Knowledge Management vs. Information Technology

Managing data is easily accomplished with basic information technology like databases. This sometimes creates the illusion that we can manage very large amounts of data with little cost. Managing to turn data into information, by giving it a meaningful context, is becoming an area of intense research. Some organizations try to manage so called "big data".₁ Big data requires specialized tools and expertise. Often an organization needs two or three highly specialized and skilled individuals to create information out of data. Comparatively, giving data a context to turn it into information is child's play when compared to the task of being able to actually use the information and create knowledge. Managing knowledge is virtually impossible. Because knowledge is created by the individual, directly managing knowledge requires structuring every interaction between every individual in an organization and the organization's information. This is best called by its common name, micro-management. Micro-management is not knowledge management. I define knowledge management as

Creating an information environment where

• Individuals have access to the information they need to create knowledge 
• Individuals record information that is likely to be needed by the organization
• Information is viewed as a valuable asset by the organization

From my definition knowledge management encompasses aspects that can not be addressed by information technology alone. Knowledge management encompasses Information Management and Document Management. It has an important role to play in an information intense environment. Knowledge management professionals need to consult and work closely with other key departments in an organization, such as Information Technology, Marketing, Legal, and Financial departments.

There are several strategies for creating such an information environment. I would like to examine some strategies for creating this kind of information environment in future posts.

¹ "Big Data" is any unstructured dataset that requires special tools and insight to make meaningful. The term is deliberately vague and depends on the organizations ability to use the data.

A Manifesto for Library School Graduates

Some have suggested Librarian is a dying profession. Some Libraries are cutting back on professional staff. Some organizations are eliminating Librarian positions and hope to replace these positions with sophisticated software tools. I believe these organizations are being foolish and short sighted. I believe Library School Graduates have key skills and tools that should be valuable assets for any organization that uses information.

Library School Graduates face serious professional challenges. There is a trend to see software as tools that can replace knowledge workers¹ in much the same way machines replaced industrial workers. For example, Google is seen by some as a replacement for reference services. Developers are working furiously to create software that can query large bodies of unstructured data to replace indexing. And social media is seen by some as a way to replace collection development by providing relevance. Corporate librarians are often seen as expensive professionals that do not contribute to the bottom line. They are not creating services used by direct customers and so are seen as a cost. Knowledge management appears to be evolving into an technology management role.

If we were to only look at these challenges the out look is grim. However, there are reasons Library School Graduates should be hopeful. The amount of information being created is increasing geometrically. Some people are starting to realize the amount of information that can be retained is greater than the organization ability to use it. Information technology is often taxed by the expectations to manage large amounts of data. I believe some organizations are coming to the realization that information technology (IT) can not fill the gap alone and are looking to various professionals to help them manage their information.

I believe Library School Graduates have an important opportunity in fill this gap:

1. Librarians have, as a profession, managed information for hundreds of years. Librarians create processes to successfully access information. This experience and training is still relevant and compliments the tools being created by IT. Library tools like indexing, controlled vocabularies, and facets have a role to play in solving information challenges face by many organizations. Often the skills need to use these tools effectively need to be taught to the users of IT tools. Library School Graduates could  have a part in filling this role.
2. Information literacy is becoming an indispensable skill. Librarians have taken on the challenge of teaching this skill. As organizations rely more heavily on  knowledge workers it is imperative each knowledge worker has this skill within their domain of expertise. Library School Graduates should be leading the effort to train and mentor these skills.
3. Librarians have experience and framing that brings a different context for understanding processes. Developing effective information processes is a difficult complex task. There are deep social, political and legal dimensions that must be tackled by any organization. Solutions require information technology, financial, and process components. Good solutions require the expertise of financial experts, software developers, legal experts, and information experts. Library School graduates should be actively participating in solving these challenges.

I believe the Library profession should be growing. I believe there are specific steps we should be taking:

1. Expand the focus of the job titles we include in the profession. Naomi House maintains a list of keywords for finding library jobs. The list includes a wide variety of key words including Social Media, UX Designer, and Data Management Analyst.² I would also encourage people to look at Technical Writing and Business Analyst positions for requirements that match library skills.
2. Learn the technical languages of other professionals. Almost every organization has its own unique technical language. Being able to communicate effectively to a wide variety of people in terms is imperative.  With this ability you can make the case that your contribution is valuable.
   
   I first became aware of this when listening to a seminar by Dr. Juran. Dr. Juran was speaking to Quality Engineers about the need to talk to corporate leaders in financial terms so their work would be appreciated. Library graduates need to do the same thing. Learn a little about finances so you can speak to financial professionals. Learn a little about programming so you can speak to software professionals. Take time to understand copyright and intellectual property issues so you can speak with legal professionals.
3. Learn basic statistics. Statistics are hard. I'm not advocating becoming a statistician. I am advocating getting enough of an understanding of statistics that you are "statistically literate". You should understand and rate any graph or number.  You should know the right questions to ask to rate the value of the information being presented. Think of this skill as statistical information literacy. This skill is invaluable in most organizations and help keep everyone honest.

