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Point Wells Community Library has installed a new electronic catalogue system, which promises to revolutionise the management of its books.
The Accessit system can immediately identify a book’s location, monitor return dates and generate automated email reminders when books are overdue.
Moreover, members are able to browse the catalogue from home, request a renewal on a book already borrowed or put a book on hold that they wish to read.
Library committee member Vanessa Barber says a small team started loading the details of each of the library’s 4,300 books in mid-November and by mid-December all the books had been entered.
She says the library committee initially struggled with the idea of installing Accessit fearing it might destroy the “quaintness” of the independent community library.
But the practical advantages of the electronic system are undeniable. No longer will librarians have search every library member’s record in the old card system to identify the whereabouts of a missing book or check if an item is overdue.
When the library’s accession stamp – a device used to manually log books under the old system – got broken and an expensive replacement was out of stock, the decision to switch to an electronic system became even more compelling.
Vanessa says the system is the same one used by Mahurangi College and Matakana, Leigh and Warkworth primary schools.
She says Accessit is “not cheap”. Among those who gave generously to fund it were Mahurangi Community Trading Post, Bayleys, Lindesay Construction, Targetti, Flooring Xtra, Point Wells Club, Rodney Computer, Auckland Rural Libraries and the Point Wells Community Ratepayers Association.
