UBRISA 2011 3.pdf


Libraries as learning organisations: implications
for knowledge management

Priti Jain and Stephen Mutula

10 LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS Number 8 2008, pp. 10-14, # Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/07419050810931273

Introduction

The concept of a learning
organisation is relevant to all twenty-
first century organisations because of
increasing complexity, uncertainty and
change (Malhotra, 1996). Libraries can
benefit significantly as learning
organisations through reducing
complacency; continuous learning,
improvement and innovation (Michael
and Higgins, 2002); being better
equipped to deal with independent and
distance learning (Brophy, 2005);
serving as a source of competition
(Fowler, 1998); promoting inquiry and
dialogue; encouraging collaboration and
team learning; establishing systems to
capture and share learning; empowering
people toward a collective vision; and
connecting the organisation to its
environment (Watkins and Marsick,
1993).

The term ‘‘learning organisation’’ is
defined in many ways. Sutherland
(2003) defines it as, ‘‘an organisation in
which people at all levels, individually
and collectively, are continually
increasing their capacity to produce
results they really care about’’. Senge
(1993) defines learning organisations as
‘‘organisations where people
continually expand their capacity to
create the results they truly desire,
where new and expansive patterns of
thinking are nurtured’’. Skyrme (2003),
writing from a knowledge management
(KM) perspective, defines learning
organisations as ‘‘organisations that
have in place systems, mechanisms and
processes, that are used to continually
enhance their capabilities and those who
work with it or for it, to achieve
sustainable objectives – for themselves
and the communities in which they
participate’’. Giesecke and McNeil
(2004) were more succinct in bringing

into the definition the concept of
knowledge which other definitions were
merely implicit about. They defined a
learning organisation as ‘‘an
organisation skilled at creating,
acquiring and transferring knowledge
and at modifying its behaviour to reflect
new knowledge and insights’’.
Sutherland’s and Senge’s definitions
may be perceived as leaning towards
continuous learning, whereas Skyrme
and Giesecke and McNeil stressed
infrastructure as the foundation of a
learning organisation and KM,
respectively.

Given the implicit and explicit aspect
of KM in the definitions of a learning
organisation, knowledge capital in the
competitive operations of organisations
becomes imperative. It is therefore
prudent to suggest that a learning
organisation is one that applies the
principles of KM in harnessing its
human capital. Consequently, the
characterisation of a learning
organisation may be perceived as
similar to the characteristics of a
knowledge intensive organisation.

Several authors (Skyrme, 2003;
Michael and Higgins, 2002; Sudharatna
and Li, 2004; Brandt, 2003) have all
attempted to characterise a learning
organisation as one that supports life-
long learning and where all the
employees exchange information and
ideas freely. Openness, learning from
mistakes, trust and imagination are
tenets of such a learning organisation.
These management processes include
strategic planning; participatory
management; employee empowerment;
competitor analysis; performance
measures; reward and recognition
system with continuous update of their
basic processes.

Tools and techniques also
characterise learning organisations.
These tools and techniques are learning

and creativity skills to support
individual and group learning, problem
solving, interviewing, brainstorming,
organising information, implanting new
knowledge into mental models etc.
(Skyrme, 2003; Michael and Higgins,
2002; Sudharatna and Li, 2004; Brandt,
2003). Senge (1993) adds that learning
organisations are characterised by
systems thinking or holistic approaches.
Systems thinking integrates disciplines
and compares them to appreciate their
relationships. System thinking or
holistic perspective sees an organisation
as a whole and the impact of actions is
seen on all parts of the system (Skyrme,
2003). Senge (1993) also considers
personal mastery as a characteristic of a
learning organisation. Personal mastery
refers to self-assessment and learning
premised on the fact that organisational
learning is dependent on its staff
members’ learning efforts. Personal
mastery has two components namely
that, one must define what one is trying
to achieve (a goal), and one must also
have a true measure of how close one is
to the goal. As a consequence, those,
who equip themselves with a high level
of personal mastery, always continue to
learn. Learning organisations are also
characterised by mental models, the
ability to compare reality or personal
vision with perceptions and reconciling
both into a coherent understanding.
Moreover, mental models imply a
shared vision of a mutually desirable
future; incentive infrastructure which
are essential for encouraging adaptive
and expected behaviour (Brandt, 1997;
Senge, 1993).

