We’ve been thinking a lot lately about the term “end user,” which is how most special librarians and knowledge management professionals refer to those who benefit from their services, content and products. We believe there are fundamental differences between “end users,” “customers” and “clients”—which if recognized, accommodated and leveraged, can significantly impact the library’s role and perception within an organization.

In The Stormy Librarian, there are various information and knowledge management challenges. Many are common to special librarians, despite the sector, organization size or geography they support. Planning to overcome these challenges is an important part of the role. Luckily, help is on the way.

As highlighted in Lucidea’s lighthearted short video introducing The Stormy Librarian, there are many information and knowledge management challenges common to special librarians the world over, no matter what sector, organization size or geography. Strategies to solve these are important for the sustainability of the profession - and help is on the way.

This holiday season is an appropriate time to republish a post from our CEO, Ron Aspe, on the value of our partnerships with you, our much appreciated clients. Our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible. Thank you for being our trusted partners.

At Lucidea, we believe that commercial partnership includes a consultative, collaborative element; ideally, vendor and client make each other smarter and more effective. I can certainly think of many times when clients, longstanding or new, have helped me to be smarter and more effective.

Special librarians achieve sustainability by understanding that end user requirements and forces at work (e.g. new technologies, globalization and a mobile workforce) all demand change.

People who choose careers as archivists have an abiding commitment to identifying, collecting, preserving and making accessible information and records of enduring value. Paper, film and electronic records deemed to be of interest for an extended period should be shared with the world, not simply collected.

Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) is an engineering firm that designs, investigates, and rehabilitates constructed works in the United States, Canada, and in more than thirty additional countries, with ~500 employees in six offices. SGH has a multi-location library of more than 25,000 items, and making that content available enterprise-wide presented a huge accessibility challenge.

Recently, Lucidea’s LawPort legal portal software was highlighted in a special edition of CIO STORY, focused on the legal industry’s Top 20 software vendors. CIO STORY tracks IT trends and offers “insights and deep analytics based on success stories of technology companies that have scaled up by adapting path-breaking business strategies and solutions.” Read about Lucidea CEO and founder Ron Aspe’s mission to offer the best, most comprehensive unified information and knowledge management applications worldwide in this special edition of CIO STORY, which spotlights Ron’s belief that “there is no such thing as too much information – it just needs to be relevant, organized and accessible,” whether in a law firm or any other knowledge-intensive organization. LawPort, Lucidea’s industry leading, premier legal portal software and SharePoint accelerator, was purpose built to answer the law firm KM challenge. LawPort:

It’s critical for the library to have a great working relationship with the IT department, and that doesn’t necessarily happen overnight.  Even though it sounds counterintuitive, establishing your credibility with IT leadership is the key to achieving IT independence and managing your own systems.

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.

Mobile devices represent a significant opportunity for visitor engagement – before, after and during visits. In a major survey done in 2012-2013, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London discovered that almost two thirds of their visitors own a smartphone and bring it with them to the museum, and the majority of survey respondents said they use their phones to “enhance their cultural visits.”

ETS is a nonprofit organization that advances worldwide quality and equity in education by creating assessments based on rigorous research. They develop, administer and score more than 50 million tests annually in more than 180 countries, at more than 9,000 locations worldwide.

Special librarians achieve sustainability by understanding that end user requirements and forces at work (e.g. new technologies, globalization and a mobile workforce) all demand change.

Organizational information and knowledge management activities must be overseen and conducted by highly trained professionals who are supported with cutting edge technology and applications.

The backbone of an information intensive organization is an integrated library system (ILS) that optimizes the management of acquisitions, cataloging, delivery and circulation of critical content across the enterprise.

In addition, there are many other important information management applications (ideally built and maintained by library staff) including:

If you are planning to buy an ILS or KM system, 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 20 questions to ask yourself that will help.

Who is ETS?

ETS is a nonprofit organization that advances worldwide quality and equity in education by creating assessments based on rigorous research. They develop, administer and score more than 50 million tests annually in more than 180 countries, at more than 9,000 locations worldwide.

The Accessibility Challenge

ETS’ relationship with SydneyPlus began in 1987 when the demand to catalog their various collections became pressing. ETS’ professional staff produces and collects a significant volume of important content, and offering global access to these materials is imperative. Providing access to their books, general library collection, archives (e.g. institutional history; conferences; papers; proceedings; writings of founding officers and key researchers, product histories) and their test instrument collection was the driving force for selecting an ILS. SydneyPlus was the solution.

At this year’s SLA conference, Lucidea is sponsoring a Hot Topics session, the second in our discussion series on the sustainable library. This time, at “Building the Resilient Library: Leverage Change and Become Indispensable,” you’ll hear from peers and industry experts who know that “adapting” requires reacting positively to change - even creating change - and ultimately ensuring that it works to the library’s advantage. Equally important, librarians themselves can thrive, both personally and professionally, when they become change agents …think “resilience,” not resistance.

People who need people may indeed be the luckiest people in the world, but if you depend on others in order to do your job successfully, you’re going to need a strategy that embraces both daily partnership and situational independence.