A Vision for a Knowledge Society and Learning Nation : The Role of a National Library System

In this article, the authors reflect on the evolution to a knowledge society – a key ingredient of economic competitiveness. More specifically, they review the relevant literature on the subject in order to perform a grounded theory case analysis on the policies of the national library system in Singapore. The research methodology comprised three stages: formulating a model for communal knowledge sharing, an environmental scan of news and policy releases about the national library, and in-depth interviews with senior library professionals about the impact of national libraries. The findings of the field study indicate that most information and knowledge professionals depend on an effective national library system to promote learning and knowledge sharing by cultivating social and relational capital as well as the well-understood structural repositories. The article concludes that effective policies inexorably lead to a culture for learning and development