Company News:

Inmagic sponsors new SLA Knowledge Management Division

Inmagic is pleased to announce that it is sponsoring the newly-launched Knowledge Management Division of the Special Libraries Association.

Many of you already know that through innovative learning, successful networking, and effective advocacy, the Special Libraries Association is a connective force for special librarians. Special librarians are information resource experts who collect, analyze, evaluate, package, and disseminate information to facilitate accurate decision making in corporate, academic, and government settings. Founded in 1909, the SLA is now the pre-eminent international association representing the interests of thousands of information professionals in over eighty countries worldwide.

In addition to its regional chapters, the SLA is organized in 24 Divisions representing subject interests, fields, or types of information-handling techniques. Many SLA members affiliate with one or more of these Divisions.

Launched in the fall of 2006, the SLA's Knowledge Management Division already has attracted nearly 500 members. The Division focuses on the characteristics and processes through which organizations facilitate the creation, sharing and use of knowledge.

Inmagic's overall sponsorship of the Knowledge Management Division includes support for two events at SLA's upcoming 2007 Annual Conference, to be held in Denver on June 3-6:

• “Librarians as Knowledge Managers: The View from the Executive Suite,” a session exploring the unique contributions that librarians bring to high-visibility, interdepartmental knowledge management efforts
• A reception at the Denver Art Museum for SLA's University of Denver Student Group and the Denver SLA chapter that is hosting this year's Annual Conference

Karen K. Reczek, Manager, Information Resources Center at Bureau Veritas in Buffalo, New York, is the chair of SLA's Knowledge Management Division. Karen commented “We're delighted to be working with Inmagic. The company is a natural partner for our new Division, given its long history of technological leadership. Our Division members play critical roles within their organizations, including documenting knowledge for sharing and use. Effective knowledge management spans people, processes and technology – and the right technology is a powerful enabler.”

Paul J. Puzzanghera, Inmagic's President and CEO, noted “Our sponsorship of the Knowledge Management Division continues Inmagic's lengthy association with and support of the SLA. Many Inmagic customers are SLA members. Our co-founder Betty Eddison held several leadership roles with the SLA, served as a role model for many SLA members, and received the organization's highest honor - its Hall of Fame Award - in 2002. An affiliation with SLA's Knowledge Management Division is particularly synergistic for us, since many of our customers use Inmagic products for various knowledge management applications. Our newest products, Inmagic® Presto and Inmagic® Genie, provide unprecedented capabilities for information professionals who need to maximize their organizations' knowledge management capabilities.”

Read more about the SLA

Read more about the SLA Knowledge Management Division

Enhancements to Professional Services and Technical Support

Wally McKenzie has joined Inmagic and heads a newly-combined Professional Services and Technical Support organization as Inmagic's first Chief Client Officer. Wally explains, "My mission is to ensure customer satisfaction and enhance Inmagic's quality of service. I also look forward to maintaining best practices for Inmagic's current and future product implementation and services offerings." Wally brings to Inmagic and our customers more than 25 years of consulting and services experience. Most recently he served as a director in Oracle's Business Intelligence and Analytics consulting practice where he managed analytical data warehousing projects in varied industries.

New Sales and Marketing VP

Mike Cassetari has joined Inmagic as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, overseeing the company’s efforts to connect with information professionals for whom the right information management technology is a powerful enabler. Mike notes “As people and libraries get more sophisticated in the way they interact with information, I see us always being there with the best tools to facilitate how they want to consume, create, and manage information." Mike has worked with a number of software companies. Most recently he served as Vice President of Marketing at Mathsoft Engineering and Education, Inc., a provider of engineering calculation management software, until its acquisition by Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC).

Inmagic® Presto v2.0 adds RSS, alerts and event logging capabilities

In February Inmagic released Version 2.0 of Inmagic® Presto, our Web-based enterprise software application that enables organizations with high-value dynamic content in diverse formats and locations to actively manage that content and provide 24 x 7 access to it.

“We're excited about meeting an even broader range of customer needs with this latest version of Presto,” said Paul J. Puzzanghera, Inmagic's President and CEO. “Nearly every organization struggles to manage an ever-growing volume of information, and turn that information into knowledge that powers the organization's success. As a result, an organization's information professionals must not only provide access to a wide range of internal and external content, but also actively manage that content in order to maximize its value and its use. Presto is uniquely well-suited to those challenges.”

Presto v2.0 adds a number of new capabilities:

Alerts: Through Presto v2.0's alerts capability, individual Presto users can define multiple personalized alerts based on system or user events, or on search queries. End users may want to be alerted when information matching designated criteria or a previous search query is added to Presto. Information professionals who administer the Presto system may want to be alerted when end users make certain kinds of changes to Presto. Alerts can be received via email, through a “My Alerts” section of a portlet or by using a favorite RSS reader to subscribe to Presto events and information. Users can easily establish and edit their own alerts via Presto's “Manage My Alerts” capability.

Events logging: Presto v2.0's event logging capabilities enable information professionals to track all changes to Presto content and provide an audit trail – critical given the increased emphasis on information security and compliance by private and public organizations alike.

