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Knowledge management (KM) is a critical function in Library and Information Management, where professionals must capture, organize, and disseminate knowledge effectively to support decision-making, innovation, and service delivery. Understanding the varied sources of knowledge enables library managers and information specialists in Kenya to harness relevant data and insights from both within their institutions and the wider environment. This chapter explores the different knowledge management sources, classifies them systematically, and examines how knowledge can be accessed, ensuring that library services remain responsive and dynamic in the digital era.
Knowledge management sources refer to the origins or reservoirs from which knowledge is derived, collected, or accessed in an organization. For library and information professionals in Kenya, identifying and leveraging these sources is essential to support research, improve service quality, and facilitate institutional learning. These sources broadly fall into internal and external categories, each offering unique types of knowledge that contribute to an organization’s intellectual capital.
Internal sources of knowledge are those that exist within an organization’s boundaries. These sources are often tacit or explicit and form the backbone of organizational memory and expertise. In Kenyan university libraries, for example, internal sources include staff expertise, institutional reports, and archived materials. Understanding these sources helps library managers optimize the use of existing knowledge assets.
Personnel are the people who work in the organisation, including librarians, information officers, technicians, administrators and managers, and they are the most important internal source of knowledge because they create, hold and apply it every day. Their knowledge includes formal qualifications, skills learned on the job and contacts with users and suppliers, much of it tacit and stored only in their heads. Organisations capture this knowledge through mentoring, job shadowing, handover notes and staff knowledge-sharing sessions, so that it is not lost when people retire or leave. Example: before a senior cataloguer at a teachers’ training college library retired, she spent her last month training two junior staff and writing a guide to the library’s local classification practices.
The expertise and experience of long-serving staff is especially valuable. Experienced librarians at a national research library, for example, understand cataloguing nuances and user needs that are rarely documented but are crucial for service delivery.
Organizational records encompass formal documents such as policies, procedures, annual reports, and strategic plans. These records provide explicit knowledge that guides operations and decision-making. For instance, a county government library’s records on previous public engagement programs inform the planning of future outreach initiatives.
Libraries maintain digital repositories comprising theses, institutional publications, and metadata. These repositories serve as rich knowledge sources for researchers and library users. A university library’s digital repository provides access to scholarly outputs that enhance knowledge sharing internally.
Collaboration platforms are digital tools that allow staff to share documents, discuss work, ask questions and build shared knowledge, such as intranets, shared drives, wikis, group chats and team workspaces like Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace and SharePoint. They turn conversations and working documents into searchable records, so that solutions found by one person can be reused by others. Good practice includes clear folder structures, naming conventions and moderators who keep information current. Example: the library staff of a public hospital’s medical library use a shared Teams channel to post answers to frequent doctor queries, building a searchable bank of reference answers over time.
The shared values, beliefs, and practices within an organization influence how knowledge is created and shared. In a cooperative society’s library, a culture that encourages open communication fosters collaboration and the free flow of knowledge among staff.
External knowledge sources originate outside the organization and provide fresh perspectives, innovations, and market intelligence. Kenyan library managers often rely on external sources to complement internal knowledge and to stay updated with global trends and best practices.
Industry publications are trade magazines, newsletters, bulletins and reports produced for a particular profession or sector, such as library and information science magazines, publishers’ catalogues and technology newsletters. They provide current, practical knowledge on new products, services, trends and practices that may not yet appear in academic journals. Information professionals scan them to keep up with developments and to inform purchasing and service decisions. Example: the acquisitions librarian at a technical university library reads publishers’ newsletters to learn about new engineering e-book packages before the annual budget meeting.
Conferences and trade shows are events where professionals, researchers and suppliers meet to present research, demonstrate products and exchange ideas. They provide both explicit knowledge, through papers and presentations, and tacit knowledge, through discussions and networking with peers facing similar challenges. Attending staff should share what they learn through reports or presentations so the whole organisation benefits. Example: two librarians from a county library service attended a regional library conference and returned to present ideas on mobile library services to their colleagues.
