London, ON - The Unionville library, part of the Markham Public Libraries group of five public libraries, recently installed the 3M™ Digital Library System - the first library in Canada to do so. The 14,000 square foot library houses a collection of almost 113,600 books and audiovisual materials and meets the needs of approximately 58,500 people.
The Unionville library installed, as part of the overall 3M™ Digital Identification System, a 3M™ Digital Self-Check™ system, which operates much like an automated banking machine. It allows library patrons to check out their own materials, freeing staff time, which can then be devoted to other library tasks or to enhance library services. The system can process both bar coded and digital ID items. They also chose to install three 3M™ Digital Staff Workstations - a new staff workstation that can resensitize and discharge materials literally as fast as they can be moved through. It combines item scanning and security in one operation and as with the Self-Check™, can process both bar coded and digital ID items. Twenty thousand 3M™ Digital Identification Tags were put into place. These tags allow for accurate tracking of all circulating materials in the library. A tiny memory chip stores all the information needed to track the item and it is rewritable if the information should change during the life of the item. The library also adopted the 3M™ Digital Library Assistant, a library management tool that can hold information for more than a million items and allows for simplicity in shelf-reading, re-shelving, sorting, searching and weeding.
"This system supports our new service delivery model, which includes more customer self-service," says Catherine Biss, acting chief executive officer, Markham Public Libraries. Biss also believes efficiency will be greatly improved with the 3M™ system in place "since Circulation Department employees will be able to serve customers faster, customer waiting time and line-ups will be shorter and customers who want to check out their own items will be able to do so. The system also addresses ergonomic issues for Circulation Desk employees. This is part of our improvement strategy to lessen the possibility of repetitive strain injury."
Beyond these obvious human benefits the library foresees budget benefits as well. "We see this as a better use of our resources," Biss continues "because this 3M equipment will permit Circulation Department employees to improve the process by circulating items faster per transaction, reducing customer waiting time and by encouraging customers to check items out themselves using the self-service checkout unit."
The 3M™ Digital Identification System is based on radio frequency identification technology, which in turn is designed to optimize collection management in libraries. This improves staff efficiency and patron service. The system allows libraries to better locate lost and missing items, perform shelf-reading, re-shelving, and weeding in a smaller time frame.
The global leader in library security for nearly 30 years, 3M protects literally billions of individual items in thousands of libraries throughout the world. For more information on the 3M™ Digital Identification System, visit: www.3M.com/library or call 1-888-364-3577.
Contact 3M Canada PR department.
3M and Self-Check are trademarks of 3M. Used under license in Canada.
