ISSUE 36 | SUMMER 2015
Opening the door to opportunity: What does the future hold for your library? Manchester Metropolitan University Making the leap to Capita’s cloud-based library solution
Lending a helping hand Find out how public libraries can transform their communities
Summer Reading Challenge Readers get ‘appy’ this summer
Gaming for Libraries
Game Pack 2 Available Now! To watch the video and find out more visit www.librarytreasures.com
WELCOME TO PANLIBUS MAGAZINE, ISSUE 36
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The summer issue 2015
Change for the better
Hello and welcome to Panlibus Magazine, issue 36, summer 2015. In this issue, our focus is on opening up libraries and engaging a wider audience. Our stories will hopefully inspire you and illustrate how effective change – something of a constant in today’s fast-paced, technology-led world – can achieve increased access.
18-19 Record-breaking readers get ‘appy’ this summer!
4-5 Offsetting the costs of publishing and journal subscriptions in open access Liam Earney, Director of Jisc Collections, explains how Jisc helps universities manage the transition to open access. 6-8 If you’ve got it, flaunt it: Strengthening the value offer of public libraries Back in demand – Grace Kempster explores how public libraries can offer vital community support and services. 10-11 Change for the better Ruth Jenkins shares her experiences of MMU library’s move from on-site servers to cloud with Capita. 13 Focusing resources on your service, not your system Capita’s Paula Keogh discusses how the evolving business case for Assist Managed Service ensures library staff are free to do what they do best.
14-15 Case study: Gloucestershire County Council Choosing AMS to take care of Gloucestershire’s 41 libraries has brought benefits to staff and customers. 16 Partner news collectionHQ’s new Scheduling module is available now! 18-19 Record-breaking readers get ‘appy’ this summer! Snap up the app that makes reading rewarding! Neil Wishart, Director at SOLUS, talks about this year’s Summer Reading Challenge. 21 Events, webinars and training sessions Let’s get together – face to face or online. 22 Nielsen LibScan data Includes the Top 10 titles in Politics and Government 2015 year-to-date.
Change can open up all kinds of new possibilities, as Manchester Metropolitan University library staff discovered when they took the leap into the cloud in the form of Chorus, Capita’s fully hosted library solution. Ruth Jenkins shares her experience of the transition on page 10, offering some great tips for a smooth move. On page 13, you can find out how moving to Capita’s Assist Managed Service gives you the freedom to concentrate on what really matters, and on page 14, you can see what this means for Gloucestershire County Council Libraries and Information Service – improved customer service and resource savings. Although the advent of open access (research outputs made freely available for all) has meant a change for the better in many ways, universities and their libraries have borne much of the financial burden. On page 4, read how Jisc Collections is easing the load by partnering with publishers to help offset costs. In her inspiring piece on page 6, Grace Kempster offers some surprising insights into how public libraries can transform local communities, engaging better to extend their reach to a much wider audience. And as the seasons change, the Summer Reading Challenge is back and will certainly make the local library a fun place for families. On page 18, Neil Wishart explains how the exciting new free app from SOLUS can turn reading into even more of an adventure for this summer. I hope you enjoy our summer issue. We love to hear from our readers, so if there’s anything you’d like to share, please do get in touch.
Victoria Wilson Editor, Panlibus Magazine panlibus-editor@capita.co.uk
Panlibus Magazine is a Capita production
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www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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Jisc
Offsetting the costs of publishing and journal subscriptions in open access Liam Earney Director of Jisc Collections Jisc
Here Liam discusses the impact of the transition to open access and shares insights into the work Jisc is leading with publishers to help universities and their libraries offset the costs. While the advent of open access (OA) – whereby research outputs are made freely available for all to access – means so much to so many, managing the financial side during the transition is a concern for higher education institutions (HEIs) and their libraries. There is a very real worry that as the sector moves towards a new model of publishing and subscription, universities will end up paying more. Article processing charges (APCs) have emerged as one of the most popular methods for managing costs, but they are not without their problems. Last year, Jisc gathered data on APCs from 23 of the UK’s research-intensive universities. We tracked the charges they paid over a seven-year period and found that the number increased exponentially during 2013 and 2014. That data leads us to forecast that, for many of these universities, the number of APCs they pay will more than double by 2018.
Uncovering the true cost of OA Two questions require urgent answers: what this increase in numbers will cost and how HEIs will afford it unless there is some intervention. As a first step we did some detailed work last year to uncover how much it really costs universities to comply with OA policies.
author or their institution has paid an APC) includes journal subscription charges, APCs and also the significant but sometimes hidden administration costs of managing APC transactions. One institution has recently reported that completing each APC transaction takes three to four staff-hours. This mounts quickly when you consider how many articles from various departments each institution will be submitting. So, what’s the answer?
Offsetting costs
Each of these initial systems has its own distinct features. In one, publishers provide credit for future publication of articles when universities take out subscriptions. In another, universities make extra (but modest) payments upfront to pay APCs in the future, while a third requires publishers to offer vouchers to institutions when they pay for publication of articles, redeemable against the price of journal subscriptions.
