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Knowledge Management (KM) provides a systematic process to help in the creation, transfer and use of knowledge across the university, leading to increased productivity. While KM has been successfully used elsewhere, universities have been late in adopting it. Before a university can initiate KM, it needs to determine if it is ready for KM or not. Through a web-based survey sent to 1263 faculty members from 59 accredited Library and Information Science programs in universities across North America, this study investigated the effect of individual factors of trust, knowledge self-efficacy, collegiality, openness to change and reciprocity on individual readiness to participate in a KM initiative, and the degree to which this affects perceived organisational readiness to adopt KM. 157 valid responses were received. Using structural equation modeling, the study found that apart from trust, all other factors positively affected individual readiness, which was found to affect organisational readiness. Findings should help universities identify opportunities and barriers before they can adopt KM. It should be a useful contribution to the KM literature, especially in the university context.
A specific set of guidelines for academic library accreditation is difficult to determine, due to differences in levels of academic institutions. The purpose of studying the perceptions of accreditation liaisons and librarians of Level-One, Associate degree-granting institutions, was to examine their compliance with regional accreditation standards and utilize the results to help librarians better understand the process of preparing for accreditation. A suggestion for further research would include the interaction of multiple authors of varying skills such as survey writing, statistical analyses, and experiences in accreditation. Librarian inclusion on accreditation committees, training, and collaboration with overall institutional effectiveness could also be studied and encouraged. This paper was the Master's project of the author in May 2008, in the School of Library and Information Science, at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg.