Case Study



How Library Automation Can Benefit Your Organization

Every type of organization can experience great benefits when automating their library or collection. Any type of collection of items, materials, or resources can use a library software program to automate the library or collection; thus creating an efficient and centralized system for cataloguing, circulation, searching and printing reports. Combining these tasks into one software program creates a cost effective and time saving system.

Often, organizations such as, retirement communities, medical facilities and schools heavily rely on volunteers, who may or may not have any previous librarian experience. Technical librarian skills are not necessarily required to catalogue or circulate items; classification systems can be as simple or as specific as needed. Once the items have been catalogued and organized on the shelves or in various other locations, they will be easy to search for and locate by subject or keyword. Circulation can be done quickly by scanning a barcode label on the book to lend and return items. The program will keep track of who has what item, when it is due back, and have the option of printing or emailing a reminder notice for the patron.

The library provides a central gathering place for people who work at or are a part of the organization. Automating the library will make it easier for the staff and community to use, as many people are now familiar with using computer technology or using an online searching tool. Many software programs offer the ability to search the library online from the organization’s website. This offers a great convenience with being able to search from any computer with Internet access at any time.

The following are a few examples of how different types of organizations are benefiting from automating their library and collection.

Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge, James L. Jessup Memorial Library in Charlottesville, VA
http://www.westminstercanterbury.org/home.html

The library started 20 years ago when Westerminter-Canterbury first opened in Charlottesville, VA. At the beginning, they only had several hundred books that were all donations from the new residents who entered the facility at that time. Currently, they have 400 residents in the community, and now have approximately 10,000 items in the library. The library is open 24/7/365 and has 40 volunteers with no paid staff or librarian. Some, but not all of the volunteers have had previous librarian experience.

The mission of the library is to assemble, organize, preserve and make accessible print and non-print material that reflect the interests and needs of WCBR and to provide a comfortable and inviting area where residents can sit and read publications, search for information, and browse through the library’s collection.

“Our library is a central gathering place for residents who browse, read newspapers, magazines and books. They chat and use it as a meeting place. It’s also a site for our ‘Book Week’ events in March. This year, we’re featuring talks by four of our residents who have recently written and published books.

Our library is also on the tour offered by our Marketing staff for prospective residents. Our Marketing reports that it’s one of the two “WOW” locations in our facility, the other being the dining room. Residents also show off and meet in the Library when they have visiting family or friends.

Our goal is to have the Library organized in a way so that someone who has never been in the library can immediately find the book or section that they are interested in. Automating the library has helped us in many ways. Now we have books returned on time and have reduced the number of books never returned. We are able to tell residents whether or not we have a given item and keep track of usage of the library. It’s also great with determining usability of a given book so we know whether or not to weed it. And we can quickly print spine labels and place them on the books which enables us to easily locate the items on the shelves.”

Belau National Hospital Library Ministry of Health, Republic of Palau
http://www.palau-health.net/

 

The library serves approximately 1000 people and includes staff, physicians, nurses, patients, the community and students. The library collection started in the 1990’s when physicians and project directors decided to put all of their written works in one centralized location. They have a wide collection of medical information, data and statistics, and written reports from various local physicians. Having this type of information in a special library helps the community to be more aware of harmful diseases and teach them how to live a healthier life.

The librarian, Sunshine Garcia, has worked in the medical field for almost 11 years. “After graduating college, I started working as a library technician for our local community college library. In 2009 I received my AS degree in library and information services and decided to broaden and try out something new. That is when I started to work for our Ministry of Health as its medical librarian. Now I assist our ministry with medical information, further medical education for our staff, and a whole lot of other work. So far it’s been a fun experience and I’m glad I’m here to be able to help others see the importance of living a healthier life.

Having the library automated has helped to organize the wide array of books, periodicals, pamphlets in a way that is easier for me as a librarian, and for my patrons to locate them. The software program is very easy to use and it’s easy for me to teach other people to use it. It has helped me to organize the shelves by subject matter thereby making it easier to locate the books. It’s helped keep track of all the books coming in and going out. It’s less time consuming and less frustrations arise.

One of our goals is to create a digital library as a lot of the materials are in an electronic format. I chose this because I deal with people in the medical profession, and they don’t have time to sit down with a book as they always have patients to tend to. Electronic materials will allow them to easily browse on their iphones or ipads.”

Christ Community Lutheran School, St. Louis MO
http://www.ccls-stlouis.org

The school has 200 students in grades K-4 and approximately 40 students in preschool. The library is open 5 days a week during school hours. Staff includes 1 part time librarian, Ruth Senske, plus 20 volunteers moms who check items in and out, shelves books, and other library related tasks as needed.

All of the students in grades K-4, as well as the teachers, parents of the students, and other members of the community use the library. They have a collection of almost 7000 books plus periodicals and videos. The library provides excellent books that are accessible to all of the students, parents and teachers. The love of reading is instilled in them and research skills are taught. Supplemental materials for specific units teachers are teaching in the classroom are available in the library.

Ruth Senske’s experience:

“In the summer of 2003, two of our very active room mothers phoned me to say that they wanted to work on the library and asked if I would help them. They would do the decorating, etc, if I would do the ‘librarian’s work,’ Of course I said YES as it was so needed. They knew I had been a librarian before I retired. So that’s when I automated the library! I had been the director of elementary libraries in another school district prior to my retirement. I had been responsible for automating their libraries. I have a passion for good libraries for children.

We chose our library software from recommendations by other librarians who were using the same program. Also, the affordability of the program for a school of our size was a big plus for us. My favorite feature is the ease with which books can be catalogued and added to the collection. Automating the library has allowed us to create an efficient system for upgrading our collection, thus making it easier for me with my job. The efficiency in tracking books has been a real boon for our volunteer mothers.

One of the goals for the library is to make research more accessible for our students through the addition of computer stations in the library, especially through online web searching. I look forward to adding that feature soon.”

There are many significant reasons to automate the library or collection. The benefits to the volunteer librarians, staff, and the community far outweigh the monetary cost of using a library software program. Search on the Internet for appropriate library software programs, and ask other organizations what system they are using. Word of mouth is a great way to find a software program that has sophisticated and flexible features, is well supported, reasonably priced and easy to use.

Shara Blackmore is the Customer Support and Administration Manager at Jaywil Software. For over 16 years, ResourceMate® as developed by Jaywil Software, has helped organizations establish efficient libraries with a cost effective solution.

Our reputation for excellent customer service and knowledgeable support makes us a trusted company with our customers located in every State and Province in North American, and in over 130 countries worldwide. www.resourcemate.com