Service: Intelligent material management system

IMMS (Intelligent Material Management System) is an intelligent material management system for the entire library collection. The City Library’s collection contains approximately 1.8 million items. An intelligent material management system was acquired while the city library moved away from library-specific collections to one shared collection. With the change, the library wanted to enable moving the material freely between different libraries. The system was introduced in May 2019, after which it has been in use but still in the deployment phase. The system has made it possible to reach a situation where the majority of the collection now floats, i.e. moves freely between libraries. With the floating material, customers can influence the offering of each library with their own activities. Returns influence the offerings of libraries. Library experts can modify system configurations based on reports and observations. The aim is to distribute the new material equally so that no library is in an unequal position based on its size. Thus the customers of different libraries can be served in an equal manner. The service enables tracking and tracing of the item movements. The material can be located in real-time using RFID tags attached to the material. The material to be borrowed from the Helsinki City Library was labelled with RFID tags before the system was introduced. RFID tags are also used in transport units, check-out machines sorting points, and in special shelf identification. The library system is not intended for logistical tracking of material, and therefore this new system effectively complements the data obtained on the movement of items. Library experts can control the flow of material between libraries with parameters and rules supported by the system. These control the filling level of library shelves in a way that allows the better presentation of materials to customers. The material hotel created during the introduction of the intelligent material management system balances, for example, seasonal overflows and shelf overflow during library renovations. Guests do not have physical access to the material hotel, but the material can be booked. The material hotel is located in the Pasila library building, close to the city library’s central sorter. Furthermore, the system also makes it possible to reduce manual logistics. The material can be processed, for example, by moving the reservations box by box, when this was previously done on an item by item basis. Improving the handling of reservations is necessary as the number of reservations has risen sharply in recent years. Improving the efficiency of processing also enables staff to allocate working hours from logistics to other library work. The service includes a mobile application used by library staff. With the help of the mobile application, the material can be transferred to the central sorter or to the library shelves, either box at a time or, if necessary, item at a time. It also allows staff to see item, shelf, or transport unit-specific information (current information, as well as the previous movements).The Danish Lyngsoe Systems have built the system in collaboration with Danish public libraries. The system only processes material data and not handle the personal data of customers at all.