Working with a mandate from Research Libraries UK (RLUK), the Russell Group, the Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL) and Universities UK (UUK), and in response to an open letter from David Willetts at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), we asked publishers of hybrid journals to work with us to make the transition easier. Together we embarked on a journey to develop systems to offset the cost of a university’s APCs against the subscription fees that they pay for access to a hybrid journal. We worked towards establishing offset systems for UK institutions, helping them to overcome the global vanguard they find themselves in, facilitated through the payment of APCs. Many of the publishers we spoke to were keen to support this move. In partnership, we developed a number of different offsetting systems for trial, and as early as late last year several large publishers of hybrid journals started to implement them.
The price of the APCs is just one part of the true cost of publishing in OA. As things stand currently, the cost of publication in hybrid journals (those subscription titles in which some articles are OA because the
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Developing new systems
Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
I go back to the word ‘initial’. All systems are a ‘work in progress’ and very likely to need further refinement as they come to be tested in the real world. At Jisc we will continue to work with libraries and publishers to monitor how well each system is helping universities financially and practically. All stakeholders in the process are keen to ensure that publishers are not paid twice over – both by the research department and the library. It’s also important to make sure that new systems do not add administrative cost. By reviewing and refining as these systems evolve, we can make sure this does not happen.
Setting down principles For everyone, it is encouraging to see that more journal publishers are becoming keen to introduce offsetting systems of their own. To support them, we have just published new guidelines to share leading thinking and best
Jisc
practice. ‘Principles for Offset Agreements’ sets out five principles which UK HEIs expect will drive the design of effective offset systems and then gives a clear rationale for each.
to operate simply, on a cash basis, to ensure transparency and keep administration simple.
Insights from the library The input of university library directors is of course of utmost importance to ensure this transition is as smooth as possible. To this end we have canvassed the opinions of a number of library directors in HEIs and included their insights in the document for publishers for whom this is all completely new ground.
The principles are designed to support a managed transition to fully gold OA, involving publishing in a fully OA journal or website, in the spirit of the Finch Report. They emphasise that offsetting systems should be inclusive, removing barriers to OA and ensuring that the burden of the transition is shared between all parties. They also require such systems to be open to all subscribing institutions and
OA and can help to address the key issues for institutions including affordability, transparency and administrative simplicity. The ‘Principles for Offset Agreements’ will be updated as we gather more information on how models work in practice and as the global situation for OA develops, so that existing models can be improved and new ones developed.
The time for other publishers to start working with us on developing offsetting systems is now, so that the unsustainable increase in publishing costs that HEIs are now facing can be brought under control. FIND OUT MORE www.jisc.ac.uk
The document explains how offsetting systems will assist with the transition to full gold
www.jisc.ac.uk/blog 020 3697 5800
www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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If you’ve got it, flaunt it
If you’ve got it, flaunt it Strengthening the value offer of public libraries Let’s look at five examples of value offers: Grace Kempster
It was really fascinating working for five months to resolve the budget gap for 2014/15 in Northamptonshire County Council. Working primarily with colleagues in Adult and Children’s Social Care where the demands are greatest for every local authority, three things struck me during this time. Customer services, including libraries, are really good at delivering transformation. They see it as a matter of collaboration with people to reshape their services, including saying “no” nicely. They see the rapid changes in expectation, often set by business and retail trends, and are not afraid to embrace lean working and to stop doing things in a timely way, weathering any short-term resistance. At any one time, there will co-exist a range of cultures in a local authority, together with mind-sets about what is possible, what can change and differing risk appetites. The interdependency of public services is already very significant and strife-filled, with agencies seeking to shift fiscal burdens to others, and where the skills of creative negotiation rather than compromise are at a premium.
There are big opportunities for libraries to come in stage left with bold, effective and cheaper solutions. It is clear that public libraries need to position themselves rapidly as the solution to all kinds of local ‘wellbeing’, and to count the savings to demand management and early intervention as hard assets in a context of spiralling demand.
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1. Basic money management and debt advice Many people are literally worried sick about their money, and any fiscal management improvement makes a big improvement to stress reduction. Using social fund investment, Northamptonshire CC skilled all frontline Library Plus staff with a certified basic debt advice and money management qualification in just 11 weeks. Thanks to colleagues in the pioneering Northamptonshire CAB with whom we partnered. This delivered two benefits: firstly, more direct, consistent and confident support available for citizens; and secondly, earlier intervention helped reduce demand escalation for hard-pressed specialist and advice services, allowing these teams to focus on the more serious and complex cases. We were completely overwhelmed by the surprising number of staff who wanted to train as CAB advisers, and in the growth of credit union accounts by library staff, many of whom now personally advocate their use and strengthen the credit union with balanced saving and lending.
2. Delivering registration and early participation events for children’s centres Parents resist the stigma of children’s centres. Instead, public libraries offer a key solution and a new pathway so that children’s centre services can focus their expertise on those complex family situations that need them most. Since June 2014, Northamptonshire CC has delivered this fused service for families. Working with health visitors, we’ve achieved 100% Bookstart reach alongside weekend events throughout the year, unbounded by school hours.
Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
Image: Radu Bercan / Shutterstock.com
If you’ve got it, flaunt it
It’s a great start that the Libraries Taskforce delivers the basics of free Wi-Fi in and around every public library. Some 50% of library services already have it and can evidence the ways in which this enables the IT buddying offer and space use. Clearly, it’s not without challenges to deliver 72 commissioned events per week and to be part of Ofsted accountability, but it does result in about £500,000 of funding diverted to meet growing demand for intensive family work.
Libraries love to help everyone get on and everybody wants them to thrive, to be around for their kids and to do more and more as the convenience store of local life.
5. Getting the basics right
3. Delivering enterprise hubs Early on, we recognised that most conversations with customers who ventured into the library were work related. This could concern anything from getting jobs, gaining employability through new skills, resilience to come through tough times or the option to set up a new business. Over the last two years our proactive approach has seen over 100 start-ups thrive. Libraries are a cornerstone of economic wellbeing and business success, and the development of intellectual property expertise is just the next stage of this awardwinning success.
4. Success breeds success The evidence of impact becomes the bid for new investment. For example, if the frontline customer advisers can learn and deliver against new skills, just think what they could do if skilled in the Institute of Public Health’s Behavioural Change module. Amongst the hype about dwindling book issues and the demise of libraries, we do well to remind ourselves and our very surprised customers just how popular libraries are. So, a simple thing we did early on was to have a permanent notice, now on digital signage: “Thank you for visiting. Yesterday [500] people visited this library”.
It’s a great start that the Libraries Taskforce delivers the basics of free Wi-Fi in and around every public library. Some 50% of library services already have it and can evidence the ways in which this enables the IT buddying offer and space use. However, it is what the free Wi-Fi enables that matters, and increasingly our urban centres are simply offering free Wi-Fi as the norm. As social businesses, with increasing diversification of investment and income models, libraries across the UK must all be open on Sunday afternoons. They must have opening hours that are as consistent and easy to remember as shops and are workingfamily-friendly and weekend-rich. And most importantly, they must have stuff people want in them. This includes books, delightful surprises and the chance to get involved in local life. Auckland City Libraries have been open on Sundays for over a decade. They are the busiest days.
Continue reading over the page to discover Grace’s top five tips for today’s library leaders.
We also do well to remember that many people actually enjoy the community hubbub and diversity the modern public library offers.
www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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If you’ve got it, flaunt it
Public libraries are an extraordinary success story However, they will only remain so if they keep faith with what matters most: 1. Being open conveniently and having lots of stuff to choose from. 2. By making an offer of a commonwealth of knowledge, they enable people to help themselves to the strong, new and diverse. 3. But if the staff and supporters of public libraries think they are just a book-lending business, they will disappear. Books have become a convenient front for really important life-changing, resilience-making, ground-breaking activity – liberating ignorance in a deceptively enjoyable way again and again and again.
Grace Kempster led the award-winning customer and libraries services in Northamptonshire County Council. She spent nine months working directly with the Chief Executive of NCC as Programme Director for budget delivery for five months before assisting him during the set-up phase
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Making individuals and our communities strong, resilient and resourceful is the best way to help. And if the stuff needed to do this is books plus digital and social media, bring it on. The purpose of the Libraries Taskforce is to create a digitally fluent nation which can enable social justice and self-betterment. It just happens that our children are entitled to love reading, so they can read their future; and those who feel at the margins are entitled to feel in charge of their digital lives. This trust in public libraries is the unique selling point. Today’s menu may have different ingredients, but cooking up a great life remains the agenda, delivered by 150 years of being there come rain or shine, and the magic of offering something apparently for nothing.
So to sum up, here are five pieces of advice I impart to library leaders today: 1. Really understand the wider challenge 2. Act fast, boldly and competitively 3. Gather impacts not outputs and cost them well 4. Embrace social business attributes 5. Hold fast to the basics. Amazing staff can transform from process to people and become advisors to customers not assistants to libraries. When you can see what you could be doing – life-changing and really vital stuff – it is really time to let go of processes and go home at the end of each day knowing you have played a bold role in local lives.
of the Chairmanship of the Libraries Task force to deliver the Sieghart Review. As a freelance professional, Grace now focuses on executive coaching and mentoring to transform customer-inspired public services.
Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
FIND OUT MORE grace@kempster.org.uk 07973 283252
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Change for the better
Change for the better Ruth Jenkins, Head of Library Services, Manchester Metropolitan University
Ruth Jenkins, Head of Library Services at Manchester Metropolitan University’s (MMU) library, took the leap into the cloud when the old servers that managed their LMS were coming to the end of their days. With other libraries facing a similar situation, here Ruth shares her experiences to help you navigate your own journey and benefit from stress-free LMS management.
MMU’s facts and stats: Total number of users entering the library – 1.3 million Requests for e-books – 2.6 million Full text article requests – 1.6 million Number of loans – 800,000 Source: SCONUL 2013-2014 In common with many academic libraries, MMU library was at something of a crossroads.
Needless to say, the smooth running of the library is a priority for the student who is up against a deadline and needs to consult the library catalogue at midnight to access that crucial book or journal. So when the university decided to consolidate its five separate library sites down to two buildings, it was the perfect catalyst we needed to move to Chorus, Capita’s fully hosted cloud-based library solution. We also more recently added Capita’s Assist Managed Service (AMS) to proactively manage all system updates.