Larsen (1996) points out that team
learning also characterises a learning
organisation. Team learning has
personal and career benefits because
each member of the team draws talent,
experience and knowledge from a
variety of other people. In addition, all



members of the team work for common
goals, and teamwork gives greater

insight into individual differences,
enabling individuals to learn to work
together cohesively.

Learning organisation and KM

In a KM environment, the internet
links people-to-people, people-to-

business, people-to-information and
people-to-culture where there is intensive
creation, sharing and use of knowledge

(American Library Association, 2003).
Learning organisations are engaged as
part of their business in knowledge

creation. Consequently, from the
perspective of all information and KM, it
behooves librarians, to increasingly apply
information management approaches

because information has to be placed in a
specific context to make it valuable to the
user. Moreover, with the knowledge

economy expanding as the use of internet
increases in the business environment,
effective KM in learning organisations

takes centre-stage. Ardern (2006) notes
that KM will become a major factor as
business move to be more competitive,

continue to downsize and try to
determine how to best capture the
knowledge of their staff.

Swan et al. (1999) established ‘‘a
clear relationship’’ between a learning
organisation and KM by defining KM as

‘‘. . . any process or practice of creating,
acquiring, capturing, sharing and using
knowledge, wherever it resides, to

enhance learning and performance in
organisations’’. In Table I, we suggest

that learning organisations and
knowledge-intensive organisations

share similar systems and infrastructure,
while bearing in mind that KM is a

discourse of study while learning
organisations are an entity or enterprise.

Learning organisation and KM are
inextricably intertwined. Chase (1998)

observes that KM is about enhancing
the use of organisational knowledge

through sound practices and
organisational learning. Both KM and

organisations learning involve one or
more of the following; capacity building

through project teams, assigning staff
responsibilities where their talents can
be optimised, creating knowledge

databases, institutional repositories,
mentoring, etc. Grey (1998) says KM

concerns critical thinking, innovation,
intelligence, learning, competencies and

sharing of experiences. White (2004)
perceives KM as a process of creating,

storing, sharing and re-using know-how
to enable an organisation to achieve its

goals and objectives. The Organization
for Economic Co-operation and

Development (2003) observes that KM
is the collection of organisational
practices related to generating, and

disseminating know-how; and
promoting knowledge sharing within an

organisation with the outside world.

Challenges and opportunities for
libraries as learning organisations

In the digital environment in which
most libraries now find themselves,

education especially, in university

environment is rapidly changing with
academics increasingly adopting digital
scholarship. Digital scholarship may
include submission of articles, peer
review and publication all done
electronically; teaching using purely or
blended electronic means, evaluation
and assessment of academic work
electronically, collaborative research in
electronic means and electronic
communications.

Digital scholarship processes are
supported by a variety of content in the
form of e-journals, e-books, institutional
repositories, databases and digital
libraries. Digital scholarship also
enables the integration of various media
such as text, graphics, animations, video
and audio in teaching and research
processes. Digital scholarship has been
made possible by the rapid development
of emerging technologies such as Web
2.0. O’Reilly (2005) refers to Web 2.0
as ‘‘the network platform, spanning all
connected devices and applications that
make the most of the intrinsic
advantages of that platform, delivering
software as a continually-updated
service that gets better the more people
use it; consuming and remixing data
from multiple sources, including
individual users, while providing their
own data and services in a form that
allows remixing by others, creating
network effects through an
‘‘architecture of participation’’, and
going beyond Web 1.0 to deliver
rich user experiences. Examples of
Web 2.0 applications include digital
commons, blogs, social networking
sites, wikis, etc.

