BiblioCommons is a portfolio company of the Volaris Group, one of the operating divisions of Constellation Software.

Breeding, Marshall. Consolidation Takes a New Form: BiblioCommons Acquired by Constellation Software. March 2020. Smart Libraries Newsletter. BiblioCommons, a Toronto-based company providing a suite of applications and interfaces for public libraries, has been acquired by Volaris Group, one of six operating companies of Constellation Software, Inc. BiblioCommons has become established as a major force in the public library sector, and its products have been implemented by an impressive list of libraries and consortia in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This transaction marks a departure from its status as a founder-owned company. Though BiblioCommons will continue to operate independently, it now falls under the ownership of a large multinational technology firm managing a diverse portfolio of technology and software companies. But unlike general private equity firms, Constellation has never sold the companies it acquires.

Breeding, Marshall. BiblioCommons Launches BiblioOmni. August 2018. Smart Libraries Newsletter. BiblioCommons continues to expand its portfolio of products and services for public libraries. The company has recently developed a new marketing platform to enable libraries to create and distribute content to promote its collections, services, and events. This new product aims to help libraries increase awareness of their services by the communities they serve using some of the techniques that have been well established in the marketing and communications activities in other commercial and non-profit sectors.

Breeding, Marshall. BiblioCommons Launches E-Book Lending Integration. May 2012. Smart Libraries Newsletter. BiblioCommons announced in January 2012 a major initiative to integrate e-book lending into its socially-oriented library discovery platform.

Breeding, Marshall. New York Public Library Partners with BiblioCommons. September 2011. Smart Libraries Newsletter. The New York Public Library plans to make a major change in the way it offers access to its collections to patrons. This fall, NYPL will implement BiblioCommons, shifting from its current Encore-based catalog.

New York Public Library. New York Public Library and Bibliocommons partner to create a new innovative, interactive online experience. June 20, 2011. . The New York Public Library has partnered with Toronto-based software company Bibliocommons to completely transform its current online catalog, making it easier to discover the Library’s vast collections while also giving users the power to create reading lists, rate the latest books, and organize groups.

Vermond, Kira. Toronto startup drags NY libraries into the future. Tuesday, Jun. 07, 2011. The Globe and Mail. BiblioCommons, an 18-employee company from Toronto, is trying to bodycheck the library industry into the information age in such places as New York, Chicago and Ottawa. Taking the lead from social media, BiblioCommons, which launched in 2006 with funding from Knowledge Ontario, private investors and subscriptions, brings book readers, movie watchers and music listeners together.

Breeding, Marshall. BiblioCommons Prepares for next phase of Roll-out. August 2009. Smart Libraries Newsletter. After a long period of development, testing and some delays, BiblioCommons appears poised to move forward as a contender in the arena of discovery interfaces. Developed by a Toronto-based company of the same name, BiblioCommons offers a new approach to the discovery interface that fully embraces social networking as a fundamental component in the way that patrons find and select resources from library collections.

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November 26, 2020. BiblioCommons releases new enhanced discovery and online browsing. With public library buildings across North America closed or restricting access, connecting patrons with the library's collections online has never been more critical. BiblioCommons has released new functionality in the BiblioCore catalog that creates an enhanced online browsing experience facilitating endless routes for patrons to discover what to read, watch or listen to next — even when they can't physically browse the shelves at the library.

September 23, 2020. BiblioCommons launches new BiblioApps to deepen patron engagement. BiblioCommons announced the launch of the all-new BiblioApps for Android. Unlike other apps for public libraries, BiblioApps is designed in the context of the full patron experience. BiblioApps broadens and deepens patron engagement with the public library by providing an exceptional, personalized, modern mobile experience that is now available for both iOS and Android platforms.

May 8, 2020. BiblioCommons launches new features to support libraries in an online-only environment. The BiblioCommons Team is proud to announce a number of new feature improvements across the BiblioCommons platform to support libraries in serving their communities in an all, or mostly, online environment.

February 10, 2020. BiblioCommons acquired by Volaris Group. On February 10th, 2020 Volaris Group finalized the acquisition of BiblioCommons. Volaris is a Canadian software success story that is focused on acquiring, strengthening and growing vertical market software companies. Volaris is a worldwide software organization which operates as a division of Constellation Software, one of Canada’s largest technology success stories. BiblioCommons will operate independently while advancing via the guidance and expertise of the Volaris network. Two of the founders, Beth Jefferson and Patrick Kennedy have decided to transition from BiblioCommons but will continue as advocates.

