Think Clearly: The Lucidea Blog

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SydneyEnterprise & The Penang House of Music - Access to Musical Heritage

Posted by Lucidea on 9/4/2018

The Penang House of Music is a gallery and library dedicated to documenting the diversity of the local community’s cultural and musical traditions, including popular music in Penang. It came into being as part of the Penang Musical Heritage Project (PHMP), with the support of the Penang State Government.

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Topics: SydneyEnterprise, Special Libraries, Collections Management

SharePoint, SQL and Online Dating

Posted by Phil Green on 7/25/2017

I am often asked “What do I tell IT when they want to replace an existing Lucidea solution with one they promise to build in SharePoint?” Well, there are many advantages with our Lucidea solutions, but here I’d like to share one simple but very powerful differentiator: date handling and date searching. Once you’ve read this, you’ll have a thought-provoking response for IT!

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management, Management, SydneyEnterprise, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems, Integrated Library Systems, GeniePlus, Argus

SydneyEnterprise and the Masonic Library: Good, Better, Best

Posted by Lucidea on 7/20/2017

The Masonic Temple in Philadelphia has been called one of the great wonders of the Masonic world. Located within The Temple is the Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania, which houses thousands of texts and artifacts relating to the history of the Fraternity in the Commonwealth and the founding of the United States of America. The Library staff leverage SydneyEnterprise to help them advance knowledge and understanding of Freemasonry and its place in history.

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Topics: Library Management, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

End User Tracking—Turn Insights into Action

Posted by Lucidea on 6/1/2017

It used to be considered inappropriate for library staff to monitor the usage patterns of their end users, but for today’s special libraries, tracking and acting upon the insights gained is essential for delivering the best in content, tools and services. Learn how to make a successful case for end user tracking.

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Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship, Management, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems, GeniePlus

How Do Ideas Grow?

Posted by Stephen Abram on 5/24/2017

You’ve got an imagination. You’re creative. Librarians often say they’re not—so typically modest—but generally acknowledge that the magic in getting answers and insights from information is a creative act. Librarians are experts in that. If you’re too self-effacing to present yourself as an expert, can you simply admit to your expertise?

In this first post (of many) for Lucidea’s Think Clearly Blog, I’ll put forward two frameworks for thinking about how to successfully present creative ideas for innovation and change within your organization.

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Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems, GeniePlus

Part Three: Special Libraries’ Evolving Role—Continued Success Requires a Business Strategy

Posted by Phil Green on 5/16/2017

As discussed in my last post, special libraries now exist in a highly competitive information marketplace, where business users of content have lots of options. Michael Porter—in his seminal book Competitive Strategy—stated that in a competitive marketplace there are three strategies that make sense: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. What does this imply for special library strategies?

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, SydneyEnterprise, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems, Integrated Library Systems

Part Two: Special Libraries’ Evolving Role—Continued Success Requires a Business Strategy

Posted by Phil Green on 5/10/2017

In my last post, I wrote about how I learned a difficult lesson: hard work and quality output must be in service of a solid business strategy if individuals, roles and departments are to thrive. As you know, keeping your special library vibrant and sustainable requires adaptation and lots of hard work. In addition, are you thinking strategically about how to make your library the best that it can be? Please read on for some ideas.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, SydneyEnterprise, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems, Integrated Library Systems

Part One: Special Libraries’ Evolving Role—Continued Success Requires a Business Strategy

Posted by Phil Green on 5/5/2017

My first job was at Data Resources Inc. (DRI) working as a consultant with a large Fortune 25 conglomerate. My role was to provide industry information and sales forecasting via timesharing to its various business units by building a model that the customer would run (ideally) for years to come. Whenever the customer ran the model, DRI generated revenue. Sounds great, right? But I learned a difficult lesson about how things really work.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, SydneyEnterprise, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems, Integrated Library Systems

Part Six – Overcoming 6 Challenges to Special Library Sustainability

Posted by Lucidea on 4/26/2017

This is the sixth and final post in our series about the major challenges to library success. The same challenges to sustainability keep surfacing during our conversations with information management professionals, no matter the organization size, sector or geography. Please read on for our thoughts on the sixth most pressing issue special librarians are facing today—the perception that all ILS options are too costly, and still generic.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

10 Questions Your ILS Should Help Answer

Posted by Lucidea on 4/21/2017

If you are planning to buy an ILS, or want to migrate/upgrade, you need to think about your organization’s needs both strategically and tactically in order to select the right platform. Here are 10 questions to ask yourself that will help.

