Strategic Knowledge - Learning Together

New Roles and New Responsibilities for Strategic Knowledge Workers

Regardless of what happens over the next month, knowledge services professionals have a new and commanding description of their work and their function in the workplace.

As noted here on October 18, strategic knowledge has entered the professional lexicon. As a phrase, strategic knowledge correctly depicts the thing we work with. It's not an artifact (a book or a journal article) or content (digitized or otherwise). It's not even a person or group of people who come together to do some work, such as a community of practice, a working group, or an individual’s interactions with a co-worker. Regardless of how we get it, strategic knowledge is what we develop and share, and when we undertake knowledge development and knowledge sharing – what we like to call “KD/KS” – our employing organizations succeed. It's knowledge, it's strategic, and we are the strategic knowledge professionals who make it work.

But what about you? Do you have a clear understanding of your roles and responsibilities as a strategic knowledge professional? Do you know what your organization expects of you (and your information center) for developing, managing, and sharing your company’s most valuable knowledge assets?

Here’s your chance to find out. You’ve heard all the questions… Or you’ve asked them yourself: “What is strategic knowledge?” “Why should I learn more about it?” “What’s the pay-off for me?”

Now we have the answers for you.

In January, just before SLA’s Leadership Summit in St. Louis MO, SLA’s Click U and SMR International are continuing their strategic alliance by presenting two courses aimed at taking the mystery out of working with KM, knowledge services, and participating in the knowledge culture. As we transition to our critical new roles and new responsibilities as strategic knowledge professionals, we want to keep up, to develop new competencies and skills on the foundations of our already well-developed professionalism.

That’s what these courses are all about. They have been specially chosen and designed to bring KM and knowledge services to specialist librarians who cannot travel to SLA’s Annual Conference (or who – during the busy conference week – just can’t find the time to get involved in professional development activities).

The courses are Fundamentals of Knowledge Management and Knowledge Services, offered on Tuesday 26 January 2010 from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM CT and The Knowledge Audit, offered on Wednesday 27 January 2010, also from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM CT. Both courses will be taught at the St. Louis Station Marriott Hotel in St. Louis MO (click on the titles for more information and registration information).

In these courses, you’ll work with Guy St. Clair, Cindy Hill, and Dale Stanley as they lead you through KM/knowledge services concepts and show you how to undertake an inventory of your organization’s intellectual infrastructure. These are in-person, face-to-face courses, team taught by three recognized strategic knowledge specialists, people you already know (you’ve probably participated with them in SMR International’s Spot-On Seminars, or had another course with them). Here’s your chance to work directly with Cindy and Dale and Guy, who will give you the tools you need to succeed as a strategic knowledge professional. With what you learn, you’ll be able to go back to your workplace and collaborate with your management to build a knowledge strategy that matches the company’s business strategy. It’s a win-win situation for you.

This is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Don’t pass it up. Sign up now and position yourself and your knowledge services workplace for enterprise-wide success. Whether you have management and service-delivery responsibility for a specialized library, an information center, a records and information management department, corporate archives, or any other knowledge-focused operation, these courses will provide you with what you need to guarantee the effectiveness of your work.