Time for change
The library already used Alto, Capita’s library management system (LMS), to manage the stock and borrowing history of its many books. Although the system worked well, it ran on our very old servers, and that made it increasingly time consuming to upgrade and keep working smoothly. The technical side of managing the library was starting to pose challenges, as my colleague Jo Ryder, Deputy Library Services
With ageing hardware and too much valuable time taken up managing technical issues, we had to make some important decisions about how to sustain the levels of service that our students and academics expect.
Did we invest in new servers or make the move and select a hosted management system? No decision could be taken lightly. MMU is one of the largest universities in the UK with more than 32,000 students who rely on the library to support their studies day in, day out. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the academic year, MMU’s library serves students who live in university accommodation as well as those who commute from their homes in the surrounding area. As such, we are important as a community hub as well as a critical academic resource.
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Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
Manager, explains, “Our servers were getting old and so routine overnight jobs were taking all night, and if there was a problem, we had to spend time tracking down the cause before it could be solved. “The old set-up also meant we were getting support from a mixture of our internal libraries staff, the university IT team that looked after the network and the server supplier, as well as Capita. If there was a fault, we had to make a lot of phone calls just to resolve it.” It was clear that my team were having to spend too much of their time on routine technical tasks when it would be much better for them to be adding value to the service for our users. Our out-of-hours service was suffering too. Although the library is open 24/7, our library system support staff have normal working hours, so when there was a systems failure, the IT team at the university were unsure who to call upon. One May Day bank holiday, disk space issues caused the sorter and self-service kiosks not to run. It meant the students, who had assignment deadlines and exams approaching, couldn’t borrow the books that they needed. This made us realise we needed to change.
Change for the better
Angela Warlow, who was Library Services Manager at the time, wrote a convincing business case that demonstrated to everyone just what a difference a hosted service could make. Once the decision was made to move, Angela worked tirelessly to implement the change.
A smooth transition
Naturally, the users are our key priority, so having decided to implement Chorus, we wanted to be sure that the move would have as little impact as possible on the day-to-day service we provide. We set a date for March 2014 and the countdown to implementation began. Thanks to a structured series of weekly meetings and conference calls led by Angela, the entire project panel, including library, IT and Capita staff, worked well and ensured nothing fell through the gaps. Everyone knew what their targets were and when they had to be met.
With so much at stake we were naturally a little nervous and we braced ourselves for issues, but when the big day came and our old server was switched off, not one of our users noticed the change. I consider this to be the true mark of success.
The Chorus solution means that we have no servers on our premises, which cuts down on maintenance and puts our minds at rest that the technology that powers our library is in safe hands. Our servers and hardware are all monitored proactively to ensure we have enough disk space, and upgrades and security patches are managed for us. We have extended support hours too, so if we have another issue over a bank holiday weekend, it should be resolved quickly. This is a weight off the minds of our university IT team too. Although we have opted for a fully hosted and managed library service, we still feel in control as there is constant engagement with the team at Capita. My team are much happier with the new system, as Helen Standish, Deputy Library Services Manager, explains:
“I can already see that I will be much less bogged down with day-to-day technical tasks.
With the operational tasks off our hands, we are able to look into some exciting new projects for the library. One of these is providing a self-service laptop loan scheme, which we piloted this year. Students can borrow laptops from the library on an overnight basis, and we have already talked to Capita about how this could be facilitated by Chorus. There are other projects in the pipeline too. We want to make much more use of our management information to look at ways that students use the library service. By examining our data we hope to be able to see how engaged students are with their courses through attendance at lectures, visits to the library and number of books borrowed. We can see, for instance, if there is any correlation between number of items borrowed and degree success. This should give us key insight into the role of the library at MMU and help us to plan for the future. We are all looking forward to making the library an even better place for our students to share resources and achieve their goals. Ruth’s advice to others looking to switch to a hosted solution:
• Undertake a thorough analysis of costs We examined the cost of buying and maintaining new servers, plus the staff time to manage them, and realised a hosted solution was the best option.
• Keep lines of communication open Our changeover went smoothly and I am convinced that this was down to the weekly meetings we had with our staff, Capita and the university network team. It meant nothing was overlooked.
Once our service was hosted by Chorus, we were then ready to move to AMS, giving us a fully managed library service.
Lightening the load
Life is a lot simpler now that our primary relationship is with Capita and we no longer need to talk to multiple support teams to get anything changed.
Looking ahead
• Choose a good partner “Previously, jobs such as changing due dates for bank holidays, Christmas and Easter relied on someone being here before as well as after the event. Now, with AMS, this is all done for us.”
Capita had gone through this process with other libraries before and their knowledge helped ensure this was a smooth experience for us.
