Introduction

For more than a decade, e-mail has been the preferred method of internal communication and information sharing in many libraries. However, relying on e-mail for organizational knowledge management seems a bit like keeping your birth certificate, car title, and deed to your home mixed in a pile with grocery store fliers and bills: the important pieces of information are mixed with items of only fleeting or minimal importance. The solution to organizing library policies, procedures, meeting minutes, and other documents that ultimately preserve an organization’s history seems easy—all it takes is an intranet. Developing library intranets, on the other hand, has left many Web librarians scratching their heads and wondering, “I built it; why didn’t they come?” Why are intranets such a challenge, even for information professionals?