Photo: Graham Partridge

All quiet in rural Derbyshire?

The weather is particularly autumnal this week. Early November and the rain and mist first thing in the morning never disappear as the days shorten.

But it’s a very exciting time. So many changes. So many opportunities. For a corporate librarian or archivist, many challenges! For any organisation to plot its course and meets its objectives, information management is fundamental to its existence and the pressures are there for the librarian to chart an appropriate course. Software is now fundamental to most human activity. There is hardly a task or a service or an experience that we engage in that does not have software embedded as part of the solution.

Soutron is incredibly excited to be at the forefront of library and archive automation. A wave of new technology is coming through in a variety of areas. This month we are releasing a new version of Soutron, part of our continual program of development, introducing new features for Search and Collaboration, re-engineering old code to use the latest web technologies and providing small but good improvements across the system. We have more in preparation and will kick off 2020 and the New Year with further new announcements.

Combining Library with Archives & Records Management

The ability to address information management needs across the enterprise demands a bigger vision and more of our clients are combining libraries with archives with records management, recognising that these are all valuable resources that help shape decisions in the enterprise. Some library services focus on a specific community of users and are disciplined to exclude wider peripheral possibilities. Whatever strategy the library pursues, doing more within the available resource is essential and a stronger drive to deliver a single one stop search service. Librarians may have more technical freedom to manoeuvre than ever before but the constraints within budgets and resources are tighter than ever.

So, what is Soutron doing to meet these challenges?

• We continue to develop ever greater database flexibility. A strong easy to customise Information Management Platform from which to develop services. This means we perform continuous development, seek out innovation, and listen to clients.
• Cloud computing facilities provide unlimited levels of computing power, easy to access and without detracting from internal IT resources. We now offer hosting services in the EU and the UK.
• Fresh thinking and new ideas combined with technology to deliver productivity improvements. Tasks that used to be the norm for a library team now need to be automated. We have implemented new solutions to automate abstracting and summarisation of documents, removing the need for manual effort.

Strategy days with clients are where we brainstorm ideas and explore the possible and the desirable. When an idea strikes, we pick it up, explore it, find out just what it means in systems terms and if its practical and affordable.

So, while we are quietly tucked up in the wilds of Derbyshire and nothing much appears to be happening, it’s when we are at our busiest.

Learn more about:

> Soutron Library Management
> Soutron Records Management
> Soutron Archive
> Soutron Business Archive

>> Compare our Software Solutions