Factors Affecting Knowledge Management of State Academic Libraries in Thailand to Prepare for the ASEAN Community

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1 Factors Affecting Knowledge Management of State Academic Libraries in Thailand to Prepare for the ASEAN Community Warapan Apisuphachok Abstract This research aims to investigate factors which affect knowledge management of state academic libraries. It is also to study the opinions about information technology which should be used in knowledge management, and study attention, understanding, and readiness of library staffs towards the ASEAN Community. The statistic populations are academic library directors of the three places, Central of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Office of the University Library, Kasetsart University, and Central Library, Srinakharinwirot University. The data was collected by personal interviews and questionnaire inquiries. The total of 148 samples was collected from the library staffs. For interviews, it is found that three of the academic library had policy which focused on knowledge management. The academic libraries that has the policy to prepare themselves for ASEAN Community were Central of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University and Office of the University Library, Kasetsart University. For questionnaires, factors affected the knowledge management of library staff were 1) Input factors are at high impact, 2) Process factor relating knowledge management process is at high impact, and 3) Output factor including the knowledge management competency / ability is at high impact. Knowledge management tools and Intelligence tools are founded to be medium impact. Furthermore, ASEAN community understanding is at medium level while Readiness of staff towards the ASEAN Community is found to be at medium level and low level. For hypothesis testing, Input factor knowledge versus Information technology for knowledge management. The result found that all factors had relationships with statistically significance at 0.05 levels. Keywords Knowledge management, Information technology tools, Academic library, ASEAN community. I. INTRODUCTION HE Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN T was founded on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok. Currently there are ten member countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 2003, the ASEAN leaders unanimously resolved that an ASEAN Community shall be established. All member countries hope that ASEAN will be a region of peace and neutrality, together with being able to both mutually and jointly solve any dispute, peacefully ease any conflict, and liberalize trade at the regional W. Apisuphachok is with Department of Communication Arts and Information Science, Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Thailand ( fhumwpa@ku.ac.th). level. The ASEAN Community is comprised of three pillars, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio- Cultural Community [1]. During The Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan ( ), Thailand will encounter more complicated domestic and external changes and fluctuations which present both opportunities and threats to national development. Thus, it is necessary to utilize the existing resilience of Thai society and economy, and to prepare both individuals and society as a whole to manage the impacts of such changes and pave the way toward well-balanced development under the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy [2]. In the knowledge economy era, the management refers to effectively identify, acquire, develop, resolve, use, store and share knowledge, to create an approach to transforming and sharing of tacit and explicit knowledge, and to raise the emergency and innovation capability by utilizing the wisdom of the team. Since knowledge has become the driving force for social development, the attention of the society to information and knowledge is rising and people s demand for information and knowledge are increasing step by step [3]. Knowledge management in libraries should be focused on effective research and development of knowledge, creation of knowledge bases, exchange and sharing of knowledge between library staffs, training of library staff, speeding up explicit processing of the implicit knowledge and realizing of its sharing [3,4]. Consequently, Study on this topic is very beneficial because Academic Libraries will ensure that all staff have the skills and resources to respond to preparing for the ASEAN Community. Importantly, studies about factors affecting knowledge management of state academic libraries to prepare for the ASEAN Community for investigate factors which affect knowledge management of state academic libraries. It is also to study the opinions about information technology which should be used in knowledge management, and study attention, understanding, and readiness of library staffs towards the ASEAN Community. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Knowledge Management Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an 285

