Case Story: Naestved Library

Setting new standards for collection control and distribution in naestved

“With IMMS our highly qualified staff saves a lot of time on moving materials to the right location – time the staff now can spend on keeping our service to the patrons on a truly high level.”

Michael Olsen, Deputy Manager, Naestved Library

About the library

The main library in Naestved is centrally located in the town and shares the address with other citizen services. The library has an annual circulation of more than half a million materials and offers the patrons access to a further four branches. The library offers free lending of e.g. books, magazines, music, movies, paintings, and games to the approximately 20,000 active users. In the library, there is access to the internet for both children and adults. There is plenty of inspiration to read and learn, experience and think, as well as space for just meeting, talking or listening to music.

The challenge​

Inefficient workflow and manual handling of materials slowed flow of materials

Naestved Library realized, that the overview of the collection was lacking, and valuable, scarce staff resources disappeared into assessing correct placements and moving materials around. Materials were stranding rather than floating and consequently were not sufficiently available to the patrons. It became evident that new technology was needed to keep a high service level, and the library reached out to Lyngsoe Systems to learn more about IMMS.

 

The solution

IMMS™ has created a view of the true collection and a significantly better distribution of materials

Intelligent Material Management System™ (IMMS) from Lyngsoe Systems was introduced in 2016, and the library now harvests the benefits from the robust processes, which have been integrated into IMMS since its conception with Aarhus and Copenhagen libraries. IMMS utilizes the advanced logistics-algorithms in the software and the information from the RFID tags to guide materials, where they are needed the most. The thorough process with the inclusion of the subject specialists in the mapping process and the proceeding, controllable operation of the system, where the materials RFID tags are registered at every action, has created a view of the true collection and a significantly better, active distribution of the collection across the branches.

The material hotel, functioning as a buffer zone to avoid overfilled shelves, is placed openly in the main library, making all materials available to the reading-eager patrons. The mobile client in IMMS guides the staff through the shelves for a fast location of the materials on the active picking list. The list updates as the RFID tags are read by the smartphone. Items on hold are made available to the patrons fast and paperless.

 

Benefits

Improved control and overview of the collection

The introduction of the Intelligent Material Management System™ (IMMS) provides Naestved Library a significantly improved overview of the true trimmed collection and distributes the floating materials to provide patrons a varied selection in all branches.

  • Significantly improved control and overview of the collection
  • Educated librarians are to a much higher degree able to focus on servicing the patrons, while IMMS guides staff easily through the optimized processes
  • New materials are distributed evenly based on demand to the branches and the picking lists, e.g. of slow-movers, on the mobile client free up space
  • A large reduction in time spent on moving materials around to create shelf space
  • The weeding processes have become robust and the paperless holds provide a fast circulation of popular materials.

 

The results

Improved overview of the trimmed collection and distribution of the floating materials

“With IMMS, we have been able to move the focus of the educated librarians to provide good service to the patrons – to the delight of everybody – and there has been a great support in the process. We now have a much better overview and control of our collection, which we now also have a real view of and which we continuously trim.” Michael Olsen, Deputy Manager

“The IMMS software very swiftly decides the best destination for a material and the mobile clients picking lists make it easy and fast to find the way through the library and get the materials for the next patron.” Lis Jensen, System Administrator