Case Story: Arapahoe Libraries

The Implementation

Change is always challenging. Change during a pandemic even more so. Arapahoe Libraries core team was trained remotely on IMMS™ due to travel limitations. The core team then trained one to

two ‘IMMS™ Ambassadors’ at each branch. They created training bins with discarded materials to provide hands-on practice working with the mobile client, enabling them to learn new processes for batch processing and shelving items. This helped staff feel prepared for the actual processing steps before launch day, but it didn’t give them a complete understanding of the systemwide vision and purposes of IMMS™. That understanding came with time as they saw changes to their shelves.

It took time for items to get processed with IMMS™, but staff gradually began to see shelves adjust, balance, and manage duplicate copies. Learning to use the IMMS™ inventory function provided a major turning point for staff, because it helped them understand the system’s shelf management benefits. They also enjoyed the new picking process with walking order hold lists and instant capture, and they quickly started to prefer it over the old method.

In the first year of IMMS™ operation, there were technical challenges to overcome. “When you’re an early adopter, that’s part of the agreement,” said White, ”You have to be able to roll with what you’re dealt, pivot as necessary, and keep your eyes focused on the end goal.”

It took a couple of years to unlearn old processes, but now the library system is seeing efficiencies everywhere. When staff pick holds from the IMMS™ mobile app, their list follows the order of the shelves in the library, so everything is picked sequentially. The team recently implemented the weeding function through the same process and have received positive feedback from staff on how quick it is. These types of efficiencies are popping up everywhere.

Arapahoe Libraries learned from the change management experience and came away with advice for other libraries tackling similar projects. “If we could do it all over again, we would spend a lot more time discussing the ‘why’ with our staff and making sure our leadership team was set up more successfully to answer questions and address concerns.”

Outcomes

The user experience for patrons at Arapahoe Libraries has greatly improved with IMMS™. Hold turnaround times now average less than 36 hours, whereas they used to take 3-5 days. There is also collection variety on the shelves at each branch thanks to intelligent distribution. Arapahoe Libraries set general rules in IMMS™ that no library can receive more than 3 copies of a title or fill more than 65% of their shelves. Consequently, branches are now more evenly stocked with fewer redundant items. The rural libraries received positive feedback from patrons expressing appreciation for the increased variety on the shelves.

For staff, daily workflows are faster and easier than ever. When staff pick holds, their list follows the order of the shelves in the library, so everything is picked sequentially. Float requests, where staff would spend hours checking which library in the district could take their overstock, have been eliminated. Shifting is now done based on proactive strategy, rather than reactively to make space. Systemwide inventory, which used to take 3 years, can now be completed in a few months, and could even be shortened to a few days if needed.

Overall manual materials handling has also been drastically reduced thanks to IMMS™ and central sorting. Libraries no longer spend time separating transit contents for each of the other locations since it’s being done in bulk centrally. When libraries receive bins of incoming materials, they are already pre-sorted to the different areas of their library.

From the administrative side, system settings can be easily adjusted to make IMMS™ work in alignment with systemwide goals, providing access to detailed reports and insights into item movements.

The IMMS™ team now meets with leadership monthly to discuss questions, comments and trends relating to IMMS, and there is a lot of enthusiasm and optimism around what more they can still do.