Internet Librarian International 2008
2nd February 2009

The Internet Librarian International conference took place in London on 16-17 October 2008. Jill Fenton reviews it for FUMSI and outlines some of the discussions and ideas around what the library and librarian of the future should be.

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Research: A Strategy for Raising $1 Million
2nd February 2009

Research, fundraiser, strategist? In her role as a specialist in fundraising support, Marge King does all three. She illustrates the multifaceted nature of her work, and the skill set crucial to success, with this case study of her efforts to leverage primary and secondary research sources to help a client navigate the fundraising process.

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The Lean Intranet: from Intranet Zero to Intranet 2.0 and beyond (Part 1: Intranet Zero)
2nd February 2009

Intranets abound, but are they really fulfilling their promise? Patrick Walsh believes that intranets are a vastly under-utilised resource, so much so that this era could be termed ‘Intranet Zero'. In this first part of a three-part series, Walsh talks about the reasons for unfulfilled potential in intranet design and points the way forward to more effective intranet design.

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Engineering Results: Some Alternative Search Engines
1st February 2009

Familiarity and habit may drive searchers to the ‘Big Four' of search engines but, as Adrian Janes has discovered, there are number of country- and topic-driven search engines that may do the job more efficiently. This article highlights a few of his favourites that, for reasons of focus or design, have an edge on the household name search engines.

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FreePint Report: Commentary from Online Information 2008
14th January 2009

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Answering the Call: Better Knowledge Management = Better Customer Service
4th January 2009

When she took over management of a government department call centre in September 2004, Veronica Fraser had experience with library and information services but none with call centres. She shares her experience in taking a step back to analyse ways to improve customer experience and decrease employee turnover through the use of collaborative tools and flexible technologies.

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Automatic Classification: A Panel Discussion
4th January 2009

The goal of automatic classification systems, whether rules-based or Bayesian, is to apply metadata in a way to make user access to content meaningful and scalable. Following their recent presentation on the topic to the International Society for Knowledge Organization UK (ISKO UK), Karen Loasby interviews fellow panelists Silver Oliver and Helen Lippell on the opportunities and challenges presented by automatic classification.

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Federated Search: A Year of Blogging
4th January 2009

Blogging full time about a specific subject - in this case, federated search - has its share of ups and downs. Sol Lederman reflects on the ups and downs of his past twelve months as official blogger for vendor Deep Web Technologies, and shares what he's learned in the process.

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People Information: Finding Accurate, Authoritative and Well Organised Data
4th January 2009

Although free information on people abounds on the Web, the quantity isn't always matched by quality. User-generated information, for instance, may skew accuracy, and verification can be tricky. Donna Fryer recommends revisiting the "Big Three" fee databases of Factiva, Dialog, and LexisNexis to be sure that the people data you use is reliable.

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Web Analytics and Information Architecture
30th November 2008

Web analytics might be considered a web designer's best friend, because it provides a quick and quantifiable means of interpreting user behaviour. But too many Information Architects still need a reminder to 'think like a user'. Hallie Wilfert explains how to starting using web statistics data to inform information architecture and site design more effectively.

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