People are fundamental to every aspect of an archival project. They commission projects, provide resources, support (or challenge) projects, and produce results. People deliver projects as managers and team members, and others influence projects as sponsors and archival project stakeholders. How people behave and feel about the project influences its success.

Over the course of his career, knowledge management expert Stan Garfield has worked with, observed, and interviewed KM leaders to shine a light on proven knowledge management best practices from successful implementations.

I imagine cataloging efforts in the 19 ^th and early 20 ^th century to be akin to the Wild West. The people of the West may have had good intentions and some basic principles in place, but each town governed themselves differently, and the few rules in place were loosely adhered to.

We’ve all heard of IBM’s Watson. Whether winning at Jeopardy or diagnosing medical conditions, it shows great potential and already has proven itself as a partner for humans. Honestly, I believe that it’ll do nothing but grow and develop as a learning machine. Machine-based learning in special libraries is an interesting area to explore.

Project managers are expected to be both good managers and leaders. Leadership is one of the most critical competencies a project manager must have. Leadership in archival projects is demonstrated through setting the vision for the project and supporting strategy, and creating a shared vision with the team. Archival leaders create an environment that encourages the best in team members, allowing them to develop and learn.

In Neil Olonoff’s excellent post “Knowledge Management Tools That Aren’t Tools,” he takes us back to the basic purpose and definition of a tool: something that is supposed to make work easier. It’s easy to agree with that, yet there are so many knowledge management tools that seem to complicate matters, and make work harder. And there in a nutshell is the biggest barrier to user adoption.

Many of the companies known for Museum Collection Management Systems (CMS) were founded in the late-1970s through the 1980s. Collections management system usage became common among museums in the 1990s with wide-spread implementation occurring by the 2000s. Early adopters have likely seen the migration from at least one CMS to another.

Troubleshooting and testing follows evaluating, reviewing, and recommending technology. Troubleshooting is similar to beta-testing in that you are putting the software or database through its paces to see how it responds.

Project managers for archival projects have a wide variety of responsibilities. They oversee activities, serve as liaisons between departments, and facilitate meetings. They hire staff, attend professional development activities, and review instructional materials. This post covers characteristics of effective archival project managers.

There are many ways to nurture an organizational culture change in a knowledge-sharing environment, including embracing “Working Out Loud”. Bryce Williams defines Working Out Loud (WOL) as Observable Work (creating, modifying, and storing your work in places where others can see it, follow it, and contribute to it in process) + Narrating Your Work (writing about what you are doing in an open way for those interested to find and follow).

Since the Great Recession of 2008, museums of all types have been navigating shaky financial ground. The recession impacted museums on multiple fronts: it shrank endowments, decreased corporate and private donor giving, and depleted financial support from municipal and foundation organizations.

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view. What you may not know is that you can implement augmented reality in libraries, archives, and museums for free in less than five minutes.

Most archives repositories find it a challenge to keep a balance between meeting the needs of their users, their administration, and their collections. The hands-on tasks involved in the daily management of ever-growing collections of digital information leave little time for conceptual planning of the digital preservation program.

In his research on promoting KM initiatives within the corporate world, author and KM expert Stan Garfield identified a number of useful knowledge management methodologies that enable colleagues to take advantage of proven practices while assessing needs and/or demonstrating the value of knowledge management within an organization.

It’s no secret that since The Great Recession of 2008, museums, cultural heritage, and cultural arts organizations in the United States are still suffering financially. For each of these organization types, the expense of owning or leasing a large building, maintaining a staff, and offering compelling programs can make it difficult to survive year to year.

Special librarians too often hide much of the true professional added value of their work. To mitigate that, I think the following activities should be added to communication with end users—either collectively or individually—so librarians can demonstrate value and impact.

Appraisal and selection for digital artifacts are similar in the broadest sense to the appraisal and selection of physical archival collections. The framework that each institution uses to guide its selection process is influenced by the scope and subjects of the collecting agencies.

Timely communication is critical to successfully introduce and promote KM initiatives and keep the organization informed of progress. Develop a plan for the communications vehicles you will use and be sure to include “push” channels.