Oz library software success in UK

Stan Beer
Monday, 11 December 2006 17:20

IT Industry - Deals

Civica’s Australian-developed Spydus solution will deliver library management services in a five-year agreement with Hampshire County Council Library and Information Services, in the UK.

Hampshire Library and Information Services serves over one million people and 300,000 regular borrowers across the county. Its 54 branch ‘discovery centres’ and 19 mobile units are among the most advanced and innovative sites in the country.
 
The announcement follows a recent £1.5 million (A$3.71 million), five-year deal with South East Library Management Services (SELMS), a consortium of six British public library authorities.
 
The latest partnership will support Hampshire’s drive to deliver lending and education services to reflect 21st century tastes.  The Spydus library management system will underpin new customer lending channels such as web-based individual borrowing profiles. There will be contact centre support for customers of the county’s local discovery centres as well as mobile library units serving rural areas. The contact centres will use real-time customer records. 
 
The agreement will help Hampshire Library and Information Services to deliver enhanced operations in line with Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) targets for improved accessibility, customer service and efficiency.
 
Once completed, the platform will connect departments’ service operations more closely with Council’s main corporate CRM and financial management systems. This will provide a transparent view of the Library and Information Services’ financial performance, in line with addressing the government’s wider Efficiency Agenda for local authorities.
  
The latest British successes follow a major contract in Singapore, when Civica was awarded a five-year, A$40 million government programme to provide a national managed libraries service for more than 330 schools and colleges. The library management solution has also been exported to the New Zealand, Taiwanese and United States markets and locally more than 350 Australian public, special and school libraries use the solution.