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The article is a report of an investigation of the business/practical world ’s perspective of the role and responsibilities of the information and knowledge manager and the analysis of the findings against a theoretical/academic background. Information about employment opportunities and requirements for the position of information and knowledge managers was extracted from job advertisements,which appeared in the three weekly national newspapers with the highest circulation figures in South Africa. The findings revealed that employers seem to have a problem indefining the position and role of the information and knowledge manager in their organisations. It also indicated that organisations should be aware of the fact that what the communicate to the public via job advertisements can reflect on their knowledge of information and knowledge management.

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether or not factors that impact the performance–innovation nexus differ from one percentage level of performance to another among small- and medium-sized enterprises in regional Australia, with a specific focus on e-innovation by strategic and non-strategic firms in the agricultural sector and in other industries.

Researchers implicitly assumed that the performance–innovation relationship is uniform across high-level, mid-level and low-level performing small- and medium-sized enterprises. In this study, the authors analysed performance at different percentage levels.

The findings indicate that the levels of small- and medium-sized enterprises performance have a significant difference in terms of the factors influencing their performance. The industry may be a determinant of performance, which is similar in the case of the topmost performers in the non-agricultural sector. The major findings of this study are as follows: the performance–innovation relationship differs by the percentage level of small- and medium-sized enterprises performance; and Solow’s productivity paradox exists at the firm level.

The authors recommend that rural policies should target low-performing firms. Moreover, researchers should adopt methodologies that shed light on the differences in the performance–innovation nexus across performance levels rather than one-size-fits-all methodologies that are often adopted.

The major contributions of this study are that the performance–innovation relationship differs by the level of small- and medium-sized enterprises performance, and Solow’s productivity paradox exists at the firm level.

The appropriateness of utilising a training resource programme consisting of a mix of media and technologies for the training of cataloguing students is evaluated. The findings from reported research and evaluation of the training resource programme made it possible to identify advantages and disadvantages of using such a programme. The results of the research enabled the researcher to derive guidelines for the design and development of a training resource programme consisting of a mix of media and technologies. The use of media and technologies, in a training research programme for cataloguing training, can be utilised in training cataloguing students in contact classes, distance education as well as in‐service training.

The manner in which a business strategy was formulated ten or even as little as five years ago, no longer applies. This phenomenon can to a great extent be attributed to a shift in the strategic importance of information and knowledge. The aim of this paper is to supply strategic thinkers with a holistic “bird’s eye view” of the interdependency between strategic management and strategic knowledge management. By analyzing the different perspectives with regard to strategy formulation from a business point of view, as well as a knowledge management perspective, a generic model incorporating knowledge management strategy formulation within business strategy formulation has been developed.

Currently we are in the middle of the information age, suffering from information overload on the one hand and a lack of knowledge on the other. Enterprise portals (EPs) are seen as the antidote to these problems by becoming more and more the ultimate knowledge management (KM) tool. The current hype about EPs is focused on their application as KM tools. Very little attention is given to other aspects of KM, namely the organisational, human and cultural aspects. The article will provide an overview of the technical and strategic relationship between EPs and KM and illustrate that EPs are only the technology component and should not be mistaken for the essence of KM. What is needed for successful KM in an organisation is not technology alone, but also a knowledge‐sharing culture, knowledge‐sharing policies, organisational processes, performance measurement and business strategies.

The article is a report of an investigation of the current state of knowledge management implementation in three South African financial organisations. Two data collection methods were used, namely a questionnaire and face‐to‐face interviews with senior representatives of the organisations. Although some of the respondents felt that knowledge management is another fad, the majority of the respondents indicated that knowledge management is a major strategic imperative for staying competitive. They also regard their organisations as knowledge‐based businesses. Three‐quarters of the respondents reported that the most compelling reason for investing in knowledge management was increased value for customers. Although various barriers to knowledge management were identified, the results of the case studies indicated that knowledge management was seen as a new way to expose tacit knowledge, as well as a more effective way of creating and organising corporate knowledge.

The intranet has emerged as one of today's most effective tools for knowledge management. This article reports on the extent to which three South African academic libraries, selected by means of the purposive sampling method, utilise the intranet as a knowledge management tool. Based on the literature, knowledge management and an intranet are briefly defined. The advantages of the intranet as a knowledge management tool as well as the content of an intranet are discussed. The opinions about knowledge management and the utilisation of the intranet as a knowledge management tool in the three academic libraries are weighed up against the findings in the literature. It is clear that a strong awareness exists of the importance of knowledge management and the value of the intranet as a knowledge management tool. However, the potential of the intranet as a knowledge management tool is not utilised fully.

