A busy library consortium covering more than 8,000 square miles and serving 59 libraries faces special challenges with coordination of its centralized technology support. That’s especially true for Yavapai Library Network (YLN) based in Prescott, Arizona.
The Yavapai Library Network [YLN] was enthusiastic to become an early adopter of baseCAMP—Tech Logic's web-based portal for central management of essential technologies such as self-checkout, payments, patron counts, shelf management, and equipment asset inventory. baseCAMP unifies Tech Logic solutions through a single portal for technology support and streamlined data visibility for member libraries.
YLN is a consortium of 50+ multitype libraries including K-12, academic, public, private, and special libraries. The YLN is also home to eight special collections. The YLN makes it possible for libraries to share materials and resources, giving patrons in even remote areas access to over 1 million items. The Yavapai Library Network leverages the power of interlibrary relationships and cooperation to provide unprecedented service and savings to the library patrons and taxpayers of Yavapai County.
YLN provides support with technologies for circulation, acquisitions and cataloging, RFID, courier service between libraries, electronic databases, technology training and more.
Sherryl Masterman, Network and Computer Systems Specialist, and her YLN team have become “power users” of baseCAMP’s capabilities. Because the YLN member libraries are independently governed and widely dispersed, they appreciate having different logins to the baseCAMP dashboard. Through its graphical interface, each library exports its own specific on-demand reports in Excel or PDF formats.
“The libraries value their independence in gaining immediate access from any network-connected device to view performance data from their own equipment,” Masterman reports.
baseCAMP consolidates statistics from self-checkout stations throughout the system, per library, and per station—statistics that previously required manual data consolidation. baseCAMP displays a summary of items circulated, number of patron sessions, payments, failed authentication attempts or sessions blocked by library limits. Masterman noted that “libraries can also look at the usage of each self-checkout station to assess the effectiveness of its location and visibility. Changes to self-checkout made by a library can be monitored easily and often.”
Libraries easily access graphical reports of gate statistics showing hourly, daily, and monthly patron counts as well as gate alarms and items leaving without being checked out. They use this information to adjust staffing for peak demand times, as well as for budgeting purposes. Backed by data, libraries may also decide to monitor exits or self-checkout stations more closely.
Karie Straube, YLN Administrator, appreciates the granularity baseCAMP’s of data reporting and on-demand graphical representations available to administrators and library managers.
“Because baseCAMP’s user interface is very intuitive, it’s been easy to roll out across our libraries with an average of 20-30 minutes of training time per site. Each library learns its login, the user interface, and how to generate reports. Ease of use is important in a widely dispersed multi-type consortium such as YLN. We depend on being able to support our member libraries remotely,” said Masterman.
Masterman rated Tech Logic’s baseCAMP support as amazing— “they set the bar for experience, knowledge, and patience with a customer such as me who wants to know everything about a new technology.”
What’s on the horizon for baseCAMP functionality? Masterman looks forward to working with Tech Logic to integrate the three AMH systems in her libraries. With baseCAMP, her team will be able to access detailed statistics about the volume of AMH check-in and sorting to guide configuration adjustments. Currently, the team consolidates AMH statistics manually and looks forward to baseCAMP simplifying that process.
Tech Logic connects libraries with their communities through dynamic, innovative, and efficient workflow technologies—delivering unparalleled service and outstanding patron experience. Since 1997, we have worked exclusively with libraries to develop solutions that empower library patrons and staff.
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