Temporary day closures of some library branches for staff training
East Lothian Council’s Award-winning Library Service is introducing a new library management system to further improve its customer service.
The Spydus Library Management System is already used by more than 1,500 libraries around the world including the Scottish Consortium of Public Libraries (SCoPL) and helps libraries to manage all resources including digital content and events from a single database
Cllr Colin McGinn, Cabinet spokesperson for Community Wellbeing, said: “This new system is a crucial tool for our Library Service to purchase, maintain and lend library stock and communicate with our borrowers. The new system will allow us to integrate our eBooks and eAudiobooks within our library catalogue allowing for a more seamless customer journey and also provides greater opportunities to our staff to utilise the stock held within their local library. The system we are moving to is also used by many library authorities across Scotland and this gives us greater opportunities to work together in future.”
Following installation of the new system some branches will be temporarily closed to allow for staff training as follows:
- Tuesday 15 November - Dunbar Library
- Wednesday 16 November - Haddington Library and Ormiston Library
- Friday 18 November - Musselburgh Library and Wallyford Library
- Tuesday 22 November - Tranent Library and Port Seton Library
- Wednesday 23 November - North Berwick Library, Longniddry Library and Prestonpans Library
There will be a short period of time during the first couple of weeks in December where access to books from other local libraries and requests might take slightly longer than usual during transition from one system to the other. During this time although the online catalogue will be temporarily unavailable the libraries will be open to provide advice, new borrowers can join and regular activities will continue as normal.