Inmagic Inc.

Inmagic to exhibit at AALL 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:07:32 PDT

SLA 2009 was a big success, and now we’re getting ready for our return to the nation's capital, when we'll exhibit at the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference (AALL). The show shakes down July 26 to 28.

Stop by and visit us in booth #823. We might even have another Kindle to give away! And if you’re interested in attending, but haven’t registered yet, it’s not too late. Registration details are at AALL's Web site.

SLA 2009 photos: Around Inmagic's booth

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:33:27 PDT

Our magician for SLA 2009, Josh Norris, was accompanied by friend and photographer Alexander Morozov. Alex took shots around our booth and of Josh's magic tricks, and assembled them in a video slideshow. Enjoy!

SLA 2009 video: Inmagic magician turns five pieces of floss into one

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:57:51 PDT

Dental floss is such an unassuming item. You might never have thought it would be the star of a magic trick. Josh Norris, Inmagic's magician at SLA 2009, shows us what can happen when you combine floss and a little abracadabra. Play the video to watch him turn five separate pieces of floss into one, in a snap.

SLA 2009 podcast: Latest Genie conversions with Barbara Middleton

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:04:36 PDT

Customers and partners alike joined us for our customer reception at SLA 2009, and one partner we chatted with was Barbara Middleton. She's a senior librarian/programmer with DC Magic, which sells and supports Inmagic products in Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas. We stopped to talk about how things are going in Barbara's neck of the woods, and she told us about the latest Genie conversions she's working on. Mozy on over to the play button for her update!

Truths and myths of social knowledge management

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Green) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:40 PDT

As buzz around enterprise 2.0 and other social technologies abound, info pros might be left wondering what social knowledge management (SKM) is, and what it is not. I've found that there are five key ideas circulating about social knowledge management, some of which I think are true, and some of which are myths.

What's what in SKM? I explain in this piece I wrote for KMWorld, who has graciously published it online today. Thanks to the editors!

Click over to find out which of these ideas are facts, which are fiction, and why:

Is SKM is different from social networking? (Hint: It’s not a social free-for-all.)
Does ECM + blogs, ratings, and comments = SKM?
Does SKM fall into traditional content management buckets?
Is SharePoint SKM?
Does SKM provide considerable, quantifiable ROI?

SLA 2009 video: What organizations are asking about Presto

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:41:25 PDT

We pulled Phil aside for a moment at Inmagic's booth at SLA 2009 to check in on how the show was going. Phil told us about the new features coming out in Presto 3.1, and what customers have been asking about the new version. Hit play to learn more.

SLA 2009 podcast: Social media catches eye of Tania Andreeff

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:53:05 PDT

In between sessions at SLA 2009, we bumped into Tania Andreeff, assistant librarian for the U.S. Tax Court. Tania is a long-time SLA member, and enjoys coming to the conferences to stay updated on new technologies and trends in the industry. In our podcast, we talked about some of the tracks she attended (yup, it had to do with social media!), and where she was headed next.

SLA 2009 podcast: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions with Jeff Clark

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:52:14 PDT

Sustainability is of course a hot-button issue, and the topic was top-of-mind during one of the sessions at SLA 2009. We stepped aside with one of the speakers from the sustainable initiatives session, Jeff Clark, just after he did his presentation. Jeff is an Associate at ICF International, which consults to government and commercial organizations on their energy, climate change, environmental, and other programs. In particular, Jeff consults to Energy Star.

In our podcast with Jeff, we learned he spoke on greenhouse gas reductions, and how we can reduce our carbon footprints by using certain energy-efficient products and eating more or less of certain foods, such as consuming less beef. He also told us why he thinks SLA is a good forum to share his presentation. Click play above, and if you'd like to learn more, have a look through his presentation, "Understanding and Reducing Personal Greenhouse Emissions."

A tale of two conferences: what it has to do with your career future

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Green) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:56:11 PDT

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...

I’d like to share an observation having just attended SLA 2009 in Washington, D.C. earlier this month and the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston last week. The contrast between the two conferences could not be more stark.