Content type configuration: In Presto v2.0, non-technical information professionals can configure each content type and determine how search results will be ranked for each of those types. Presto “puts a wrapper around” HTML and XML functionality so that non-technical users can work with a straightforward, easily-grasped user interface to configure how various types of content are presented in Presto – without writing a line of code. A preview screen shows how the resulting configuration would appear to end users. Any attempts at potentially destructive actions, or actions that would require excessive system resources, result in a prompt. As new content types get added to the Presto system, they can be made available to end users immediately.

Presto v2.0 combines the power of newer technologies like RSS and XML with Inmagic's historic ease of use. Non-technical users have unparalleled abilities to shape and manage their organizations' Presto applications, without requiring IT support. Presto makes powerful functionality easily accessible via simple, intuitive interfaces. It is a fully permission-based system. A non-technical information professional can control what various end users are allowed to see and do within Presto.

Presto v2.0 continues to support Microsoft® SQL Server, and now supports Microsoft® SQL Server Express as well.

Inmagic offers both licensed and hosted SaaS delivery models. Presto can be installed locally on an organization's own servers or hosted at Inmagic's datacenter.

If your organization has high-value, dynamic content that needs to be centrally managed and made available to a wide audience 24/7: consider Presto.

Read more about Presto (including a revised datasheet with screenshots)

Inmagic and WebFeat partner to provide Inmagic® Presto customers with federated search capabilities

At the American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting in Seattle in January, Inmagic and WebFeat announced a partnership that will enable Inmagic® Presto customers to conduct federated searches across virtually unlimited external data sources. WebFeat is the global leader in federated searching, with products in use at over 5,000 leading public, academic, government and Global 1000 libraries and information centers.

WebFeat users can simultaneously search across unlimited numbers of resources from a single intuitive interface. WebFeat's patented translator authentication and session management technology enable WebFeat to search virtually any searchable database – a feature unique to WebFeat. WebFeat maintains a library of over 6,000 database translators – the industry's largest. WebFeat provides a truly no-hassle implementation and configuration process as it proactively and reactively updates and upgrades translators as necessary. These actions are all completely transparent to information center staff and end users.

WebFeat's ability to search thousands of disparate external data sources is an excellent complement to Presto's categorization and search of numerous highly-varied internal data sources. By partnering with WebFeat to make this capability available to Presto customers on a subscription basis, Inmagic maximizes the number of external sources that Presto customers can search and organize in order to manage their relevant information.

Read more about WebFeat

Read more about Presto (including a revised datasheet with screenshots)

Licensed, hosted - the choice remains yours

A growing number of customers and prospects have been interested in using Inmagic on a hosted basis, whether to more aggressively manage their annual costs or as part of broader corporate mandates to trim in-house IT infrastructure and simplify IT operations.

Hosting is available for Presto, Genie, TextWorks and WebPublisher PRO. If you'd like to explore hosting of a current or contemplated Inmagic application, contact Inmagic directly or ask your local Inmagic Partner.

Inmagic® Genie and Inmagic® Presto - new 2007 configurations meet a broader set of needs

Our two newest products have been well-received by current and new customers alike in a wide range of industries and organization sizes.

Inmagic® Genie is a Web-based integrated library solution optimized to manage diverse traditional and non-traditional library materials. It's ideally suited for multi-site libraries that wish to maintain a single catalog covering those multiple libraries, yet works equally well for single-site libraries. If your organization needs serials management, circulation management and other library workflow capabilities: consider Genie.

Inmagic® Presto enables information-intensive organizations that don't need comprehensive library workflow capabilities to consolidate information silos by actively managing their research and information assets. Its browsable directories and advanced meta-tagging and search capabilities facilitate both search and categorization/browsing for disparate internal and external content. If your organization has high-value, dynamic content that needs to be centrally managed and made available to a wide audience 24/7: consider Presto.

Need BOTH? Some organizations do - and only Inmagic provides a comprehensive, fully-featured ILS (Genie) along with an application to manage your organization's entire range of knowledge assets (Presto). Both Genie and Presto are highly configurable to meet your specific needs, yet require little or no IT support. And both can be delivered as hosted applications - meaning that you need virtually no in-house infrastructure and support to step up to the most technically advanced set of capabilities on the market.

We've found that for some organizations even a subset of Genie or Presto functionality would provide a valuable step forward from the older software that they're currently using. As a result, we now offer Genie and Presto configurations that meet a broad range of needs and budgets.

Learn about best practices in research asset management

More than ever... your organization's success depends on quickly finding and acting on various kinds of research assets: the high-value internal and external information that professionals at all levels use to gain insights, plan, and execute.

However, based on Inmagic's conversations with hundreds of organizations in a variety of industries, the management of internal and external research assets remains challenging for most organizations — including sizable organizations with otherwise sophisticated capabilities.

How do the "best practice" organizations manage their research assets?

How can your information center be an invaluable resource across the organization (and beyond, if you serve external audiences as well)?

