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![]() Intelligent Information Management, 2012, 4, 207-211 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/iim.2012.45030 Published Online September 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/iim) Research on Information Resource Integration of University Libraries under the Mode of Knowledge Management Yu-Qiang Guo, Zheng-Yu Sha Wuhan University of Technology Library, Wuhan, China Email: guoyq@whut.edu.cn, shuyun24@yahoo.com.cn Received April 28, 2012; revised May 30, 2012; accepted June 10, 2012 ABSTRACT On the grounds of expounding the situation of university library knowledge management and according to the charac- teristics of knowledge management, the paper combines the development of resource integration of library of Wuhan University of Technology, and analyzes the objects, trends and innovation of resource integration under the mode of knowledge management. Keywords: Knowledge Management; Resource Integration; University Library 1. Introduction The core of knowledge management is “people-oriented, service paramountcy”. Therefore, library information re- source integration under the mode of knowledge man- agement means to use the theory and methods of knowl- edge management to guide library management and lots of practices, to make library’s information resources to form an organic whole, and offer high quality and effec- tive information service to users, and ultimately realize the philosophy of “readers first, service-oriented”. 2. University Library Knowledge Management 2.1. Knowledge Management Knowledge management refers to establish knowledge system within the organization, acquire, create, organize, disseminate, analyze, develop and utilize the explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge in internal and external organization and make knowledge resources be used ef- fectively. University library knowledge management is a knowl- edge system based on knowledge management, which consists of two elements: information resources and users. Information resources refer to all kinds of library re- sources including hypostatic library collection and virtual library collection; users refer to the individuals or groups who use library resources to meet their information needs. 2.2. Practice of University Library Knowledge Management The attention of university libraries to knowledge man- agement can be reflected in knowledge management practices and trials of university libraries or academic libraries. Knowledge management practices of university libraries mainly have three types: repository-oriented knowledge management, library staff-oriented knowl- edge management, new technology-oriented knowledge management. The typical cases of repository-oriented knowledge management mainly contain Ohio State University Li- brary and MIT Library [1]. In 2001, knowledge man- agement of Ohio State University Library advanced through the participation in Knowledge Bank Plan, in which library takes charge of managing knowledge bank and university personnel or departments realize creating, organizing, storing and using academic information freely, promoting knowledge sharing, knowledge com- munication and knowledge dissemination and making the individuals get more closely with the organization. Knowledge management of Ohio State University Li- brary is a successful case of library knowledge manage- ment. Knowledge management practice of MIT Library is based on the establishment of open access DSpace, and MIT Library currently is working with Columbia Uni- versity, Cambridge University, Ohio State University and other universities to set up inter-university Dspace alli- ance, realizing knowledge sharing and co-management between universities, and promoting the progress of open C opyright © 2012 SciRes. IIM ![]() Y.-Q. GUO, Z.-Y. SHA 208 access movement. Repository-oriented knowledge man- agement focuses primarily on the using of knowledge resource, although some university libraries are focusing on the affinity of interface, but information resource- based knowledge management rarely reflect the impor- tance of library staffs and users in the knowledge man- agement system. Establish learning organization to manage library knowl- edge resource belongs to library staff-oriented knowl- edge management, and the typical cases include Library of University of Arizona, Northern Illinois University Library. University of Arizona establishes different func- tion groups to take charge of specific work, focusing on cultivating staffs’ abilities and advocating share and buil- ding self-management team, utilizes users’ feedbacks to improve working process, sets up internal evaluation me- chanism, and initially forms a scientific knowledge man- agement system of library staffs. Through the building of knowledge management system, University of Arizona not only promote the staffs’ abilities and improve library workflow, but also reduce library costs and improve the service quality. Staff-oriented knowledge management lays emphasis on the management, lacking of effective means to use knowledge resources. Library resource integration is technology-oriented knowledge management, integrates library resources into a union knowledge management platform, and provides one-time user authentication, one-stop search, original document acquisition and some other knowledge services. University libraries have carried out a lot of practice on resource integration, and have introduced lots of resource integration systems to manage internal resources. The common resource integration systems include Ex Libris’ MetaLib/SFX, Web Feat’s Web Feat Prism, MUSE, El- sevier’s Scopus, OCLC’s Worldcat, and duxiu academic search. 