Self-Service Borrowing

Druckversion

Henley library, in Oxfordshire, UK, is becoming self-service, with the help of developer funding. The change will help the library to deal with threatened public sector cuts, without diminishing the service offered.
 
The library is managed by Oxfordshire County Council. The council began introducing self service in 2009, working with the LMS supplier Axiell. In the last few months, all of the county's stock has been tagged ready for a full RFID system to be put in place, and many of the largest libraries have already had the new system installed.
 
The library does not use Axiell's kiosks but does use their hardware. The council worked with furniture framework contractor Opening The Book to develop bespoke furniture for the self-service terminals to sit in.
 
The library believes that the RFID system will have a number of benefits. Customers will be able to do their own routine transactions, which will save queuing time. This will also allow staff to concentrate on customer enquiries, rather than simply processing transactions. Staff can give more help to customers that need it. There will also be more privacy for customers in their book borrowing. The refurbishment will also provide additional customer space due to smaller counters and improved layout. There will be better facilities for the display of books in the library’s prime area.
 
Kelvin Eveleigh, Customer Service Manager for Henley Library, commented that the project is something they have wanted to do for many years but have not had the money available. “RFID will also help us to manage the stock more effectively. For example, we can find books that are no longer being borrowed in a library so that they can be moved on.”
 
The cost of installing self-service and making the alterations in Henley will be approximately £83,000. Eveleigh explained that the council can afford this at a time of public sector cuts because it is an “invest to save” project. “Putting in the equipment is costly, but it will enable us to reduce the number of staff, so that in 5 years across the county we will have recouped the initial outlay and thereafter we will be saving money every year, while maintaining the same level of service to our customers.”
 
The self-service project is funded through developer contributions to the County Council held to improve the library service infrastructure; this money can only be used to improve library buildings – it cannot be spent on staffing, opening hours, etc.
 
Eveleigh was keen to reassure users of the library that the project will not mean libraries which are empty of staff: “Yes, we will be losing one full time employee from our staff. However, we expect to be able to meet our targets for staff reductions by not filling vacancies. There have been no redundancies. Staff reductions will not come in until 3 months after the introduction of RFID self-service, so we will still have plenty of staff on hand to help customers as they get used to self service. Even after the reductions there will still be staff on hand to help you in the library.”
 
He continued: “The self-service system is really easy to use and very customer friendly. Staff will be on hand to show people how to use it, and it will save people time when we are at our busiest. We already have RFID self-service in many libraries and it is proving very popular with all age groups.    Any transactions involving money will still have to be done by staff in the short term, although later on we will be introducing new facilities so that people can pay for DVD hire and so on at a self-service terminal.”
 
Finally, Eveleigh wanted to reassure library users that the project does not mean that the library will be stocking a smaller numbers of books. “Most of the space for self service has been created by removing the huge counter at the front.
 
In future, when the majority of basic transactions are going through self-service, a much smaller counter is all we will need. We’ve in fact not lost any stock at all and we’ve taken the opportunity to reconfigure some of the layout of the library to make it more user-friendly.”