South East Library Management consortium lines up Civica for shared libraries service
Local authorities join forces to adopt leading edge library management capability

Civica has been appointed preferred supplier for automated library management systems for South East Library Management Services (SELMS), a consortium formed by six public library authorities which has been operating for the last year. The five-year £1.5 million SELMS initiative will see Civica deliver its internationally successful ‘Spydus’ system under a fully managed service. 

The SELMS initiative will improve the management and service capabilities of the participating local authorities’ library services, which together serve 1.4 million people across South East England. These improvements will help to deliver better customer service, accessibility and efficiency in line with Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) requirements, bringing considerable benefits to both customers and library staff through extended resources. 

Civica sees SELMS as the model for future library management services for the UK library market, facilitating a real partnership between public library authorities and specialist service providers.

Key benefits for library staff under the SELMS programme will include:

• a larger pool of lending stock for customers
• optimum use of front desk and administrative personnel resources
• improved ability to provide an increasing range of services at a reasonable and consistent cost
• better interoperability with other library services

The SELMS consortium will enable participating local authorities to renew and improve their existing library management systems, for which many of the existing management contracts are due to come to an end over the next few months. The six authorities currently involved are: Wokingham District Council (procurement lead), the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (administrative lead), Brighton and Hove City Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Milton Keynes Council and West Berkshire Council. The consortium is supported by regional public sector improvement body, the South East Regional Centre of Excellence.

It has become imperative that libraries provide comprehensive and convenient modern services for their customers. Sharing resources through consortia is an essential step towards this. Whilst some consortia models compromise the individuality of the separate libraries, retaining library identity is an important feature of the Spydus model. Building on the central SELMS framework, each local authority will be able to set up individual service agreements.

Civica was chosen as preferred supplier because it most closely met the SELMS specification and was the most economically advantageous. The company supplies software and services to more than 1100 libraries worldwide and as one of the first providers of a managed service solution in the sector, Civica already delivers Spydus to more than 475 libraries as a managed service solution, utilising data centres in four countries.

Now in its fourth generation, Spydus is a comprehensive administration system which combines automation of traditional library functions including web-based and mobile access with the latest developments in administration, including the use of radio frequency identification technology (RFID).

Zoe Albright, project manager for SELMS said, “The consortium will provide an innovative and cost effective shared resource for members to renew and improve their library services and meet customers’ expectations. As the programme gathers pace, we hope that other local authorities will join to share in the benefits which we provide.”

Philip Barr of Civica, said, “The consortium approach provides an efficient, modern solution to the service and efficiency expectations increasingly demanded from Britain’s libraries. As the complexity of managing technology increases, Civica combines the people, processes and infrastructure to sustain service levels while bringing experience from across the global libraries sector to help the consortium meet its goals.”

A full press release can be obtained here....