3. University Library Information Resource Integration Information resource integration is the optimization com- bination of digital resources, integrate, cluster and re- structure the relatively independent data objects, function structure and interactive relationship to recombine into a new organic whole, and form a new information resource system of better performance and more efficient. The degree of integration can be directly related to the efficient absorption and utilization. The model of library informa- tion resource integration can be divided into two catego- ries: resource-oriented information resource integration and user-oriented information resource integration [2]. 3.1. Resource-Oriented Information Resource Integration Resource-oriented information resource integration mainly utilize database and data warehouse to organize a variety of heterogeneous scattered information resources, opti- mize the structure of information resource system, and use artificial intelligence technology to offer integration service. Integrated information resources can eliminate the isolation between library collection resource, digital resource and heterogeneous resource to become a more systematic and professional system. 3.1.1. Ob j ects of Resou rce-Oriented Information Resource Integration The objects of resource-oriented information resource in- tegration include hypostatic collection, virtual collection and network free resource. Hypostatic collection mainly refers to paper resource, electronic collection, self-built characteristic database and multimedia resource; virtual collection mainly refers to a variety of databases, network free resource refers to the open access resource, including academic news, academic conference information, expert information, universities and research organizations, open- access journals, free e-book, free software, shared cour- seware, excelsior courses and researchers’ blogs. The objects of resource-oriented information resource integration should also include tacit knowledge. The con- cept of explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge was ad- vanced in 1958 by Michael Polanyi, physicist, chemist and philosopher, from the philosophy. Tacit knowledge refers to the knowledge we know but of unspeakable or unexpressed, such as the human experience, skills and cognitive ability. Library tacit knowledge has two sour- ces: first, from the library staffs; Second, from the library users. As a part of the objects of library resource integra- tion under the mode of knowledge management, the key to obtain tacit knowledge is how to makes tacit knowl- edge explicit. 3.1.2. Development o f In tegration Mode Faced with various information resources, users propose new needs on library information service, demand one- stop search on union platform for all resources to obtain more relevant literature, more efficient full-text acquisi- tion service, citation and references, authors, institutions and other relevant information service. Driven from these new requirements, Information re- source integration develops from digital resource integra- tion based on OPAC, digital resource integration based on data source to digital resource integration based on knowledge link, from directory service to full-text search service, to resource integration service based on knowl- edge unit and knowledge link. Resource integration service based on knowledge unit and knowledge link is more advanced model of informa- tion resource integration. According to heritage and logic of knowledge node, organize the relevant knowledge units to form different knowledge sets of different use, and finally form a knowledge network. OPAC-based inte- Copyright © 2012 SciRes. IIM ![]() Y.-Q. GUO, Z.-Y. SHA 209 gration and data source-based integration have matured gradually, and university libraries pay more and more attention to knowledge link-based integration. For exam- ple, duxiu academic search platform is the resource inte- gration platform based on knowledge link. 3.2. User-Oriented Information Resource Integration User-oriented information resource integration means in- formation resource integration carried around users, to form a dynamic mechanism of aggregating information resource, information service and information utilization activities, with the ultimate goal of becoming the support platform for using information, extracting knowledge, solving problems and optimizing user environment, in order to enable users to get positive experiences during the combination of information resources and individual needs [3]. Specifically, user-oriented information resource integration is not only the integration of information re- source but also the integration of information service, that is the organic integration of information resource and service. Such as RSS and My Library are the typical modes of user-oriented information resource integration, and inte- grate library information resources and service to provide users with personalized service and information push service. The typical feature is the interaction between users and library. The ultimate goal of information resource integration is to improve the quality of information service. Al- though the integration based on information resource can bring convenience to users, but the level of users’ par- ticipation in the process of integration is not high, results in the mismatch between service and needs. In this case, user-oriented information resource integration caused a lot of concern in the circle of library. User-oriented in- formation resource integration focuses on users’ experi- ences, and integrates information resource and informa- tion service according to users’ demands. In some ways, resource-oriented integration is the basis of user-oriented integration, and user-oriented information resource inte- gration is the advanced process of resource-oriented in- formation resource integration. Only resource-oriented integration develops to certain extent, user-oriented in- formation resource integration can be achieved. With the development of technology and the update of conception, information resource integration will develop towards an integrated and comprehensive approach. 