By taking these kinds of steps, I believe librarians could become invaluable partners in education, government and business. I believe library school graduates have much to offer and will continue to make meaningful contributions for years to come. If the profession of "librarian" becomes irrelevant we will only have ourselves to blame.

¹Peter Ducker coined the term "knowledge worker" to denote professionals who functioned independently and created value by using their expertise with an organizations information.
  ²Naomi House INALJ (I Need a Library Job) http://inalj.com

The Best Job Search Engine

Searching for appropriate job postings is like searching for a needle in a pile of steel shavings. All the obvious ways to find the needle won't work. Specialized job search engines purport to help find appropriate postings for job seekers. Generally, search engines measure success by the number of results returned. In my experiences the results are largely not good matches for the individual.

Job search engines have some serious challenges:

• Job descriptions and requirements do not have standard formats and vocabulary.
• Job titles are different across companies and industries for comparable skills and functions.
• Industry is key for some job functions and totally irrelevant for others. (For example, do you really care if your payroll expert has construction experience, or are you satisfied that they have payroll experience working with salaried, hourly, and seasonal employees?)

Success for the job seeker is finding jobs that match their particular skills and interests regardless of the challenges the search engines present. Based on my ability to do that with the search engines the best search engines are:

1. Dice.com - Dice has three strengths that made it outstanding during my job search:
   
   
   • A checkbox to restrict the search to job title only
   • The ability to quickly restrict to a region
   • The ability to filter out old jobs
   
   These two strengths let me zero in quickly on a half dozen jobs that I was qualified for and interested in. I may have missed jobs that would have been acceptable, but the jobs I was looking at were always dead on. This is much better than wading through 60 or 70 "matches" that weren't even close, to find one might be close.
   
   I also had a much higher percentage of interviews stemming from postings in Dice than in other job boards/search engines.
   
2. USAjobs.gov, Governmentjobs.com, Virginia Jobs - the government websites have two things to recommend them:
   
   
   • Relevant jobs appeared at the top of the list
   • It is easy in all of them to restrict the region and government agency
   
   The government websites still returned too many irrelevant results and sometimes it is difficult to separate the jobs that are restricted to internal people only.

I'm still looking for a job engine that will let you eliminate jobs that require a security clearance by the level and type of clearance. I'm also still looking for standardized job titles, or some way to quickly distinguish between to different jobs that have the same title for example,"business analyst" - a business analyst seems to be either someone with accounting knowledge who determines the health of the business, or someone who writes requirements for software based on a businesses needs and requests. Few people could do both. I would also like to see job search engines drop the notion of "industry". Most jobs are industry independent.

So, next time I'm looking for a job, I'll pass on most search engines. I'll use the few that work for me. I will sill check specialized job lists. 

Change, Repent, or Progress?

I have a problem with the word "evolution". The way it is being used in the popular science press is a bit disconcerting. It can be used to mean "change", "progress", "adaption", or in the worst cases "God" or "Providence". It can be fun to take an author's words and start substituting potential synonyms. However, this doesn't tell us what the author intended.

Here is the proposal - the popular press stops using the word "evolution" and all of its derivatives like "evolve" and "evolutionary". Instead, I challenge authors to use the word they mean. Substitute progress, adapt, change, or repent. Choose the word that makes the most sense.

Day 100!

William did it! 100 days straight playing the violin. And he had a great recital today as well! Not bad for someone who just turned 8... Woohoo!

Social Recruiting

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match.
Find me a find, catch me a catch.
Matchmaker, matchmaker, look through your book
And make me a perfect match. (Sheldon Harnick, Fiddler on the Roof)

There is a new way to find employees - social recruiting. The basic idea is an employer would interact with a community of potential employees to see how/ if their skills/personality would match the corporate culture. This would give visibility to an individuals professional life and provide a more complete picture than the regular three or four hand picked references.

This sounds like information overload - too much. Already we have an environment where it is not unusual for an organization to take 8 to 12 weeks to find and recruit an employee, and that is just for collecting resumes and interviewing. If you are required - like public institutions, to complete a background investigation and verify education it can take considerably longer. For example, I am just now hearing back from institutions that posted positions in June that they are starting the interview process.

Of course, there is a group of people social recruiting really works for - recruiters. A recruiter can use a social website like LinkedIn or Facebook to find people - especially people who may not be currently looking for a job. It is very clear why recruiters would like to connect to as many people as possible through social networks. This is especially important for LinkedIn users because the site limits your searches to three degrees of contact - you can see the people you know, the people they know, and the people who know someone you know.  For recruiters, adding more people - even people with the wrong skill set or industry - adds all of those people's colleagues and contacts.

This raises a dilemma for the individual - are you connecting to the right set of recruiters? Are you going for find a job offer that is right for you? Or are you just going to get offers?

100 Days

It's day 88. William has not missed an evening of practicing in 88 days. He decided he wanted to play for 100 days - if he doesn't break his streak, he will make complete day 100 on December 1. It takes a lot to get into the habit of doing something for 100 days - especially something that takes effort. 100 days, wow.