The emergence of Web 2.0 tools has transformed the operation of Knowledge Management (KM) practices in the academic libraries. This study has investigated the application of Web 2.0 tools to enhance KM practices in academic libraries in Tanzania. Eight out of twelve academic libraries located in public universities in Tanzania were purposively selected in this study. The study included two categories of respondents: ordinary library staff and senior library staff (directors, heads of libraries, library managers, and Information and Technology (IT) specialists in the library etc). The findings of the study were determined after applying methodological triangulation within quantitative and qualitative research contexts. This included the use of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and observations. In the first instance, questionnaires were used to collect data from 278 library staff selected using systematic sampling technique. Interviewing targeted 69 senior library staff was done using purposive sampling technique. In total, 254 (91.4%) ordinary library staff completed the questionnaire; while 57 (82.6%) senior librarians were interviewed. The study findings have indicated the low level of KM application in academic libraries. Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science (MUHAS) Library showed the strongest application of KM practices, followed by State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) Library. Lack of KM enablers in academic libraries was indicated as one of the significant challenges that hinder the application of KM practices in academic libraries. It was noted that most of the academic libraries visited had websites. On the other hand, the majority of respondents acknowledged that they had personal accounts of the various Web 2.0 tools. The study findings imply that most library staff had some level of experience with a variety of Web 2.0 tools. It was further established that despite the high level of familiarity and use of Web 2.0 tools, respondents were not frequent users of their library websites. The study findings have also indicated a low level of access and use of Web 2.0 tools within academic libraries. Mzumbe University (MU) and SUZA Libraries were the main users of Web 2.0 tools; followed by University of Dar-es-Salaam (UDSM) Library. Knowledge Management System (KMS) Success Model was employed to investigate factors that affect the application of Web 2.0 tools to enhance KM practices. The study findings have demonstrated that the KMS Success Model is suitable for guiding the understanding of the contributing factors with respect to library staff‟s intention to reuse Web 2.0 tools. The study findings supported the KMS Success Model well, whereby seven of the twelve hypothesised relationships were found to be significant. The study recommends that academic libraries in Tanzania should promote and integrate KM practices in their daily operations as well as the use of KM enablers such as; reliable budget, Web 2.0 tools, reliable power supply, internet connectivity availability and adequate ICTs infrastructure. / Information Science / D. Litt. et. Phil. (Information Science)

Submitted by RAPHAEL MENDES (mendes.rbm@gmail.com) on 2013-11-19T17:13:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO FINAL_v.1.2.6.pdf: 10169650 bytes, checksum: 5cdb2b519a9c0af71f11b8cca181c2ca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2014-01-14T12:54:14Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO FINAL_v.1.2.6.pdf: 10169650 bytes, checksum: 5cdb2b519a9c0af71f11b8cca181c2ca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2014-01-23T17:44:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO FINAL_v.1.2.6.pdf: 10169650 bytes, checksum: 5cdb2b519a9c0af71f11b8cca181c2ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-01-23T17:44:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTACAO FINAL_v.1.2.6.pdf: 10169650 bytes, checksum: 5cdb2b519a9c0af71f11b8cca181c2ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-02 / Knowledge management represents a new responsibility for the public administration to let it grow its services effectiveness and better the society that it serves, in that helps organizations dealing new challenges, deploy innovating practices of management and enhance the quality os process, products and public services. Whereas the knowledge management’s process embraces five steps represented by identifying, creating, storing, sharing and utilizating the organizational knowledge, a first mapping of the KM practices already existing at the National Criminalistics Institute is very important. As a new practice in brazilian public organizations, many evaluation methods were found in the scientific literature. Therefore, the IPEA method was chosen, as the National Criminalistics Institute has not already started an institutional initiative to implement KM practices. By the way, the survey results revealed that the National Criminalistics Institute is in an early stage of KM development, when the organization recognizes the significance and the requirement of managing the knowledge originated in the circunstances os its activities. Furthermore, specific actions related to codifying organizational informations and knowledges were found scattered. / Gerir o conhecimento representa uma nova responsabilidade da administração pública para que ela possa aumentar a efetividade dos serviços prestados e melhorar a sociedade a qual serve, na medida em que auxilia as organizações a enfrentar novos desafios, implantar práticas inovadoras de gestão e melhorar a qualidade dos processos, produtos e serviços públicos. Considerando que o processo de gestão do conhecimento compreende cinco etapas representadas por identificar, criar, armazenar, compartilhar e utilizar o conhecimento organizacional, o mapeamento inicial das práticas de GC já existentes na criminalística federal reveste-se de fundamental importância. Como se referem a práticas relativamente novas no contexto das organizações – notadamente nas públicas – diversos métodos de avaliação de implementação de práticas de GC foram identificados. Nesse contexto, uma vez que a perícia criminal federal apresenta-se como uma organização que pretende implementar práticas relacionadas à GC, não havendo, porém, até o momento, qualquer iniciativa institucionalizada nesse sentido, a escolha da metodologia recaiu sobre o modelo proposto pelo IPEA. Quanto à pesquisa, tendo em mente o problema e os objetivos propostos, optou-se por uma investigação descritiva, explicativa e aplicada, onde se buscou construir um amplo referencial teórico com descrição detalhada dos aspectos abordados no decorrer do estudo. Os trabalhos envolveram, ainda, pesquisa de campo, bibliográfica e estudo de caso. Os resultados permitiram concluir que a criminalística federal encontra-se em fase de iniciação em gestão do conhecimento, situação em que começa a reconhecer a importância e a necessidade de gerenciar o conhecimento originado no contexto de suas atividades e que está inserido na organização por meio de seus integrantes. Verificou-se, ainda, no decorrer da pesquisa, ações pontuais dispersas na perícia criminal federal voltadas à sistematizar as informações e conhecimentos insertos na instituição.