Knowledge Management and Information Literacy: An Exploratory Analysis #ecil2016

Next for my liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2016, is Sirje Virkus talking on Knowledge Management and Information Literacy: An Exploratory Analysis.
This was a study of the literature, using statistical and content analysis. Virkus observed some similarities. For example the various definitions of both terms, the debates of their relationship with other disciplines (or literacies), focus on finding, evaluating, sharing and using information. KM has grown since the mid 1990s, IL from the early 1970s. The understanding of each subject has also shifted: for KM Virkus gave a definition from Kimiz Dalkir (2011) and for information literacy she gave her own definition from 2006. In Web of Science she found 2586 publications on "Information Literacy", with 2013 having the largest number of IL publications (probably through the influence of the first ECIL conference!): overall the numbers are increasing. In terms of types of publication, the majority are in LIS journals.
KM has 17757 articles in Web of Science, with 2008 and 2009 as the years with the biggest output. Even just in LIS journals/conferences, KM had more articles published than did information literacy. However the largest number of KM items are published in other disciplines e.g. computer science and management.
Virkus identified a paucity of research of information literacy in the workplace, and within those, a lack of definition of what IL means in the workplace. She also noted how KM has been put forward as an opportunity for librarians. Virkus went on to highlight authors who have identified the close link between KM and information literacy. Only 31 items, one or few a year covered both topics, and often did not discuss them in depth together, and few were connected to empirical research.