Individual and team learning in a learning organization: A study of university libraries in Malaysia

This paper partly presents the results of a study being carried out at 12 university libraries in the Klang Valley of Malaysia. The study aims to investigate whether librarians are practising the concepts of a learning organization, and to examine their perceptions on the practices of individual and team learning in their workplace.The results of the study revealed that librarians perceived that there is an existence of learning practices at the individual and team level, but they are not too convinced of the extent to which the practices exist

Knowledge of information commodity-based business towards income generation among bumiputera entrepreneurs / Nora’ayu Ahmad Uzir, Irni Eliana Khairuddin and Norliya Ahmad Kassim

As the world’s economy enters the information age, there are many possibilities for establishing information and knowledge-based businesses within the global information and knowledge economy. However, Bumiputera entrepreneurs have overlooked the opportunity in offering information as a commodity for income generation. This paper provides a brief review of related literature on entrepreneurs’ knowledge on information commodity-based business that leads to income generation. A novel conceptual model is developed and proposed to evaluate the information commodity resulting to income generation. The constructs of the conceptual model are based on the three dimensions namely entrepreneur opportunity, information as commodity and income generation. Exploration and exploitation on these three dimensions would lead Bumiputera entrepreneurs toward offering information as a commodity in the information industry. By adapting this model, future study will contribute to the information commodity modelling in boosting income generation among Bumiputera entrepreneurs through offering information as a commodity in the information industry

Patron-driven acquisition: perception on e-book selection practices at academic libraries in Malaysia / Norliya Ahmad Kassim and Che Zainab Hj Abdullah

Library is the core business of higher institution. The acquisition department in the library, act as catalyst in selecting and providing information resources for university in achieving its mission and vision. In most academic libraries in Malaysia, the selection of e-books is done by the collection development officer. These phenomena lead to a situation whereby the titles selected are not being borrowed by the customers. To avoid the uneconomical situation, the academic libraries must develop relevant e-book collection policies based on the users' needs. The purpose of this study is to find out the perception on the current practices of collection development policy of e-book at academic libraries in Malaysia. The specific objectives are: (1) to ascertain the practice of e-book selection practices among academic libraries in Malaysia, and (2) to determine the Return on Investment (ROI) regarding e-book selection practices among academic libraries in Malaysia. To achieve the objectives of this study, the researcher considered the appropriateness of using the quantitative method. A survey using questionnaire is used as the instrument to collect data. A semi-structured interview is conducted in the initial stage of the study to explore background information and to help with the development of the instrument. The population for the study comprises of all professional librarians in the acquisition department at the academic libraries in Malaysia as listed in the directory of Malaysian University libraries' website. Statistical Package & Service Solution (SPSS) Version 17.0 is used for data analysis. The findings of the study will produce a guideline in the selection of e-book libraries in Malaysia

Dimensions of knowledge management maturity: top management support and leadership, people, and information technology / Noreen Natasha Azmee, Norliya Ahmad Kassim and Che Zainab Haji Abdullah.

Knowledge management (KM) has been applied in many organizations such as government agencies, construction companies, universities and libraries. Assessing the KM maturity in organization is important to identify the current status of KM and areas of KM could be improved. Very little evidence exists regarding KM maturity specifically in academic libraries. In view of this gap, the main purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of KM maturity in academic libraries namely top management support and leadership, people and information technology. Further research is required to establish the relationship between KM maturity and organizational performance in academic libraries

Conceptualizing of Learning Organization toward Sustaining Learning Organization Performance

Abstract A learning organization is a place where people in the organization are powerfully learning collectively and by their own to expand their knowledge and skills so that they can enhance and optimize their organizational performance at the maximum. This paper reviews the literature that leads to developing a conceptual framework of a study on the factors of learning organization towards sustaining an organization's performance in one organization in Malaysia. Based on the literature review, three main independent variables are identified, namely, learning culture, leadership and dialogue; while the dependent variable is sustainability of learning organization's performance. The study is significant to the leader in improving their organization's services and learning activities among staff toward sustaining their organization as a learning organization

Transformational leadership enhances customer satisfaction

This paper discusses about transformational leadership that enhances customer satisfaction. It covers briefly related issues such as leadership, transformational leadership, total quality management (TQM), quality management system (QMS) ISO 9001:2008, and customer satisfaction. The discussion is focus on how these issues are interrelated to each other specifically on their applicability to increase high performance for library services, and the impact of effective leadership that contributes significantly to the outcome of performance beyond expectations. The university Teknologi Malaysia Library showcases findings on the customer satisfaction surveys from 2006 to 2009

Assessing the Relationship between Competencies and Personal Qualities towards Organizational Performance

This study examines the relationship between librarian’s competencies and personal qualities towards the organization's performance. There are three competencies’ dimensions described in this study, namely the technical skills, human skills, and conceptual skills. Conversely, the ten personal qualities dimension of librarians are achiever, able to take control, self-awareness, innovate, risk taker, open-minded, responsible, social, courteous, and ambitious. A questionnaire was used as the main instrument in gathering data, and a total of 634 respondents were involved in this survey. A survey instrument with a seven-point interval scale was built around nine competencies and ten personal qualities variables