Knowledge Management in University Libraries in the Information Technology Era

Knowledge Management (KM) is one of the most important and valuable tasks in University libraries. There are varieties of knowledge in the world. The traditional sources of knowledge in libraries are manuscript, hard bounded books, journals, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, documents etc. In other words we can say that KM is limited up to paper work only. The new techniques and technologies are injecting a new culture in Knowledge Management system. A time will come when the paper work of library will be replaced with digital or electronic versions. Managing knowledge assets can be a challenge with the advent of new technologies such as Internet, information technology (IT), information and communication technology (ICT), networking service organisations (ERNET, NICNET, OCLC, INFLIBNET etc.), databases (www.manupatra.com, www.lexisnexis.com/ in/ legal, www.lexisnexis.com/ academic, www.westlawindia.com,www.jstor.org etc.), data mining, web casting etc. Therefore the concept of KM can be put forth with these words: "Getting the right knowledge to the right people through right processes on right time by utilising efficient IT infra-structure".