The other emerging technology that
is influencing digital scholarship
environments especially with regard to
information and KM is the digital
library. Digital libraries make
information more available, raise its
quality, and increase its diversity. They
offer great user satisfaction; offer
several ways in which libraries can
improve services while reducing cost;
provide instantaneous access to online
information; offer 24/7 access to
information so long as requisite
infrastructure is in place; and overcome
the problem of deterioration over time
associated with physical media. Digital
libraries demand information
professionals and their institutions to
provide the resources, including the
specialized staff, to select, structure,

Table I
Commonalities of learning organisation and KM-intensive organisation

Learning organisation Knowledge-intensive organisation

Provides a learning culture Provides a learning organisation

environment

Has shared vision and culture of sharing Has strong culture of sharing and

creativity

Provides team learning Provides team work

Key management processes present KM process present

Availability of learning tools and techniques Availability of KM technologies

and tools

Applies systems thinking or holistic approach A central knowledge repository

Personal mastery Library expertise

Mental models Knowledge mapping

Learning organisation strategy KM strategic plan

Continuous learning Regular update of knowledge

Incentive infrastructure Motivation

Open system Partnerships

LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS Number 8 2008 11



offer intellectual access to, interpret,
distribute, preserve the integrity of and
ensure the persistence over time of
collections of digital works so that they
are readily and economically available
for use by a defined community or set of
communities (Digital Library
Federation, 2004).

Digital scholarship in the university
environment is also being influenced by
the use of open source software
especially with regard to providing
e-learning platforms and also as
infrastructure for developing
institutional repositories. The major
benefits of open software include:
reduced costs and less dependency on
imported technology and skills;
affordable software for individuals, low-
cost licensing implications; ability to
customise the software to local
languages. Moreover, in a digital
scholarship environment, scientific
journals that were a few years ago
produced largely in print form are now
rolled out first as e-versions before the
print versions can appear. Libraries are
also transforming their print collections
into electronic formats through
digitization or subscription to e-journals
with or without print alternatives as a
strategy to make them more accessible
and to enhance resource sharing
(Youngman, 2007).

With the transformation of what was
largely a print environment into major
digital collections, several issues arise
that must be addressed such as integrity
of the scholarly research process,
intellectual property rights, privacy,
security, etc. Libraries provide a critical
role as institutional repositories with an
open access infrastructure which promote
e-research, interdisciplinary work and
cross-institution collaborations. Stueart
(2006) observes that the role of librarians
has changed in parallel with changes in
technology. Librarians are increasingly
engaged in perfecting tools and
procedures to enhance access by creating
portals, gateways and hypertext links to
scholarly resources. Similarly, Sutherland
(2003) suggests that with swift changes
in technology, increased customer
expectations, service competition,
changing organisational values,
interdisciplinary studies, e-learning and
the demand for digital resources, it is
critical that libraries become learning
organisations. Association of College &
Research Libraries (2007) observes that

the transitions in the production,
dissemination and retrieval of
information provide ample opportunities
for academic libraries to lead their
institutions in pursuing new modes of
academic research and productivity. The
changing paradigms of knowledge
production, expanding sources and
modes of dissemination and faster and
broader accessibility to a growing range
of information all offer entrepreneurial
opportunities to academic librarians. A
Council on Library and Information
Resources (2008) study explains that the
problem of managing and preserving
knowledge in these shifting realms of
digital proliferation is enormous, and
librarians need to be an integral part of
the solution.

