to remember

The knowledge age has created a new context and challenges for different organisations and professional groups. Understanding the forces and trends that are shaping the future of the knowledge territory is very important for librarians.
There are many new factors shaping the environment of today's libraries. The characteristics of this new world include: knowledge society, knowledge-based economy, knowledge-intensive organisation, knowledge workers, organisational knowledge, knowledge culture and knowledge management, competitive intelligence and so forth. Most of these phenomena represent a significant career opportunity for librarians, an opportunity for improvement of their image, but also the need to change with the times.
It could be asked, what is the difference between information environment and knowledge environment? Generally speaking, in information environment librarians work with information objects (explicit representation of knowledge) - documents and collections (in different formats). In the knowledge environment they additionally have to work with people. The "complexity of human factors includes not just the organisational culture but the skills and abilities of the staff to be able to create, share and integrate knowledge" (Houghton and Halbwirth, 2002). This implies focus on relationships, collaboration, critical thinking, innovation, adaptability, intelligence and individual and group learning - generally on communication - as communication is the means to connect human minds through interaction.
In the knowledge age knowledge is power. People and organisations that have realized the true value of information (codified knowledge) and knowledge per se are succeeding today. However, working in the knowledge environment is not an easy task. Knowledge resides in human brains, in individuals, in communities of interest, in relationships between individuals and communities, not in collections. Knowledge has a dynamic structure, which is permanently undergoing change by the thinking and learning processes. Knowledge is not static. What is innovative today will become core knowledge tomorrow. Knowledge is generated and shaped through interaction between people. Very often knowledge is intangible; the so called "tacit knowledge" comes from collaboration, innovation and sharing (Houghton and Halbwirth, 2002) Much knowledge cannot be codified and remains inaccessible to modern information technology - intuition, hunches, subjective insights, beliefs are good examples of uncodifiable knowledge. Most information systems do not capture the knowledge or even the information that managers use in their daily lives (because managers rely very often on face-to-face or telephone conversations).
Knowledge workers whose jobs rely on their ability to find, synthesize, communicate and apply knowledge are becoming the most valuable resource in such a world.
Knowledge-based economy", "knowledge-driven economy", "new economy", "innovation-based economy", "learning economy", "digital economy", "network economy", "global economy", "borderless economy" are terms that came into the vocabulary of politicians and economists .
They are often used interchangeably and generally concentrate on the scale of ICT application. The problem of the knowledge economy and society is not a telecommunications or technology issue, it is a content issue, and, therefore, one in which the skills of librarians, information and knowledge professionals can play a part. The ability to access information by anyone and anywhere in a manner that is appropriate in format, which is convenient, affordable and reliable, is critical to knowledge economy and knowledge society. Thanks to information and communication technology (ICT) - one of the main driving forces of the knowledge economy - innovators and customers now have a choice of information markets and products, and an expectation that relevant and accurate information (in the language of choice) will be available 24 hours a day, via computer or mobile phone.
In March 2000 - during the Lisbon Summit (Lisbon European Council, 2000) - European heads of state and governments set a new goal for the European Union (EU) - to become the most competitive knowledge-based society in the world by 2010 They stressed that:
businesses and citizens must have access to an inexpensive, world-class communications infrastructure and a wide range of services;
every citizen must be equipped with the skills needed to live and work in this new information society; and
a higher priority must be given to lifelong learning as a basic component of the European social model (European Commission, Directorate General for Press and Communication, 2002).
The goal of the eEurope initiative[1] is to ensure that everyone (not just a privileged minority) in the EU - every citizen, every school, every company, every administration (and every library, we hope) - has access to the new ICTs and exploits them as fully as possible, to improve their quality of life[2].
ICT acts as a knowledge amplifier. Knowledge itself does not accelerate economic growth. Technology and sets of data alone are not sufficient to ensure economic success also:
In the end, the location of the new economy is not in the technology, be it the microchip or the global telecommunication network. It is in the human mind (Webber, 1993).
It is through research workers that firms can get appropriate knowledge and use it to produce innovative new products and services.
In this context the knowledge economy is a world in which:
people work with their brains instead of their hands;
communications technology creates global competition;
innovation is more important than mass production;
investment buys new concepts or the means to create them, rather than new machines; and
rapid change is constant (Encyclopedia of the New Economy, 2000).
Knowledge economy and society are not only information markets in which knowledge products and services are sold, but a space (Japanese "Ba") in which business enterprises, academic institutions and industry sectors are provided with the opportunity to collaborate in the sharing and transformation of their information and knowledge into a multitude of ideas, opportunities and solutions that create economic and social wealth (Bryson, 2001).
In this knowledge space it is necessary to also find libraries and librarians. The main task for the librarians is to organise and control the information and knowledge space. In this sense librarians can be called the managers of information and knowledge space.
