The Mahout on the elephant: how the knowledge management practices of the Wellington Campus Library enriches CPUT Libraries

Abstract

The importance of knowledge management in institutions is widely acknowledged. However, the influence of progressive knowledge management practices in one branch of the organization on the organization as a whole is the theme of this paper. The MJL Olivier Library (Wellington campus library) of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) is one of nine branches, with Cape Town and Bellville being the largest. However the knowledge management practices of Wellington with particular reference to knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and knowledge capturing leads to Wellington being seen as an “innovation champion” (Glynn, 1996) within the CPUT Libraries. Some of the effects this has had on the CPUT Libraries as a whole show the advantages of even a small section being encouraged to form a Community of Practice with positive knowledge management practices. This study looks at some of the ways knowledge management is practiced internally at MJL Olivier Library including knowledge creation, through internal and external processes, knowledge capturing in both daily and monthly routine, as well as specific projects, and knowledge sharing through an internalised Community of Practice. In addition, it looks at the utilization of this knowledge both within the MJL Olivier library itself, as well as the value and means of the Wellington branch’s contribution to knowledge management within the CPUT Libraries as a whole, and gives suggestions as to how this can be more widely applied within the CPUT Libraries, and in other libraries