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MEETING DATE: January 25, 2024
TO: Library Board of Trustees
FROM: Bethany Weinberg, Senior Librarian, Technical Services SUBJECT: LIBRARY AUTOMATED MATERIALS HANDLER REPLACEMENT
SUMMARY
The Library uses an Automated Materials Handler (AMH) system to automatically sort and immediately check-in items placed in the bookdrop, prepare new materials for checkout, and assist with other library activities. These labor-saving activities speed up service to the public and increase staff productivity.
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Approve staff’s selection of a replacement AMH system vendor.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for this project would come from the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) #56024 (Library Material Sorter Replacement) and #55062 (Library Elevator Refurbishment funded by the California State Library Building Forward Grant 2) and the Foundation Restricted Funds.
LIBRARY IMPACT
The replacement of our current AMH system will be a vast improvement over the current system that is ceasing to function reliably. The AMH assists with many transactions and supports many services: returning checked out items, ensuring the electronic records of new items are correct, activating radio frequency identification (RFID) tags of new items, processing patron holds, and sorting library materials to ensure faster returns to the shelves.
DISCUSSION
As with all technology, AMH systems have limits to their functional duration, which is generally ten to fifteen years before systems become difficult to maintain due to prolonged use and technological advances. The current AMH is more than a dozen years old and has broken down several times in the last year, leading to having to close the bookdrops, significant additional work for staff members, and other delays to service for patrons. The Library staff members have determined that it is in the best interest of public service and prioritizing limited staff time to replace the current AMH with a new AMH system.
Currently, the AMH system performs a number of activities for patrons and staff members. The primary activity is that the AMH system gathers items that patrons place in the internal and external bookdrops, checks in the items which clears the items from patron accounts, and sorts those items into geographic groupings based on where Regular Business #4
items are regularly located within the library. While patrons are welcome to return items to staff members at the Circulation Desk, the internal bookdrop allows patrons to return items during library open hours without waiting in line. Also, the AMH system can often check in items faster than the library staff members, clearing patron accounts to allow for subsequent checkouts. Another circulation activity supported by the AMH system is sorting those returned items into geographic library sections, which allows staff members to put items away more efficiently so patrons can find them back on the shelves more quickly. Lastly, staff members use the AMH system to capture items that patrons have put on hold, both items that staff members have pulled from the shelves and patron-returned items that come through the bookdrop.
The Technical Services division also uses the AMH system to prepare newly received materials for checkout. Items that are received from our materials vendors or as donations must have their RFID tags activated to be able to be checked out. This process changes the item status to “available” and also sets aside items that are on hold. Furthermore, by watching that items sort properly into the correct geographic bins, staff members can check that the electronic information attached to the item record is correct.
The AMH system provides on-demand service to staff members and patrons, even at times that the Library is not open. In the last fiscal year, nearly 300,000 physical items were circulated and several thousand new items were added to the collection. The amount of additional labor that would be required to support the activities performed by the AMH system are cost-prohibitive to have staff members perform. Additionally, the activities would be significant physical labor and quite repetitive if performed by a staff member and could lead to repetitive stress injuries. This system must be replaced to ensure that efficient and effective library service can continue.
To replace the AMH system, vendors that currently provide similar services at other library systems in Orange County were considered: Bibliotheca (Orange Public Library), Lyngsoe Systems (Yorba Linda Public Library), and Tech Logic (Huntington Beach Public Library). Library staff performed site visits to observe each potential replacement option and to interview staff members of the respective benchmark libraries to determine which options would be a best fit for the Fullerton Public Library (FPL). Then, the vendors were invited to visit FPL and meet with staff to discuss how they could address the Library’s needs. The vendors then provided quotes, which were assessed, along with the site visit and interview information.
The primary problems the library staff members have with the current AMH system include reliability, significant noise pollution (average 87 decibels), response time for service and maintenance, and inflexibility to change system configurations, among other lesser concerns. The flexibility to adjust the system will be increasingly important with the opening of the Hunt Library branch, as we will likely have to make system changes to match the trends and needs of the main Library’s support for the branch.
Accordingly, each potential replacement was evaluated for the following criteria:
• Patron and staff user experience
• Service needs and maintenance experience (as noted by the benchmark libraries)
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• Noise concerns
• Local control (ability to adjust the system)
• Vendor approachability and responsiveness
• Spatial considerations
• Expected level of staff maintenance
• Multi-item induction (ability to put more than one item in the bookdrop at once) • Availability and response time of service providers
• Anticipated longevity
• Frequency and severity of damage to items caused by the system • Preventative maintenance and service contract offered • Cost considerations and value
• Unique system aspects
• Overall recommendations
Lyngsoe Systems was not seriously considered due to their AMH system requiring daily maintenance from staff at a steep staff-time cost, overall damage to library items, not offering local service providers (who must be flown in from out-of-state), and a very poor experience with the initial vendor representative. Lyngsoe also did not provide a complete quote.
The evaluation criteria clearly indicated the best option for the Library to select, particularly due to one vendor offering significant unique system features. While Bibliotheca and Tech Logic both submitted complete quotes, the differences heavily favored Tech Logic. Bibliotheca is the Library’s service and maintenance provider for the current AMH system and there have been problems caused by Bibliotheca not offering support for AMH systems on Saturdays and several days’ wait for shipping needed parts. TechLogic does offer Saturday service support and stores spare parts locally to prevent service delays. Additionally, Tech Logic’s AMH system offers significantly better local control (that does not require coding experience), ergonomic features to further reduce the risk of repetitive stress injuries to staff, the best system for multi-item induction, had the most responsive vendor, and was the most highly rated system of the interviewed local libraries.
While the Tech Logic system does cost more than the Bibliotheca system, Bibliotheca does not offer the same unique features as Tech Logic. Furthermore, while both vendors mistakenly failed to include tax in their initial quotes, Tech Logic corrected the issue promptly and also was flexible to work with the Library staff members to match the available project budget for a total of $290,117.19. As Bibliotheca had not replied to the request for an updated quote by the time that this memo was posted, tax is estimated to add $18,609.46 to the quote price for a total of $283,693.46. Accordingly, the attached Bibliotheca quote does not include tax. With a difference of only $6,423.73, between the two quotes which is 2.2% of the total project budget, the unique features of Tech Logic make it the clearly superior option to meet the needs of Fullerton Public Library.
Attached are the quotes and information from each vendor. After an analysis of the three vendors, the Library Management Team recommends the purchase of the Tech Logic AMH system for a cost of approximately $290,117.19 to cover the purchase of the system, software, training, shipping, installation, and the first year of service and maintenance. This is not a multi-year contract; the Library reviews service and Regular Business #4
maintenance agreements annually and the budget for an annual AMH system service and maintenance agreement is part of the regular Library budget.
* Decibel range, prolonged exposure to 90 or greater decibels can cause hearing damage.
The average maximum for all potential replacements is 65 decibels.
Attachments:
• 8a - Attachment 1 Regular Business Item 4 - Bibliotheca Quote • 8b - Attachment 2 Regular Business Item 4 - Tech Logic Quote • 8c - Attachment 3 Regular Business Item 4 - AMH System Comparison