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Alex the Alpaca

Who Is Alex The Alpaca?

Alex is a research librarian who spends his day managing and researching questions and projects with his company’s library team. He loves spreading the word about illumin, our research management system—his first mission.

He first fell in love with illumin after constantly losing and repeating his research, which meant wasting valuable time on the same tasks.

This caused Alex a lot of stress and frustration – along with confusing, unreliable reports and ineffective request tracking systems… that is, until he discovered illumin!

Now, Alex spends his days doing what he loves—researching, gathering statistics, and creating reports for his team. He even finds time to enjoy carrots and chai with Bob the Bibliographer!

With all that productivity, you’d think Alex would be satisfied, but no. He decided Liberty Digital, our Integrated Library System (ILS), deserved his attention… with style.

We had the chance to sit down for an exclusive interview with Alex to get a glimpse into a day in the life of one of Softlink IC’s key team members. Here’s what he shared:

Both illumin and Liberty Digital offer the latest user-friendly technology. They help deliver the services your users need and the outcomes you expect. Trust me, I’m an alpaca!

For full insights, watch the video below.


Alex's Rap Sheet

 

Name: Alex the Alpaca

Title: Research Librarian

Loves: Green grass & statistics

Hates: losing work & llamas.

 

What are the main responsibilities of your position? 

Well, I mainly deal with spreading news about Softlink’s amazing products, illumin and Liberty!

But lately, I’ve been exploring other fields such as rapping, racing with Rob Otter, and playing ping pong! The latest rap I made was about my favorite parameters in Liberty, you should check it out here!

Recently, I was even lucky enough to be included in the Liberty Management Panel, lucky me!

What are some of your favorite features of Liberty and illumin?

My favorite feature of Liberty has got to be search field backgrounds! There are so many amazing designs that I’ve seen from Liberty users, I just can’t wait to see what people will do with the full screen search fields planned for a future Liberty release!

By far my favorite feature of illumin is its integration with Liberty. Did you know that you could automatically transfer your Liberty borrowers into illumin, for FREE?!

You can also have your illumin knowledge base automatically imported into your Liberty system during housekeeping through integration, isn’t that so handy? We even have a solutions article which teaches you exactly how to integrate the two systems together, contact us here to find out more.

What sort of activities do you do outside of work?

Outside of work I do a lot of the same things that I do at work. I’ve started my own rap career and have created my own YouTube channel to become famous one day! I may even upload some videos of me and my friends performing alpacapella!

Aside from my channel, I absolutely love going for a drive with Rob, and we like to practice on the way to work. I also LOVE to eat food! Grass and hay are some of my absolute favorites!

Alex the alpaca Blogs

How to Make Research Faster with Filters, Search, and Pinned Views in illumin

3 October, 2025 No Comments

A Knowledge and Research Management System helps research teams organize their workflows efficiently, reducing time spent searching for information and increasing productivity. Softlink IC’s illumin, provides features such as filters, advanced search, and pinning views so teams can streamline their research workflows, track requests, and surface the insights that matter. Here’s a closer look at how these features help research teams work smarter.

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Employee Spotlight – Nicholas

25 September, 2025 No Comments

Meet Nicholas, our APAC Sales & Account Manager, who joined the team in June 2024. Working remotely from Auckland, New Zealand, Nicholas plays a key role in connecting potential customers across New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific with our solutions, Liberty Digital and illumin.

In the latest instalment of our Employee Spotlight series, we get to know Nicholas, explore his role further, and what drives him in his day-to-day work.

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Connections in the Digital Age – NZLLA Conference 2025

25 September, 2025 No Comments

We had the privilege of attending the New Zealand Law Librarians’ Association (NZLLA) Conference 2025, held at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) on 18–19 September 2025.

The theme, “Whanaungatanga: connections in the digital age”, captured the importance of building and maintaining relationships while adapting to the rapid digital transformation in law and libraries.

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Unlocking the Hidden Value in Your Library Collection

19 September, 2025 No Comments

As a law or government librarian, your collection is one of your greatest assets – second only to your expertise and knowledge. But even the most carefully curated resources can sit underutilized if your users and stakeholders don’t know they exist. While many libraries spend significant budgets on collections, the real value comes when those resources are actively used to inform research, support decisions, and drive your organization’s goals.

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Charting the Future of Libraries: Highlights from ABR 2025 in Oradea

12 September, 2025 No Comments

Earlier this month, Softlink Information Centres was proud to attend the 35th National Conference of the Romanian Library Association (ABR 2025) in beautiful Oradea, Romania. Hosted in collaboration with Softlink Central Europe, the University of Oradea, and the newly modernized “Gheorghe Șincai” Bihor County Library, this year’s conference reflected a renewed energy and vision for libraries in the digital age.

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