4. Practice of Information Resource Integration of Library of Wuhan University of Technology Library of Wuhan University of Technology (WUT li- brary) started to integrate information resources from 2005, and by 2009 have integrated information resource three times. Generally the phase of resource integration, that is information resource-oriented integration, is just the early stage of information resource integration. Al- though resource integration can provide personalized ser- vice, the extent and scope of library service are still un- satisfactory from the view of practical application. From the second half of 2009, Library started to user-oriented integration of subject information resource, and integra- tion program has taken initial shape [4]. 4.1. Information Resource-Oriented Integration In the project of digital library construction started in 2005, in order to realizing co-construction and sharing between 6 branch libraries and 22 college/department reference rooms in library system, library introduced In- terlib system in 2006. Library uses cluster management solution to integrate OPAC resource. Interlib system in- tegrates the resources of college/department reference rooms and library to form a virtual library, realizing the integration of information resource. Integration platform integrates union certification, personal loan, online re- newal, book recommendation, new books bulletin and book reservation to provide user-oriented bibliography search service. In order to satisfy the needs of users, library completed union search platform for CALIS resource in 2007. The platform is based on data source integration, integrated print resource, electronic resource and self-built resource such as CD-ROMs attached books through metadata re- pository, and provided union search and full-text service through resource scheduling system. CALIS resource un- ion search platform can retrieve the majority of library resources, and integrate union user authentication system, library portal, online reference service, interlibrary loan system, library BBS, resource navigation, CALIS toolbar features and personalized service such as my favorites, search history, my discipline and resource list. Due to the limitation of library resource integration and technology development, CALIS resource union search platform has become increasingly unable to meet the needs of users, reflected as follows: ● The platform can not provide users with network academic information resource because of the range of integration. ● Technical defects. First, the platform can not inte- grate all the resources available; second, problems exist in recall ratio and precision ratio of the search results, and union search result is inconsistent with single database search result; third, the clutter sort of search results does not reflect the correlation between resource and search terms. Copyright © 2012 SciRes. IIM ![]() Y.-Q. GUO, Z.-Y. SHA 210 ● Because of the resource integration based on data source, search results do not reveal the knowledge rela- tion of the resources, and the relationship of resources can not display through search results. Development of new technologies and changes of the conception of resource integration provides the opportu- nity to solve the problems in the original integration plat- form. WUT library started to pay attention to knowledge link-based resource integration platform from the first half of 2009. After the search of MetaLib/SFX, Web Feat Prism, MUSE, Scopus, Worldcat, and Duxiu academic research, library introduced Duxiu academic research in September, 2009. Duxiu academic research platform can deeply retrieve the resources and the full-text contents and provide document delivery service for the resources outside the library. There are some differences between Duxiu academic research platform and CALIS resource union search plat- form: ● Expand of collection range. Duxiu academic re- search platform provides 21 kinds of resources including knowledge, books, journals, newspapers, e-books, pat- ents, standards, figures, entries, dictionaries, dissertations, conference papers, blogs, forums, online papers, web pa- ges, pictures, movies, music, yellow pages, and news [5]. In addition to the integration of academic resources, Du- xiu academic research platform also integrated network academic resources and personal resources. ● Technical solutions get better. Duxiu academic re- search platform integrate different resources seamlessly, offer the users with integrated service including book- loaning and book-query in Interlib system, reference ser- vice based on Duxiu academic research, document deliv- ery service and personalized push service. The speed of retrieval response has a significant improvement, and the sort of search results is more scientific. ● The search result is a set of knowledge relation. Du- xiu academic research integrates resources based on knowl- edge link, and reveals the internal logic of the resource. Therefore the search result is no longer linear, and be- comes a set of books, journals, authors, web resources, conferences, patents and standards. Through knowledge units provided by search result, users can access relevant information more quickly. ● Reveal resources more depth. Take book for exam- ple, Duxiu academic research reveals catalogue informa- tion including cover page, title page, copyright page, preface page, directory page, probation page and back cover page. Duxiu academic research also provides col- lections, document delivery, recommendation and some other access methods. ● Personalized service and learning organization ser- vice become more active. Duxiu academic research intro- duced my library, subject library, document mutual aid, document market, my reference and other characteristic services to address the needs of different types of read- ers. ● Managing tacit knowledge and providing service. Duxiu academic research has begun to make use of user’s tacit knowledge to create knowledge. For example, through the establishment of subject library, user can collect subject data to do personal creation, and this is the creation of tacit knowledge. 