Case Study:
Local authority library services improve back-office operations with the smartstock™ 500
Case Study: Stockport and Trafford Councils
Background
Stockport Council and Trafford Council are two of
the largest local authorities based in the Greater
Manchester area in England. Both authorities
are responsible for providing their communities
with a range of library services, including the
provision of extensive collections, local computer
and internet facilities and home delivery services
that cater for local members of the public.
Stockport Council has 15 libraries located in the
borough, together with an additional depot that
acts as a back-office support function and manages
the authority’s home delivery service. The depot,
which is responsible for receiving new stock and
dealing with issues and returns generated through
the home delivery service, handles approximately
5,000 transactions each month and receives on
average 30 boxes of RFID tagged items per day.
Similarly, Trafford Council, which has a total of 14
self-service libraries, also includes a central depot,
which is responsible for undertaking the delivery
of new stock for all its branches and handling
their reserved / in transit items. As with Stockport’s
depot, Trafford Council can deal with up to 30
boxes of new items on a daily basis, as well as
around seven boxes of in transit items each day.
Previously, the process of dealing with these items
meant that both Stockport and Trafford Councils
needed to unpack each box delivered to the depot,
individually scan each item to confirm receipt and
assign to the relevant branch / library user, and then
repackage to be dispatched. Realising that this
process was taking over an hour for each box and
required several members of staff, both authorities
wanted an option that would allow them to streamline
the process and get items dispatched much faster.
Solution
Based on their objectives, the obvious solution
to the authorities’ needs was Bibliotheca’s
smartstock™ 500 mass reading device. The
smartstock™ 500 is designed to read multiple RFID
tagged items simultaneously, meaning that libraries
can process the receipt of stock in bulk whilst still
in its original packaging, eliminating the need to
take it out of its container and scan it individually.
The system can read up to 50 items in around 10
seconds and comes complete with Bibliotheca’s
smartstock™ manager software, which interacts
with most existing ILS / LMS to process a variety
of transactions and orders. In addition to
receipting
new
stock
direct
from a library’s supplier, the
smartstock™ 500 allows back-office
operations to process items that are
in transit (on loan) between different
libraries, to check-out multiple items
to a particular account and to
check-in multiple bulk items from
one or more locations. This has
significant benefits in the movement
of stock between services, such
as mobile libraries, school loans
and private loans – such as
local hospitals and care homes.
Trafford Council has been able to deliver stock to branches more quickly since
installing the smartstock™ 500, meaning that customers have access to new books sooner.
[email protected] | www.bibliotheca.com | smartlibraries
Case Study: Stockport and Trafford Councils
smartstock™ 500 devices were deployed to each
library depot, allowing both Stockport and Trafford
Councils to automate the process of receipting
and paying for new stock in order that it can be
dispatched quickly to the relevant branches and
placed on the shelves quicker, satisfying each
library’s users. Furthermore, the communication
between the reader and the ILS / LMS enables the
Councils to complete several tasks, such as satisfying
reservations, and checking items in / out to different
locations during one transaction, rather than having
to undertake several duties to complete each task.
”The smartstock™ 500
has dramatically improved
the way we
handle new stock”
Trafford Council are also experiencing a speedier
process with the smartstock™ 500 and are saving
on average around 20 FTE hours each day since
installing the device. Furthermore, using the system
has meant that the size of their service team has
been reduced, allowing staff members to transfer
to other areas of the library, while the team
has been able to take on other responsibilities.
Simon Davis, Service Support Manager at Trafford
Council, said: “use of the smartstock™ 500 has
dramatically improved the way we handle new stock.
By reducing the time taken to receipt new items we
have reduced the size of and integrated more
processes into the Stock Services team. In addition
our stock is now delivered to branches more quickly,
meaning that customers have access to new books
sooner.”
Simon Davis,
Service Support Manager,
Trafford Council
Results
The smartstock™ 500 has increased the efficiency of Stockport’s
back-office operations dramatically.
G-LBCS1019 EN/001
Both authorities have seen dramatic results since the
installations. One of the main benefits that Stockport
has experienced is the amount of time saved
when processing new boxed items from suppliers.
A process that would once take 20 minutes to
complete now takes a matter of seconds and can
be done in one easy, quick transaction. Additionally,
as the system is so easy to use, any member of staff
can complete the transactions, meaning that there
is always someone at hand to receipt and dispatch
items, even during holiday periods. With around
30 transactions per day, this was equivalent to
a minimum of 10 man hours per day. Having installed
the smartstock™ 500, this has been reduced
to less than 1 hour total transaction time.
Charles Goldman, ICT Officer at Stockport Council
commented: “the smartstock™ 500 has increased the
efficiency of our back-office operations dramatically;
the system is incredibly reliable and has enabled us
to automate and speed-up tasks meaning we can
get items delivered to our libraries much faster.”
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