FIND OUT MORE www.library.mmu.ac.uk
www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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Assist Managed Service
The evolving business case for Assist Managed Service: Focusing resources on your service, not your system Paula Keogh Account Manager Capita Back in 2011, the University of Central Lancashire, one of Capita’s first Assist Managed Service (AMS) users, cited that one of the key reasons for moving to this model was to free up staff time to focus on developing the service with what precious system resources they had. With AMS in place, they were able to redirect the routine tasks to the remote team of Capita experts. This removed what they referred to in the old set-up as a “bottleneck”, where only one person had the expertise to carry out the technical systems development. Because of this, their user experience enhancements took longer to deliver than they’d have liked. As soon as the day-to-day pressures were removed, the freedom to develop the service was felt immediately. Capita has been acting as a remote system manager for a fifth of our customers for over four years now. We established the service to provide libraries with a reliable way of running their LMS in an environment of ever-dwindling resources. The pressure being placed on in-house systems staff to both manage the
day-to-day routine and simultaneously provide innovation and development for end users was becoming unmanageable in many services. There never seemed to be enough hours in the day. Now with places such as UCLan, University of Wolverhampton, University of Limerick, Worcestershire Libraries, Swindon Libraries, Solihull Libraries, Bracknell Forest and many more using AMS, staff are finding time to concentrate on service enhancements and increase user satisfaction. Part of the reason why AMS is a success is because it shouldn’t just replicate the existing set-up. Like any successful change, it should deliver an even better experience than what went before. Having Capita staff running the Capita LMS means that work is carried out in a timely manner and in a fully supported, standardised way. There’s no need to spend half a day reminding yourself how to do that once-a-year task if the experts who created the system are doing it for you! There’s also no danger of something being developed on your system that is bespoke only to you, which may be difficult to support when the local knowledge of the person who developed it leaves the organisation. Importantly, the actual availability of system resources should no longer be an issue either. If you have a whole team of Capita system
managers at your disposal, sick leave and holidays are immediately gone from your list of things to worry about for such a businesscritical system as your LMS.
Value for money is still heavily emphasised in organisational business plans, so it’s also vitally important to make sure that the very latest features and fixes are applied as soon as they become available. Customers using AMS have the comfort of knowing that their LMS will benefit from the newest software releases upgrades as soon as they need them. Interestingly, the motivations for creating a business case to move to the Assist Managed Service have evolved over the last few years. Due to even greater pressure on staff time and staff skills in this area, we’re seeing a trend where libraries can end up with no systems resources whatsoever, or perhaps one individual is assigned to running the LMS while being responsible for a number of other corporate systems as well. In these situations, we have seen a surge in the number of library services needing a safe pair of hands in which they can entrust the management of the LMS.
Turn over to discover the full story of Assist and hear from a customer directly. Capita is always happy to help our customers ensure they’re getting the most from their LMS, so if you’d like help with creating your own business case to move to the Capita Assist suite of services, please contact libraries@capita.co.uk or call us on 0870 400 5000.
FIND OUT MORE www.capita-software.co.uk/assist 0870 400 5000
www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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Gloucestershire County Council case study
Case study:
Turning the page on library system management Key benefits of Assist Managed Service • Improved service for customers • Time and cost savings equivalent of half an FTE • Peace of mind as system is maintained by those who understand the LMS • Data entry tasks reduced from days to hours • Ensures the LMS is always running the latest software versions • More time available for Gloucestershire County Council Libraries and Information Service to focus on managing the library service
“We know that there is a team of experts looking after the system. Capita has the know-how and resources that we cannot match.” Katie Smith, Digital Library Services Manager, Gloucestershire County Council Libraries and Information Service 14
When Gloucestershire County Council Libraries and Information Service reviewed its library management system, they took the opportunity to reduce the IT administration involved in managing servers and upgrades by choosing Capita’s Assist Managed Service to do the job for them. Relying on an ageing server estate and just a single member of IT staff to keep on top of software and system updates is a headache for any organisation. But when you serve a population of 605,700 and have 31 branch libraries, eight community libraries and two mobile libraries to run, you need a simpler way to manage your library management system (LMS).
Time for change As Gloucestershire’s libraries’ servers began to show their age, the service knew it was time for a change, so as well as upgrading to Capita’s latest library management system they also opted to use Capita’s Assist Managed Service (AMS). Rebecca Dazeley, Countywide Operations Manager at the libraries service, explains, “Like many council libraries, we had just one IT person who was responsible for managing
Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
everything; software updates, data changes, server management, the lot. If something needed doing, he had to do it. “We were always a few updates behind because he had a long to-do list, and when he was on holiday or off sick, scheduled jobs had to be put back. The result was that we were not taking full advantage of our library management system as we were not using the latest versions.”
The start of something new Katie Smith, Digital Library Services Manager, wanted to make sure that whatever changes were made would be for the better: “Capita had supplied our LMS for years and we were happy with the relationship, but when we went out to tender, Capita won because they genuinely came up with the best solution for us.”
Gloucestershire County Council case study
Key features of Capita’s Assist Managed Service Using AMS means that all the system management tasks are handled by Capita remotely. There is no server located on site as the system is hosted and managed by Capita. Capita’s team accesses the system to upgrade software, make required configuration changes to the system and also monitor servers remotely for any issues, such as failures or lack of space for data. They then take corrective action before the issue affects users.
A different chapter “Capita worked very closely with us to get us exactly what we were looking for and the implementation was well managed so that when we switched from our old servers to the AMS service, it happened with minimal impact on staff and borrowers,” says Katie. “Having the latest upgrades means we can immediately take advantage of the most recent software developments, which benefits both staff and customers.” Katie also comments on how this has resulted in fewer concerns about managing the system overall: “We know that there is a team of experts looking after the system. Capita has the know-how and resources that we cannot match.”
