The Increasing Importance of the Academic Library in the Knowledge Management World

Resumen

Innovation begins with novelty that typically has its origin in small organizations, start-ups and spin-offs, that most often provide new products and services, and are then often acquired by larger organizations. These fledgling organi- zations do not have the professional staff to assess information sources and to organize a well-designed information portal. Such small organizations, not having access to large in-house literary resources, usually rely on academic libra- ries to gain an understanding of the knowledge domains under study. These organizations typically think in terms of km, Knowledge Management. While the professional and scholarly km literature continues to provide evidence of its importance, it is striking to observe that there is relatively little interest in km in the academic environment. Academic libraries can serve a very important role by serving those small organization, important both in terms of making their country more innovative and competitive, and important in terms of securing long term support for the operation of those academic libraries. The article suggests steps to provide that support and to accomplish those goals.