But let’s start with what the conferences seem to agree on: the information glut is accelerating, and users can not find the information they need to perform their jobs effectively. However, the approach to the two conferences propose to solving this problem could not be more different.

SLA continues to be dominated by large content publishers. When you walk into the conference hall, you know who the 800-pound gorillas are, and these companies have been the gorillas for a long time. The general consensus among content providers, practitioners, and vendors is more advanced products to control and organize the flow of information from the content providers.

At Enterprise 2.0, the exhibit hall is mostly filled with companies that did not exist five years ago. The consensus here was at the opposite end of the spectrum. Your employees know the answers, but they do not have the tools to organize and publish this knowledge. Luckily, enterprise 2.0 tools solve this problem, and empower the users with the ability to help each other and learn from each other, in ways that you could not imagine even a short time ago.

It’s as if the two groups are talking past each other. SLA still seems very uncomfortable with the wisdom of the community, and the notion that users represent 100 percent of tactic knowledge, and that tapping this knowledge store is critical for an organization to perform in an optimal manner. On the other hand, the Enterprise 2.0 folks seem amazingly naive to overlook the mountains of explicit knowledge that organizations already have and that must be further leveraged to enable optimal organizational productivity.

As a person and a vendor that believes we need to find the intersection of these two philosophies (with Inmagic Presto we call this a social knowledge network, where explicit knowledge is informed and enriched by the wisdom of the community), I must admit I vacillate between joy and despair.

Joy in that the melding of these two philosophies seems so logical and needed, and despair in that I can’t understand how all these really smart people do not see the same thing. And most important, I believe this is a huge opportunity for librarians to help bring these two philosophies together, and I hope that we don’t all look back in five years and say this was another missed opportunity.

So please, get involved in enterprise 2.0! Embrace the new technologies that enable users to collaborate more rigorously. Become a champion of socializing your content, and not just of using social media in the library. I think you will find that empowered users do not need less vetted content, but more.

The next generation of librarians needs to learn and master how to supply vetted information not via the standard library OPAC, but into the messy and often chaotic enterprise 2.0 slipstream.

Just remember, your users are finding information via a pop-gun (their favorite tool, Google). But you are armed and dangerous. You are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to find the right information from the right source(s), and know that the information you find has veracity and will stand up to intense scrutiny.

As you establish your enterprise 2.0 credentials (sorry, yes, you will have to prove your value -- add all over again. The diploma won’t do the trick), you will become very popular indeed, and your position within your organization will be secure.

In summary, the revolution is happening right now and the choice is yours. Get involved and master your library 2.0 destiny, or let the fate of your library 1.0 be determined by others.

New DB/TextWorks v12 now available with maintenance and workflow improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:22:18 PDT

Our developers have emerged from the Inmagic "bat cave" with a new version of DB/TextWorks in hand. We made several key enhancements to batch modify, search, reporting, and imaging, which will improve database maintenance and workflow. For our customers on maintenance, you'll automatically receive the updates for free. We detailed more info on the new version of DB/TextWorks in the press release below.

***************************************************************************************
Inmagic Introduces Latest Version of DB/TextWorks

Key benefits of latest release streamline workflow and simplify database maintenance for library and information professionals

WOBURN, Mass.—June 30, 2009—Inmagic today introduced Inmagic® DB/TextWorks® v12, a foundational component of the Inmagic® DB/Text® Library Suite. Several key enhancements to DB/TextWorks, including improvements to batch modify, search, reporting, and imaging, have been added to improve database maintenance and workflow. With this additional functionality, special library and information professionals are freed-up to focus on providing high-quality access to information and research to their organizations.

DB/TextWorks is a specialized database and text retrieval system used by more than 5,000 organizations to manage special library collections and content. DB/TextWorks can efficiently organize nearly any type of digital information—including documents, images, and multimedia—resulting in a centralized knowledge repository that is accessible to all constituents.

“Inmagic continues to develop products that keep users coming back for the latest advancements in knowledge management technology,” says Phil Green, CTO of Inmagic. “This release of DB/TextWorks demonstrates Inmagic’s commitment to a broad scope of loyal customers that rely on the DB/Text family of products for cost-effective and flexible information management across their knowledge repositories.”

