Sharing is caring: Using knowledge management to enhance subject librarian-student contact

Abstract

This article takes the discipline of knowledge management in organizations and applies it to the academic library setting. Knowledge management studies inefficiencies in information sharing within organizations and proposes solutions. In the academic library, the one-shot library instruction session is largely inadequate in teaching students how to use library databases, particularly for advanced assignments. Follow-up contact such as workshops or individual instruction sessions requires time and initiative from students, and this contact very often does not occur. This denies students the opportunity to experience much of the crucial subject knowledge of the librarian. This kind of unshared subject librarian knowledge corresponds to a key concept of knowledge management called tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge refers to both knowledge that is unshared in an organization as well as knowledge that is difficult to document and transmit. Social media platforms and course software such as LibGuides may offer a solution to enhancing librarian-student teaching, but only if the resource contains a significant amount of previously tacit knowledge (tutorials, links to explanatory reference material, course-specific search strategies, and more). A key goal for librarians should be sharing and making easily accessible previously undocumented subject-specific knowledge. This article evaluates different ways of sharing knowledge using LibGuides and social media, and how well these forms respond to the information-seeking behavior of students.