Automated material check-ins and conveyor belts will give the St. Albert Public Library (SAPL) a different look next fall and will also free up staff for more library programming and customer service, says the library’s director.
Peter Bailey was on hand at Monday night’s council meeting as the city approved a $500,000 upgrade to the library that will make it easier for staff to sort and track materials as well as bringing SAPL’s technology on par with other libraries in the capital region.
The enhancement is referred to as Library Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and involves inserting silicon chips or “tags” into all of the library’s materials. SAPL will also purchase and install an automated sorting unit that will direct materials to appropriate bins for shelving based on the information contained in the RFID tags. Staff will still shelve the books.
This process will ease the burden on library staff to manually sort materials when they are returned to the library, freeing up personnel to work on more programming, of which the library has seen a 113-per-cent increase in available programs and a 126-per-cent increase in attendance over the last 10 years.
“At one time [RFID] was a radical technology and the RFID tags themselves cost a buck apiece,” Bailey said. “But over time, over the last few years, it’s become accepted technology. We see it everywhere now and most libraries are adopting it and the tags themselves have fallen to 20 cents each.”
The project was approved in the budget last winter, but council’s unanimous vote Monday gives the official go-ahead to proceed with the purchase and installation. Of the $500,000, the city will pay $300,000 and the library will use $200,000 from its reserves, although it is hoping for a $125,000 grant from the Alberta Community Facility Enhancement Program.
“We really strongly feel the need to be using the same technology as other libraries in the area so we can increase the amount of co-operation with them,” library board chair David Climenhaga told council.
“We really feel strongly this is a win for our community, for council and for the library.”
The plan as put forward is slightly different from what was proposed to council during budget deliberations. The motion passed at that time called for one full-time equivalent (FTE) staff reduction through attrition beginning in January 2013. That was not discussed in the report the library sent to council before Monday’s meeting.
“Our strong preference is that we do not reduce FTEs at the library because we feel that would hinder the ability to do what we’re doing,” Climenhaga said.
Coun. Cam MacKay, who sits on the library board, said the issue of staff attrition could always be addressed during next year’s budget.
“It’s not exactly what council was expecting, but to stop would mean not dealing with it at all,” MacKay said. “If we reject it now, it can’t go ahead and it’s a roughly one-year implementation plan.”
Bailey said temporary workers have already begun inserting RFID tags into the library’s 900,000 pieces of material, which should be completed by June. Renovations to the front counter to add the necessary equipment will begin in the fall with the sorting system scheduled for installation in October.
“We don’t anticipate any interruption in service,” Bailey said.
