The New Municipal Library in Augsburg was opened in June 2009. State-of-the art check-out and security technology based on RFID is successfully in operation there. It took Bibliotheca RFID Library Systems just two weeks to complete the entire installation, including numerous customer-specific adaptations.

The holdings consist of 140,000 media and require an extensive RFID system: the new transparent BiblioGate VI in a double and triple gate version secures the two exits. There are three BiblioSelfchecks Jupiter available for user check-out. Two BookReturn systems with a differentiated 7-way sorting function enables round-the-clock returns. Access to the return devices, which have been positioned in the foyer, is made possible by a specially-developed BiblioAccess. As soon as the access system registers an RFID label belonging to the library’s holdings, the entrance to the foyer opens, even outside the official opening hours. This means that user identification is not required for 24-hour return. “The use of the very latest technology relieves staff of many routine tasks, so we can now offer our patrons much more in terms of personal service. We have also increased our opening hours to 50 hours per week. Within Germany, this puts us at the very top in terms of time availability,” says library director Manfred Lutzenberger.

The Augsburg Municipal Library was able to celebrate its 100,000th visitor just two months after opening its new premises. This represents three times as many visitors as in the former premises. The record-breaking day thus far was a rainy day during the summer break in August when a total of 4,345 media were checked out. “We have never checked out that many books on a regular day before – either in the old or the new library,” said Ute Horak-Mayr, system coordinator and RFID project manager at the library. And she adds: “Our check-out figures have increased by around 60 percent as compared to 2008.”

The figures show that years of effort and the citizen’s initiative of 2005 calling for a modernization of the Augsburg Municipal Library have finally come to fruition. “The Augsburg library concept is innovative and future-oriented, and it involves the city community as a whole by incorporating unconventional forms of collaboration with a range of different partners. The modern architecture reflects openness and transparency, and features a surprisingly distinctive color and light concept,” says Manfred Lutzenberger. And the library’s slogan puts it in a nutshell: “Open to everyone”.

Library management, News
BiblioGate VI, library concept, Library in Augsburg