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West Allis Public Libraryat the forefront of technology
Case story | Lyngsoe Library Systems
The West Allis Public Library serves a diverse community in
suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The current library was built in
1989, consolidating the collections of three smaller libraries into
one location. As has been the case in many public libraries, the
West Allis Public Library has suffered severe budget cutbacks,
resulting in reduced hours in 2004 that continue today.
2 | West Allis Public Library case story
The library participates in the Milwaukee
County Federated Library System (MCFLS),
a membership organization of fifteen pub-
lic libraries in the City of Milwaukee and
suburban Milwaukee County communities
that share resources. A daily delivery sys-
tem is coordinated through MCFLS.
THE CHALLENGE: HANDLING
COUNTYWIDE MATERIALS
The West Allis Public Library enjoys heavy
community support and has a high circu-
lation for a library its size. According to
Library Director Michael Koszalka, the chal-
lenge of managing materials efficiently
goes far beyond coping with the day-to-
day circulation of his library. “Our building
is located in a very convenient area for the
county. This means we are inundated with
materials returned to us that belong to
other libraries in the MCFLS. Our staff had
to manually sort through all those materi-
als to separate ours from other libraries in
the system.”
The task of sorting materials was not insig-
nificant. To sort, pack and get ready for the
MCFLS daily delivery service meant that
West Allis staff were handling a couple of
million items a year, more than double the
library’s own annual circulation of around
800,000. “Our library probably deals with
more items than any other library in the
system. Although we receive some recipro-
cal borrowing compensation from MCFLS,
we had to find a way to deal more effi-
ciently with all these materials, whether
they were ours or belonged to another
library in Milwaukee County,” Koszalka
said.
Given budget and staffing constraints,
Koszalka knew they needed to look to
technology for some relief and began
investigating RFID and sorting
systems. In 2005, the library
received a very generous bequest
from a grateful patron, with a
stipulation that the money be
used on services that would bene-
fit the library and the community.
The decision was made to use
some of the money to fund self-
check, RFID tags and conversion,
and a returns sorting system.
THE LYNGSOE SOLUTION
In 2006, the library had the
money to move forward with
RFID technology. They selected
3M™ as their vendor and purchased tags
in bulk by partnering with the Wauwatosa
Public Library. With the money saved they
had the funding to consider a sorting sys-
tem. “3M had a relationship with Lyngsoe
Systems (then FKI Logistex) so we felt this
was the way to go. We had a demo of the
system and were very impressed with what
it could do for us.”
Since the sorting system was going to be
installed in an existing building, significant
modifications needed to be made to the
circulation room. Koszalka said Lyngsoe
worked with them every step of the way to
figure out how to make the system work.
Koszalka said that before they imple-
mented their Lyngsoe sorting system they
relied on library pages to physically check
in all the materials and re-activate the 3M™
Tattle-Tape™ security strips. This was a
very labor intensive process to touch every
item and set aside non-West Allis materi-
als. With the sorter, items are instantly
checked in, the security is automatically
engaged and materials are sorted into five
Before the Lyngsoe sorting system was implemented, items had to be physically checked in and the security strips
re-activated. With the sorter, items are instantly checked in, the security is automatically engaged and materials
are sorted into five bins
West Allis Public Library case story | 3
bins — children’s, media, nonfiction, adult
fiction and “dump” (non-West Allis items
as well as exceptions or reserves).
WORKFLOW CHANGES YIELD
BENEFITS FOR STAFF AND THE
COMMUNITY
According to Koszalka, the sorting sys-
tem creates huge efficiencies because
it does what they were taking valuable
staff time to do. It also eliminates repeti-
tive stress injuries, which can be an issue
when staff perform the same movements
over and over, as their pages were doing.
The Lyngsoe system has brought welcome
changes to staff workflow and better ser-
vice for patrons.
Koszalka said the community appreciates
that the library is making things easier
for busy working people and empowering
patrons to access library services when
and where it is convenient for them. “When
we received the bequest from our library
patron we wanted to use the money to
implement a system that would benefit our
patrons. With our Lyngsoe returns sorting
system, books get on the shelves faster.
When a patron comes in looking for a title,
it’s on the shelf, not in the back room. There
is no question that we made the right deci-
sion for our community.”
• Automatic and immediate check-in
of materials. With the old book drops,
items would pile up especially on holi-
days. When the library re-opened there
would be a huge backlog of materials
to check in. With Lyngsoe, items are
immediately checked in and sorted,
eliminating the backlog. And, patrons
appreciate receiving a receipt as proof
that they have returned their items.
• Improved patron service. With the
sorting system, the turnover from
when an item is returned to when it
gets on the shelf is 50% faster than
before, so items that show available
in the catalog are much more likely
to be on the shelves, not in the back
room. Before the sorting system was
installed, the circulation room was full
of book trucks and bins. It’s rare now
to find several trucks in the room at
one time.
• Streamlined work for staff. The num-
ber of items staff handle has been
greatly reduced to only what’s in the
“dump” to look for exceptions and
reserves. With the self-check machines
and returns sorting system, in just
one year the library’s circulation has
flipped from highly staff-intensive to
about 72% self-serve.
• Source of community pride. Having
an automated returns sorting system
has put the library in the forefront
of technology. The community has
embraced the changes and is proud
that their library is on the cutting
edge. The library routinely has visi-
tors from much larger libraries who
are interested in seeing their sorting
operation, establishing West Allis as a
leader in library technology.
• Scalability of the system. Koszalka said
the library has two RFID return chutes
that are not linked to the sorting sys-
tem. As budget becomes available he
plans to add more sorts and link those
two chutes to add to the efficiency of
the system.
• Customer-focused service and sup-
port. From the beginning Lyngsoe
worked closely with West Allis staff to
configure the system to work in their
setting and stayed onsite for training
for almost a week to ensure all staff
were comfortable with the system.
Koszalka appreciates the 24/7 hot-
line technical support and Lyngsoe’s
ability to access the library’s system
remotely for diagnostics and testing.
“They stand behind their product and
do what it takes to fix the problem,
sometimes at considerable time and
expense to them.”
KOSZALKA POINTS TO THE FOLLOWING BENEFITS THAT ANY SIZE LIBRARY CAN REALIZE WITH A LYNGSOE SYSTEM
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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