West Palm Beach Public Librarymeets the challenge with RFID and automation

Case story | Lyngsoe Library Systems

West Palm Beach Public Library was challenged with

covering more than twice as much square footage with

basically the same number of staff.

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2 | West Palm Public Library case story

The West Palm Beach Public Library in

Florida serves a diverse population of over

100,000 city residents and has about 91,309

registered borrowers, many of them from

outside the city limits. In April 2009, the

library moved from a 34,000 to an 85,000

square foot building. In the old building,

the staff was circulating about 600,000

items a year. They knew moving to the new,

expanded building would mean a dramatic

increase in usage.

THE CHALLENGE: COVERING MORE

FLOOR SPACE WITHOUT MORE STAFF

The new library building would have four

floors instead of two, resulting in more

service points to staff. According to Library

Director Chris Murray, the challenge was

how to cover more than twice as much

square footage with basically the same

number of staff.

The staff identified RFID technology and

particularly automated materials handling

as a key way to deal with the anticipated

increase in circulation. While at the 2008

PLA Conference they evaluated systems

and were attracted to Lyngsoe Library

Systems (then FKI Logistex) because of its

robust capabilities. In follow-up research

they were impressed with FKI’s solid experi-

ence in materials handling and the company

received very favorable ratings from cus-

tomers who had this equipment. Murray

acknowledged there are always going to be

issues with technology and machinery, so

he was especially impressed with what he

heard regarding Lyngsoe’s commitment to

resolving problems quickly.

Murray presented the library’s case to the

City Administrator, citing figures showing

that automating with RFID and a returns

sorting system would save 75 percent of

the staff time associated with checkin

and checkout. The capital expenditure

was approved and the entire collection of

approximately 133,000 items was tagged

before the move to the new building.

SIGNIFICANT TIME SAVINGS ON

DVDS, CDS AND RESERVES

Movies and music represent about 40 per-

cent of West Palm Beach’s circulation, with

about 1,000 DVDs and CDs checked out

every day. Prior to implementing RFID and

the Lyngsoe automated returns system the

manual labor associated with circulating

these materials was tremendous. Staff had

to open and close each item during check-

out and checkin to verify that the right item

was in the case and to manually de-sensitize

and re-sensitize the security strip. With the

Lyngsoe system, tags on the discs and tags

on the box are compared during checkin to

verify that the right disc is in the right box

and the security is automatically re-sensi-

tized when items are returned. If the system

reads that the wrong item is in the case, the

Lyngsoe system sends the item back out to

the customer to insert the correct disc in

the case.

“The Lyngsoe system has made an incred-

ible difference in the staff time needed to

process AV materials. About 90 percent

of the CDs and DVDs no longer have to be

examined at checkin — and none have to be

examined at checkout.”

The Lyngsoe system has also created effi-

ciencies in handling “holds” (reserved

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items). “In the old days, you had to empty

the book drop and check in all the materials

one by one before you’d process the holds.

The delay could add an extra day to when

the patron would actually get the item.”

With the Lyngsoe system, as soon as an item

comes through the wall the system knows

it’s a hold and it goes directly to the holds

bin. The library’s integrated library system

notifies the patron by email or voice mail

that the item is available for pickup. The

system prints out a slip that has a code for

open reserves pickup. Patrons come in, pick

up their reserved item on the open shelves,

and can proceed to the self-check machines

— all without the need for staff intervention.

“The Lyngsoe system has allowed us to

improve our patron service in an expanded

building without the significant costs asso-

ciated with adding staff. There’s no way we

could manage 50 percent more circulation

in a building 2.5 times larger than our old

building without this technology.”

West Palm Beach’s implementation of Lyngsoe’s RFID and returns sorting system saves 75 percent of the staff time

associated with checkin and checkout.

West Palm Public Library case story | 3

1. Excellent return on investment of

public money. Murray estimates the

payback time for the system in terms

of the staff they didn’t have to hire is

about 4.5 years. “There’s no doubt that

we’re saving money for our city with

this system. We haven’t had to add any

staff to the Circulation Department,

despite the 50 percent increase in

circulation.”

2. Technology frees up staff time. Murray

sees especially the incredible labor-

saving on AV materials where automation

eliminates much of the manual work

of checkin and checkout. “You can’t

eliminate shelving the books — you need

people for that. But the labor-intensive

part of checkin and checkout — opening

media cases, re-sensitizing security

strips, separating out holds — that’s what

the Lyngsoe system replaces.”

3. Improved patron service without

adding staff. In just a year the library

has realized over 95 percent of check-

outs with self-check and close to 100

percent of checkins using the Lyngsoe

self-return. Murray says the instant

checkin with the Lyngsoe system is a

real selling point with patrons. “We

limit the number of DVDs a patron can

have out at a time. In the old days even

though items were returned in the

book drop, they were still technically

checked out. With the Lyngsoe sys-

tem, items are instantly checked in so

patrons have their full limit available to

them when they go to check out.”

4. Quality and reliability. Murray says

once you have the system it’s the

library’s life’s blood. It’s got to work.

This means making sure you have a

machine that is industrial quality and

reliable — something that is designed

to run every day.

5. Support staff committed to the

library’s success. West Palm Beach

had a very tight timeframe for getting

all the pieces in place for their library’s

grand opening. “Lyngsoe worked

closely with us to get the installers on

site and the trainers there at the right

time, and they were here for the grand

opening. They stayed with us through

the whole process.”

MURRAY CITES KEY BENEFITS OF LYNGSOE SYSTEM

Chris Muray,

Library Director

Lyngsoe Systems’ quality assurance system is certified according to DS/EN ISO 9001-2000.

All hardware and software are manufactured, documented and delivered in accordance with

ISO quality standards.

QUALITY SYSTEM DS/EN ISO 9001

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