Good read for Knowledge Managers #KM
September 2nd, 2009The required text for one of my Fall 2009 Master’s courses is Looking for Information by Donald O. Case. I am only 4 chapters into this book and it’s already the best I’ve read in 27 credit hours. Possibly my previous courses prepared me to find so much value in this text, I cannot say for sure. What I can say is that Case does an excellent job of giving the reader the lay of the land with respect to information studies.
Some may debate the value of Case’s work to Knowledge Management but I consider it immensely relevant and important. Of course I am already sold on KM belonging quite rightly under the rubric of information studies but that is not necessarily a requirement to see how the book can be useful for knowledge managers. Any organization that relies on information and knowledge must build it’s culture and systems with as full and understanding as possible of how staff behaves vis-a-vis that information & knowledge.
Said a different way, if you want your people to be engaged, you have to learn about and care about them and their approach to accessing and using information & knowledge. This book is an excellent starting point to thinking about that very issue.