June 21, 2019. Research shows higher overall library usage in public libraries that use BiblioCommons. In order to determine the impact of subscribing to its public library software, BiblioCommons recently retained an independent consultant to complete an in-depth statistical analysis of the impact of BiblioCommons online services on North American public libraries. What they discovered is that subscribing to BiblioCommons correlates with an increase in circulation per capita anywhere from 25% to 57%, and results in 9% more visits per capita on average, compared to public libraries that do not subscribe to BiblioCommons services. This is true when accounting for other potential influences, including population size and density, operating budgets, collection size, and historical circulation trends.

June 21, 2019. BiblioCommons announces new automated marketing product plus newly built BiblioWeb and BiblioApps. BiblioCommons shared new versions of BiblioWeb and BiblioApps, as well as introduce BiblioEmail, an exciting new email marketing service developed specifically for public libraries. BiblioWeb 3.0 offers all the valuable functionality that libraries have come to expect from BiblioWeb, but with more power, greater flexibility, and even better ease of use. A brand new page builder with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface allows library staff to design their own pages from scratch, or to simply insert their content into ready-made templates. Revamped taxonomies structuring the website content allow for even easier featuring and cross-promotion of blog posts, events, recommendation lists, and more. BiblioApps has also been completely rebuilt to reflect public libraries’ need to create more personalized, engaging library experiences.

June 22, 2018. BiblioCommons announces the next generation of its native apps for libraries: BiblioApps V2.0. BiblioCommons is proud to announce the development of the next generation of its native apps for public libraries: BiblioApps. The first generation of BiblioApps (then known as BiblioMobile), was released in 2011 and reproduced desktop catalog functionality in a mobile-friendly format. Now that the BiblioCommons BiblioCore catalog is responsive and works equally well across all devices’ browsers, the next generation of BiblioApps will extend what is offered in the browser application and build on the unique affordances of mobile devices and the native functionality of their operating systems.

June 22, 2018. BiblioCommons announces BiblioOmni: an omnichannel marketing platform for public libraries. BiblioCommons is pleased to announce BiblioOmni: an omnichannel marketing platform for public libraries. Building on the unique architecture and capabilities of the BiblioWeb website builder, BiblioOmni will allow public libraries to easily create brand-consistent, customized communications and marketing campaigns across all of the channels that they use to connect with their patrons -- a true omnichannel experience.

June 19, 2018. Springshare and BiblioCommons Announce Integration Between LibCal Space Bookings and BiblioEvents. We are pleased to announce integration between Springshare’s LibCal and BiblioEvents by BiblioCommons. Now, BiblioEvents users can reserve a LibCal Space/Room when creating an event from the BiblioEventsadmin interface. This integration allows libraries to manage and book spaces during the BiblioEvents creation process while simultaneously allowing unused spaces/rooms to be booked by patrons.

March 22, 2018. BiblioCommons announces the upcoming release of BiblioWeb V3.0. Eight years after its initial launch, BiblioCommons announced the upcoming release of version 3.0 of its BiblioWeb website-building and content-publishing platform.

Feb 10, 2020 BiblioCommons acquired by Volaris Group
Volaris Group finalized the acquisition of BiblioCommons. Volaris is a Canadian software success story that is focused on acquiring, strengthening and growing vertical market software companies. Volaris is a worldwide software organization which operates as a division of Constellation Software, one of Canada’s largest technology success stories. BiblioCommons will operate independently while advancing via the guidance and expertise of the Volaris network. Two of the founders, Beth Jefferson and Patrick Kennedy have decided to transition from BiblioCommons but will continue as advocates.

Sep 2011 New York Public Library partners with BiblioCommons
NYPL chose to invest in a company that brings technologies to the table beyond what they would be able to create internally. By subscribing to BiblioCommons and making investments in the company, NYPL will be able to accelerate its development roadmap.

2007 BiblioCommons founded by Beth Jefferson and Patrick Kennedy

2019 BiblioCommons Accomplishments Narrative

2019 was an incredibly productive and rewarding year for the BiblioCommons Team.

