Evolving information and knowledge has impacted all organisations, including academic libraries. This has made knowledge management become important. The conventional function of academic libraries is to collect, process, disseminate, store and utilise information to provide service to the university community. However, the environment in which academic libraries operate today is changing. Academic libraries are part of the university and its organisational culture. Whatever affects universities has an impact on academic libraries. As a result, the role of academic libraries is changing to provide the competitive advantage for the parent universities. The success of academic libraries depends on their ability to utilise information and knowledge of its staff to better serve the needs of the academic community. This requires academic librarians to reappraise their functions, expand their roles and responsibilities to effectively contribute and meet the needs of a large and diverse university community. Knowledge management is a viable means in which academic libraries could improve their services in the present knowledge era. This is a report of the results of a case study conducted to establish the ways in which the academic librarians of the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg Libraries could add value to their services by engaging with knowledge management. 1.

Most educators have been using quality assurance management tools, such as ISO 9001 and TQM for many years to improve the efficiency of administrative services and the effectiveness of academic programs. However, as work becomes more knowledge-intensive, multidisciplinary and collaborative, educators must employ Knowledge Management (KM) to improve decision-making and bring about improvement within their organizations. This paper explores the application of KM techniques to educational institutions--- particularly in support of administrative systems. The first section defines knowledge and its relationship to information and data. There is also a discussion of various goals that might be pursued by educational institutions using KM techniques. The second section explores some of the fundamental design elements of a KM system. These include the knowledge policies, procedures and methods to meet the knowledge goals. Section three outlines the benefits of a KM system based on the case study of Professional Development Centre, a private educational institution which offers degree programs with Curtin University of Technology, Australia. Finally, there are some conclusions and barriers for implementing KM in educational institutions.