Think Clearly: The Lucidea Blog

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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

10 Questions Your KM System Should Help Answer

Posted by Lucidea on 4/19/2017

If you are planning to buy a 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 10 questions to ask yourself that will help.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems

Presto for DB/Textworks Ultimately Helps Increase Workplace Safety, Minimize Risk

Posted by Lucidea on 4/7/2017

We interviewed the Research and Information Coordinator for a publicly funded trade association and leader in workplace health and safety education, to find out how they leverage Presto for DB/Textworks to widely disseminate information that helps companies fulfill the vision of workplaces without injuries, illnesses, or fatalities. Please read on for more information about Presto’s far reaching impact.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Inmagic Presto, Success Story

When is a KM Tool not a Tool?

Posted by Sarah Nichols on 4/5/2017

In Neil Olonoff’s excellent post “Knowledge Management Tools That Aren’t Tools,” he takes us back to the basic purpose and definition of a tool: something that is supposed to make work easier. It’s easy to agree with that, yet there are so many KM “tools” that only complicate matters, and make work harder. And there in a nutshell is the biggest barrier to user adoption.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management Systems

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

What Does Successful Knowledge Management Look Like? 11 Key Attributes

Posted by Lucidea on 3/29/2017

In his upcoming book on proven practices for promoting KM initiatives within the corporate world, author and KM expert Stan Garfield shares 11 attributes of a successful knowledge ecosystem drawn from one of his clients, a large multinational technology company.

Although these attributes are drawn from a technology company, they are relevant to organizations of all types and sizes. This is what success looks like.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management 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

Presto Connects Transportation Scientists and the Public with Lifesaving Research

Posted by Lucidea on 3/22/2017

The Center for Transportation Research (CTR) is a multidisciplinary and multimodal research institute at the University of Texas at Austin. It is recognized as one of the leading university-based transportation research centers in the world, working to promote cutting-edge developments in transportation science and technology that ultimately save lives. It’s imperative that this research be broadly shared.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Inmagic Presto, Knowledge Management 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

Knowledge Management—as Easy as Falling off a Bike?

Posted by Phil Green on 3/8/2017

How many collaborators does it take to change a light bulb?

I was just visiting with a client and we had a long discussion about the benefits of collaboration in KM.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Systems

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

Think Clearly Blog Favorite: What Does Success Look Like?

Posted by Lucidea on 3/1/2017
see-success
Originally Posted: Sept. 18, 2015
 
So often we focus on our daily tasks and deadlines, and define a “good day” by whether we knocked off what was on the list. But keeping an eye on the bigger picture allows us to know whether we are actually succeeding, as opposed to accomplishing.
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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship

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

Why Sharing Your Library’s Successes is about more than Celebrating

Posted by Lucidea on 2/22/2017

Self-promotion can be difficult, but sharing your library’s successes with senior management and your peers is critical. Remember the age-old question, “If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there to hear it, did it make a sound?” Communicating the value of your department’s content and services by publicizing your successes is something you must regularly do, so that the message is loud and clear.

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Topics: Library Management, Lucidea, 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

Is Your Library Ready for Generation Z?

Posted by Lucidea on 2/10/2017

Generation Z is the cohort that follows Millennials; the starting birth date for this generation is the mid-90s. Their presence and influence in your workplace is going to grow, and they have very specific expectations with regard to information access and knowledge exchange. Get ready for them now.

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Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship, Management, 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