2 integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers [1]. The propose of knowledge management is the management of people, that the interpretation of important aspects of the environment and the harnessing of the knowledge of that must be carried out and can only be carried out by people. In addition, others believe that knowledge management not only manages people and information, but seeks to combine the two into one concept so as to integrate the ability of information processing with the ability of innovation. These theorists believe it is the combination of the two that strengthens the organization s adaptive abilities to its environment [2]. Nonetheless, the main of factors that influence knowledge include exhibiting leadership in the management of knowledge, coordinating the management of knowledge, controlling the management of knowledge, and measuring the management of knowledge. Resource influences come from an organization's financial structure, human resources pool and knowledge systems, which are the three main resources of a firm that might affect knowledge management. Environmental influences are those influences that intrude from outside the organization to impact knowledge management. Some of these are competition, markets, technology, time and the governmental, economic, political, social, and educational climate [3]. B. Knowledge Management Technologies Knowledge Management requires technologies to support the new strategies, processes, methods and techniques to better create, disseminate, share and apply the best knowledge, anytime and anyplace, across the teams, across the organization and across several organizations, especially its clients, customers, partners, and other key stakeholders [4]. The technology used for knowledge management such as 1) Database tools which consist of knowledge management systems, data warehouse and lessons learned database 2) Network tools which consist of network and internet 3)Collaboration tools which consist of asynchronous collaboration (includes group ware, webboard, workflow, social media, youtube, document management system and electronic mail) and synchronous collaboration (includes electronic meeting systems, video conferencing and electronic learning) and 4) Intelligent tools which consist of decision support tools, artificial intelligence and expert system, search engine and knowledge mapping [5]. The use of information technology to support knowledge management should be considered as follows: consideration from technology within the framework of knowledge management, understand the role of technology, understanding about how to solve the problems in knowledge management and check the appropriate technology to solve the problems of knowledge management [5]. C. Knowledge Management in Library Operation of the library associated with information management processes including the selection, procurement, storage, classification and information retrieval services. So, the academic libraries bring the concept of knowledge management into development operations, and services of the library [6]. In addition, the operation of academic libraries is consistent with the concept of knowledge management process, as follows: knowledge identification is the starting point of knowledge implementation. Libraries can serve as a locus of knowledge creation for individuals, organization and society. In order for any activities requiring knowledge to be effective, the knowledge held by and organization must be accessible. Thus, knowledge organization is an essential part of knowledge management. An organization s ability to transfer knowledge among its employees, functional areas, and geographic location is a key determinant of the success of its knowledge management initiatives. Knowledge transfer strategies have multiple goals involving the facilitation of knowledge. The last of process is knowledge application, which is available knowledge, is used to make decisions and perform tasks through direction and routines [7]. In Thailand, there are researches about knowledge management in state academic. The surveys have found that most state academic libraries require that staff having knowledge on library administration and information technology. The majority of state academic libraries create knowledge through training programmes, and acquire knowledge through visiting other libraries. Knowledge in those libraries is stored in printed form by document filling and in electronic form on the library websites. The knowledge is utilized for staff, work and organization development. The problems in knowledge management faced by most libraries are at moderate and low level. The problem having the highest mean is library staff do not have time in knowledge management [8]. Furthermore, several studies in Thailand are reported that the organization is applying knowledge management strategies across the organization in all systems. The main objective of knowledge management is to maximize efficiency in performance, create innovation and use operational support to the various objectives. The success factors of knowledge management that consist to support the administration, clarity of vision, organizational culture that is conducive to learning, infrastructure of the organization, information and communication technology and utilization of knowledge through various activities [9, 10]. However, knowledge management is important to the preparation of the ASEAN community for academic libraries. Thus, this research has focused on the factors affected to knowledge management and technology to support knowledge management, including understanding and readiness of library staff towards the ASEAN Community. In order to guide the improvement and development of knowledge management of academic libraries and to guide policy formulation, planning, and strengthen the knowledge of academic libraries to prepare for ASEAN Community. 286

3 A. Population and Sample III. RESEARCH METHOD The populations were academic library directors of the three places: 1) Central of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University 2) Office of the University Library, Kasetsart University, and 3) Central Library, Srinakharinwirot University. The samples included 148 library staffs. The data was collected by personal interview and questionnaire. B. Statistical Analysis Data was analyzed by content analysis and quantitative data analysis including frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and relationship between two variables analyzed by using Pearson Chi-Square. IV. RESULTS A. The synthesis of data from the interviews From the research results, all three of the academic libraries (Central of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Office of the University Library, Kasetsart University, and Central Library, Srinakharinwirot University) have knowledge management policy. Nonetheless, Central of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University and Office of the University Library, Kasetsart University have the policy to prepare themselves for ASEAN Community. B. The analysis of data from the questionnaires 1) Characteristic of the study samples The samples included 148 library staffs. The most of staffs in three academic libraries work in the library officer positions (53.6%). The most of staffs have responsibility with information management resources (34.5%). Most of the samples graduated in Bachelor's Degree (45.3%) and have worked in the academic library for more than 10 years (56.8%). 2) Factors affecting knowledge management of the state of academic libraries It is found that the respondents have opinions about factors which influence on knowledge management in high level including input factors (Mean=3.79, S.D.=0.73), process factors (Mean=3.55, S.D.=0.76), and output factors (Mean=3.59, S.D.= 0.63), as show in Table 1. TABLE I THE FACTORS WHICH AFFECTED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Factors affecting knowledge Opinion level (n=148) management Mean S.D. Input Factors Leadership Organization Culture Information Technology Process Factors KM Process Communication Output Factors Performance / The ability to management 3) Information technology for knowledge management It is found form the research that the respondents have opinions which involve with information technology at the high level, which includes the network tools (Mean=3.90), and is followed by the database tools (Mean=3.75). The opinions moderate level include intelligent tools (Mean=3.42), and is followed by the collaboration tools (Mean=3.20). The detailed results are shown in Table 2. TABLE II INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Factors affecting knowledge Opinion level (n=148) management Mean S.D. Database Tools KM systems Data warehouse Lessons Learned Database Network Tools Network Internet Collaborative Tools Electronic Meeting Systems Video-conferencing Group Ware Web board Workflow Social Media Document Management System Electronic Mail Intelligent Tools Decision Support Tools ,12 - Intelligent Agents Search Engine Knowledge Mapping

