Building Useful Theory: Tacit Knowledge, Practitioner Reports, and the Culture of LIS Inquiry

Crowley, Bill

doi:10.2307/40324098

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…By its nature, certain components of TK reside in the subconscious of the knower and are inaccessible for verbalization. The sharing of TK occurs largely through social interaction, often in spontaneous or serendipitous fashion (Agarwal and Islam, 2014;Buckley and Giannakopoulos, 2009;Crowley, 1999;Hamza, 2011;Hayward-Wright, 2009;Kennedy et al, 2012;Shao et al, 2016). The term implicit is sometimes used synonymously with tacit but can also be thought of as middle groundexplicit knowledge that has not yet been recorded or codified (Hayward-Wright, 2009).…”

Section: Background and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tacit knowledge sharing among library colleagues: a pilot study

Burnette

2017

RSR

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Purpose This study aims to explore the nature of tacit knowledge (TK) sharing among library colleagues, with a focus on the characteristics of TK and contextual factors such as organizational culture or the mentor/mentee relationship. Design/methodology/approach Using a critical incident approach, participants self-selected based on pre-established criteria to report knowledge sharing incidents between colleagues at either an in-person or virtual reference desk. Subsequent semi-structured interviews were transcribed from recordings and coded for thematic elements. Findings Three thematic areas emerged. First are the influence of organizational culture and the importance of trust on knowledge sharing behavior. Second, the value of teamwork and the significance of mentor/mentee roles surface as significant drivers of TK exchange. Last but not least is a better understanding of the nature of TK, as it relates to types of knowledge and characterizations of experience and expertise. Research limitations/implications The relatively small sample size nevertheless revealed some important findings that contribute to the understanding of the role of TK sharing in libraries. Originality/value The value of knowledge sharing in libraries is not well understood. This study demonstrates the value on several levels, including the influence of culture and trust, and the power of mentoring to harness TK held by experts. The proposed Tacit Knowledge Alignment Framework contributes to the understanding of the nature of TK in libraries. These findings begin to fill a research gap by furthering our understanding of TK and informing future retention efforts that are lacking in many libraries.

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Section: Background and Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tacit knowledge sharing among library colleagues: a pilot study

Burnette

2017

RSR

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“…The first notable change in job ads came from an article by Crowley when he noted that information professions would need to change the notion of hiring librarians to hiring information intermediaries. He focused on the idea that training should be more than database skills and should focus on in-depth knowledge (Crowley, 1999). One of the early studies looking at job ads from 1974 to 2004 found that in the 1970s, it was assumed that librarians had certain skills such as cataloging and answering reference questions and the ads were short.…”

Section: Research On the Current Job Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global trends and transformations in library science education

Wyman

Imamverdiyev

2018

ILS

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Purpose This paper aims to review changes related to library and information science (LIS) education over the past 20 years. Design/methodology/approach The literature reviewed for this paper is obtained by internet and database searches and personal communication and is conducted to look for similarities and differences in LIS program changes. A time period for the review is set from 1997 to 2017, and is completed between January and October of 2017. The majority of the searches are conducted in English. Findings Numerous similarities in changes were evidenced in areas of LIS education, such as curriculum, identification of new training and skills, instructional methods, follow-up on graduates, research on the current job market and post-graduate training support. Differences were identified in areas of capability of program change due to country regulation and course change flexibility. Originality/value A review of global program changes is relevant for LIS programs to realize and maintain their value in today’s workforce. It is significant for LIS programs all over the globe to realize that their shifts in curricular and program changes are similar to other LIS programs or where differences can be equally important.

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“…For examples, corporations have a long history of attempting to codify the knowledge in practice of their individual employees to enhance their organization's “intellectual capital” (Johnson, Lorenz, & Lundvall, 2002). It can be argued that this type of appropriation for codification is also done by scholars who study communities of practice specifically to inform their own theories (Crowley, 1999). De Certeau (1984, p. 65) has critiqued this, whether performed by managers or scholars, as follows: “Procedures without discourse are collected … [and given] the role, a determining one for theory, of being constitute[d] as wild ‘reserves’ for enlightened knowledge.”…”

Section: The Puzzle Of Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

The production of practice theories

Martens¹

2010

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci.

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This comparative case study explores the impact of four influential practitioner-generated theories from the 1970s to the present in the separate domains of finance, military strategy, nursing, and theology, and it discusses why bibliometric research tends to overlook such "invisible" theories from practice, despite their increasing importance in many areas.The concept of the "practice field" as a site for not only the reception of theories into practice but also the production of practice theories themselves may prove useful.

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Building Useful Theory: Tacit Knowledge, Practitioner Reports, and the Culture of LIS Inquiry

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Tacit knowledge sharing among library colleagues: a pilot study

Tacit knowledge sharing among library colleagues: a pilot study

Global trends and transformations in library science education

The production of practice theories

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