Could you lose your job to a robot? In an earlier post, I wrote about 10 Ways to Foil a Robot, which I hope was inspiring and optimistic. In reality, artificial intelligence is yet another tool for knowledge professionals—an arrow in the quiver.
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Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship, Integrated Library Systems, Artificial Intelligence
Going it Alone? Professional Development Options for Solo Librarians
Many librarians choose to work on their own, inside many different types of organizations. All library skills—whether reference, cataloging, or collection development—are useful and valuable to both solo librarians and their users. However, there are challenges (both budgetary and organizational) to going it alone which require one-person library managers to seek out both a network and a professional development “support system.”
Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship, Professional Development
Google’s Mobile-First Indexing Strategy is Critical to Your Organization’s Web Presence
Does your organization’s mobile website lack the punch of your desktop version?
“Today, most people are searching on Google using a mobile device. However, our ranking systems still typically look at the desktop version of a page’s content to evaluate its relevance to the user. This can cause issues when the mobile page has less content than the desktop page because our algorithms are not evaluating the actual page that is seen by a mobile searcher.”
–Google Webmaster Central Blog, Mobile-first Indexing, November 4th, 2016
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.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Collections Management Software, Strategy, Archives
The Knowledge-based Content Business is Facing Digital Disruption
Amazon and Apple have completely changed how we consume music. In less than a decade, we have gone from CDs, to downloads, to streaming. The online content industry is about to face its own tsunami of change.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management
Earlier this year, we presented a second “KM Conversation” with experienced library and information industry leader Stephen Abram, titled “Using Metrics and Stories: What Does Success Really Look Like?” During the session Stephen shared the real purpose of storytelling in a professional context.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship
Earlier this year, we presented a second "KM Conversation" with experienced library and information industry leader Stephen Abram, titled "Using Metrics and Stories: What Does Success Really Look Like?" During the session Stephen and Phil Green, Lucidea’s COO, shared their thoughts on the most powerful presentation of measurements.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship
Earlier this year, we presented a second “KM Conversation” with experienced library and information industry leader Stephen Abram. “Using Metrics and Stories: What Does Success Really Look Like?” was a lively discussion between Mr. Abram and Phil Green, Lucidea’s COO, focused on best practices in collecting and using metrics to build stories that demonstrate what success looks like for your special library or information center.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship
From the Director’s Chair: Business as a Second, Third and Fourth Language
This is the third post in a series in which I share experiences from decades as an Information Services Director, including my best tips, my worst mistakes, and lessons learned. Please read on for some thoughts about the importance of speaking the language of your senior management and of your organization as a whole.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship
6 in 2016: Solving Today’s Major Challenges to ILS and KM Success
With our focus on understanding our clients’ needs and staying up to date on their implementations and successes, we at Lucidea enjoy a unique opportunity to learn about the major challenges special librarians and knowledge managers are facing. As well as underpinning our R&D efforts, this allows us to share current best practices and fruitful strategies with information professionals around the world.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management
This is the second post in a series in which I’ll share experiences from my decades as an Information Services Director. Many special librarians, researchers or knowledge managers get promoted through the ranks into senior management roles without the benefit of formal training in administrative and operational areas. That was the case with me, and in this series I’ll share my best tips, my worst mistakes, and lessons learned. Please read on for some thoughts about developing your most productive departmental strategy.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship
SLA 2016 Hot Topic Session: Doing More with More – Whitepaper Available Now!
Special librarians achieve sustainability by understanding that evolving end user requirements demand new services, innovative solutions, information discovery on-the-go and the most effective channels for knowledge exchange—even (perhaps especially) in these days of diminishing resources.
Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship
Do the Original 5 Laws of Library Science Hold Up in a Digital World?
A theory proposed by S.R. Ranganathan before the advent of the digital age detailed the five principles of operating a library system. Since its publication in 1931, a number of variants have been suggested—but rather than rewriting the principles, let’s examine how “The Original 5” still apply today.
Topics: Library Management, Solo Librarianship
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.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Information Management
This is the third in a series of posts on IT and the information Professional. When I chat with information professionals and IT managers about open source software, they often talk about two key concepts:
- It’s free
- Bug fixes and enhancements come from the community
While both of these statements are true, they fail to paint the whole picture and hide some pretty ugly truths.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management Systems, Collections Management Software, Integrated Library Systems, Museum Collections Management Software, Strategy, Archives
In my last post, I discussed the unfortunate fact that many information professionals find themselves at the bottom of the IT totem pole, and thus they receive underwhelming IT support as they attempt to build and manage world class knowledge/library systems, or special collections.
So what’s an information professional to do? Knowledge and library systems are complex pieces of technology that require IT involvement at some level. Over my career, I have observed that in departments having the best relationship with IT, the information professionals practice what I call "IT Jujutsu."Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Strategy, Archives
I talk to lots of information professionals about IT. Some have great relationships with IT, others not so great. But if you’re leveraging technology to build and maintain your collection and information/knowledge systems—and who isn’t?—then just like death and taxes, it’s inevitable that you’ll be working with IT.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Collections Management Software, Strategy
The art and science of UX, or user experience, is becoming a topic that lots of people are talking about—but most of us don’t know the details, how UX can help, where to use it, and what it really is, specifically when we talk about using it to design the library or knowledge portal for an information intensive organization.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship
Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) a threat to your career? Yes. But read on.
AI is likely to have an increasingly significant impact on the knowledge management profession over time. But with the right strategy, you can be assured of remaining employed in your chosen field.
Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Solo Librarianship, Professional Development