A knowledge management framework for effective integration of national archives resources in China
| Pages | 18-34 |
| Date | 09 January 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-04-2016-0040 |
| Published date | 09 January 2017 |
| Author | Xiaomi An,Wenlin Bai,Hepu Deng,Shuyang Sun,Wenrui Zhong,Yu Dong |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
A knowledge management
framework for effective
integration of national archives
resources in China
Xiaomi An
School of Information Resources Management,
Smart City Research Center at Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Wenlin Bai
Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
Hepu Deng
School of Business Information Technology and Logistics,
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Shuyang Sun and Wenrui Zhong
School of Information Resources Management,
Renmin University of China, Beijing, China, and
Yu Dong
Economics and Management College,
Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing, China
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between different mechanisms for
integrating national archival resources, leading to the development of a knowledge management-based
framework for facilitating the optimal utilization of national archives resources in China.
Design/methodology/approach –The study adopts a mixed-methods approach consisting of a review of
existing mechanisms for integrating national archival resources and site visits and interviews for
investigating the effectiveness of these mechanisms in real world practices for managing and utilizing
national archives resources in China.
Findings –The knowledge management-based framework is shown to be useful for buildin g interdependence,
interconnections and interactions between diversified integration mechanisms to meet national, societal and public
needs in China. The framework is significant for rearrangingthe role of knowledge management in collaboration to
protect the value of national archives resources as the knowledge asset of a state. It can reengineer the knowledge
management activities in communication to share the value of national archives resourcesas the knowledge asset of
a society. Furthermore, the framework can reconfigure knowledge management artifacts in co nnectivity to increase
the value of national archives resources as the knowledge asset of the public.
Research limitations/implications –The review of the related literature is selective rather than
comprehensive, and the interviews are based on a self-selected convenience sample, which is rather skewed
demographically.
Practical implications –The proposed framework can be used to guide the development of a national
strategy for the effective integration of national archives resources to promote a better delivery of public-
centric knowledge services in a specific society.
Originality/value –This study provides a knowledge management framework for the effective integration
of national archives resources toward their optimal utilization. It contributes to the examination of the role of
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 73 No. 1, 2017
pp. 18-34
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-04-2016-0040
Received 3 April 2016
Revised 3 July 2016
Accepted 12 July 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
This research is financially supported by The National Social Science Foundation of China Major
Program (Project No. 13 &ZD 184) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,
and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (No. 15XNLQ08), the Tianjin Social Science
Foundation Program (No. TJTQ160002Q) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
(No. 2016M601258).
18
JDOC
73,1
different integration mechanisms in interactive knowledge management processes and the advancement of
academic debate on the effectiveness of these mechanisms for the integration of national archives resources to
facilitate their optimal utilization in China.
Keywords China, Knowledge management, Integration mechanisms, Knowledge assets,
National archives resources, Resources utilization
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Archives resources are evidences, memories, identities, and knowledge assets of their
creators for safeguarding their lawful rights and interests in a specific environment
(Williams, 2002; An et al., 2010, 2014a; Henninger and Scifleet, 2016). They can be used to
identify, appraise, preserve, and make available documentary materials of long-term value
to the public. Archives resources can also be used for evaluating the accountability of
individual institutions by preserving the public records and making them available legally
and ethically. Furthermore, archives resources are preserved for public good as well as the
memory of institutions for a culture (Michael, 2003; An et al., 2010).
National archives resources are created by various organizations and individuals from
their operational and social activities for their legal obligations that have the preserving
value for a country (Dai, 2003; Pan, 2011). They make history available as a network of
relationships between events in different times which can be reconstructed by their
traces and leave them to users as to what they want to know and how they actually
accomplish this (Haritz, 2004). The utilization of archives resources from a national
perspective is critical for developing collaborative knowledge services in order to realize
the value of archival resources as the knowledge asset of a society and to improve the
national competitiveness.
There are multiple regimes for managing national archives resources in China including
national archives, provincial archives, city archives, and other collecting organizations.
Archives resources are often presented in various forms and formats (Fu and Feng, 2005).
With the rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT), archives
resources are increasingly becoming digital (Vlatka, 2012; Xie, 2013). This leads to archival
resources often being stored in isolated digital archival repositories and separated archival
information systems (Foster et al., 2013; An, 2015; Bustelo, 2015; Reed, 2015). It is therefore
difficult, if not impossible, to know where the required archival resources are located.
Furthermore, connecting these disparate systems for improving the delivery of archives
services becomes challenging as such systems are under different administrative regimes
using different standards and policies (Song and An, 2016). As a result, the optimal
utilization of national archives resources in China becomes difficult.
Effectively integrating national archives resources is critical for providing the public
with knowledge-based services in a specific situation (Note, 2009; Hofman, 2011; Reed, 2015).
It provides a foundation for the optimal utilization of archives resources as the knowledge
asset of a specific nation. It can maintain the integrity of the memory of a nation and exploit
the value of national archives resources to support collaborative innovation. Furthermore,
integrating national archives resources is important for exploiting the value of archival
resources as evidence, memory, and identity while promoting access to public information,
transparency, accountability, open government, open data and big data applications to
enhance collaborative innovati on and social governance (Litt e, 2015; Espino and
Alcazar, 2015; Todd, 2015).
The importance of integrating national archives resources for their optimal utilization in
China has been well recognized in the Chinese literature (Dai, 2003, 2010; Li et al., 2014).
Numerous initiatives have been taken through enriching holdings of archives repositories to
cover comprehensive categories of archival resources (Dai, 2003, 2010; Li, 2010), bringing
19
National
archives
resources in
China
To continue reading
Request your trial