Government agencies produce official statistics, laws, policies, standards and public reports that are authoritative sources of knowledge for planning and decision-making. In Kenya, sources include the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics for population and economic data, Kenya Law for legislation and court decisions, and ministries and regulatory bodies for sector policies and guidelines. Because the information is official, it is widely trusted and often required for compliance and research. Example: a library supporting a county planning office regularly downloads census reports from the national statistics bureau to answer planners’ queries.
For libraries in particular, documents and guidelines from bodies such as the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) and the Ministry of Education provide authoritative knowledge that shapes library policies and standards.
Online communities and forums are internet-based groups where people with shared interests ask questions, share experiences and solve problems together, such as professional mailing lists, discussion boards, social media groups and question-and-answer websites. They provide quick access to the tacit knowledge of practitioners worldwide and are especially useful for troubleshooting and learning new practices. Users must, however, judge the reliability of advice, since contributions are not always verified. Example: a systems librarian at a private college solved a problem with the open-source library system after posting a question in the system’s online user forum.
Professional associations and communities of practice, such as the Kenya Library Association, offer the same kind of peer exchange through their forums and networks, providing tacit knowledge and experiential learning that enrich library services.
Research institutions are universities, research institutes and think tanks that generate new knowledge through systematic study and publish it in reports, journals, datasets and policy briefs. They are a key source of evidence-based knowledge and often share findings through partnerships, open-access repositories and seminars. Organisations can benefit by collaborating with them on studies or by subscribing to their outputs. Example: an agricultural research institute shares its research reports with farmers’ cooperative resource centres, giving cooperative members access to the latest crop and soil research.
Their journals, conference papers and books are primary external sources: a librarian at a medical research institute, for example, uses international journals to bring new scientific findings into the knowledge base.
Updates from technology providers on library management systems or digital tools introduce innovative knowledge that enhances operational efficiency. A county library upgrading its Integrated Library System benefits from vendor training and best practice sharing.
Classifying knowledge management sources provides a structured approach to identifying and managing knowledge assets. For library professionals, classification aids in organizing knowledge flows and aligning sources with organizational goals.
Explicit knowledge sources include documented information such as manuals and databases, while tacit sources involve personal know-how and skills. A librarian’s experience in archival preservation represents tacit knowledge, whereas cataloguing rules represent explicit knowledge.
This classification distinguishes knowledge based on its origin within or outside the organization, guiding strategies for knowledge acquisition and sharing.
Formal sources are structured and officially recognized, such as policy documents, while informal sources include casual conversations and social media interactions among staff or stakeholders.
Primary sources provide original knowledge or data, such as research findings, while secondary sources synthesize or interpret primary data, like literature reviews or summaries.
To manage knowledge effectively, library professionals must use clear criteria that reflect the nature, utility, and accessibility of knowledge. These criteria help prioritize knowledge management efforts and resource allocation.
Knowledge can be classified by its nature, that is, whether it is tacit (personal, experience-based and hard to write down, such as a reference librarian’s skill in interviewing users) or explicit (documented and easy to share, such as procedures and databases). The nature of knowledge decides how it is captured and shared: explicit knowledge is stored in documents and systems, while tacit knowledge is shared through mentoring, discussion and demonstration. Knowledge may also be classified as procedural (how to do something) or declarative (facts about something).
Knowledge can be classified by how accessible it is: who may use it, where, and how easily. Some knowledge is open to all staff and users, such as the catalogue and published guides, while other knowledge is restricted because of its confidentiality or sensitivity, such as personnel records, strategic plans and licensed databases. Classifying knowledge by accessibility guides decisions on permissions, security and where it is published. Example: a SACCO’s resource centre places its member handbook on its open website but keeps loan appraisal reports on a password-protected drive for credit officers only.
