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Nathan Mealey
Associate University Librarian for Discovery & Access at Wesleyan University
Professional Background
Nathan Mealey is an accomplished library professional with a strong foundation in both technology and librarianship. With a background as a trained librarian and an adept technology expert, Nathan leads initiatives that advance academic library services in today's digital information age. He currently serves as the Associate University Librarian for Discovery & Access at Wesleyan University, where he spearheads efforts to integrate innovative technologies that enhance the effectiveness of libraries across various stakeholders.
In his role, Nathan excels at collaborating with cross-functional teams, ensuring that libraries can leverage cutting-edge technologies to better serve their communities. His vast experience enables him to bridge the gap between technology vendors and library staff, fostering an environment of shared knowledge and capacity building. This ability to connect diverse groups is crucial in a technology-driven landscape that constantly evolves.
Nathan's career trajectory has seen him take on pivotal roles in various esteemed institutions. Prior to his current position at Wesleyan University, he was the Manager of Library Technologies at Portland State University, where he played a key role in developing tech solutions tailored to enhance library services. Additionally, he has served as an Adjunct Professor at Simmons College's Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), where he shared his profound knowledge on library technologies with students embarking on their professional journeys.
Education and Achievements
Nathan's educational background is impressive, having earned a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from Simmons University, where he honed his abilities in managing and disseminating information resources. He also holds a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College, a scholarly endeavor that has undoubtedly enhanced his critical thinking skills and understanding of information in diverse contexts. His undergraduate studies culminated with a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, further grounding him in the arts and humanities.
Nathan's dedication to academic excellence is not only evident through his degrees but also through his remarkable experience with various libraries and educational institutions. He previously held the position of Chair of the Systems Team at the Orbis Cascade Alliance, where he contributed to collaborative systems development across a network of libraries, ensuring that shared technology strategies met the needs of multiple entities.
Notably, Nathan's role as Information Technology & Systems Librarian, as well as Head of Library Technology Department at Simmons College, underscores his capability to create and manage library systems that align with academic goals. His tenure at Pilgrim IT as Operations Director and Project Manager solidified his project management acumen, allowing him to effectively steer technology-driven projects from conceptualization to execution.
Technology Skills and Expertise
In the realm of technology, Nathan possesses a rich skill set that makes him a valuable asset in the field of library science. He is proficient in multiple programming languages, including Ruby, PHP, Python, SQL, JavaScript, and XML. This versatility enables him to develop customized solutions and applications tailored to the specific needs of library environments.
Moreover, Nathan actively administers and customizes library platforms such as Ex Libris Alma/Primo, III Millennium, and ILLiad, enhancing their functionality to better serve library patrons. His expertise extends to managing web-services stack components, namely Apache, IIS, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server, allowing libraries to maintain robust and efficient digital infrastructures.
Nathan's skills in database design and administration further illustrate his technical proficiency, ensuring that information systems and repositories are optimally structured to facilitate easy access and retrieval of knowledge. Through these competencies, Nathan empowers his teams and colleagues, sharing insights about new platforms and technologies that refine service delivery to faculty and patrons alike.
Achievements
Nathan Mealey's contributions to library technology and information science are substantial. His leadership has influenced many, and his commitment to professional development is evident through his roles in teaching and guiding emerging library professionals. Whether serving on the systems team at a large library alliance or lecturing at an esteemed university, Nathan promotes a culture of innovation and adaptability. His work not only reflects a dedication to libraries but also a passion for ensuring that technology serves the needs of users effectively.
His distinguished career, filled with diverse roles and experiences, places Nathan Mealey at the forefront of academic library technology integration. With a focus on collaboration and continuous learning, he embraces the exciting challenges posed by the digital landscape, paving the way for libraries to thrive in an age characterized by rapid change and boundless information. Nathan continues to be a beacon of knowledge within the library community, inspiring both peers and students through his work and advocacy for technological advancement in libraries.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.