Lifelong learning environment
Learning is the key to individuals succeeding in the new economy. At school, in further education, throughout people's working lives. The key capability for people to survive and thrive in the new economy is their capacity to learn, and then to apply that learning (Blair, 2000).
Companies face two key challenges in becoming effective learning organisations:
First they define themselves increasingly by what they know, and concentrate on developing core competencies, the flexible skills that allow them to produce distinctive, competitive products and services (OECD, 1997).
Open and distance learning (ODL) methods used by librarians and information professionals might be important factors for supporting some learning environments. Libraries for knowledge-base organisations could organise training courses and seminars via networks and in this way participate in organisational learning models. They could - as previously - serve as multi-media learning centers lending videos, books, audiotapes, CD-ROMs, etc. to help employees to fulfill their current jobs in a better way, or to prepare them for new jobs or processes. In this way they create ability to learn, ability to change and ability to create relations, which are so important in the knowledge economy. Librarians and other information professionals should act as the facilitators of learning, helping learners to develop the knowledge of tools and services and the skills to access, evaluate and utilise information and knowledge. They should help people to become information-literate knowledge workers.
Contemporary organisations have three key resources - information, IT and people.
However, information (collections) and new technologies are meaningless without skilled and intelligent knowledge workers:
Knowledge workers are at the core of an innovation-based economy. They are central to corporate competitiveness and the resilience of the economy. They are workers with transportable - and transformable - skills. They are adaptive learners, continually retraining within reasonable timeframes and at reasonable costs to take on new tasks of work practices (Nymark, 1997).
Professionals - knowledge and research workers - are a key source of new ideas and the wealth creators in the knowledge age. They are responsible both for producing knowledge and exploiting it.
The links between the economy and the literacy of knowledge workers are obvious:
High literacy skills are determinant of individual economic potential: higher employment participation, lower unemployment probabilities and higher skilled employment ... As far as macro-economy is considered, literacy and gross domestic product (GDP) go hand in hand (Pont and Werquin, 2000).
Information literacy is a survival skill in the information age[5]. Literacy "is a means to achieving individual goals and developing individual knowledge and potential" (OECD, 2001b). Instead of drowning in the abundance of information that floods their lives, information-literate people know how to define what information is needed, how and where to obtain it; they can evaluate it, and use information effectively to solve a particular problem or make a decision to help the organisation achieve the greatest advantage - whether the information they select comes from a computer, a book, a government agency, a film, or any number of other possible resources. In all instances information should be used according to ethical and legal constructs.
Libraries, which provide a significant public access point to such information and usually at no cost, must play a key role in preparing people for the demands of today's information society. It is important to remember that today's library users are the knowledge workers of tomorrow also.
It is worth noticing that new technologies influence the general understanding of "information literacy". In order to describe this concept different authors use different terms. Bawden (2001) and Clausen (2000) in their review of concepts discuss the occurrence of various terms related to "information literacy" in the literature: "computer literacy" (synonyms: IT/information technology, electronic/electronic information technology); "library literacy", "media literacy", "network literacy", "Internet literacy", "Web literacy" and "hyper-literacy", "digital literacy". All of these are based largely on specific skills, but they lead to general concepts, such as information literacy and digital literacy, which are based on knowledge, perceptions and attitudes. The term "digital literacy", for instance, has been used more recently, to encompass the situation where networked resources are a significant part of those available, and includes such skills as "hypertextual navigation" and "knowledge assembly" (Bawden, 2001). In the knowledge-based environment the concept of information literacy moves towards a concept of knowledge literacy "which encompasses a myriad of skills that provide a basis for meeting the challenges [of this environment]" (Houghton and Halbwirth, 2002). These skills are needed, for instance, for collaboration, sharing, innovation, problem solving and decision making.
Librarians as knowledge workers
In a natural way librarians who use their mind to work with information, understand its nature, know how to use it, transmit and produce information as a product are knowledge workers.
Participating in today's knowledge economy requires increasingly complex skills. According to the International Adult Literacy Survey[6], workers of the "information age" not only must have higher levels of education, but also the ability to adapt, learn and master new skills quickly and efficiently. The level of "information skills" - especially the ability to filter out information (or lack thereof) may be the primary cause of either professional success, or failure of a knowledge worker.
As mentioned above, the main feature of knowledge environment is working with people. In this context the success of librarians as knowledge workers depends on some of the skills stressed as follows:
Communication skills. These relate to the ability to convey somebody's knowledge to other people effectively. Forces shaping today's new knowledge age, have made communicating information a must for all organisations and their employees. This involves not only making oral presentations, but also preparing written reports, and the like. If librarians refuse to communicate with knowledge workers" communities they will not be taken into account in the knowledge world at all - and the knowledge workers are a group whom librarians should serve in the knowledge age before any other.
