I just read an excellent blog post on networking like a "pro" at conferences on the Linex Systems website, and since it’s trade show season, the tips provided are very timely. But what about internal networking? Can some of the principles that make conference networking less scary also make interacting with our own organizational leaders less intimidating?

In a recent article sent to me via Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, author Susan Farrell explores the use of open-ended vs. closed-ended questions in user surveys. The focus of the piece is website development, but the concept is relevant to information professionals with regard to both reference interviewing and successful implementation of knowledge management programs.

Social media, email, photography and video are continuing to drive adoption of mobile devices. Why not leverage this trend to increase the visibility of your museum’s content and improve collection management efficiency?

Every organization has a disaster recovery plan. Knowledge Management has a key role to play in ensuring your organization’s survival.

Solo librarians need powerful time management tools, since they are running their libraries without paraprofessional staff to assist. I’ve learned that many solo librarians (as well as other professionals) use their smartphones to manage and organize their time.

The concept of accountability often has negative emotions attached to it. Ever wonder why that is? Maybe it’s the “hot potato” syndrome. Too many of us have been held accountable for events we have no hope of controlling.

In my last post I discussed problems with the shared drive and SharePoint as knowledge management solutions. With these systems adoption is high (everybody is in the pool) because they are simple, but due to lack of an information management strategy the content is often a mess.

In this post, I’ll discuss strategies for building successful KM systems that achieve high adoption while simultaneously providing access to organized content. In other words, throwing a KM Pool Party that isn’t a hot mess.

The most common KM tool for sharing documents and other items with colleagues is the shared drive. But why is that, and is it really such a good idea?

Knowledge management has an image problem. Nobody really knows what KM is, and it’s very easy to devalue. Companies that provide KM software need to market themselves via use cases (a technique that identifies the business goals to be accomplished by a software system) in order to make the light bulb go on for prospective customers. Individual practitioners need to do something similar.

Business content providers such as Lexis, Westlaw, Factiva and ProQuest are about to face a new wave of competitors due to the increasing digitization of information resources. Just as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu disrupted the personal entertainment sector by enabling viewers to avoid purchasing “bundles” that include content they don’t want, competitors in the business content space will soon apply similar disruptive pressures on traditional business content providers.

One of the biggest challenges when implementing a knowledge management strategy or platform is getting leadership buy-in and visible advocacy. If you have that, it goes a long way to solving a second significant challenge: user engagement and adoption. A sticky marketing approach can help.

Many organizations spend a small fortune building their intranets. They’re often based on very detailed specifications and take a long time to implement – so successful rollouts and decent user adoption are causes for celebration. And then, the years roll by …until a once-innovative intranet really starts to show its age. You might be faced with this challenge – but do you know what to do about it?

Recently, one of our clients told us, “I feel Lucidea’s purpose is similar to ours.” But what, really, is our shared purpose? It’s to help people “Think Clearly.”

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.

KM encompasses such a broad range of meanings that everyone has a different definition. It’s rather like an elephant - one person holding onto the trunk says knowledge management is about enhanced document retrieval software; another holding the tail claims it’s a searchable repository for technical support calls. And there’s a lot to cover in between!

Did the taxi industry not see Uber coming? Did GPS manufacturers not perceive the threat from smart phones?

Having read Lucidea’s white paper (“Building the Resilient Library”) based on the panel discussion they sponsored at a recent Special Libraries Association conference, I noticed the emphasis on proactivity as a key characteristic of successful librarians, especially when change occurs in their organizations.

In my first post on this topic, I looked at the fundamental flaw in self-driving cars – the inability to respond to the unexpected, such as suddenly encountering a lady and a duck in the middle of the road. As mentioned, this story is very applicable to the way we build our knowledge management systems and information centers.