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Knowledge Management

Stuart Ferguson & Shelda Debowski

To cite this article: Stuart Ferguson & Shelda Debowski (2007) Knowledge Management,
Australian Academic & Research Libraries, 38:4, 299-300, DOI: 10.1080/00048623.2007.10721315

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2007.10721315

Published online: 08 Jul 2013.

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 Reviews

extended to embrace context entities such as functions and activities. His advice
to cash-strapped collecting archivists is to make a business case that emphasises
benefits in terms of archival data sharing via the internet. One wonders whether
a stronger case could be built by demonstrating the benefits of enhanced
description of context entities to different groups of end users. If research on this
is being undertaken by Australasian exponents of the series system, there is no
reference to it in this guide.

Don Boadle
Charles Sturt University

Knowledge Management
Shelda Debowski
Milton Qld Wiley 2006 383pp ISBN 0470805382

S
helda Debowski is well known in the information profession but this
text is aimed primarily at students of business and management, and is
written largely from a leadership and strategic management perspective.
There are four parts, the first of which, ‘Knowledge Influences’, puts knowledge
management (KM) into an organisational context, and in particular the context
of strategic management, introduces strategic KM, discusses knowledge leaders
and outlines ways of developing and maintaining a knowledge culture in
organisations. Part 2 covers what Debowski sees as ‘Knowledge Foundations’,
namely, those technologies and human resource management practices that
support KM. Part 3, ‘Knowledge Applications’, includes the development of a
‘core knowledge framework’, which covers practices such as knowledge mapping
and development of core knowledge policies; development and management of
knowledge repositories; development of knowledge services; and learning and
development in a knowledge setting. Part 4, ‘Knowledge Enhancement and
Review’, covers evaluation of the effectiveness of knowledge strategies, sustainable
KM and strategic KM.
This is very much a text written for people trying to understand the field, as
distinct from one of the how-to-do-it manuals for the information professional or
the business manager. At the end of each chapter there are the almost inevitable
case studies, and the textbook approach is enhanced by chapter summaries,
lists of key terms, discussion questions and further reading. On the whole it is a
well-structured work, with clear explanations. It does not try to bog the reader
down in the endless definitional issues that used to plague the KM literature and
there are some interesting features, such as the fact that KM principles are not
articulated explicitly until the end – although one might have hoped for more
than the four key principles presented. There are some notable strengths, not

Australian Academic & Research Libraries December 2007 299

 Reviews

surprisingly in the management field: for instance, the chapter on evaluation,

which is an important area if knowledge managers are going to demonstrate that
they pay their way.
For readers with an information studies background there is a slightly abstract
feel to the book, which ignores information management altogether – many of
the technologies discussed qualify as Tom Wilson’s IM systems relabelled for the
new market. Even more surprising, since this is an Australian text, is the lack
of reference to the 2005 Australian KM standard. It is not ideal for students of
information studies but there is very little with which it might compete. Debowski
does point out areas in which KM still requires research and development, while
arguing convincingly that it has matured in terms of its theory and practice – a
point that may surprise some sceptics.

Stuart Ferguson
Charles Sturt University

Comparative Perspectives on E-government:

Serving Today and Building for Tomorrow
Peter Hernon, Rowena Cullen, and
Harold C. Relyea (eds)
Lanham Md Scarecrow Press 2006 ISBN 0810853574
(pbk), 0810857359 (hbk)

G
overnment services are critically important in a democracy. In
Australia in recent years we have seen the Senate Environment,
Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee,
the Joint Committee on Publications, and the Australian library sector identify
e-government as an area in need improvement (Australia Senate Environment,
Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee Libraries
in the Online Environment Canberra The Committee 2003, Australia Joint
Committee on Publications Inquiry into the Distribution of the Parliamentary
Papers Series Canberra The Committee 2006, Digital Amnesia Seminar: papers
and summary Canberra ALIA 2006). Thus one would expect that a publication
providing perspectives on e-government should be topical and relevant. I was
very keen to read this book, and to become more up-to-date about e-government
services across the world. Unfortunately, as I read through the book, I found
this ambition remained unfilled, and I found myself becoming disappointed at
the discrepancy between the breadth promised by the title and introduction and
the limited content offered in the book. The topic is covered in seven parts: an
introduction; chapters on e-government in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia

300 Volume 38 Number 4 Australian Academic & Research Libraries