The potential of current awareness services (CAS) for oncology nurses is considered with special reference to the spectrum of WWW CAS that are available, their benefits and problems, and how these can be linked to the dynamic health environments in which oncology nurses may find themselves. The intention with the article is to show the need for exploring the value of WWW CAS for dynamic professional fields such as oncology nursing, and to offer a point of departure for research on their information behaviour. The WWW CAS that were identified might be used to get oncology nurses interested in using such services, as well as in participating in research on their information behaviour.

A literature study on the nature and value of CAS is combined with a cursory analysis of the literature of oncology nursing to provide insight into the professional demands that oncology nurses need to cope with, and the potential value of CAS for oncology nurses. Based on this a selection of WWW CAS suitable for oncology nurses is identified. Insight into the potential of WWW CAS for oncology nurses and the CAS that are available are combined with what can be learned from studies on information‐seeking behaviour to offer some suggestions on how the need for oncology nurses to use CAS available via the WWW can be further explored. In general the suggestions to explore the use of CAS would also apply to other professional fields.

It seems as if oncology nurses can benefit substantially from WWW CAS. To successfully implement such CAS, extensive research on the information‐seeking behaviour, information use and information communication of oncology nurses is, however, necessary. The article could be used as an instrument to gain oncology nurses' interest in WWW CAS, and willingness to participate in further research on their information needs and information behaviour.

Oncology nurses' interest in CAS can be stimulated, and the article can be used as point of departure for further research. The article can also offer new opportunities for library and information (LIS) professionals to offer CAS in the health and other professional sectors, by reconsidering how one can use CAS available via the WWW.

No reports on CAS for oncology nurses could be traced, and there are also very few reports on the information needs and information behaviour of oncology nurses. The article hopes to pave the way for renewed interest in using CAS in demanding professional environments, and especially the health sciences, as well as to stimulate interest in research in information‐seeking behaviour in the health sciences.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the progress of research regarding the opportunities for librarians within the context of knowledge management.

A content analysis of 28 full‐length journal articles indexed by Library Literature in the past ten years was conducted.

Findings indicate that more researchers than practitioners are aware of knowledge management opportunities, utilised more literature reviews and based their findings on theory. In addition, an unexpected finding was that the majority of researchers communicated their findings in professional rather than scholarly journals. Practitioners should therefore give attention to studies conducted by researchers to become aware of opportunities they could not identify themselves.

Only full‐length journal articles indexed by Library Literature were included. Thus the findings may have limitations in their generalisability.

Results of the study may assist in the improvement of teaching and research in library and information science. Additionally, librarians may become aware of the opportunities and acquire guidelines on how to attain the necessary requirements towards enhancing their role and ultimately boosting their image.

The study shows the progress of research regarding the knowledge management opportunities for librarians to researchers and practitioners interested in this field.

Knowledge management in South Africa is still a very new field of management and knowledge managers are experiencing difficulties with the added dimension of multiculturalism. The history of South Africa, along with its current focus on cultural equality, complicates the matter. This research seeks to look at the challenges facing knowledge managers in a multicultural South African corporate environment.

An exploratory study, using in‐depth interviewing and a focus group as information collection methods, was launched to explore South African knowledge‐management practices in a cross‐section of companies in the economy.

Results showed that companies were afraid to acknowledge cultural differences because of major cultural sensitivity and, as a result, corporate culture was seen as the great equaliser of cultural exchanges. Knowledge managers, along with top management's support, must rather create a cooperative knowledge‐sharing environment in which South Africa's diverse cultures can interact, learn from one another and innovate.

Serves as a pilot study that aims to explore new territory. From this explorative research, a new and extensive study of the contributing factors should be conducted. This study does not proclaim to be representative of all companies, as only a cross‐section of the South African corporate market was targeted for participation.

Company management and knowledge workers will see the necessity of incorporating different approaches to knowledge‐management implementation to suit individual needs.

Very little research has been done on this subject from a South African corporate‐environment perspective. These researchers hope to make knowledge workers more sensitive to the influence of multiculturalism on potential implementation of a knowledge‐management strategy.