• System updates and configuration changes happen in a timely way
• Extended support hours – weekends and evenings
• Proactive system monitoring and corrective actions to avoid issues
• AMS is monitored to agreed service levels
• Management information report creation
• Scheduled system health checks
• Frees staff from routine maintenance and administration
Cost and time savings
Happily ever after
The system has already shown benefits. Time savings to the equivalent of half a full-time employee have been made so that they can focus on service improvement tasks rather than managing the LMS.
AMS keeps the system running so the team at Gloucestershire County Council can concentrate on running the library service itself. Rebecca says, “Before, we lurched from one upgrade to another, but now we have the confidence that the system is functioning as well as it should be.
Another advantage has been the huge reduction in data entry jobs, says Rebecca. “Previously, during the Christmas period the dates books were due back had to be changed for a longer borrowing period, so customers didn’t incur fines when libraries were closed for extended periods. To manually make these changes could take someone from the beginning of December to the New Year. The same would happen at Easter. “Now it takes one email to Capita with each library’s holiday opening times and it is done.”
“Capita has already shown that they take proactive action to avoid issues as when we started to run out of space for all our data, they gave us an early warning and provided some options to resolve the problem. “The best bit is that the responsibility is taken away from one person. There is no discussion about where the fault may lie as there is a dedicated team to resolve any issues.”
For further information about Capita’s Assist Managed Service and the benefits it can help you achieve, please call:
0870 400 5090
email: libraries@capita.co.uk visit: www.capita-software.co.uk/libraries www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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Partner news
Partner news collectionHQ’s revolutionary Scheduling module is available now! collectionHQ, the world’s leading collection performance improvement solution, recently announced the addition of a new module to its evidence-based toolset: the much anticipated Scheduling module, which has been built based upon customer feedback. The new Scheduling module will make managing collections with collectionHQ more efficient than ever. Indeed, since the release of the Scheduling module, collectionHQ customers worldwide have started to plan all future collection management activities better by creating a visual, easy-to-use calendar of tasks for each of the tools within collectionHQ. Task reminders can be emailed to colleagues for action on specified dates with collectionHQ administrators able to monitor task completion. Ian Downie, Director, International Business Development at collectionHQ, added: “This is one of the most strategically significant enhancements to the product we have seen. It brings the ability for our customers to create a detailed calendar of collection management and development activities, share this across their teams, monitor their progress and share the performance results. It will help many libraries integrate the EBSM methodology into their daily workflow by delivering action plans into their inboxes.” To find out more about collectionHQ, please visit www.collectionhq.com
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Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
opus by bibliotheca
Putting librarians at the centre of digital and physical content
opus™ is the new online platform that will change the way libraries engage with their patrons. opus™ provides patrons with unprecedented access to their library and its content, both digital and physical. The revolutionary opus™ platform is powered by liber8:curator™, a powerful new way to bridge the gap between the physical library and its digital users. By helping libraries discover, share, and build customised collections, liber8:curator™ grows and expands with the knowledge and information that only librarians can provide. Contact us at info@bibliotheca.com to learn more.
www.bibliotheca.com | info@bibliotheca.com | social media smartlibraries
Readers get ‘appy’ this summer!
Record-breaking readers get ‘appy’ this summer! Neil Wishart, Director, SOLUS Following the success of the hugely popular Mythical Maze app in summer 2014, we are delighted to be working again with The Reading Agency for this summer’s challenge. Organised by The Reading Agency and the Public Library Network, the annual Summer Reading Challenge, aimed at 4-11-year-olds and their families, is simple and fun. Children are encouraged to read six or more library books of their choice during the summer holidays. As they read, they are rewarded with stickers that they can collect in their sticker charts, and there is a certificate or medal for every child who completes the challenge. Children can sign up at their local library at the start of the summer holidays and preschoolers can join in and take part too with the Mini-Challenge. And, best of all: It’s
absolutely free.
Children are glued to their devices: playing games, watching videos of other people playing games and creating their own worlds in Minecraft. As the old adage goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them”. With this in mind and as many a library across the UK is gearing up to encourage young readers to explore some of the astonishing real-life achievements and amazing records featured in the Guinness World Records™ books, behind the scenes SOLUS’ games developers have been beavering away to add some ‘digital magic’ to the challenge… Our app has been designed to help the challenge appeal even more to its audience and to help attract harder-toreach groups.
Liz McGettigan, Director of Digital Library Experiences at SOLUS, adds, “There is such a lot of competition for people’s time these days. Our customers, especially young people and children, have high expectations of exciting digital and interactive experiences as part of their everyday lives, and libraries need to provide this to compete.” Building digital fiction upon hard facts
This year, young readers can discover the weird, wonderful and wacky records from around the world in six different categories: Cool Tech, Way to Go!, The Big Stuff, Animal Magic, People Power and Action Adventure! Reading is the core of the Summer Reading Challenge and always will be, but as anyone who has children in this age range knows, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tear them away from their tablets and smartphones.
