Analyzing the status of knowledge management in the body of knowledge and information science research: A systematic review

Purpose: In this research, the analysis KM research in the field of knowledge and information science, including scientific research articles and theses, was done with a systematic review method. The purpose of this research was to identify the purpose and type of research, society and tools, commonly used patterns and models, and issues that have been used in KM research in libraries and information centers in the last twenty years in Iran to identify the possible strengths and weaknesses of these studies in this field.

Methodology: The purpose of this research is practical and quantitative, which was conducted with a systematic review method. The statistical population of this systematic review included all research articles resulting from quantitative and qualitative studies conducted in Iran between 2003-2023, which were conducted in the field of KM in libraries and information centers in Persian language. This research was conducted using the systematic review method of Pettigrew and Robert in 12 steps.

Findings: According to the findings of this study, the diversity of the substrate in the reviewed researches is high. Of course, this variety is due to the variety of libraries and information centers. This research showed that 9 different contexts were selected for research in these studies. It is noteworthy that about half of the researches in this field were conducted in university libraries (46.15%). After these centers, public libraries have been the base of 20% of these studies and the share of other libraries and centers is insignificant. The community of most of these researches are librarians, managers, library staff and faculty members, and the common research tool is questionnaire, and this tool has been used in almost 90% of studies. In addition to this point, it is clear that a significant number of these questionnaires (52.31%) were "designed and made" by experts and researchers. 11 models have been used in about 14% of the studies in this field. The most frequent ones with a frequency of 4 (3.07%) are the Heisig model and the Beckowitz and Williams model. The main topic of research in this field is "the application, implementation and implementation of KM" (25.38 %), as well as examining the relationship between KM and "other variables and issues" (23.1%). Is. After these two main topics, organizational culture and infrastructure review (respectively with 12.22% and 9.33%) were identified as the most frequent topics in these studies. In addition to variables such as innovation and social capital, whose relationship with KM has been examined with high frequency (26.66% and 16.16 %,), at least 13 other variables or subject areas (such as creativity, entrepreneurship, management styles, organizational learning, productivity, etc.) have been examined in this regard, which indicates the high diversity of the subject in this subject.

Conclusion: Iranian libraries, like other organizations, are not oblivious to the importance and effect of the use and usefulness of KM. The broad emphasis of researchers - which is clear from the allocation of the number of researches worthy of attention - shows that the assessment of the level of readiness of these centers is the main concern. Despite the passage of more than three decades of research, libraries and information centers in Iran still have little experience in the implementation of KM, and this issue has not yet reached the stage of maturity in implementation. The researches reviewed show that the focus is on the preparation of the introduction of KM, but the main part, i.e. implementation, has not yet been realized. The number of researches that have been conducted by examining the level of preparation, identifying the factors affecting KM and its obstacles, is enough to say that the time has come for the implementation of KM in these centers. In Iran, KM research is increasing in the context of libraries. These researches have provided the necessary ground for the implementation of KM to a large extent, and now is the time to implement it and benefit from the benefits of KM in practice in these organizations.

Keywords: knowledge management, libraries, systematic review, model, issues, Iran