Knowledge can also be classified by format, the physical or digital form in which it is held, such as print documents, electronic files, audio-visual recordings, databases and web pages. Format affects how knowledge is stored, preserved, searched and shared, and which equipment users need to read it, so knowledge in usable, widely supported formats supports efficient sharing and retrieval. Example: a hotel training centre converted its printed standard operating procedures into PDF files and short videos so that staff can view them on their phones during shifts.
Knowledge can be classified by source type, meaning the form or channel from which it comes, such as people (staff, experts, users), documents (reports, books, policies), databases and repositories, audio-visual materials and online sources. Classifying by source type helps information managers decide where to look for particular knowledge, how to store it and which tools are needed to access it. Example: a bank’s resource centre classifies its knowledge sources into expert staff directories, policy documents, research subscriptions and online databases, so staff know where to start each search.
Knowledge from credible, authoritative sources such as government publications or peer-reviewed journals is prioritized due to its trustworthiness.
Knowledge that aligns with the library’s mission, such as information literacy materials in a university library, is classified as high priority.
Up-to-date knowledge, particularly in fast-evolving fields like information technology, is essential for maintaining service excellence.
Access to knowledge is the ability of users to find, retrieve and use the knowledge held by an organisation or available from external sources, at the time and in the form they need it. Knowledge that cannot be found is of little value, so access depends on good organisation (classification and indexing), suitable retrieval tools, appropriate permissions and user skills. Access must also be balanced with security, so that sensitive knowledge is available only to authorised people. Example: an insurance company’s knowledge centre gives all staff access to policy manuals through its intranet search, while restricting claims records to authorised claims officers.
Retrieval tools are the systems and techniques used to search for and locate knowledge within collections and databases, such as catalogues, search engines, indexes, databases and search techniques like Boolean operators. They match a user’s query against stored descriptions of resources and return relevant results, saving time and improving the precision of searches. Effective retrieval depends both on the quality of the tool and on how well users frame their searches. Example: a student at a national polytechnic used the library’s online public access catalogue (OPAC) and database search with Boolean operators to find ten relevant articles on solar water heating in minutes.
| Name | Specification | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) | Web-based catalogue of the library’s holdings | Finding books and materials held in the library |
| Discovery service | Single search box covering catalogue, e-books and databases | Searching many resources at once |
| Bibliographic databases | Subscription or open databases of journal articles | Finding research articles and abstracts |
| Institutional repository | Digital archive of the organisation’s own outputs | Retrieving theses, reports and internal publications |
| Indexes and abstracts | Printed or online lists of articles with summaries | Locating articles by subject or author |
| Intranet and document management system search | Internal search of organisational files | Finding internal policies, reports and records |
Search engines are software systems that index large collections of documents, such as the web or an organisation’s intranet, and return results ranked by relevance to the user’s keywords. General web search engines such as Google and Bing search the public internet, while academic search engines such as Google Scholar focus on scholarly literature, and enterprise search tools search an organisation’s internal content. Users improve results by choosing precise keywords, using filters and checking the reliability of sources. Example: an information officer at a county health department used Google Scholar to find recent studies on maternal health for a policy brief.
Boolean operators are the words AND, OR and NOT used to combine search terms so that searches are broader or narrower and more precise. They are supported by most library catalogues, databases and many search engines, and they can be combined with parentheses, quotation marks for exact phrases and truncation symbols such as * to find word variations.
| Operator | Effect | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AND | Narrows the search: all terms must appear | water AND sanitation | Records containing both words |
| OR | Broadens the search: any term may appear | borehole OR well | Records containing either word |
| NOT | Excludes a term | malaria NOT vaccine | Records about malaria without vaccine |
| " " | Searches an exact phrase | "knowledge management" | Records with the exact phrase |
| ( ) | Groups terms | (school OR college) AND library | Combines groups logically |
| * | Truncation for word endings | librar* | Library, libraries, librarian |
Metadata is "data about data": structured information that describes a resource, such as its title, author, subject, date, format and identifier, so that it can be found, identified and managed. Catalogue records, document properties and repository entries are all forms of metadata, often recorded using standards such as MARC 21 for library catalogues and Dublin Core for digital resources. Accurate, consistent metadata makes retrieval tools far more effective, because searches match the descriptions rather than the full content. Example: when a law firm’s resource centre added subject keywords and dates to its scanned case files, staff could retrieve relevant cases by topic and year instead of opening files one by one.