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The Reading Agency conducted an extensive study following the 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, specifically focusing on the impact of the Mythical Maze app. The feedback from librarians and children across the country was exceptionally positive. While the quantitative research confirmed the overall popularity of the app and that it had added a new dimension to the challenge, it was really the anecdotes that hit home the most: “we have had the highest ever participation levels in our library and I put it down to the app”, “I love the 3D characters that jump out of the poster on my iPad”, “we’ve seen more boys than ever before take part in the challenge” and “I’ve used the app and in particular the games in the app as a
Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
reward for my autistic son when he has been concentrating well”. With that kind of feedback, it was a no-brainer for us when The Reading Agency asked us if we would be willing to support the 2015 Summer Reading Challenge. With the exciting ‘Record Breakers’ theme this summer, we are sure that the app will be even more successful than it was in 2014!
App happy Once again, there is no charge for libraries or for the app in the respective app stores, and we have provided the app completely free of charge to The Reading Agency. Encouraging children to read is one of the most important things that we can do as parents and libraries, and The Reading Agency provides a hugely underrated service in the UK. SOLUS is a technology company and we strongly believe that technology can be used to attract people into libraries, specifically children in the target age group. If you give them something different and unexpected when they experience the library space, you will make them library converts and generate repeat visits, over and over and over again. The Mythical Maze app did exactly that last summer. It gave young library goers something that they didn’t expect from the Summer Reading Challenge. The mythical characters came alive using augmented reality (a hugely popular part of the app), they unlocked games when they discovered the mythical characters on a treasure hunt, and once they’d read the
Readers get ‘appy’ this summer!
books and received their reward stickers, they unlocked further hidden content. Liz continues, “The app was a significant step in the right direction for the 2014 challenge, and we hope to build on this success in 2015. It is just one of the ways that we at SOLUS can support libraries to grow visits and repeat visits from young people.”
Channelling a digital future 2015’s app, available from www.sol.us/ records from 8 June, will have all of the elements that worked so successfully last year. There will be augmented reality content embedded in posters that libraries can use to set up a digital treasure hunt. By discovering the posters, children will unlock games that they can play on their device, and they can try to beat their highest scores. It will also reward them for reading their six challenge books. Every time they receive and scan a sticker, they will unlock exciting audio-visual content from Guinness World Records. The last element is crucial as it ties the digital rewards back into reading, the core part of the challenge as the children only unlock the audio-visual content when they scan a reward sticker. As an added element to monitor success, we’ve built in reporting mechanisms to the app. These will be able to report on how many children have used individual elements within the app: scanned the treasure hunt posters, played the games, scanned their reward stickers and viewed the video content. It’s important to note that this is all completely anonymous. We are looking forward to seeing the user statistics at the end of the summer.
With this being the second year of supporting the Summer Reading Challenge with an app, and with libraries being more familiar with the technology, we are hoping that the numbers will be huge. Maybe, just maybe, we could even set a world record! Obviously both The Reading Agency and SOLUS are keen to make this a roaring success and while The Reading Agency will promote the app widely throughout their website www.readingagency. org.uk/summerreadingchallenge and on Facebook www.facebook.com/ SummerReadingChallengeUK, it is really up to UK libraries to promote the app locally to children visiting their library. All of the promotional collateral that includes app content will display the www.sol.us/ records URL, and all you need to do is direct children, their parents or carers to visit that address on their device. We hope that the app is successful in your library and that it encourages huge numbers of children to get involved with this year’s Summer Reading Challenge in your area. Anne Sarrag, Director of the Summer Reading Challenge, agrees: “On behalf of the huge numbers of libraries that run the Summer Reading Challenge, we welcome this support from SOLUS, which has allowed us to enhance the challenge again in 2015. It provides a different experience for young people and helps demonstrate value-added fun, engagement and motivating activities that appeal to today’s digitally savvy young people.
challenge without diluting the core aims of encouraging reading for pleasure and experiencing the library as a contemporary, welcoming and dynamic community space for the whole family. This partnership with the SOLUS expertise in app and library game development allows us to achieve more than we can on our own and shows that apps can be about peer-family activity – not necessarily an isolating experience for the user.”
To find out more about this year’s Summer Reading Challenge and to take part, visit www.readingagency.org.uk/ summerreadingchallenge and www. facebook.com/SummerReadingChallengeUK Please visit www.sol.us/records to find out more about SOLUS.
FIND OUT MORE www.summerreadingchallenge.org.uk
“SOLUS have applied digital technology thoughtfully to complement the existing
www.facebook.com/ SummerReadingChallengeUK
www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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‘’D-Tech understood what our success meant to us’’
RFID / SECURITY / RFIQ / PEOPLE COUNTERS / EM / STOCK MANAGEMENT / RF / LAPTOP SECURITY / VENDING / SELF SERVICE
Events, webinars and training
Events As the year rapidly ticks by, make sure you don’t miss us by popping along to join us at the following events:
The CILIP Conference 2015 2-3 July, St George’s Hall, Liverpool
CILIP LMS Suppliers Showcase 2015 15 September, Edinburgh
Connect, debate, innovate
CILIP LMS Suppliers Showcase Autumn 2015 13 November, London
The conference brings together professionals from across the library, information and knowledge world for two days of inspiration, debate, sharing knowledge and networking. High-profile speakers make up part of the diverse programme of speakers and sessions with activity based around four key themes: information management, information literacy and digital inclusion, demonstrating value, and digital futures and technology. Come and see us on stand 35!
