge and information content that is
currently in an unstructured format or stored across multiple platforms
 Link explicit information to the Intranet (databases, journals, etc)
KM Technical Platform
 Make information/knowledge access more efficient through the redevelopment of the
Intranet. Solicit employee feedback and assistance in development of the new product to
align with strategic goals through a formal CoP
 Purchase groupware to facilitate collaboration
 Develop an expert locator KM tool identifying staff by language spoken, educational
background, advanced certifications, technology skill (ex. Drupal, XML, Dublin Core,
Photoshop, Wordpress and SMEs)
 Include social networking tools on platform that include “digital incentives” for staff who
contribute knowledge
 Make search available on the site
 Create a “lessons learned” tool for sharing experience and knowledge. This should
include both explicit and tacit knowledge particularly focused on project management
topics.
 Create an internal helpdesk for IT requests on the Intranet. These range from supply
requests to new hardware/software purchases. Technology services are at the core of
the new Public Library. Utilize the technology to improve the process by which requests
are generated and filled. Develop an FAQ for the IT department to shift routine questions
and tacit answers into an explicit format.
 Enable RSS feeds for customization “My MMSCL”, similar to MyPfizerWorld as
developed by Bob Libby enabling users to customize the information, knowledge
repositories, and resources that are “pushed rather than pulled”.
 Expand self service by “enabling administrative processes to be reengineered
particularly in the HR area and migrated online via the Intranet. This can make the
process far more cost efficient (and effective) for the organization and the users (IBF,
2008). Enabling the request for PTO, professional travel, and reimbursements are likely
processes to be considered for reengineering. HR staff can “spend up to 80% of their
workday administering benefits and answering routine questions (IBF, 2008).
 Develop and HR FAQ knowledge tool that transfers the routine, repeatable work from
HR staff to a technological solution or purchase a product that incorporates explicit
knowledge in HR.

 Archive Library and staff newsletters on the Intranet for rapid access and retrieval.
 Improve usability of the existing Intranet. “According to a recent study by Accenture,
middle managers spend more than a quarter of their time searching for information
necessary to their jobs (IBF, 2008). Find out through survey tools and face-to-face
interviews what our managers need to meet their objectives and goals.
 Consider the concept of “gamification” with digital reward embedded in employee
profiles. (Carey, 2012).
 Establishing of e-training through the Intranet to improve process efficiency and reduce
costs.
 Establishing an e-procurement process through the Intranet to improve process
efficiency and reduce cost.
Future Knowledge Management Initiative Concepts:
Whether located on the Intranet or on both the Intranet and the Extranet:
 Add user tagging, crowd sourcing, folksonomy in addition to the structured taxonomy
 Utilizing the document asset management software and collaboration platform for
community documents and media (local history photos, oral histories of residents,
capture/search/access to primary documents related to local history. This expansion of
the project would:
o Offer an external knowledge management share component
o Enable social network expansion to build customer loyalty through
engagement
o Allow for the capture, tag, organize and store of community knowledge
assets, and the knowledge of the long-term community residents for historical
purposes
o Improve the likelihood of spontaneous collaboration with unknown networks
in the community (historical society’s, businesses and residents, civic groups,
government agencies)
 Improve customer engagement through participation
 Design metrics to measure participation, uploads and downloads to document added
value to the project
Perceived Risks of a Knowledge Management Initiative:
 Perceived time intensive start competing for valuable employee resources
 Perceived scope and budget and the allocation of budgetary resources for the
projects may be criticized
 Compliance/legal issues related to the Freedom of Information Law
 Access to some portions of the knowledge management project and tools will be
limited to management and directors due to compliance issues. This may discourage
general employee participation and engagement
 Time line for implementation may be perceived as long

Conclusion
Fully integrating KD/KS into the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library present a number
of challenges that will require transformational leadership, excellent change management skills,
support and championing of services from management and leadership, project management
related to the overhaul and potential acquisition and implementation of software to achieve the
goals, the project is quite achievable. There is a high likelihood of success as many employees
are information professionals and knowledge workers. They have an inherent understanding
and appreciation for the projected benefits of undertaking this project.
For information professionals, specialist librarians, and other
knowledge workers, the future looks bright. They are - or will
become - the knowledge thought leaders, knowledge consultants, and
knowledge coaches for their parent organizations. They recognize that
putting KM to work is critical to their and their organizations’ success,
and they delight in bringing a practical approach to their work through
the convergence of information management, knowledge management,
and strategic learning. As organizational leadership and management
come to understand the relationship between technology and knowledge
and to understand better the relationships between quality in knowledge
transfer and organizational success, knowledge services—as a
management and service delivery methodology—becomes the route to
that success. These information professionals are prepared and ready to
play their part, leading their organizations in the creation of knowledge value
through KD/KS. (St. Clair & Stanley, 2009)
There is alignment with the institution’s overall values, missions and goals. A fully developed
Knowledge Strategy will be developed for the library to further explore implementation of the
new Library Intranet which will foster KD/KS and serve as the “Knowledge Nexus” for the
organization (St. Clair & Stanley, 2009).
In conclusion, an investment in the technological infrastructure to support a knowledge
management initiative at the Library will result in improved process, improved efficiencies,
conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge, improved access and sharing of knowledge and will
convene others to participate in the strategic goals of the institution. These initiatives are
deemed critical in this time of rapid change in the marketplace requiring our institution to remain
agile. The KM project will enable more efficient utilization of employee time. As seventy-five
percent of our operating budget is allocated to employee costs the return on investment may be
substantial.

Sources
Carey, K. (2012, November 04). Show me your badge. , New York Times: Education Life, pp.
28-29
Davenport, T., & Prusak, L. (1998). Working knowledge. President and Fellows of Harvard
College.
Henzcel, S. (2000). The information audit as a first step toward effective knowledge
management: an opportunity for the special librarian *. INSPEL, 34, 210-226. Retrieved from
http://vizedhtmlcontent.next.ecollege.com/CurrentCourse/Henzcel_KnowledgeAudit.pdf
Hislop, D. (2009). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. (2nd ed.).
New York : Oxford University Press.
IBF. (2008, August). 12 ways to use your intranet to cut costs [Online forum briefing]. Retrieved
from http://www.ibforum.com/experience-ibf/ibf-shop/free-report-12-ways-to-use-your-intranet-
to-cut-costs/
Porter, Michael E. "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy." Special Issue on HBS
Centennial. Harvard Business Review 86, no. 1 (January 2008).
St. Clair, G., & Stanley, D. (2009). Afterward: Managing strategic change. SMR International,
Retrieved from http://vizedhtmlcontent.next.ecollege.com/CurrentCourse/StClair_Afterword.pdf
St. Clair, G., & Stanley, D. (2008). The knowledge audit: Building the foundation for the
knowledge culture. Retrieved from
http://vizedhtmlcontent.next.ecollege.com/CurrentCourse/StanleyStClair_KnowledgeAudit.pdf

Knowledge Audit Final

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Knowledge Audit Final

Similar to Knowledge Audit Final (20)

Knowledge Audit Final