Announcing SMR International’s New Knowledge Services Blog

SMR’s Knowledge Services Blog (formerly called “Knowledge Services Notes”) is the continuation of SMR International’s corporate blog, the content we posted between 2009 and 2015.

With the “new” blog, occasional posts provide information, comment, or other content relevant to SMR International’s core business (consulting services, strategic learning, and publishing). Other content is published in SMR Briefings and SMR Special Reports, all accessible through SMRShare, SMR International’s corporate knowledge capture site. All blog posts, reports, and briefings can be accessed through “Search this Site” (right) or “Browse by Date” (below right).

Blog posts and other SMR International content are also announced through KM/Knowledge Services, the LinkedIn Group managed by SMR International staff.

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This post begins with an apology. And a bit of explanation. With the exception of the two posts from earlier this year, there have not been any SMR posts in over a year, I’m sorry to say. So I am very grateful to SMR International colleagues Dale Stanley, Deb Hunt, Scott Brown, and Nerisa Kamar for their solid support of SMR International’s other work during this period (see below). The four of them diligently kept SMR’s strategic learning programs moving forward while Mr. Guy was side-tracked (in a very pleasant way) for a couple of special projects. Colleagues and readers have been right to complain (not much, but enough to encourage me to explain), and when they learn what I’ve been doing, the people I speak with have been very kind and understanding.

Here’s my two-part explanation: Much of my time since November, 2015 has been devoted to my teaching at Columbia University in the City of New York. Most readers know I’ve taught there for several years, and the last eighteen months or so has seen me revising my course, now part of the School of Professional Studies Business Certification and Postbaccalaureate Studies Programs. The course is Managing Information and Knowledge: Applied Knowledge Services, offered for an intensive six-week version in the university’s 2nd summer term (July to mid-August) and for the usual 15-week course during the fall semester, early September to December.

The “postbaccalaureate” connection is very appealing, and in the class I find myself teaching a wide mixture of students from graduate programs throughout Columbia and from many different international graduate programs as well, with all of the students representing a broad range of subject areas. The Postbaccalaureate Studies Program at Columbia offers an approach that matches exactly how I think about knowledge services and the application of knowledge services in any organizational setting, regardless of the organization’s subject speciality and, indeed, of any organizational structure. Knowledge services addresses the knowledge-sharing requirements of any organization or sector, whether profit, non-profit, or not-for profit.

The other part of my two-part explanation has to do with what Dale Stanley refers to as my “legacy book” on knowledge services. I’m happy to say the work has now come to a satisfactory conclusion (we’ll judge the veracity of this statement later), with the publication of Knowledge Services: A Strategic Framework for the 21st Century Organization (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter) in November (the title link takes you to the announcement for the book, including the Table of contents.)

But these days SMR International  is not all about Mr. Guy’s book. As noted above, the company has continued its strong efforts in strategic learning during the past year, both with private clients and our established followers. For example, Dale and Deb and Scott continue teaching the very popular group of SMR International courses for the Special Libraries Association (six online and two in-person courses offered at SLA’s Annual Conference, this year in June in Phoenix AZ), with all of these courses open to the public. In Kenya, Nerisa — SMR International’s Knowledge Services Consultant for Sub-Sahara Africa — works with IAO (Information Africa Organization) in presenting eight courses (ranging from one day to five days in length) throughout Kenya, with these programs culminating in November with the Third Annual African Regional Conference on KM and Knowledge Services. More information about these strategic learning opportunities can be found here (for SLA programs, open to the public) and here (for the Kenya programs).