London Libraries Consortium subscribes to smartsm to drive efficiencies around their shared collections

The UK's largest public library consortium chooses smartsm for better stock deployment and use. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) May 25, 2011 - Now more than ever, public libraries are having to find ways to make their resources stretch further and as well as buying new material more effectively, there is an opportunity to look at innovative ways to better utilise current stock. smartsm is the world leading stock performance improvement toolset for public libraries. It helps libraries practice the proven Evidence Based Stock Management (EBSM) Methodology allowing them to manage and develop their collections based on evidence.

By analysing the supply:demand balance within individual collections at specific locations in public libraries, the methodology provides action plans which outline to balance the collection to meet demand. This can deliver significant benefits in elimination of waste by helping libraries to get better use from their existing collections, helping them spend their book funds more effectively and also helping them deliver a better service to their customers by getting more of the right material in the right place to drive borrowing figures. Additionally, the product helps deliver efficiencies around savings in staff time through the effective use of data and allowing processes such as stock editing and selection to be streamlined

10 London Libraries Consortium (LLC) members - the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Hackney, Havering, Merton, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Wandsworth have subscribed to smartsm for a period of three years, meaning that now 18 of the 33 London Boroughs now utilise smartsm taking the national figure to almost 50 percent of UK public libraries subscribing to the solution.

The LLC members between them have 150 branches and smartsm is monitoring a combined collection of over 6.5 million items.

Andrew Green, Head of Library and Heritage Service at Wandsworth said, "Given the challenges being faced by public libraries we are having to explore new ways of working. The LLC has always prided itself on its joined up thinking and we look forward to exploring the potential for smartsm to help the member libraries work even more closely together, drive efficiency and eliminate waste. Smartsm offers opportunities for each authorities to manage stock better both individually and as part of the LLC."

Ian Downie, Commercial Manager at Bridgeall Libraries added, "We are delighted to have secured an agreement with LLC and look forward to working with them going forward. We believe that together we should be able to push the boundaries of smartsm and continue to innovate and enhance the toolset further to deliver even greater value and benefits to a consortium in areas such as resource sharing and benchmarking."

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