The latest benefits to DB/TextWorks v12 include:

Improvements to batch modify, validation lists, and import functionality. Save significant time when maintaining the textbase, with the ability to:

• Batch modify multiple fields: Change more than one field at a time.
• Batch modify field-to-field: Copy or move the contents of one field to another.
• Update records to match validation list changes: When terms on a validation list are changed or
deleted, corresponding changes can be made in affected textbase records.
• Import matching multiple records: Option to update multiple matching records.

Enhanced search capabilities. Allows for more accurate information discovery, through:

• Thesaurus expansion when searching: Optional retrieval of preferred and related terms when
searching fields connected to a thesaurus.
• Easier textbase recognition: Moving the cursor over a textbase on the file menu causes the full
path of that textbase to appear in the status bar.

Enhanced E-mail. Improvements allow for more professional e-mails that can easily target larger groups, with:

• E-mail reports in HTML: Send Report as Mail now supports HTML format in the e-mail body.
• E-mail reports grouped by recipient: E-mail reports sent to recipients identified in textbase records
can optionally have all messages to a given recipient grouped into one e-mail message.

Advanced imaging. Capabilities support newer image formats, with:

• Support for the newer versions of PDF formats from Adobe® Acrobat®.

Inmagic product updates continue to address the needs of the company’s evolving customer base. As always, Inmagic wants to hear from you. Please send your product enhancement requests to wishlist@inmagic.com.

Customers on maintenance automatically receive this release as part of an annual maintenance contract, and thus can take advantage of these enhanced features and functionality at no additional cost. For more information about DB/TextWorks and Inmagic’s DB/Text Library Suite, please visit www.Inmagic.com. Certified Inmagic resellers and implementation partners can be found at http://www.inmagic.com/partners/directory.html.

Inmagic also offers the Presto family of knowledge management products, including Inmagic® Presto for Social Libraries, for organizations interested in integrating the power of Social Knowledge Networks with their information management needs.

ABOUT INMAGIC, INC.

Inmagic, Inc. has been the industry leader in knowledge management and library automation applications for over 25 years. Today, Inmagic is at the forefront of the move to new generation knowledge management, creating Social Knowledge Networks that combine top-down, vetted information with bottom-up, social “wisdom of the community” to address critical research and business objectives. Over 5,000 companies in 100 countries use Inmagic solutions, including Inmagic© Presto, Inmagic© Presto for Social Libraries, and the DB/Text product family, to gain unprecedented insight into customers, markets, competitors, research, intellectual properties, and more. Find out how much your organization really knows. Visit Inmagic at www.Inmagic.com.

###

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, press only:

Kate Ritchie, Gregory FCA, 610-642-8253 x162, kater@gregoryfca.com
Or
Carolyn MacNeill, Inmagic, Inc., 781-287-6277, cmacneill@inmagic.com

PRESS RESOURCES

Press contacts: Kate Ritchie, kater@gregoryfca.com, Carolyn MacNeill, cmacneill@inmagic.com

Inmagic: http://www.inmagic.com/

Inmagic press room: http://www.inmagic.com/news/press_room.html

Inmagic RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/inmagic

Inmagic blog: http://blog.inmagic.com

Inmagic company fact sheet: http://www.inmagic.com/company/Inmagic-At-A-Glance.pdf

###

Plot thickens in Librarians vs. Google

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:50:39 PDT

You might recall Google's book-searching agreement with publishers and authors, Google Book Search, which would give it control of digitizing virtually all copyrighted books in America. The deal must still get federal court approval. But now, many librarians and other critics are increasingly against it.

Janet Morrissey covers the latest developments in Time, citing opposition to the deal's unfair revenue model. Under the terms, Google would have an exclusive license to publish and profit from orphan books (books that are out-of-print, and whose authors and publishers are unknown). Critics say this would create a sort of digital library monopoly, and give Google the ability to charge exorbitant fees to academic libraries and others who want full access to its library.

I think in our haste to further knowledge and information discovery -- a virtuous goal indeed -- we should not be blind to what could be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Google is by no means an evil empire, and I personally rely on it daily. But it is a business like any other that must make its numbers and keep its board and shareholders happy.