4.2. Second Phrase: User-Oriented Subject Information Resource Integration Resource integration under the mode of knowledge man- agement not only integrates hypostatic collection, virtual collection and network academic resources, but also in- tegrates tacit knowledge resource. Duxiu academic re- search involves in tacit knowledge just in subject library. The key to make users’ tacit knowledge explicit and use the knowledge by knowledge link is user participation. User-oriented subject information resource integration is the focus of WUT library research project and the practice of resource integration under the mode of know- ledge management. The project aims at the establishment of interaction based on user-oriented information re- source integration. The project clusters information users through the behaviors of the users, divides the users into different groups of the same or similar research topic, enable them to create virtual research teams through the network, and establish the interactions and links between users and users, users and library. Users can communi- cate with each other, interact with the library, and par- ticipate in the construction of library resources. Library mines the tacit knowledge through the participation and using of the users, in order to achieve the purpose of making tacit knowledge explicit. User-oriented subject information resource integration has the following characteristics: ● More features integrated. Knowledge Platform not only integrates library knowledge resources, but also in- tegrates the existing user authentication system, library automation system, information retrieval system and re- mote access system, and configures document manage- ment function for users. ● More abundance of the content of information re- source integration. The platform not only integrates hy- postatic resource and virtual resource, but also integrates network resource, can track and analyze characteristic information by using effective technical means and cre- ate tacit knowledge repository for the users. ● Service of more personalized features. Through the analysis of the data in tacit knowledge repository, the platform makes tacit knowledge explicit, finds and offers the proper information to the user according to the per- Copyright © 2012 SciRes. IIM ![]() Y.-Q. GUO, Z.-Y. SHA Copyright © 2012 SciRes. IIM 211 sonalized needs of users. For example, through keyword search, users can get relevant research organizations, re- searchers, research progress, research achievements, the hot spots and other information resources, and obtain the research field of peers by the analysis of tacit knowledge. The “active” display of these resources allows the plat- form users to get the research information of other peer researchers, eliminating the vast work of information screening. ● Providing the platform for virtual teams to communi- cate and study. The project reveals the internal logic of knowledge units, and analyzes the inherent relation of knowledge units and clusters the knowledge resource freely. Analyzing the user behaviors and strengthening the understanding between users, the project allows users to cluster and establish virtual research teams, and team members can discuss and communicate through the net- work. ● Revealing knowledge deeper and using knowledge fully. Through the establishment of meta-data repository to build knowledge relations and knowledge links, the project clusters the same and relevant knowledge, reveals knowledge resources more fully and provides users with knowledge clustering retrieve, knowledge navigation and other services. 5. Conclusion Information resource integration under the mode of kno- wledge management changes the functions of library in the process of knowledge exchange: expansion of the service space, library not only provides physical space for learning and communication, but also provides the platform for virtual learning and communication; deep- ening of the service content, library service develops from information service to knowledge service which means that library provides knowledge-based service from the perspective of library experience and expertise; expansion of the scope of knowledge management, li- brary mines the tacit knowledge for users, and enhances the professional service. Based on these function changes, library service transforms from previous independent and reverse passive service into interactive service. REFERENCES [1] P. Ke, “Research on Library Knowledge Management,” National Library of China Publishing Press, Beijing, 2006. [2] C. P. Wang, “On the Integration of Information Resources in Personalized Services,” Information and Documenta- tion Services, Vol. 4, 2005, pp. 37-40. [3] C. P. Hu and S. L. Deng, “Analysis of Information Re- source Integration Based on User Experience,” Journal of the China Society for Scientific and Technical Informa- tion, Vol. 25, No. 2, 2006, pp. 231-235. [4] Q. Liu, “Integration of Science Resource and Construction of Subject Information Service System,” Journal of Wu- han University of Technology (Information & Manage- ment Engineering), Vol. 1, 2010, pp. 96-99. [5] The Library of Wuhan University of Technology, 28 Sep- tember 2012. http://lib.whut.edu.cn |