Interpersonal skills. These rely on the ability to work with other people. In business this may involve explaining a warranty to a customer, working in a team environment to solve a problem, negotiating contract terms with a supplier, or a variety of other people-interactive tasks. In the age of ubiquitous information retrieval systems the problem of disintermediation (Downie, 1999), or the act of bypassing librarians and other information specialists, appears in the literature more often. This means that end users are trying to find their own way through the information universe. However, if "users of all kinds are going straight to the information then those who organise information to enhance access are needed more than ever" (Lawton, 2002).
There is another side of the phenomenon of "information at your fingertips". It is information overload of which Butcher's (1995) research highlighted two dimensions. First, personal information overload and its relationship to stress and lack of control, and second, organisational information overload hampering effective decision making and problem solving.
This phenomenon acquires special meaning in the knowledge-based economy. "We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge" (Naisbitt, 1982).
Thus in the knowledge age - as a consequence of civilized, economic and technological changes - information stress is a very common and serious problem facing knowledge workers:
Today, information can be gathered and diffused on a global scale, bringing with it countless opportunities, but also fear and frustration, with many people worrying that they are being left behind (Andersson and Kang, 2001).
While computers have become faster and more powerful the human brain can absorb only the limited portion of information and knowledge. Information fatigue syndrome is a result of enormous frustration because of unread articles, reports, memos and the deluge of new information with which people want to be acquainted.
Assisting people with their information problems and frustrations, giving them advice in an increasingly complex and volatile information and knowledge environment probably can diminish this stress. Hence the daily work of librarians with selecting and evaluating information can be seen as a kind of therapy - "infotherapy".
Communication and interpersonal skills are very important in preparing new information products by librarians. Library portals (or vortals) can be considered as an example. The process of designing such products promotes cooperation between librarians from different libraries, different cities or sometimes even countries. It promotes communication with experts from a wide range of disciplines and creates a kind of collective intelligence. Such activities provoke sharing knowledge about users and provide a good platform for communicating with knowledge workers about their needs (but also their wants and desires) and opinions. This feedback is really useful and librarians should not be afraid of experimenting, because this is a method by which necessary experience and unique knowledge can be obtained. In this way, librarians are able to prepare a unique product, filled with knowledge and innovation, a space in which the knowledge workers can meet and collaborate. This collaborative method of attaining the final product is its greatest asset, so valued in the knowledge age.
To succeed as knowledge workers librarians need to understand:
The true nature of information (what makes certain information highly valuable, and other information completely worthless).
Knowledge - how knowledge is acquired, constructed, transferred and otherwise shared with other members of the organisation or society (in a way that seeks to achieve the organisation's/society's objectives).
Changing needs of knowledge workers (librarians in particular should be aware that today's users are tomorrow's knowledge workers. They should know their users - not only have information about them).
How to harness the power of individuals by supporting them with communication and information technologies and other tools (being technologically literate).
How to enhance the learning capabilities of individuals and groups (sustaining lifelong learning).
How to prepare/stimulate, maintain and strengthen the knowledge culture It cannot be assumed that people will share information and knowledge just because the network allows them to. The problem is to get people to change the way they think about sharing their knowledge as a natural process).
How to extend their skills into managing knowledge, how to manage "knowledge space" (enabling research, supporting innovation).
The ethical responsibilities of working with information and knowledge.
The new knowledge environment is a period of rapid change for all information professionals. In the literature many names can be found for new roles and positions of information professionals - "facilitators/enablers of knowledge", "navigators of knowledge", "knowledge leaders", "change agents" (in the process of moving from information management to knowledge management), "chief knowledge officers", knowledge engineers, content managers, innovators, teachers, learners, etc. (Baruchson-Arbiband Bronstein, 2002; Pedley, 2001; Durno et al., 2001; Corcoran et al., 2000; Oxbrow, 2000).
The essential question in the knowledge age is how information professionals (librarians included) can help to transform existing information into structures of useful and easy accessible knowledge. The essence of this transition must be analyzed from many points of view. Hitherto existing activities of librarians involve assisting people in communicating and interacting with each other, learning new information and "knowledge skills", and prepare people to be effective knowledge workers. They create more and more effective systems of training information skills, build knowledge portals, design interfaces, which enable information to be turned into knowledge and solutions giving equal access for different socio-economic groups to a network of knowledge - containing all types of information in all sort of formats. Value-added products and services of information professionals amplify the potential usefulness of the messages they deliver through greater ease of use, noise reduction, in proved data quality, greater adaptability, and so on (Choo, 1998). Their work will enable people to save time and energy and increase their access to the world's knowledge and information.
The success of eEurope (knowledge-based Europe) depends not only on European institutions, national, regional and local governments throughout the EU, businesses, universities and library schools. It depends on each library and information professional who contributes to sustaining social change in the knowledge society. Librarians should understand all these changes and should be prepared to take advantage of them in their workplace.
Indeed, it is a formidable challenge to be a highly qualified librarian in the knowledge age, but it is well worth trying.