As the "Librarians vs. Google" scenario plays out, we see that things can get sticky when it comes to mixing content and control. Having content that's digitized and accessible will be a huge step for the facilitation of knowledge. However, not if those materials are so costly and controlled that only a minority will benefit.

In short, it would be naive to think we shouldn’t move ahead with the digitization of books and other materials. It would be like swimming against a riptide. It’s going to happen. But we better be pretty darn clear about pricing, availability, and accessibility of information now and in the future.

As Janet writes in her Time article, "Opposition to the deal has been escalating, with librarians, academics, consumer advocates and even a few authors urging the federal court to either scuttle the deal or at least amend it." Let’s be thankful we live in a democracy, and let's continue to make our voices heard.

SLA 2009 video: We have a Kindle winner from the customer reception

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:29:22 PDT

Back to some SLA 2009 coverage! The show was mostly business, but we also had the chance to relax and chat it up at our customer reception on Tuesday night. Phil took the podium to thank everyone for joining us, and Ron and our magician, Josh had the audience in suspense while they drew the winner of a Kindle 2 from a fish bowl. Play the video to find out who wins! (P.S. -- Apologies for the darkness. The room was dim!)

Congrats, Laurie, and everyone who won a Kindle! Enjoy!

Thanks again to everyone who turned out for the reception. Hope you all had a good time! Anything you think we should do differently or keep the same?

Pave your own enterprise 2.0 way

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Green) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:37:07 PDT

While we're on the topic of the Enterprise 2.0 Conference, I wanted to share another thought as people mull over technologies and exhibits they saw and try to determine what's actually useful to them. Alexander Wolfe brought the subject up on his blog, the Wolfe's Den (part of InformationWeek), this week too.

The truth is, everyone must find their own 2.0 way. There is no "right way" to use enterprise social networking tools, as they have wide and varied applications across the organization: internal collaboration, external marketing, CI research, customer communications, etc. And no one department, group or individual is going to use it in the same way. That is the beauty of enterprise 2.0, and unfortunately what stumps a lot of people that want to tame it, or at least put it into a recognizable bucket.

If we to stop trying to put a round peg in a square hole and let enterprise 2.0 develop as it should –- both virally and with controls –- then we’ll likely see the collaboration and information sharing we’ve all been striving for all along, and possibly realize benefits we haven’t even conceived of yet.

Enterprise 2.0 Darwinism on the horizon

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Green) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:59:13 PDT

G. Oliver Young wrote a supplement to C.G. Lynch's piece on the day of reckoning between enterprise 2.0 start-ups and Microsoft SharePoint. He presents additional perspective, and I encourage you check it out on his blog, Strategic Heading.

If competition between enterprise 2.0 start-ups and Microsoft SharePoint is about to heat up, then I think we might see what I like to call "enterprise 2.0 Darwinsim." Natural selection, where the best succeed naturally, while the weaker companies are weeded out. I left a couple more thoughts on that in my comment, so rather than rehash them, click over to Oliver's blog!

Post-conference dinner for Oregon Chapter of SLA

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:31:44 PDT

We're helping to sponsor a special dinner next week for the Oregon Chapter of SLA, and I wanted to send the invitation to all our blog readers if you're interested in attending. If you're in the Portland area, it'll be a good opportunity to network and talk SLA. However, the deadline to RSVP is TOMORROW, June 26, so make sure you register quickly if you would like to attend. You don't have to be an SLA member. The invitation is below with more details.

The Oregon Chapter of SLA (ORSLA) invites you to join us for an upcoming professional development opportunity. As many of you know, SLA held its Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. from June 14th - 17th.

Several ORSLA members attended, as the conference offered opportunities for networking, communication, learning, and other professional development programs. They are eager to share their experiences with those of us who were unable to attend.

Come join us on Tuesday, June 30th at 6 p.m. to hear about conference highlights, sessions particularly relevant to our chapter, as well as a chance to discuss industry trends and key topics of interest to information professionals.

Location: Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt (map), 19th Floor.

