Research and Request Management Archives - Softlink Information Centres

How Librarians Are More Important Than Ever in the Age of AI

Artificial intelligence is no longer experimental in libraries. It already supports search, discovery, metadata creation, content analysis, and user services.

Softlink IC: Your 2025 Wrapped

This year wasn’t just about software updates or company events; it was about our customers navigating digital change with our products. Across the sectors, we noticed the main benefits our systems provided were – time-saved, manual work reduction, and improvement in both resource discoverability and reporting strength. These helped deliver clearer outcomes to our customers’ organizations for 2025.

Highlights from Our 2025 User Group Meetings in Brisbane, Melbourne & Wellington

Each year, we bring our community together through our User Group Meetings (UGMs) – one of our favourite ways to connect with customers, share updates, and celebrate the innovation happening in libraries. In October 2025, the Softlink IC team hosted UGMs across Brisbane, Melbourne, and Wellington, bringing together professionals from every sector to learn, collaborate, and discuss what’s next for Liberty Digital and illumin.

Libraries Lead the Way: Inside Softlink IC’s AI Library Challenge

Could AI help solve everyday library challenges? That’s the question Softlink IC posed during this year’s User Group Meetings (UGMs) – and the results were surprising.

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

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.

Helping Knowledge Teams Work Smarter: illumin’s Latest Upgrades

In our most recent post, we went through three of illumin’s most popular features – Advanced Search, Filters, and Pinning Views. But what about illumin’s newest features?

Top Research Team Tools: How illumin and Onelog Save Time and Boost Efficiency

Research professionals face constant pressure to deliver accurate, timely insights under tight deadlines. From managing requests to juggling tools and tracking outputs, the real challenge isn’t just doing the work, it’s doing it efficiently. Success now depends on doing more with less and streamlining tasks to drive results.

Why Top-Tier Consulting Firms Are Exploring illumin for Smarter Knowledge and Research Management

In management consulting, success hinges on rapid, reliable access to high-quality insights. Research and knowledge teams are under increasing pressure to deliver results faster—without compromising security, quality, or client confidentiality.

Why Traditional Ticketing Solutions Fail Research Teams

In our fast-paced digital world, the roles of researchers and research librarians are evolving more rapidly than ever. The important task of tracking and managing research requests can’t be left to traditional ticketing software. While a staple in query management and user assistance, traditional ticketing software often falls short in meeting the specialized demands of research centers.

Navigating the Evolving Library Landscape with Alex the Alpaca

In today’s digital age, libraries are evolving to meet the changing needs of their users. With the integration of digital and physical collections, libraries can unlock new opportunities to enhance user experiences and increase the usage of their collections. So, what should you be doing to stay current with the evolving library landscape?

A Rap Recap of a Memorable Year

As the year draws to a close, prepare to embark on a tour through some of our highlights for 2023 curated exclusively for you on our blog. We’re putting a unique spin on year-end reflections with a lyrical finale – so settle in for a special ‘rap-up’ to the year you never saw coming!

Unlock Exceptional Customer Service for Your Research Team

Are you looking for ways to improve the customer service provided by your research team? Request and research management tools can help improve the services you provide and ensure you offer the best service possible. In this blog, let’s explore how Illumin, our request management tool, can help you understand and deliver a superior service to your customers!

Unlock Your Reporting Power – Using Reports to Get the Most Out of Your Research Management Team

Discover how illumin can help you gain valuable insights into your users and their research queries. With powerful reporting features, you’ll be able to gain a more in-depth understanding of user behavior and use this data to optimize your research processes. Learn how to better serve your users by creating effective reports with our tips.

Power Up illumin With Power BI

Your knowledge and request management needs are as unique as your organization, the good news for you is that Softlink IC’s solutions are developed and supported by teams of experienced information and resource managers and expert knowledge management development professionals.

How to Bring a Customer Focus to Your Research Team

At its core, customer service is about building relationships. It’s about understanding what your customer or users’ needs are and then going above and beyond to meet those needs. The same philosophy can and should be applied to the research process. It’s a risk that some research teams get bogged down in the details and lose sight of the bigger picture: their customers or users.

Alex’s Adventures at the 2022 AALL Conference

Softlink Information Centers (Softlink IC) was at the 2022 American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) conference from 16 – 19 July. The conference was a great opportunity to show off our integrated library management system (ILMS) Liberty and our research management product, illumin.

The House of Commons Library Chooses Softlink IC’s illumin

Softlink Information Centres (Softlink IC) is pleased to announce the House of Commons Library recently selected illumin as their customer requests and enquiries management system.

Emails vs a Research Management System? There’s No Contest!

As libraries turn to a more digital presence, libraries and knowledge centers are receiving more email requests for their research services. Are you and your research staff still managing and tracking your research load via emails, and maybe a spreadsheet? Does it make managing your increasing research load even more inefficient now? There’s got to be a better way!