First, we are excited to see the BiblioCommons Community continue to grow. Many new libraries launched BiblioCore catalogs in 2019 including San Antonio Public Library (TX), Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative (FL), Indianapolis Public Library (IN), Burlington Public Library (ON, Canada), Contra Costa County Library (CA), Gail Borden Public Library (IL), Herrick District Library (MI), Ocean City Free Public Library (NJ), San Jose Public Library (CA), St. Thomas Public Library (ON, Canada), Santa Clara City Library (CA), and the Wellington County Public Library (ON, Canada).

San Jose Public Library, and St. Thomas Public Library also launched BiblioEvents, and Contra Costa launched the complete BiblioCommons platform (BiblioWeb + BiblioEvents + BiblioCore).

In addition to these new launched sites, BiblioCommons was excited to start implementations with many more including Cincinnati-Hamltion County Public Library and Alameda County Public Library both for BiblioWeb + BiblioEvents + BiblioCore + BiblioApps as well as Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library (GA) and Pleasanton Public Library (CA) for BiblioCore + BiblioEvents.

BiblioCommons also migrated all 22 BiblioWeb libraries from BiblioWeb v2 to BiblioWeb 3.0. BiblioWeb 3.0 offers the same great functionality of BiblioWeb 2.0 but with improvements in usability and flexibility, including a drag-and-drop page builder, as well as improved taxonomies to better support the principle of “create once, publish everywhere.” Starting in 2019, all new libraries implementing BiblioWeb will implement the new and improved BiblioWeb 3.0.

BiblioCore: This year, BiblioCore saw a number of updates to enhance the user experience for library patrons and staff. A lot of the work on BiblioCore was on the all new bib page that came out in beta at the very end of 2019, and we are excited to roll out this new bibliographic page that prioritizes discovery and exploration in 2020.

We have continued to refine search relevancy algorithms in BiblioCore to ensure that search results meet user expectations. The keyword search suggestion feature, that was previewed in 2018, was rolled out to all libraries in 2019. This feature, which replaces the previous author and subject autosuggest, displays up to five author and title suggestions to users as a dropdown from the search bar. For libraries using the Bibliotheca cloudLibrary integration with BiblioCore, BiblioCore now displays the availability of cloudLibrary titles just as it does for the availability of physical items.

BiblioCommons has also introduced several measures into BiblioCore to optimize the user experience around account management. Patrons can now take advantage of a “find available titles” button to isolate materials on their shelves that are available for checkout, making it easier for patrons to easily find their next great read. The interlibrary loan requests display in BiblioCore has also been improved for libraries on the Polaris ILS, giving patrons greater visibility on the statuses of their requests. The borrowing pages have also been updated, now featuring an option for a compact view, enabling users to scan, identify, and manage their borrowing, and a quick renew option to direct patrons to their most likely transaction as quickly as possible.

To address the needs of staff at libraries with BiblioCore, we have enhanced library admin functionality to allow library staff to have greater control over key functionality. The introduction of BiblioCore v2 Analytics advances the analytics infrastructure available to BiblioCore libraries, allowing staff to gain greater insights into BilioCore usage.

BiblioApps:One of the greatest developments of 2019 was the release of BiblioApps 2.0 beta for iOS, with BiblioApps for Android coming soon. BiblioApps has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, with updated display to more closely match the user experience on BiblioCore. The user-friendly navigation was designed to meet iOS standards and built with accessibility in mind, leveraging contrast compliance, voiceover and large text settings available in user devices.

BiblioEmail: BiblioCommons also announced a new product at ALA 2019: BiblioEmail, the first component of a suite of omni-channel marketing modules. BiblioEmail, purpose-built for library marketers, repurposes content from the library’s content channels and automatically matches library content with patron preferences. BiblioEmail allows for automated marketing tailored to the location, age, and interests of library patrons and features sophisticated drip campaign functionality and reporting capabilities, greatly enhancing the marketing capabilities of the library. Two development partners, Chicago Public Library and Arapahoe Libraries, signed on as early adopters and will begin implementation in 2020.

BiblioCon: One of the biggest highlights of 2019 was BiblioCommons’s first user conference in September. Over 100 library partners from 58 libraries and 4 countries convened in Toronto for interactive sessions, keynote presentations, and the opportunity to collaborate, learn and engage with other members of the BiblioCommons community. The event was a great success and BiblioCommons is planning to host another BiblioCon in 2021.