READIT-2007 - Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Knowledge Management may be defined as a process of creating, storing,
sharing and re-using organizational knowledge (Know – How) to enable an
organization to achieve its goal and objectives.
Organizations actually go about acquiring, sharing and creating new
knowledge. The various interpretations of KM are given below to have a better
understanding of its organizational impact:
• It is the process of collecting, organizing, classifying and disseminating information
throughout an organization, so as to make it purposeful to those who need it.
• It refers to policies, procedures and technologies employed for operating a
continuously updated linked pair of networked databases.
• It aims to capture the knowledge that employees really need in a Central repository
and filter out the surplus.
• It is a means of ensuring a complete development and implementation environment
designed for use in specific function requiring expert system support.
• It concerns organizing and analyzing information in a computer databases. This
knowledge can be readily shared throughout the organization.
• It involves identification of categories of knowledge needed to support the overall
library activities.
• It combines indexing, searching and push technology to help libraries in organizing
data stored in multiple sources and deliver only relevant information to users.
• It, in general, tries to organize and make available important know how wherever and
whenever it’s needed.
• It involves mapping knowledge and information resources both online and off line;
training; guiding and equipping users with knowledge access tools and monitoring
outside news and information.
• It incorporates intelligent searching, categorization and accessing of data from
disparate databases, e-mail and files.
• It involves understanding the relationships of data; identifying and documenting rules
for mapping data; and assuring that data are accurate and maintain integrity.
• It helps in facilitation of autonomous coordination of decentralized subsystems that
can state and adapt their own objectives.
EVOLUTION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT (KM)
Dr. Ranganathan was the first person who abruptly marked that Universe of
subjects is synonymous to Universe of Knowledge and he had proposed the concept
of knowledge management explicitly. Knowledge Management is an approach for
addressing the information overload that has evolved over the last few years. The
importance of knowledge has been recognized from the very first day of mankind
evolution; however the systematic study of knowledge as a management and scientific
discipline began during 1990s. A holistic view considers knowledge to be present in
ideas, judgments, talents, root causes, relationships, perspectives and concepts.
Knowledge is stored in the individual brain or encoded in organizational processes,
documents, products, services, facilities and systems. The table given below
153