The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System's launched a $275 million building program in 2008, which includes bringing eight new and two expanded branches to the Atlanta metro area. Each new branch is equipped with Bibliotheca self-service kiosks and automated materials handling systems, freeing up time for staff to spend more time with patrons, who love the quick and easy self-service experience.
In 2008, the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, the largest library system in the state of Georgia with 34 branches and 2.5 million items, launched a $275 million building program. Upon completion of Phase I, the library will have a total of eight new and two expanded branches, all of which will have Bibliotheca RFID and self-service technology implemented. The first library in the program, the Wolf Creek Branch, opened in September 2014, with another six launching over the last year including the Palmetto Branch (December 2014), East Roswell Branch (February 2015), Northwest Branch at Scotts Crossing (July 2015), Alpharetta Branch (July 2015), and the Metropolitan Library (October 2015).
"It has been an incredible opportunity to support a library in our own backyard," said Al Coalla, President, Sales of Bibliotheca North America, whose headquarters are in Norcross, GA. "The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System serves such an important role in our community, and we are honored by the responsibility to ensure that each of the systems' branches are running at their best with the help of our self-service solutions."
The library branches are receiving a combination of Bibliotheca's smartserve 400 self-service kiosks, smartserve 200 self-service desktop units, smartstation RFID pads, smartstock inventory wands, and automated materials handling systems. The integration of this new technology allows library staff to do more than just check out books – they are now able to spend more time helping patrons, assisting with community events at the libraries, and creating new programs for children, teens, and adults. Additionally, the technology creates a simple process for patrons to check out and return books, check the status of their accounts, and pay any fines or fees quickly and easily.
"The technology has been well received by the public," says Kimberly Snoddy-George, Branch Manager of the recently opened Milton Branch. "There's a lot of excitement about the self-service kiosks. The kids love to interact with the children's library-themed software and using the new system is easy and intuitive for everyone."
About Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is the largest in the state, with 34 libraries and a collection of more than 2.3 million items. It offers innovative programs, services and virtual resources tailored to meet the needs of each branch's community. Children, teens and adults may choose from a variety of classes, visit exhibitions, listen to authors discuss their work, check out videos, DVDs and CDs, attend book club discussions, get homework help, hear music and see live performances. Last year patrons borrowed more than 2.7 million items, made 3.4 million visits to the libraries and our website had over 7.9 million hits. For more information about the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, see: www.afpls.org
About the "new" bibliotheca
bibliotheca is dedicated to the development of solutions that help sustain and grow libraries around the world. Our products are designed to provide a welcoming, intuitive and seamless environment for those that use the library – wherever they choose to use it - be that at home, on the move or within the library itself. We have direct operational offices in all major continents, together with dedicated distributors who offer our solutions across a further 70 countries. We are proud to have over 30,000 unique libraries as part of our family, with a deployed equipment range in excess of 10,000 individual self-service units, 6,000 security systems and over 650 automated materials handling (sorter) systems. In addition, our digital platform features content from over 1,000 publishers and is available through almost 3,000 libraries.
