Analysis of the Evolving Roles of Librarians in Enhancing Knowledge Management in University Libraries in Nairobi County

Abstract

It has long been recognized in several sectors that librarians can enhance the efficacy and operational efficiency of knowledge management. University libraries do not yet completely acknowledge the worth of the role of librarians in managing knowledge. The primary goal of this study was to analyze librarians' evolving roles in enhancing knowledge management in university libraries in Nairobi County. Expressly, the following objectives were set forth: to evaluate the knowledge management practices currently in use by librarians in Nairobi County University libraries; to investigate the role of librarians in fostering information literacy skills among users at Nairobi County University libraries; to assess the role of librarians in organizing knowledge at Nairobi County university libraries; and to assess the role of librarians in maintaining the cultural heritage at Nairobi County university libraries. The study was carried out at the Technical University of Kenya and the University of Nairobi, and the following theories anchored the unified theory of technology acceptance and use, the role theory, and the adaptive structural theory. This study used the descriptive survey research design targeting 2180 individuals, consisting of librarian section heads and information science students, who were identified across the two institutions. A sample size of 338 respondents was sampled from this population to take part in the research process. Data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. This comprised 314 students currently enrolled at TUK and UON in the School of Information Science and 12 librarian section heads from each university. The content validity was attained by selecting the questionnaire measuring items from the operational framework. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using version 26 of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Consequently, a frequency distribution will also be employed to analyze the quantitative data obtained during the research. This will show how often each value occurs in a data set, mainly the mean, median, and mode measures of central tendency. Ethical considerations were observed in the study. The value of this study was to help provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolving roles of librarians in enhancing knowledge management, which was very useful in assisting university libraries in Nairobi County. Based on the collected findings, most students felt that librarians had the most influence on knowledge management at these institutions. In addition, the librarians also felt they were responsible for enhancing literacy skills among library users. When asked for recommendations on how to evaluate the knowledge management techniques currently used by librarians in the libraries of Nairobi County University, a few librarians were informed that conducting knowledge management audits, regular surveys and questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews would provide these organizations with the data they require to ascertain which particular techniques are employed and how successful they are overall at promoting effective knowledge management. Finally, all responders agreed to set explicit targets for their cultural preservation program when asked how universities might evaluate librarians' contributions to the preservation of cultural heritage at university libraries in Nairobi County. Based on available data, this study shows that while some aspects of effective knowledge management, such as technology application, are used throughout the knowledge management (KM) cycle, their full implementation is not observed at every cycle stage. The study also suggested that librarians should actively communicate with teachers and students, offering them specific guidance on where to look for, evaluate, and use information. The last proposal was that these universities offer accurate metrics, promote collaboration with cultural institutions, and equip librarians with the skills to evaluate how successfully university libraries preserve cultural assets.