A Texadata (2006) study found that
libraries do not have a monopoly on
publicly available information and
library users do not believe that libraries
provide unique information. Miller and
Hart (2006) postulate that in the future,
‘‘there will be much less focus on
providing a learning environment,
instead the library will be ‘an
information source’, accessible from
essentially everywhere’’. Bennett
(2003) notes that today’s academic
library design should no longer be
dominated by information resources and
their delivery, but should ‘‘incorporate a
deeper understanding of the
independent, active learning behaviour
of students and the teaching strategies of
faculty meant to support those
behaviours’’. It is also important for
academic libraries to redefine and
expand their clientele by repositioning
themselves to serve the entire world
through the use of technology. Strong
online services can raise the profile of
the institution, its scholars and its
collections. Institutional repositories,
consisting of scholarly work of an
institution and their special collections,
can increase access to scholarship and
archive collections. E-learning is
another opportunity for libraries in
teaching the use of a variety of
information and communication
technologies to facilitate student-
oriented, active, open and life-long
learning skills (University of Botswana,
2001).

Lewis (2007) presents what he calls a
model of five strategic pieces ‘‘for
maintaining the library as a vibrant
enterprise worthy of support from our

campuses’’. The five strategic pieces for
libraries include: complete the migration
from print to electronic collections and
capture the efficiencies made possible
by this change; retire legacy print
collections in a way that efficiently
provides for its long-term preservation
and makes access to this material
available when required. . .this will free
space that can be repurposed; redevelop
the library as the primary informal
learning space on the campus – in the
process partnerships with other campus
units that support research, teaching and
learning should be developed;
reposition library and information tools,
resources and expertise so it is
embedded into the teaching, learning
and research enterprises. . .this includes
both human and, increasingly,
computer-mediated systems. . .emphasis
should be placed on external, not
library-centered, structures and systems;
and migrate the focus of collections
from purchasing materials to curate
content (Lewis, 2007).

Several sources (Senge, 1993; Brandt,
2003, Association of College & Research
Libraries, 2007) note the skills and
competencies that should characterise
professionals working in a learning
organisation including academic libraries.
These skills include: team skills, public
relations and communication skills,
ability to think in terms of the enterprise
(strategically), creative thinking, use of
new technology and information tools
effectively, ability to train and educate the
client effectively, customer oriented,
intellectual property attorney, publishing
consultants, content managers and the
capability of working effectively in
partnership with faculty members and
other stakeholders.

Transforming into learning
organisations is a process. Giesecke and
McNeil (2004) suggest a number of
strategies to change culture, vision and
objectives to become a learning
organisation. These strategies include:
commitment to change; connecting
learning with the organisation’s
operations; assessing organisational
capacity; communicating the vision;
modelling a commitment to learning;
cutting bureaucracy and streamlining
structures; capturing learning and
sharing knowledge; rewarding learning;
learning more about learning
organisations; and continuously
adapting and improving learning. They

12 LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS Number 8 2008



further point out that a commitment to
change is driven from the top to bottom
with all library staff members expected
to reframe their thinking with a positive
attitude, having a clear vision and
adapting to change whenever it is
necessary. Giesecke and McNeil remind
us that learning organisations flourish
only when knowledge is shared so that
staff can benefit both from individual
and team learning.

The motivations for the
transformation of academic libraries
into learning organisations are many,
especially in the context of KM in
business environments. The
Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (2003)
attests to the importance of KM as a way
to enhance productivity and efficiency.
Furthermore, as organisations make
attempts to increase flexibility and
mobility, they create new opportunities
that demand integration of knowledge
from the outside. Moreover, concerns
for promoting life-long learning, sharing
of knowledge by different units in
organisations, realization that
knowledge-enhanced organisations
experience rapid creation of new
knowledge and the improvement of
access to knowledge bases are factors
that increase efficiency, innovation,
quality of goods and services and
equity. Wimmer (2002) points out that
knowledge-intensive environments are
at an advantage where knowledge is
created, shared, learned, enhanced,
organised and utilised for the benefit of
the organisation and its customers. Such
knowledge should therefore be
effectively managed to give libraries a
competitive advantage.

