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KNOWLEDGE and information lie at the heart of the processes and operation of government and the public sector. Yet, the active management of these assets – not to mention the recognition that they are assets in the same way as financial and physical assets are recognised – is a recent phenomenon, still regarded as a niche operation carried out by specialists with little connection to mainstream public administration work such as policy making.

About the author:

PETER GRIFFITHS was formerly head of information in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) at the Home Office. He had previously been head of information services unit with responsibility for libraries, knowledge management, intranet and websites. His earlier career was at the Department of Health (where he was one of the team involved in the Cumberlege initiative to improve knowledge and information management in the NHS) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Peter qualified as a professional librarian and as an information scientist; he is a Fellow of CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, and is the Institute’s President in 2009. He has written and presented on a range of topics related to knowledge and information management. He now describes himself as an independent information specialist, undertaking library reviews,
working on information audit, and continuing to write and present on topics in the field of KIM.