CONCEPTUAL MAPS AS A TOOL FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AT UNIVERSITIES

Abstract. Universities are responsible for a large part of the nation’s scientific knowledge creation. The knowledge is created through research, teaching and extension activities however it is not always systematized in a way to guarantee efficient access and use. Thus, actions are necessary to systematize this created knowledge in an adequate way. The knowledge management is a method that works with knowledge in different kinds of organizations. The objective is to create a favorable culture to access, share and use the knowledge. One of the tools that can be applied to knowledge management is the conceptual maps which allow the identification and comprehension of the existent knowledge in a determined context. The conceptual mapping technique was applied to the Information Science Department from Sao Paulo State University, as a way to systematize a part of the expert knowledge created by the department’s teachers/researchers. The concepts and propositions to elaborate the map were identified by the application of the Delphi Method.