4 4) Understanding and readiness of library staff towards the ASEAN Community - Understanding of library staff towards the ASEAN Community TABLE III UNDERSTANDING OF LIBRARY STAFF TOWARDS THE ASEAN COMMUNITY Understanding of library staff towards Understanding level (n=148) the ASEAN Community Mean S.D. 1. You know about the ASEAN Community. 2. You have knowledge and understanding about the ASEAN Economic Community. 3. You have knowledge and understanding the ASEAN Political- Security Community. 4. You have knowledge and Understanding the ASEAN Socio- Cultural Community. 5. You know about the goals and the objectives of the ASEAN Community. 6. You know about the culture of each country in the ASEAN Community. 7. You have an understanding with the ASEAN Charter. 8. You think that the ASEAN has an impact on operations. The staffs have understanding towards the ASEAN Community in medium level. Understanding of the goals and the objectives of the ASEAN Community is of highest score (Mean=3.28, S.D.=0.75). It is followed closely by understanding the impact on operations (Mean=3.26, S.D.=0.75). All the results are shown in Table 3. - Readiness of library staffs towards the ASEAN Community From the results, it is found that the respondents have readiness towards the ASEAN Community in medium level. The highest score is to the readiness in terms of information resources (Mean=3.29, S.D.=0.87). It is followed by administration (Mean=3.10, S.D.=0.97, information technology (Mean=3.00, S.D.=1.00) and human resources (Mean=2.43, S.D.=0.87), which are shown in Table 4. TABLE IV READINESS OF LIBRARY STAFFS TOWARDS THE ASEAN COMMUNITY Readiness of library staffs towards Readiness level (n=148) The ASEAN Community Mean S.D. -Administration Information Resources Human Resources Information Technology disagree and 5=strongly agree 5) The relationship between input factors and information technology that should be used in knowledge management. After analysis the relationship between input factors and information technology that should be used in knowledge management, namely database tools, network Tools, knowledge management tools, and intelligent tools, it is found that all factors had relationships with statistically significance at 0.05 levels, as shown in Table 5. TABLE V THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INPUT FACTORS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY THAT SHOULD BE USED IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Information Technology Input factors affecting knowledge management The level of Chi-square statistical significance -Database Tools * -Network Tools * -Collaboration Tools * -Intelligent Tools * Note *= 0.05 level of statistical significance V. CONCLUSIONS Knowledge management in the library is an important factor to support the knowledge of the staffs in working. However, the factor affecting knowledge management which consist of leadership, organizational culture and information technologies in input factors are very important. Furthermore, the chief executive should set a clear policy direction, including the use of technology to support knowledge management by selected of technology in accordance with knowledge management process. Moreover, library should promote communication in the organization for the library staffs can exchange and transfer knowledge, in order to the spread of knowledge in organizations. In the year 2015, The ASEAN community is the integration of 10 member countries. The library should be served by collecting and created information and referred files to provide access to the services and resources of local, regional and state organizations. The results of the study have shown that understanding and readiness of library staff towards the ASEAN Community are in low level. Thus, library should develop a human resources policy, including establishing partnerships between academic libraries consist of human resource and information resources. However, future researches should extent to the study and the evaluation of the information technology usage in the knowledge management of each academic library and prepare ASEAN community of academic libraries throughout the country. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author wishes to thank the three of the academic library who help answering the questionnaire and the department of Communication Arts and Information Science, Faculty of Humanities, Kasetsart University, Thailand for financial support on presenting this research paper. 288

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