Alex the Alpaca Has His Own Instagram Account

We all know the feeling. That temptation to give in to a child who keeps bugging you about getting something they want. Whether it’s sweets, a new bicycle, or a mobile phone with all the bells and whistles, the nagging won’t stop before they get it, or you are fit to be tied. For the sake of peace, you give in, and so it has come to pass for our illumin representative, Alex the Alpaca. Yep, we at Softlink IC gave in.

Softlink IC Welcomes the Queensland Parliamentary Library

Softlink Information Centres is delighted the Queensland Parliamentary Library (QPL) selected Liberty as their new library management system and illumin as their research management system.

What’s New in our Research Management System, illumin?

Like libraries, illumin, Softlink IC’s integrated research management system (RMS) doesn’t rest on its laurels. There’s always new features and enhancements to be added to stay ahead of the game. If it’s been a while since you looked at illumin, here’s a sneak peek at what’s new!

4 Reasons Why Dashboards are Critical to Business

Dashboards are an increasingly essential data visualization management tool. They can be customized to visually display data applicable to different departments and segments of a business. Dashboards are an objective way to measure business requirements from tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs) to the status of current tasks to ensure required outcomes are achieved.

10 Advantages of Softlink’s Cloud Hosting for Your Liberty & illumin Systems

We at Softlink IC believe hosting your Liberty or illumin system with us is a hassle-free, cost-effective option. To convince you, we list 10 advantages, grouped into three categories that highlight the benefits of hosting your cloud-based library management and research management systems with us.

5 Features Your Research Management System Has, Not Your Helpdesk

Knowledge center staff know research questions are not just another form of helpdesk, technical, or customer service request. Despite this, many are expected to manage reference tasks with such a system. Softlink Information Centres knows you need the right tool for the right job, which is why we developed the illumin knowledge and reference management system.

Does Your Law Firm Have the Competitive Research Edge?

Information is power. It can be the difference between winning and losing. That’s why your law firm needs access to the right information and FAST! Leveraging the information sourced by your knowledge researchers, using the most up-to-date library management tools, will give your firm the competitive research edge.

illumin – Research Management Software

illumin is the perfect tool for knowledge and research management as it collects, records, quantifies and précis’s queries and answers provided to staff and clients. The knowledge base becomes a comprehensive, audited database of relevant information that can be easily shared.

5 Reasons Why illumin is the Ideal Partner for Academic Libraries

Why is illumin, our Knowledge and Research Management System, the ideal partner for academic libraries? Let us count the ways – well some of them at least!

What Will the illumin Reference Management System do for You? Cure Your Pain,That’s What!

We know pointing is a bit rude, even if we aren’t asking you to recruit for military service. We are asking: do you know what illumin Softlink IC’s knowledge and reference management system can do for you? If using spreadsheets or a help desk tool never designed to manage research requests is painful, illumin is the cure!

Library Management System Customer Support – 5 Questions you Should Ask

Softlink Information Centres Liberty and illumin users love our Customer Support Teams – and with good reason. They don’t have to run an obstacle course to get the help and advice they need. We believe excellent support is critical to our customers, and that’s what they get!

Prove the Value of illumin to Your Organisation – Use our ROI Calculator

Investing in the illumin Reference and Knowledge Management Solution is an excellent idea. So how do you calculate the Return on Investment (ROI) it will provide to your organisation? In these times, you surely need to do that.

Looking for a better way to manage your research requests? illumin can help

Softlink’s illumin is the perfect tool for knowledge and research management as it collects, records, quantifies and summarises queries and answers for staff and clients. The knowledge base becomes a comprehensive, audited database of relevant information that can be easily shared. Watch the video below for more insights into illumin.

You or Your LMS Vendor – Who Controls Your Library’s Business and Security Settings?

Can you just go in and change the existing settings in your library management or research management system or do you have to request a change from your vendor? Do they charge you to do so?

An insight into our commitment to securing data in Liberty and illumin

The security of your data is paramount to Softlink. To this end, our development team employs processes that ensure data security is at the forefront of their minds when coding.

Appraisal Institute Solves Business Challenges With Liberty and illumin

The Appraisal Institute, based in Chicago, is a global association of professional real estate appraisers, with 19,000 members and 80 chapters worldwide. The Institute funds and operates the Y.T. and Louise Lee Lum Library, which provides members with reference services in all areas of real estate appraisal.

Does Research Leadership = Competitive Advantage in an Info Bulge Era?

As early as the 1980’s strategists like Porter and Miller were linking information with competitive advantage.

6 Reasons Why Law Firms Need a Powerful Request Management Solution

The amount of accurate information required by legal staff is phenomenal. How do legal staff communicate their needs to research center staff? How do research center staff efficiently manage the volume of daily requests for the research services they receive? How do they ensure requesters are updated promptly?