Conclusion

Today, the library has a central place
and integral role to support higher
education. As the higher education
evolves, the library and librarians have
to evolve with equal measure and
develop digital collections tailored to
the information age, investigate options
to provide access to digital collections,
develop custom portals that provide
specialized searching options for high-
value collections, such as dissertations
and special collections, and expose
library digital collections to the world
via institutional repositories, search
engines and portals. Libraries must

evolve into learning organisations and

the challenge is for leadership and staff

to recast their identities in relation to the

changing modes of knowledge creation
and dissemination, and in relation to the

academic communities they serve.

To become a learning organisation,

libraries should create the climate for

change and innovation. Libraries should

create learning environments by

working collaboratively with other
disciplines, particularly educators and

community developers and be better

equipped to cope with independent

learning. Libraries must also empower

their employees to be flexible in order to

take advantage of new and

interchangeable roles as facilitators,
mentors, coaches and stewards. Finally,

libraries need to promote a culture of

knowledge-sharing, collective learning

and collaboration.

REFERENCES

(The) American Library Association (2003),
‘‘Principles of the networked world’’,
available at: www.ala.org/ala/washoff/
washpubs/principles.pdf (accessed 15 March
2008).

Ardern, C. (2006), Records and Information
Management: A Paradigm Shift?, ARMA
International, Toronto.

Association of College & Research Libraries
(2007), ‘‘Changing roles of academic and
research libraries’’, available at: www.ala.org/
ala/acrl/acrlissues/future/changingroles.cfm
(accessed 25 May 2008).

Bennett, S. (2003), Libraries Designed for
Learning, CLIR, Washington, available at:
www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub122/pub122
web.pdf (accessed 27 May 2008).

Brandt, R. (1997), ‘‘On using knowledge:
a conversation with Bob Sylwester’’,
Educational Leadership, Vol. 54 No. 6,
pp. 16-19.

Brandt, R. (2003), ‘‘Is this school a learning
organization? 10 ways to tell’’, Journal of
Staff Development, Vol. 24 No. 1, Winter,
available at: www.nsdc.org/library/
publications/jsd/brandt241.cfm (accessed
10 April 2008).

Brophy, P. (2005), The Academic Library,
2nd ed., Facet Publishing, London.

Chase, R.L. (1998), ‘‘Knowledge
navigators’’, available at: www.sla.org/pubs/
serial/io/1998/sep98/chase1.html (accessed
8 May 2006).

CLIR (2008), ‘‘CLIR workshop on future
of academic libraries’’, available at:

http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~adillon/blog/
archives/88 (accessed 29 March 2008).

Digital Library Federation (2004),
‘‘A working definition of digital library’’,
available at: www.diglib.org/about/
dldefinition.htm (accessed 22 July 2007).

Fowler, R.K. (1998), ‘‘The university library
as learning organization for innovation:
an exploratory study of college & research
libraries’’, available at: www.ala.org/ala/
acrl/acrlpubs/crljournal/backissues1998b/
may98/fowler.pdf (accessed 28 April 2008).

Giesecke, J. and McNeil, B. (2004),
‘‘Transitioning to the learning
organization’’, Library Trends, Vol. 53
No. 1, pp. 54-67.

Grey, D. (1998), ‘‘Knowledge management
and information management:
the differences’’, available at: www.smith
weaversmith.com/km-im.htm (accessed
28 November 2005).

Larsen, K. (1996), ‘‘Learning
organizations’’, available at: http://home.
nycap.rr.com/klarsen/learnorg/ (accessed
5 May 2008).

Lewis, D.W. (2007), ‘‘Exploring models for
academic libraries’’, available at: http://
acrlog.org/2007/03/12/exploring-models-for-
academic-libraries/ (accessed 30 April 2008).

Malhotra, Y. (1996), Organizational
Learning and Learning Organizations:
An Overview, available at: www.brint.
com/papers/orglrng.htm (accessed 25 April
2008).