Through our work with numerous organizations, we've identified best practices for research asset management — a critical competency in today's information-driven economy where nearly everyone is a "researcher" in some way.  As an information professional, you need to not only find information on behalf of end users but also make their own research efforts more productive.  For over two decades Inmagic has provided the tools and applications that enable information professionals to build information repositories and make their organizations' research assets easily accessible by end users.

Join us to hear about seven best practices in research asset management. We'll also discuss return on investment (ROI): how those best practices organizations (and especially those who lead them) gauge the impact of effective research asset management. 

Register for a webinar about better research asset management

Tight on time, or want to share the concepts with colleagues?
Download an Inmagic-produced white paper covering the same topics

Get insights about research asset management from IDC analysts Sue Feldman and Melissa Webster

Learn more about how research asset management can help you to make sense of a complex information environment.  Download an IDC report in which Sue Feldman and Melissa Webster examine the needs of information-intensive organizations and assess how research asset management can help.  Their comments on Inmagic® Presto may help you to determine if it's a possible solution to your organization's needs.

Download IDC paper: "Inmagic: Tools to Make Sense of Complex Information Environments"

Inmagic® Genie customer success stories

Inmagic is committed to innovation and the advancement of Web-based research asset management. We use various communications formats to help current and potential members of the Inmagic community learn more about how to select and implement a research asset management system that best meets their needs.

Detailed customer success stories are one of our most popular communications formats. There is no better way to visualize a solution to your own organization's challenges than to read about how someone else solved a similar problem.

If you're considering a new integrated library system, learn why and how industry colleagues at the following organizations have implemented Genie:

Women's Health Victoria:
Web-based health advocacy and information for women

California Child Welfare Resource Library:
Library delivers on its mission by making its holdings widely accessible via the Web

Dreyfus:
Leading mutual fund company invests in Inmagic Genie for corporate library management

Holland + Knight:
Central control, local process: Large legal firm settles on Genie for nationwide library management

Jones & Stokes:
New tools bring the future of library management to a top environmental consulting firm

Read Genie customer success stories

Inmagic® Genie webinars

If you're considering a new integrated library system (ILS), get a quick introduction to Inmagic® Genie via a webinar.  The webinar highlights many Genie features including Cataloging, OPAC, Serials Management, Circulation, Orders and ILL.

Genie is a Web-based application designed to meet the needs of the expanding corporate information center where the focus is on managing and providing effective access to internal content.  Learn how Genie allows information professionals, library staff and information users access to the information center from their desktops.

With Genie, library staff can use the Web-based cataloging and circulation capabilities to add new materials to the library catalog; edit existing materials; and perform check-in, checkout, and borrower maintenance — all directly from their Web browsers.  Genie offers end users a rich and robust search and retrieval environment, making self-service in the virtual library a reality.

Because Genie uses .NET technology and Web services, it can be integrated within your organization's overall IT architecture.  Genie creates a framework to expand the reach of your library to encompass the growing volume of content resources that must be managed.

Register here for upcoming Genie webinars

"Research Asset Management: 7 Ways to Improve Your Resource Bank"

Effective management of your organization's information assets can get you answers more quickly, save staff time and preserve institutional memory. Find out how in this cover story from the February 2007 issue of Information Outlook, the member magazine of the Special Libraries Association.

Article available courtesy of the SLA.

We look forward to seeing you at these upcoming events. Stop by the Inmagic booth to get a look at our newest products, hear the latest about any of our products, or just say hello.

Computers in Libraries

See us at Booth #721
April 16 - 18, 2007
Hyatt Regency Crystal City,
Arlington, VA USA

BEYOND LIBRARY 2.0:
Building Communities, Connections, & Strategies

The conference theme, Beyond Library 2.0, captures leading-edge online initiatives and innovations in all types of information enterprises, tools and techniques for enhancing user-friendly digital information flows, information discovery and visualization methods for dealing with today's information overload, building new communities and supporting online connections in engaging ways, and strategies for the future beyond Library 2.0. Hear from experts, practitioners, technologists and strategists.

SLA Annual Conference



See us at Booth #955 + 957
June 3 - 6, 2007
Denver, CO

Or talk with an Inmagic representative at these other Annual Conference venues:

Events sponsored by SLA's Knowledge Management Division:

• Wednesday, June 6, 1 – 2:30 pm: “Librarians as Knowledge Managers: The View from the Executive Suite,” a session exploring the unique contributions that librarians bring to high-visibility, interdepartmental knowledge management efforts
• Evening of Wednesday, June 6: Reception at the Denver Art Museum for SLA's University of Denver Student Group and the Denver SLA chapter that is hosting this year's Annual Conference

Event sponsored by SLA's News Division:

Vendor Roundtable, Monday, June 4, 7:00 – 8:30 am

Event sponsored by West Soast chapters:

Reception, Monday, June 4, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

Other Events:

AALL Annual Meeting & Conference
July 14 - 17, 2007
New Orleans, LA
Booth #734

Internet Librarian
October 29 - 31
Monterey, CA
Booth #416