Capita is pleased to be exhibiting at CILIP’s LMS Suppliers Showcase this summer in Edinburgh. CILIP’s LMS Suppliers Showcase gives you the opportunity to talk to the experts on how to get the most out of your library management system.
To ensure you have the opportunity to meet with us, we are now offering you the chance to book an appointment directly with us by emailing libraries-enquiries@capita.co.uk To see all Capita’s events, training and webinars, please visit www.capita-software.co.uk/librariesevents
Webinars How could your library software solutions improve the service your library offers to users while delivering efficiency gains? Find out with one of our informative and free webinars. Visit www.capita-software.co.uk/librariesevents to find out more about each webinar and register to attend.
Prism – Refreshing Your Knowledge; Improving Services to Users Friday 26 June 2015, 14:00-14:45
Integrating Your Online Joining Form Process with the LMS Friday 17 July 2015, 14:00-14:45
Integrating Your Online Inter-Library Loan Requests with the LMS Friday 10 July 2015, 14:00-14:45
Training sessions Whether it’s a refresh of your existing knowledge around your LMS or a session for new staff members, we have just the thing for you. However, if you can’t find a course that fits your needs, we’ll arrange something dedicated to just you and your team.
InfoView and Web Intelligence 18 June 2015, 10:00-16:00 Capita offices, Solihull Resource Description and Access (RDA) 23 June 2015, 10:30-16:00 Capita offices, Solihull
Managing Parameters in Alto 14 July 2015, online System Manager: Beginner Two-day course Capita offices, Solihull
For further details and to book your training course(s), register for a webinar or find out what event Capita will be at next, please visit www.capita-software.co.uk/librariesevents
www.capita.co.uk/libraries | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | Panlibus Magazine
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Nielsen LibScan library borrowing data period 4 (four weeks ending 18 April 2015) Nielsen LibScan borrowing data shows that library loans are following a similar trend to last year year-to-date (YTD). We have seen a decrease in library loans for period 4 (four weeks ending 18 April 2015) of 3.9%, achieving 5.9m in volume loans. This follows the trend of 2014 YTD, where volume loans in period 4 2014 decreased by 3.8% when compared with period 2 vs period 3 in 2014. In Adult Fiction, Lee Child’s nineteenth instalment of the Jack Reacher series – Personal, set in London and France, is holding onto the number 1 spot this year (2015 YTD) in the Nielsen LibScan chart. UK loans have been relatively flat from period 1 to period 4 (starting from 28 December 2014 and ending 18 April 2015), unlike the Total Consumer Market (TCM), where retail sales have decreased since period 1 (four weeks ending 24 January 2015).
In Adult Trade Non-Fiction, the only category showing any positive growth in period 4 has been Politics and Government, showing a 0.3% increase reaching 10.6k loans for this period, unlike last year when period 4 loans only achieved 10k, which is a 6% increase year-on-year. The recent election has no doubt had an impact on library loans; growth is prevalent in most of the sub-categories. Although Current Affairs and Issues has shown a decline of loans in period 4 of 3.5% (5.3k volume loans), it still holds onto the Top 10 titles of this entire category YTD. In the UK, TCM Political Ideologies and Parties has seen an increase YTD of 157.9% reaching 39k volume sales. Young Adult Fiction has seen an increase in volume loans in period 4 of 4.4%, achieving 86.4k volume loans, compared to period 3 (four weeks ending 21 March 2015), with 82.7k loans. The top 10 authors are all series authors with the top 5 authors benefiting from film tie-ins of their series, one of which was released during period 3 (four weeks ending 21 March 2015), Veronica Roth’s Insurgent: Divergent Series.
Top 10 Politics and Government 2015 YTD Position
Title
Author
Volume
Format
Pub Date
1
Establishment, The: And How They Get Away with it
Jones, Owen
1,372
BB Hardback
4 Sep 14
2
Philomena: (Film Tie-in Edition)
Sixsmith, Martin
942
BC Paperback
10 Oct 13
3
Three Little Words: The Heartbreaking True Story of an Abandoned Little Girl
Rhodes-Courter, Ashley
374
BC Paperback
25 Sep 14
4
Private Island: Why Britain Now Belongs to Someone Else
Meek, James
353
BC Paperback
19 Aug 14
5
Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class
Jones, Owen
351
BC Paperback
9 May 11
6
Life in the UK Test: Handbook 2015: Everything You Need for the British Citizenship Test
Dillon, Henry and Sandison, George
347
BC Paperback
11 Nov 14
7
Stuffocation: Living More with Less
Wallman, James
313
BC Paperback
15 Jan 15
8
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum
Boo, Katherine
307
BC Paperback
7 Jun 12
9
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum
Boo, Katherine
306
BC Paperback
7 Feb 13
10
Long Walk to Freedom, A: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Mandela, Nelson
299
BC Paperback
12 Oct 95
[© 2015 Nielsen Book Services Limited [trading as Nielsen BookScan and Nielsen LibScan]]
FIND OUT MORE www.nielsenbookscan.co.uk info.bookscan@nielsen.co.uk
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Panlibus Magazine | Issue 36 Summer 2015 | www.capita.co.uk/libraries
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