Pizza and refreshments will be served.

The cost will be as follows:

$10 for SLA student members
$15 for SLA members
$20 for non-members

You may pay at the door either with cash or a check payable to ORSLA.

Please be aware that space is limited, so it is important for you to RSVP by TOMORROW, Friday, June 26th. If you have any questions regarding this event, feel free to contact Joan Truncali at bjtruncali@aol.com. We hope you will be able to attend, and look forward to seeing you there.

RSVP using the online registration form.

Enterprise 2.0 companies sharing SharePoint positioning

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:10:34 PDT

(We're digressing from our SLA coverage today -- but fear not, more to come!)

Phil brought up the SharePoint-enterprise 2.0 topic today, and I wanted to add to the discussion. I attended a SharePoint session on Tuesday at the Enterprise 2.0 conference, and picked up some interesting tidbits. And as a marketer, one of the biggest takeaways that caught my attention is that almost all vendors are using the same arguments, pros and cons, relative to SharePoint positioning.

It seems successful companies will differentiate on how their applications not only add value to/leverage the SharePoint infrastructure, but also how they leverage business activities like:

- Communications and branding.

- Collaboration and the ability to collaborate seamlessly with other people and content.

- Findability of content and people. Taxonomy and meta data strategy is critical.

- Crowdsourcing to find helpful information and ideas.

- Knowledge networks, and the ability to capture fleeting and tacit knowledge and connect it within systems.

I think any deep functionality to address these business activities requires a specialized application or platform, priming the market for the entrance of other enterprise 2.0 providers, which Phil talked about.

Frenemies among us: Microsoft SharePoint vs. enterprise 2.0 start-ups

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Green) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:22:19 PDT

When it comes to the enterprise 2.0 market, Microsoft SharePoint is the elephant in the room, as we've said before. And there’s no denying SharePoint’s footprint across the enterprise. The recent webinar poll we conducted with KMWorld Magazine alone revealed that 68 percent of respondents are SharePoint houses (although not all of those are enterprise-wide).

There are of course other players in the enterprise 2.0 market. And as C.G. Lynch puts forth in his recent CIO article, "a day of reckoning" might have arrived. He discusses how we've perhaps reached a point where enterprise 2.0 start-ups have the opportunity to stake a new claim, and seize some of Microsoft's market share. Click over to get the scoop.

However, a driving factor behind the SharePoint vs. enterprise 2.0 start-up land-grab is, as it always seems to be these days, the economy. Why? Because SharePoint development is shown to be more costly than other types of development and can create many SharePoint sites, which can equate to even more disconnected information silos.

This makes me think that SharePoint and enterprise 2.0 start-ups will maintain a "frenemy" status -- a wary acceptance and reluctant willingness to work together in the enterprise social software space.

SharePoint is already too entrenched to be ousted. But at a time when budgets are tight and workforce resources are reduced, decisions will lean towards cost-effective, out-of-the-box, easy-to-deploy and maintain solutions that complement, rather than compete with SharePoint. Prime example is Presto 3.1, and the new features we've added to increase Presto's compatibility with SharePoint.

The upside for start-ups is that the economy presents an opportunity to entrench themselves in areas that might not otherwise be penetrated, and prove themselves irreplaceable when things turn around.

SLA 2009 podcast: Michael Panzer boosts Philadelphia Inquirer's research prowess

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:29:08 PDT

For journalists at the Philadelphia Inquirer, researching and reporting is a faster and easier job, thanks to the work of Michael Panzer. He's the Library Supervisor for the newspaper, and makes sure journalists know the best places to go for information to report their stories. He's also a member of SLA, so it was no surprise to find him at the conference this year.

We crossed paths on the show floor, and briefly talked about what sessions he was seeing, and what he was hoping to gain from the conference. He also gave us some insight into how the research library operates over at the Philly Inquirer and its sister publication, the Philadelphia Daily News.

Click play to listen in.

SLA 2009 video: Inmagic magician pulls money from a lemon

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:48:24 PDT

It's true -- money doesn't grow on trees. It grows in lemons! Hey, it could happen. Especially at SLA 2009. Our honorary magician, Josh Norris, was at our booth for the show, and showed us a great trick using a cup, a lemon, a dollar bill on loan from moi, and of course, a magic wand. Check out the video above.

