2017 Recap, 2018 Preview

A Recap of 2017 and a Look Ahead to 2018

As we venture forth into a new year, here is a look at some of the changes Axiell customers need to know about from the past year and into the year ahead. From recent personnel changes, product updates and events to the overarching strategy of Axiell going forward, here’s what you need to know…

Strategic changes

In 2017, we announced that we would be merging our UK business areas for public libraries and ALM (Archives, Specialist Libraries & Museums) in order to provide customers with a more integrated approach. This realignment follows calls in the library industry for closer working with cultural institutions and allows us to utilise the talent across Axiell for the benefit of all customers.

Following this, we shared our vision to create an Integrated Knowledge Platform; a holistic, connected framework for providing connected services – an agile vision of Axiell’s work going forward. This will be supported by a renewed focus on software as our core offer

We also have some news personnel wise:

Ian Rowson will now head up Axiell’s UK operations as Ben Sullivan becomes global Business Area Director for Axiell ALM. Supporting Ian in his capacity as Regional Manager UK will be Alistair Welburn, responsible for Project Delivery, Malcolm Howitt, responsible for ALM Sales, and John Kelly responsible for PL Sales. Ian will retain responsibility for Customer Services.

Axiell European User Conference

2017

Last year saw our first User Conference for our public library customers. It was great to get everybody together and feedback from the event was really positive; with updates from Axiell staff and insightful and entertaining talks from industry figures, such as, Ian Anstice and Nick Poole.

2018

This year’s conference takes place at the University of Glasgow on 23-24 of May (Public Library sessions on the 23rd) and will be run in parallel with sessions for Archives, Specialist Libraries and Museums (ALM), meaning more opportunities to network with and learn from peers from a wide variety of cultural and educational institutions.

Feedback, particularly at the Axiell Gangs, told us that you wanted to be more involved this year and we share that view – it is the ‘User’ Conference after all. Therefore we are now opening our ‘Call for Papers’ early so you can get your ideas together.

4 reasons to share your work at Axiell EU 2018 

  1. Have you achieved success in a project at your authority? Share it and help inspire others
  2. It’s a platform to share your work/project with leading industry peers
  3. Great personal development opportunity – presenting at an industry event is a great way to improve your CV and your confidence!
  4. Receive solutions to issues you’re having from those who have faced similar issues

Axiell Gangs

Key themes discussed with customers in our small regional strategy meetings in London, Nottingham and Edinburgh included:

  • An integrated approach: incorporating local image/history collections, archives, museum artefacts into Arena search results
  • How events management can be incorporated into Arena and Quria
  • GDPR, with many services feeling unprepared for the incoming legislation change. This discussion led us to organise the GDPR training session that is coming up in February – still available to book here Feb 14
  • Future developments – feedback from users at the events is driving our activity for the year, as well as going forward

We will be holding similar sessions next year, so make sure you’re there so you can have your say on the future of Axiell’s work across the library and cultural sectors.

Axiell Arena Updates

Bold and Modern Arena Design Upgrade

We have new design templates available now that offer libraries the chance to upgrade to the latest in web design standards with the look and feel of a modern web service.

Get More from Your Arena, a new consultancy package covering:

  • Usability and the user experience
  • Workflows within Arena
  • An evaluation of unused features on your site
  • Demonstrations of new features and functionality

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