{"id":15467,"date":"2021-03-02T16:23:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T16:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bibliotheca.wpengine.com\/bundaberg-regional-libraries\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T21:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T21:23:17","slug":"customer-story-bundaberg-regional-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/customer-story-bundaberg-regional-libraries\/","title":{"rendered":"In Coastal Queensland, a Library Uses Technology to Boost Service and Community Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLibrary Stories<\/a>Blog<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn Coastal Queensland, a Library Uses Technology to Boost Service and Community Engagement\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bundaberg Public Library needed to improve the customer experience and streamline day-to-day library tasks so they could get out into the community and entice more people to take advantage of all the library has to offer.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The library implemented a host of integrated Bibliotheca RFID solutions including self-checkout, intelligent shelving, security gates, and digital lending.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Providing convenient, easy self-service options has allowed Bundaberg\u2019s staff to focus on meaningful personal interactions and community outreach while offering patrons convenience and choice.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Bundaberg Regional Library: partnering with Bibliotheca to improve the customer experience<\/b><\/p>\n

Bundaberg Regional Library<\/a> serves the beautiful coastal city of Bundaberg, Queensland in Northeastern Australia. With a population of nearly 100,000, the city is home to both young families and retirees and is an important tourism gateway for national parks, the Great Barrier Reef, and resort islands.<\/p>\n

The best solutions make for the best RFID experience<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew putting RFID<\/a> in place would achieve a lot of efficiencies and increases in service to our customers,\u201d says David Cornwell, the Operational Supervisor of Bundaberg Regional Council Libraries. \u201cWe went to market with a tender document and short-listed a couple of quality companies, but ultimately, it was Bibliotheca\u2019s innovative solutions<\/a>, and particularly their smartShelf<\/a> that won us over.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

With the smartShelf, library users can return their items by simply placing them on an intelligent shelf within the library. The shelves automatically update user accounts and set item security, making items ready for circulation by other users.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could see straight away the potential for freeing up our staff and providing greater ease of access and use of the library for our customers. That has certainly proven to be the case,\u201d says Cornwell.<\/p>\n

One vendor equals seamless service<\/b><\/p>\n

In addition to the smartShelf, Bundaberg implemented a whole host of Bibliotheca solutions including selfCheck self-service kiosks<\/a>, RFID premium gates<\/a>, and the cloudLibrary platform<\/a> for digital lending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe selfCheck offers the most modern self-service borrowing experience. The quickConnect software<\/a> offers our customers a simple, intuitive experience for both physical and digital lending. It\u2019s easy for staff to customise and we appreciate being able to promote events and services in a very unobtrusive way,\u201d says Cornwell.<\/p>\n

Cornwell was initially concerned that older customers would resist using self-service and might have trouble navigating the technology. Surprisingly, the truth is quite different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feedback from patrons about the selfChecks has been overwhelmingly positive. A lot of our older customers say, \u2018This is quite easy, this is great!\u2019 That\u2019s wonderful to hear, and I think really speaks to the quality of the package that Bibliotheca provides.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a patron does accidentally forget to check out an item before leaving the library, the RFID gates make correcting the mistake comfortable for everyone involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a customer walks out of the library with 10 books and forgets to check out one book, the system will alarm and print a little receipt slip for our staff which identifies which book they\u2019ve forgotten. We know exactly which book is triggering the alarm and that makes the interaction with the customer much less confrontational, much smoother, and more pleasant for all,\u201d says Cornwell.<\/p>\n

Bibliotheca raises the bar for customer service and outreach<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been very impressed with the level of customer service from Bibliotheca. Our RFID project went off without a hitch. The team was very willing to accommodate our compressed implementation schedule. I have to hand it to Bibliotheca, if we\u2019ve ever had an issue, they put their entire team on it and solve it completely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cloudLibrary team is remarkable. With our previous eBook provider, we might have to wait three or four days for a response when we reached out with a problem. The cloudLibrary team responds within 24 hours, which is remarkable considering the 10-hour time difference between Australia and the United States. All around they are very professional,\u201d says Cornwell.<\/p>\n

From a patron perspective, RFID and Bibliotheca solutions have resulted in a more engaging library experience. Bundaberg offers several programs for its community, including early literacy programs, robotics, and coding. The selfChecks and smartShelf have freed up staff to be able to run these programs and simultaneously focus on outreach.<\/p>\n

Cornwell explains, \u201cWe\u2019ve already captured the people who come into the library with their children. We want the people that are not using the library at the moment. RFID and Bibliotheca solutions give us the flexibility to get out there in the community and push those programs. That’s a really, really important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much the only complaint we\u2019ve gotten is the one you hope to get \u2013 \u2018I don\u2019t want you to lose your job!\u2019 Actually, these solutions just make our job better. The staff has a lot more valuable interactions with their customers, so in terms of job satisfaction, they\u2019re a lot happier.<\/p>\n

From corner desk to concierge<\/b><\/p>\n

In addition to providing more time for programming, Cornwell says making the switch to RFID has had a big impact on the customer experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, when a customer walks into our library they’re first greeted by a concierge. If they need assistance, they can get it immediately. That goes a long way for that initial welcoming impression. They also have increased assistance from roving staff as well, which we couldn’t do before. There\u2019s been a doubling in customer interactions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Customers carrying an armful of books can walk directly to the smartShelves, and return them just by placing them on the shelves. They can then browse the recently returned items on the shelf, search for materials in the stacks, or simply use the library spaces. When they are ready, they go to the selfCheck where they can not only borrow their physical materials but also find out what events the library has planned and borrow digital titles through cloudLibrary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe customer is in control. They determine when and how to return and borrow items as well as how much interaction they\u2019d like to have with staff. Our customers now have choices, and that is a huge improvement in our service,\u201d says Cornwell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cWe knew putting RFID in place would achieve a lot of efficiencies and increases in service to our customers. We went to market with a tender document and short-listed a couple of quality companies, but ultimately, it was Bibliotheca\u2019s innovative solutions, and particularly their smartShelf that won us over.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Cornwell<\/span>Operational Supervisor of Bundaberg Regional Council Libraries<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\u201cWe could see straight away the potential for freeing up our staff and providing greater ease of access and use of the library for our customers. That has certainly proven to be the case.\"<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavid Cornwell<\/span>Operational Supervisor of Bundaberg Regional Council Libraries<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBundaberg Regional Libraries (Queensland, AU) \t\t\t\t\t<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Customer story<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\twatch video\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBundaberg Regional Libraries (Queensland, AU) \t\t\t\t\t<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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customer story video<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\twatch video\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Using technology to excite patrons and drive outreach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":10207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[310,198],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library-stories","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}