Michael, T.S.C. and Higgins, S.E. (2002),
‘‘Nanyang technological university (NTU)
library as a learning organisation’’, Libri,
Vol. 52, pp. 169-82.

Miller, R. and Hart, D. (2006), ‘‘The future
of academic libraries’’, University Times,
Vol. 38, available at: http://mac10.umc.pitt.
edu/u/FMPro?-db=ustory&-lay=a&-format=
d.html&storyid=4295&-Find (accessed
29 March 2008).

O’Reilly, T. (2005), ‘‘Web 2.0: compact
definition’’, available at: http://radar.oreilly.
com/archives/2005/10/web_20_compact_defin
ition.html (accessed 23 September 2007).

(The) Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development (2003), ‘‘The
learning government: introduction and draft
results of a survey of the knowledge
management practices in ministry/
departments/agencies of central
government’’, 27th Session of the Public
Management Committee, Chateau de la
Muette, Paris, 3-4 April 2003, available at:
www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/2/33688562.doc
(accessed 29 November 2005).

LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS Number 8 2008 13



Senge, P.M. (1993), The Fifth Discipline:
The Art and Practice of the Learning
Organization, Random House, London.

Skyrme, D. (2003). ‘‘The learning
organization’’, available at: www.skyrme.
com/insights/3lrnorg.htm (accessed 31 May
2008).

Stueart, R. (2006), ‘‘Digital libraries: the
future of scholarly communication’’, paper
presented at UB Library Auditorium, The
University of Botswana, Gaborone, 10-11
August 2006.

Sudharatna, Y. and Li, L. (2004), ‘‘Learning
organization characteristics contributed to
its readiness-to-change: a study of the Thai
mobile phone service industry’’, available
at: www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1581-6311/
2_163-178.pdf (accessed 31 May 2008).

Sutherland, S. (2003), ‘‘The public library as
a learning organisation’’, available at: www.
ifla.org/IV/ifla69/papers/111e-Sutherland.pdf
(accessed 31 May 2008).

Swan, J., Scarborough, H. and Preston, J.
(1999), ‘‘Knowledge management – the next

fad to forget people?’’, Proceedings of the
7th European Conference on Information
Systems, Copenhagen, in Loermans. J.
(2002), Journal of Knowledge
Management. Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 285-94.

Texadata (2006), ‘‘White paper on the future
of academic libraries’’, available at:
www.texadata.com/2006/03/whitepaper-on-
future-of-academic.html (accessed 21 March
2008).

University of Botswana (2001), University
of Botswana eLearning, University of
Botswana, Gaborone.

Watkins, K.E. and Marsick, V.J. (1993),
Sculpting the Learning Organisation:
Lessons in the Art and Science of Systemic
Change, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.

White, T. (2004), ‘‘Knowledge management
in an academic library’’, available at: http://
eprints.ouls.ox.ac.uk/archive/00000815/01/
Tatiana_White_KM_article.pdf (accessed
18 June 2006).

Wimmer, M.A. (Ed.) (2002), ‘‘Knowledge
management in e-government’’, Proceedings

of the 3rd International Workshop (KMGov-
2002), Copenhagen (DK), 23-24 May,
Schriftenreihe Informatik #7, Trauner
Verlag, Linz.

Youngman, F. (2007), ‘‘Opening speech’’,
presented at Digital Scholarship Conference,
Library Auditorium, University of Botswana,
Gaborone, 12/13 December 2007.

FURTHER READING

Bundy, A. (2004), ‘‘Beyond information: the
academic library as educational change agent’’,
paper presented at the 7th International
Bielefeld Conference, Bielefeld, Germany,
3-5 February 2004.

Priti Jain (jain@mopipi.up.bw)
University of Botswana, Private Bag
0022, Gaborone, Botswana.

Stephen Mutula (mutulasm@
mopipi.up.bw) Department of Library
and Information Science, University of
Zululand, Kwadlangezwa, Kwa-Zulu
Natal, South Africa.

14 LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS Number 8 2008