Think Clearly: The Lucidea Blog

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How (and Why) My Favorite Brick and Mortar Bookstore Continues to Thrive

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 11/30/2017

Frequent travelers through San Francisco’s airport who love to read have probably stopped in at Compass Books in Terminal 3. The quality and range of their selection always impresses me, as do the knowledgeable staff. Recently, when SFO underwent significant renovations, I feared the store had closed—another victim of the digital age.

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Topics: Library Management, Information Management, Management, Marketing, User Engagement

Curation: Buzzword or What?

Posted by Stephen Abram on 8/29/2017

One of the most popular buzzwords in library-land at the moment is ‘curation’. It’s used to describe anything from old-fashioned collection development to human filtering activities on social media like Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and blogs. The word ‘curator’ gets used too liberally to describe the stuff people do on the web and, in my humble option, dilutes and pollutes the professional things that librarians do.

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Topics: Library Management, Information Management, Management, Integrated Library Systems

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

Effective Knowledge Managers—Do You Recognize These Traits?

Posted by Stan Garfield on 5/30/2017

During my career as a KM practitioner, I developed a profile of the most effective knowledge managers. It’s included in my upcoming book on promoting knowledge management initiatives within the corporate world.

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

Ben Franklin and The False Economy

Posted by Lucidea on 9/1/2016

Originally Posted 1/12/2016

Benjamin Franklin, the founder of America’s first lending library, wrote: “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” We think Mr. Franklin would likely agree that discount ILS platforms often don’t provide the long term quality (i.e. value) that financially savvy and strategic library leaders must require.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management

The Top Three Social Technologies for Developing Organizational Strategy

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 7/15/2016

In a June 2016 article titled The Evolution of Social Technologies, McKinsey & Company reported that the use of social technologies has evolved to include their use as tools for developing Organizational Strategy. Knowledge management (KM) professionals and librarians need to recognize this represents an opportunity for them to contribute to organizational success at the highest level.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management, Enterprise Social Networks, Social Media

Thriving In a Digital World – A Conversation with Euan Semple

Posted by Lucidea on 7/8/2016

Earlier this year, we presented a “KM Conversation” with well-known enterprise social network expert and consultant Euan Semple. During our session “The New Knowledge Ecosystem: Content and Connection,” Lucidea’s COO Phil Green engaged Euan in a discussion of how social sharing and the wisdom of the crowd enable meaningful and necessary participation in professional digital networks.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Information Management, Enterprise Social Networks

5 Things to Do That Will Energize Your KM Career

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 7/6/2016

Every job has its pluses and minuses. Consider dentists: great work environment, good pay and definitely needed. However, does anyone really appreciate their dentist? Same deal for doctors—and KM professionals. How does one stay excited about one’s career?

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Information Management, Professional Development

Don’t Let Your Information Resources Staff Fly Blind

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 6/30/2016

Pilots can’t fly their planes unless they have instruments that tell them what the plane is doing at all times, and where it’s heading. KM professionals need instruments too, in order to assess whether the products and services they are providing are valued, and to understand what additional products and services might be needed.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Information Management

Are You Accountable for Managing Your Organization’s Knowledge and Intellectual Property Assets?

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 5/6/2016

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.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management

Throwing a Successful KM Pool Party (Part 2 of 2)

Posted by Phil Green on 5/4/2016

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.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Information Management

KM Pool Party or Just a Hot Mess? (Part 1 of 2)

Posted by Phil Green on 4/29/2016

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?

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Information Management

No Longer the Only Game in Town

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 4/22/2016

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.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management

Is Your Intranet Showing Its Age?

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 4/15/2016

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?

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management

What’s My Motivation?

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 4/12/2016

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.”

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management

Knowledge Management: End Users, Customers, or Clients. What’s the Difference?

Posted by Lucidea on 4/8/2016

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.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management, Knowledge Management Systems

The (KM) Elephant in the Room

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 4/6/2016

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!

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management

This changes everything!

Posted by Ron Aspe, CEO on 4/1/2016

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

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Topics: Library Management, Information Management