SLA 2009 podcast: Music librarian Kimmy Szeto's quest for a database tool

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:11:08 PDT

SLA attendees all had different objectives in mind when they signed up for the show and entered the INFO-EXPO floor. They came from around the country to learn about the latest technologies in the special libraries industry, get updated on trends driving the market, and more.

For one attendee we met, Kimmy Szeto, you could say SLA "struck a chord." Kimmy is General Manager of Argento, a New-York based non-profit that produces concerts, music festivals, recordings, educational events, and instructional materials for music lovers around the globe. His team has put concerts on at Carnegie Hall, and organized music classes for students as far as Turkey and China.

Our podcasting team bumped into Kimmy shortly after he arrived at the show floor, and talked to him about what he was interested in gaining from SLA. We learned Argento is embarking on a new music project to create videos and other multimedia content of concerts. Kimmy, also being a music librarian, was at the show looking for ways to publish and manage the videos online. Well, we found him in just right spot: where most the database vendors were stationed.

Take a listen to our podcast above to learn more about Kimmy's project, and what he's looking for to help bring it to life.

SLA 2009 podcast: Rick Kowalski on why Consumer Electronics Association uses DB/Text Works

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:13:04 PDT

We had the opportunity to met and mingle with customers while enjoying the delicious appetizers and libations at our customer reception at SLA 2009 last week. Our podcasting team was making rounds as well, and took a few minutes to catch up with customers on how they're doing with their Inmagic tool and what they've seen at the show so far.

One customer that our podcasters chatted with was Rick Kowalski. He's a Reference Librarian for Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The company has been using DB/Text Works for some time, and Rick told us why the tool is almost always open on employees' desktops. We also learned what sessions had Rick's attention this year, and his biggest take away from the show.

Click play above to catch our convo.

SLA 2009 video: Inside the Washington Convention Center and INFO-EXPO

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:13:09 PDT

We had our camera rolling as we approached the entrance to the INFO-EXPO show floor of SLA 2009. Turn your eyes to the video to see how the convention center was decked out for the show, and the bustling crowd gathering late morning on the third day, June 16.

Thanks to CMS Wire for sharing Presto 3.1 news

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:50:15 PDT

Geoff Spick of CMS Wire covered the release of Presto 3.1 today, and I wanted to thank him for sharing our news. His piece gives a good overview of the new features, so click over to check it out.

Slideshow from SLA 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:24:30 PDT

For those who couldn't make SLA 2009, we have some pics that can be your eyes into the show. We took photos from the INFO-EXPO floor, customer reception, around the Washington Convention Center, and more. Check out our SLA 2009 Flickr slideshow here, or click play above.

Positive impressions from SLA 2009, despite economy

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Cassettari) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:39:49 PDT

Wanted to take a minute to reflect on SLA, as we get busy posting our multimedia coverage. All in all, I think it was a good conference for us this year. Traffic at our booth was steady for most of the show, which is always great to see.

We had a range of people come visit us, from those simply wanting us to stamp their passports for a chance to win the Smart Car (I want one ... very cool), to those looking to win one of the four Kindle 2's we were giving away. And of course, there were way cool magic tricks by our magician, Josh Norris (video to come).

Our many long-time customers stopped by, wanting to take a checkpoint and learn about our new products, or just simply say hello and catch up. And then there were people wanting to learn and hear more about Presto and social knowledge networks.

We haven't counted all the cards and scanned badges yet, but it looks like we’ll easily top last year’s record interest. I think Paula Hane from Information Today did a great job summarizing in her blog why we’ve fared well in this very challenging economic climate, and I left SLA feeling bullish about our prospects for the remainder of the year.

Although it seemed like everyone we spoke to was tightening their belts, or in some cases, worried about maintaining continued funding for their library or info center, there was also an upbeat feeling at the conference and among our customers. It was great to be a part of SLA’s 100th anniversary celebration, and exciting to see the future of social media in our market looks very promising.