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Chapter Five: Conclusion and recommendations.
5. Conclusion.
This research addressed the issue of intellectual capital. It concentrated on how such elements
of intellectual capital named human capital and structural capital may help Tanzania public
university libraries improve knowledge sharing practices. It started by providing background
information about the problem and about Tanzania public universities. Unfortunately very
little information is found about Tanzania university libraries. COTUL, the body established
to coordinate activities of Tanzania university libraries seems to be in its infancy and very
little is published about it. The review was conducted in chapter two to identify what other
researchers have done and identify gaps. It was found that there was no literature specifically
about intellectual capital in Tanzania university libraries.
This study used survey research and it proved to be useful. Given the distance and the
difficulties of getting respondents, a survey enabled the study of a sample and established the
facts needed to answer the research questions. However, the use of snowball sampling posed
a challenge to completely eliminate the possibility of biased selection of respondents.
Findings suggests that knowledge sharing in Tanzania public university libraries is done but
on a marginal scale. Such things as organizational structure, culture and IT infrastructure
were found to be among the causal factors of the situation. Hierarchical structures and lack of
compensation schemes were identified to have profound effects in knowledge sharing while
the issue of awareness of the current value proposition for knowledge sharing and lack of
cooperative problem solving culture affecting the knowledge sharing culture in the libraries.
It was identified from the responses that the use of IT to facilitate knowledge sharing needs
more emphasis. Further studies are needed in developing models for measuring intellectual
capital (intangible assets) in libraries. There is a strong need for libraries to learn what works
better and unlearn what didn‟t work. Alvin Toffler, an American writer and futurist postulated
that "the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who
cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
5.1. Recommendations.
As the result of the findings of this research and the facts established through the review of
the literature the following are recommended.
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