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Topics: Library Management, Management, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems, GeniePlus

Part Five – Overcoming 6 Challenges to Special Library Sustainability

Posted by Lucidea on 3/31/2017

This is the fifth post in our series about the six major challenges to library success. No matter the organization size, sector or geography, the same challenges to sustainability keep surfacing during our conversations with information management professionals. Please read on for our thoughts on the fifth most pressing issue special librarians are facing today—dependence on the IT department, or on costly vendor services.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

Part Four – Overcoming 6 Challenges to Special Library Sustainability

Posted by Lucidea on 3/24/2017

This is the fourth post in our series about the six major challenges to library success. The same challenges to sustainability keep surfacing during our conversations with information management professionals—no matter the organization size, sector or geography. Please read on for our thoughts on the fourth most pressing issue special librarians are facing today—lack of integration with other critical systems.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

Do You Deliver Content via Your Organization’s Website? Upward Mobility is Key!

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 3/17/2017

As part of its new mobile-first strategy, Google will give preferential search rankings to mobile-friendly sites (sites optimized for mobile devices). This change will have a significant impact on search results. Librarians and knowledge managers who make content available to the public, external researchers, funders, et al., through an organizational website must take this into consideration.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems, Integrated Library Systems, GeniePlus

Global Navigation Enhancements—What’s on the Menu?

Posted by Lucidea on 3/10/2017

We’re always trying to enhance our software to make it easier to navigate. Recently, we introduced a new menu system in SydneyEnterprise, GeniePlus, and Argus. It makes great use of “screen real estate” while giving you lots of choices, and personalization via “Favorites.”

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Topics: SydneyEnterprise, Archives Collections Management Software, Integrated Library Systems, GeniePlus, Argus

Part Three—Overcoming 6 Challenges to Special Library Sustainability

Posted by Lucidea on 3/3/2017

This is the third post in our series about the six major challenges to library success. (You can find the first post here and the second post here.) We observe that the same challenges to sustainability keep surfacing during our conversations with information management professionals—no matter the organization size, sector or geography. Please read on for our thoughts on the third most pressing issue special librarians are facing today—permissions management.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

Part Two—Overcoming 6 Challenges to Special Library Sustainability

Posted by Lucidea on 2/24/2017

This is the second post in our series about the six major challenges to library success. We observe that the same challenges to sustainability keep surfacing during our conversations with information management professionals—no matter the organization size, sector or geography. Please read on for our thoughts on the second most prevalent opportunity for special library growth.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

Part One—Overcoming 6 Challenges to Special Library Sustainability

Posted by Lucidea on 2/17/2017

During our conversations with clients, prospective clients and information management professionals across the globe, we observe that the same six challenges to library success and sustainability keep surfacing, no matter the organization size, sector or geography. In this blog post series, we’ll explore these challenges one by one.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, SydneyEnterprise, Integrated Library Systems

The Librarian’s Secret Weapon

Posted by Sarah Nichols on 2/8/2017

I’m reading a wonderful book at the moment, called “The Little Paris Bookshop,” by Nina George. In it, one of the characters says, “The others all left with the riddle unsolved; none of them asked the right questions. Asking questions is an art.” In my experience, that is very true …and the ability to practice that art in support of a patron’s or user’s needs is a librarian’s secret weapon.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Management, SydneyEnterprise, Knowledge Management Systems, Integrated Library Systems