The role of Knowledge manangement in enhancing government service-delivery in Kenya

This article explores the role that knowledge management (KM) can play to support governance, performance effectiveness, and service delivery in government agencies in Kenya. It further addresses the challenges and problems which act as impediments to introducing KM and engendering a knowledge society. A major factor impeding the effective introduction of knowledge management practices is that the Kenyan civil service is particularly embedded in bureaucracy and very few incentives are provided to encourage civil servants to generate, distribute and share knowledge and information. Many employees in the Kenyan civil service are traditional career civil servants, who cannot envisage and appreciate the potential of knowledge management and the benefits of knowledge leveraging. They are also wary of sharing knowledge, as they think that by hoarding knowledge they enhance their value and competitiveness. The paper is based on data derived from the literature that was integrated with results obtained from a study conducted by Ondari-Okemwa (2006) for a PhD research project

Students’ Perceptions of Information Literacy at two South African Universities

The purpose of this study was to find out students’ perceptions of the information literacy intervention programme at two Universities in a developing country. The study adopted a survey research method in which both questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data about how students perceived information literacy in relation to its contribution to improved academic performance. Results show that students perceived information literacy as very relevant to their academic success. The respondents indicated that they gain skills on how to find and use information in all formats to address their day to day assignments. This study reveals the connection between information literacy provision and how it can improve students’ academic success. However, for the connection to be successful, there is a need for all campus stakeholders to work together both in the development, delivery and assessment of information literacy programmes. This study provides a further dimension on how students perceive information literacy in relation to their academic success, an area which has been hardly researched particularly in a developing country such as South Africa. This therefore helps to add depth to the limited literature on students’ perceptions about information literacy

Information needs and constraints of access to educational information in the Fort Beaufort Education District

Types of educational information needed by learners, their level of access and librarians’ supportive roles in learning are pertinent to the attainment of quality education. This study seeks to identify the types of educational information needed by high school learners and the barriers of access. The study is underpinned by the jurisprudential theory of freedom of speech augmented by the theory of access to establish the reality of access. The study adopted a mixed methods approach to obtain data from 331 grade 12 learners, 29 teachers and 3 librarians. The findings reveal that information on requirements for admission into university, subjects taught at school, and career guidance were the most needed by learners. Access challenges include inadequate information resources and the absence of and/or non-functional school libraries. Recommendations include the adequate provision of educational information, information literacy education, employment of qualified librarians by education authorities as well as provision of functional school libraries and information technology tools. The study has shown a need to further examine, in a more rigorous way, the coping strategies of teachers and learners in information-poor communities.Keywords: educational information; high school learners; information access; information literacy education; information needs; information resources; information technology tools; school librarie

Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: Challenges and opportunities

A free flow of ideas and information is vital to the process of scientific inquiry, and in turn to the ability to address economic, environmental and social development issues both in the sub–Saharan Africa region and globally. Most of the challenges facing scholarly publishing in sub–Saharan Africa are global and do not respect national boundaries. Scholarly publishing enables research findings of scholars to cross international boundaries to provide strong, positive connections between individual scholars, institutions and nations. Such exchanges contribute to the expansion of the global knowledge base to which the sub–Saharan Africa region is linked. Participation in the global arena through scholarly communication may enable the sub–Saharan Africa region to have access to knowledge and information it needs to succeed in the global economy that is being digitized rapidly. Scholarly publishing is as a result of research and innovation which may improve the quality of knowledge and information produced by scholars in the sub–Saharan Africa region. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of scholarly publishing in sub–Saharan Africa in the twenty–first century. The paper also proposes ways of capitalising on the vast opportunities of enhancing knowledge production and dissemination in sub–Saharan Africa through scholarly publishing in the twenty–first century. An analysis of publication records of sub–Saharan Africa between 1997 and 2007 in the Thompson Scientific was conducted. There are many challenges confronting scholarly publishing in sub–Saharan Africa. The challenges include technological, socio–political, economic and environmental. The twenty–first century brings with it opportunities that may enhance sub–Saharan Africa’s visibility of scholarly publishing

Scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa in the twenty-first century: Challenges and opportunities

A free flow of ideas and information is vital to the process of scientific inquiry, and in turn to the ability to address economic, environmental and social development issues both in the sub–Saharan Africa region and globally. Most of the challenges facing scholarly publishing in sub–Saharan Africa are global and do not respect national boundaries. Scholarly publishing enables research findings of scholars to cross international boundaries to provide strong, positive connections between individual scholars, institutions and nations. Such exchanges contribute to the expansion of the global knowledge base to which the sub–Saharan Africa region is linked. Participation in the global arena through scholarly communication may enable the sub–Saharan Africa region to have access to knowledge and information it needs to succeed in the global economy that is being digitized rapidly. Scholarly publishing is as a result of research and innovation which may improve the quality of knowledge and information produced by scholars in the sub–Saharan Africa region. This paper explores the challenges and opportunities of scholarly publishing in sub–Saharan Africa in the twenty–first century. The paper also proposes ways of capitalising on the vast opportunities of enhancing knowledge production and dissemination in sub–Saharan Africa through scholarly publishing in the twenty–first century. An analysis of publication records of sub–Saharan Africa between 1997 and 2007 in the Thompson Scientific was conducted. There are many challenges confronting scholarly publishing in sub–Saharan Africa. The challenges include technological, socio–political, economic and environmental. The twenty–first century brings with it opportunities that may enhance sub–Saharan Africa’s visibility of scholarly publishing

An investigation into the practices, procedures, and challenges of knowledge management in government -owned organizations in Kenya

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 256-277).Knowledge management has been burgeoning in importance during the last one and half decades. Both profi;t making and non-profit making organizations have had to and continue to embrace and practice knowledge management. This study was set with the broad aim of investigating the practices, procedures and challenges of managing knowledge in Kenya's govemment-owned organizations. The specific objectives of the study from which research questions were formulated were: to assess the extent to which government-owned organizations practice knowledge management, find out the extent to which the organizations are "learning organizations", establish how the organizations determine the knowledge they require and the formats in which it should be delivered, find out whether and the extent to which individual organizational members in the organizations are motivated to contribute to knowledge creation and sharing, and discover the major managerial challenges and problems that the organizations face in managing knowledge. The scope of this study was limited to government-owned organizations (parastatals) in Kenya operating in environments considered to be information intensive and whose organizational structures are similar