| Common Dublin Core element | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | Name of the resource |
| Creator | Person or organisation responsible |
| Subject | Topic or keywords |
| Description | Summary or abstract |
| Date | Date of creation or publication |
| Format | File type or physical form |
| Identifier | Unique reference such as ISBN, DOI or URL |
Accessing knowledge effectively depends on selecting appropriate methods that consider user needs, technology, and organizational context. Kenyan libraries employ diverse access methods to facilitate knowledge retrieval.
Search functionality is access by typing a query into a search box so that the system finds matching records, using keywords, phrases, filters and advanced options such as Boolean operators and field searches (author, title, subject). It is the fastest method when users know what they are looking for or can describe it in specific terms. Good search functionality offers features such as spelling suggestions, filters by date or format, and relevance ranking. Example: a researcher at a public university typed an author’s name and a year into the repository search and found the required thesis immediately.
Search works only as well as the records behind it: effective classification, indexing and metadata make retrieval quicker and more accurate, reducing search time and improving user satisfaction.
Browsing is access by moving through organised collections or lists, such as shelves arranged by classification number, subject menus, folders or alphabetical indexes, without entering a precise query. It suits users who are exploring a topic or are unsure of the exact terms, and it often leads to the discovery of related resources they did not know about. Browsing depends on a logical, consistent arrangement of materials. Example: a student at a secondary school library browsed the 630s agriculture shelves and found several useful books for a project on poultry farming.
Natural language processing (NLP) is a branch of artificial intelligence that enables computers to understand questions written or spoken in ordinary language, such as "How do I renew a book online?", rather than requiring keywords or Boolean syntax. NLP-powered search tools and chatbots interpret the meaning of a query, suggest related terms and return relevant answers, making access easier for users with limited search skills. Responses must still be checked for accuracy, as automated answers can be wrong or incomplete. Example: a university library introduced a chatbot on its website that answers students’ questions about opening hours, borrowing and database access at any time of day.
Mobile access is reaching knowledge resources through smartphones and tablets, using mobile-friendly websites, apps, SMS services and messaging platforms. In Kenya, where many users access the internet mainly by phone, mobile access greatly widens the reach of library and information services, especially for remote users. Mobile services should load quickly on low data, display well on small screens and allow secure log-in to licensed resources. Example: a county library service lets members search the catalogue, renew loans and read e-books through a mobile app, reducing trips to the library.
Many libraries provide knowledge resources via online databases and digital libraries, enabling remote and instant access to information.
Despite digital advances, physical collections remain vital, especially in rural or resource-limited settings where users rely on onsite access.
Collaborative arrangements between libraries enable access to materials not held locally, extending the knowledge base available to users.
Interactive forums allow staff and users to exchange tacit knowledge through presentations, training, and discussions.
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Create a free accountThis chapter explored the various sources of knowledge management, beginning with a distinction between internal and external sources. Internal sources refer to knowledge generated within an organization, while external sources encompass information obtained from outside entities. The classification of knowledge management sources was examined, highlighting how knowledge can be organized to support efficient retrieval and application. Criteria for classifying knowledge were discussed, emphasizing factors such as relevance, format, and accessibility. Retrieval tools were introduced as essential mechanisms to locate and access stored knowledge effectively. Additionally, the chapter covered methods of access, outlining criteria that influence how knowledge is obtained and utilized. Finally, the recording of different types of knowledge sources was addressed, focusing on systematic documentation to preserve and manage knowledge assets comprehensively.
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