Think Clearly: The Lucidea Blog

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Don’t Just Be Integrated: Be Integral – Download SLA 2018 Hot Topics Whitepaper

Posted by Lucidea on 11/27/2018

During this year’s Hot Topics Panel discussion, “Don’t Just Be Integrated: Be Integral”, moderator Stephen Abram and our panelists focused on how special librarians can go beyond integration with organizational imperatives—and become integral to organizational success.

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Topics: Professional Development, Special Libraries, Marketing

Cialdini: The Rules of Influence

Posted by Stephen Abram on 8/21/2018

In Special Library Land we often refer to marketing or advocacy. I do not personally like those words as frames for such activities. I like to call it what it is: INFLUENCE.

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Topics: Professional Development, Special Libraries, Marketing

What Does Success Look Like for the Special Library? SLA 2017 Hot Topics Panel (Revisited)

Posted by Lucidea on 6/5/2018

Special librarians know that to ensure sustainability they must build a strategy, embrace change, and even create it. They know that the path to success includes doing more with the tools they have, and the skills they’ve built. But do special librarians truly recognize success when they achieve it? Equally important, do they focus on communicating the value of their success to leadership and peers?

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Topics: Professional Development, Marketing, Special Librarians

Knowledge Management for Success: Reuse Proven Practices

Posted by Stan Garfield on 4/19/2018

As part of the research for my current book, Proven Practices for Promoting a Knowledge Management Program, I interviewed widely recognized KM leaders to get their take on the secrets to successful KM strategy development and implementation. One of these leaders is with Microsoft.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Professional Development, Marketing, KM

Seeking Outside Help: Tips for Knowledge Managers

Posted by Stan Garfield on 3/8/2018

You don’t have to go it alone to sell KM to others in your organization. Take advantage of outside help by scheduling visits with others who are doing KM well, joining and participating in KM communities, using industry analyst reports, or using an outside consultant.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Professional Development, Marketing, KM

Marketing Your Library: The Benefits For Special Libraries

Posted by Lucidea on 2/13/2018

Library marketing has become a hot topic, with public libraries working hard to increase footfall and enroll new members. With regard to special libraries, some companies believe that since the library is in place, staff will automatically flock to it. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case despite the fact that their users are a captive audience.

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Topics: Integrated Library Systems, Special Libraries, Marketing, ILS, Library Automation Software

Access is Not Equal to Know-how

Posted by Stephen Abram on 1/30/2018

Are you still hearing that hackneyed old comment, “Most everything’s available on the web now, so exactly why do we need librarians?” I certainly am! Arghhh! It’s coming from all quarters and other professionals too. In financially tumultuous times, when every cent is being scrutinized to within a centimeter of its life, we can expect this ugly example of shallow thinking to raise its head again and again. It’s time to remind ourselves of quick ways to respond to these comments.

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Topics: Special Libraries, Marketing

Find a Killer KM App

Posted by Stan Garfield on 1/11/2018

Too much focus on technology when implementing a KM program is a common problem. But you will still need to use software applications, so it’s important to understand them and leverage them in an optimal way. Suggestions for doing so include finding a “killer KM app”. Please read on for my thoughts on this topic, drawn from my new book, Proven Practices for Promoting Knowledge Management.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Marketing, Training, KM, User Engagement

Blogging as a Special Librarian

Posted by Stephen Abram on 1/2/2018

Are you a blogging newbie? I doubt that! Been blogging for a while and now you’re feeling stuck? Has the dreaded writer’s block virus hit you? Feeling uninspired, all out of ideas, or not feeling very creative? Simply don’t know how to blog in your sector? Fear not; blogs still have some life in them!

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Topics: Marketing, User Engagement

Elevator Speeches: No Magic Beans

Posted by Stephen Abram on 12/19/2017

Over the past few years we have heard a lot about the special role of elevator speeches—those sound bites you practice in case you have the ear of a key decision maker or influencer in your organization for a few floors. I love this tactic, but let’s remember that it’s just a micro-skill and we can’t leave our communication strategies up to chance encounters. Let’s learn how to make our own magical moments.

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Topics: Library Management, Marketing, Strategy

Components of a KM Training Plan

Posted by Stan Garfield on 12/7/2017

Education is required when introducing a new KM initiative, during roll out across your organization, and as a key part of ongoing implementation. You must continue to offer training in a variety of ways; once is never sufficient. Please read on to learn the elements of a knowledge management training program, drawn from my new book, Proven Practices for Promoting a Knowledge Management Program.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Professional Development, Marketing, Training, KM, User Engagement

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

Ensuring Advocacy, Engagement, Adoption –A Conversation with Euan Semple

Posted by Lucidea on 9/23/2016

Earlier this year, we presented a “KM Conversation” with well-known enterprise social network expert, author and consultant Euan Semple. During our session “The New Knowledge Ecosystem: Content and Connection,” Euan shared his thoughts on what it takes to build advocacy, engagement and adoption of enterprise social networks, and why it’s important.

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Topics: Knowledge Management, Marketing

Sticky Marketing: Open, Closed, and Making the Lightbulb Go On

Posted by Sotto Voce Communications on 5/25/2016

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.

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Topics: Library Management, Marketing

Sticky Marketing is (Also) About Seizing Opportunities

Posted by Sarah Nichols on 4/20/2016

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.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Marketing

Sticky Marketing:  Crowdsourced Content Curation

Posted by Sarah Nichols on 12/11/2015

Marketing anything is about building relationships. For libraries, making a personal connection is extremely important, because it leads both to advocacy and increased usage of services and products.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Marketing

Sticky Marketing: The Opportunity for Solo Librarians

Posted by Sarah Nichols on 10/30/2015

Solo librarians may not have the same options as their counterparts in larger organizations when it comes to following all three sticky marketing tenets but they are often uniquely positioned to optimize one of them: make a personal connection.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Marketing

Sticky Marketing: What’s Your Problem?

Posted by Sarah Nichols on 10/15/2015

Ye Olde Reference Interview. It offers an excellent opportunity to practice “Sticky Marketing,” allowing you to meet your users where they are (in this case, in the context of a research project) and to make a personal connection that results in the library being more integrated with employees’ daily workflow.

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Topics: Library Management, Knowledge Management, Marketing