Automatic Returns Sorter for the Central Library

Details

Introduction Whangarei District Council (Council) has gone to market for the provision of an automatic returns sorter for the Central Library located in Rust Avenue, Whangarei, New Zealand.

The process will be a two-staged open market process:

• Registration of Interest (ROI)
• Request for Proposal (RFP)

This ROI is the first formal step in the process and is intended to be of minimal effort for the respondents while allowing Council to create a short list of suppliers to invite to enter the RFP process.

Overview

An overview of the current situation is set out below:
The issue and return of hard copy resources remains an integral part of the core business of the Library service. Despite advances in electronic access and other initiatives, the Central Library is regularly recording activity in the region of 50,000 items per month being loaned to customers or transferred to the branch or mobile libraries. The hard copy issue arrangements are largely automated with customers undertaking a significant level of self-service, but the returns arrangements still rely heavily on manual handling and sorting.

The proposal is to purchase an automatic sorter that will sort, record and deliver items ready for placing back on the shelves. It is envisaged that this will deliver the following benefits:

• improve customer service through reduced turnaround times.
• reduce error rates.
• reduce the risks to staff through injuries related to manual handling.
• release library staff to undertake more customer focused and value-added activities.

The library has previously invested in an RFID system that records check-in and check-out information by reading RFID tags. This can be operated from locations in the Central Library, all branches and the mobile library. External chutes at the Central Library are available 24/7.