HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-12-06; City Council; 5273; Library Automated Circulation Control SystemCITY OF CARLSBAD
AGENDA B11L N-0
DATE: December 6, 1977
DEPARTMENT: City Manager
LIBRARY AUTOMATED CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
Statement of the Matter
Initial:
Dept.Hd.�
C. Atty.
C. Mgr.
The 1977-76 budget provides funds to initiate acquisition of
an automated.circulation control system for the Library. Funds
in the amount of $22,800 were appropriated in the departmental
budget for first year payments under a lease purchase plan. The
City Librarian and Library Board of Trustees desire to proceed
with the acquisition of a system as soon as possible. The attached
report has been prepared with the assistance of the Librarian and
will provide additional information regarding the acquisition of
an automated circulation control system.
Exhibit
City Manager memo dated December 1, 1977.
Recommendation
Council action
12-6-77 It was agreed that the staff negotiate for joint use of an
automated circulation control system with the City of
Oceanside, and if it is determined that the City of Carlsbad
is to have the base system authorization was given to prepare
plans and specifications.
0
&r
DATE: DECEMBER 2, 1977
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT: LIBRARY AUTOMATED CONTROL SYSTEM
The report relative to the subject agenda bill is being
finalized and will be delivered to the Council members
prior to Council meeting.
31
PAUL D. BUSSEY
City Manager
PDB: ].dg
DATE: DECEMBER 1, 1977
TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT: AUTOMATED LIBRARY CIRCULATION
CONTROL SYSTEM
One of the major activities conducted by the City Library is
circulation control. A great deal of staff time is spent checking
in and checking out books and other items. The library staff
devotes many hours maintaining supporting file systems, preparing
overdue notices, and operating a reserve book system. The existing
R manual system is time consuming and is growing more cumbersome
and difficult to manage as the size of the collection grows and
circulation increases. If the present system continues, the only
way to handle increased circulation without sacrificing the level
of service is to add additional personnel. The addition of
personnel would be in proportion to the increases in circulation
since the present system does not become any more efficient with
p growth, but on the other hand may become more cumbersome and
inefficient as volume increases. The majority of tasks required
in the present circulation control system are repetitive clerical
tasks that can be easily accomplished in an automated system.
In addition to doing all the basic routine tasks prest:ntly j
accomplished by the manual system, the level of service should
also improve with an automated system. An automated eirculatiozA
system can:
Rapidly check books in and out of the library.
Calculate and attach fines to patron records.
Produce overdue notices and invoices.
Store and organize reserve information.
Identify titles on the reserve list at checkin.
Print a notice ready for mailing to the next
person on the reserve list when the book is
returned.
>,64't
AUTOMATED LIBRARY CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
December 1, 1977
Page 2
Produce purchase alerts when there are a
specified number of people waiting for
a title.
Identify delinquent patrons at checkout.
Provide complete information on a book's
current location.
The acquisition of an automated circulation control system will
not result in immediate dollar savings to the City. The immediate -
benefit will be an increased level of service for the library
patron, better control of the library collection, improved reserve
system, improved overdue system, and more timely identification
of patrons with excessive overdue books. The long range benefits
of an automated system would be that there would not be a need to
hire additional personnel to handle circulation control as
circulation increases. Although there will not be any immediate
cost savings (primarily personnel costs) realized with.the acquisition
of an automated circulation control system, over the useful life
of a system (assumed to be 10 years), salary savings should exceed
the cost of an automated system.
The Library Board of Trustees and the Library Department feel that
y, an automated system can be justified at present on the basis of
an increased level of service and better control of library
resources. i
f
PRESENT SYSTEM
The library is presently open 61 hours a week for public use.
The library must provide staff to provide circulation services
during these hours for both the children's division and the adult
division. It is difficult to accurately establish how many staff
hours are spent directly on circulation control since a number of
employees perform circulation control activities and an employee
may be required from time to time to serve in other divisions due
to sudden or prolonged surges of patrons in the library.
The present manual method of check in and check out requires
approximately the equivalent of 3-1/2 full-time personnel for both
the children and adult divisions. The Library Department estimates
this activity will require approximately six personnel in five
years as circulation increases and library hours expand.
AUTOMATED LIBRARY, CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
December 1, 1977
Page 3
To operate the present reserve system, the Library estimates the
equivalent of less than one full-time employee (approximately
30 hours a week) is required. In five years, if a manual system
is retained, the equivalent of two full-time employees will be
required.
In order to produce overdue notices
mately twenty man-hours per week ar
activity is expected to require the
time employees in five years with a
and assess fines, approx:i-
e required at present. This
equivalent of 2-1/2 full -
manual system.
In addition to the above activities, considerable staff time is
spent on maintaining files on books being purchased by the Library.
The filing and clerical activities involved with acquisition of
new items is very time consuming. It is not possible to provide
a precise estimate of the time presently spent on this activity
without additional study; however, a significant amount of staff
time could be saved in this area by use of an automated system.
In summary, the Library expects the number of staff required to
perform circulation control activities will grow from approxi-
mately 4.75 employees at present to approximately 10.5 employees
in five years if the present manual system is retained and growth
trends over the past five years continue. (See Appendix A).
Assuming present staff levels are adequate for circulation control
activities and based on present salary levels and benefits, it
is anticipated that personnel costs for the additional staff
required to handle circulation over the next five years would be
approximately $276,000 using the present manual system.
(See Appendix B) .
AVAILABLE AUTOMATED SYSTEMS
The library has obtained a detailed proposal to provide an automated
circulation control system from CLSI. The library feels that this
company can provide a system that will meet the needs of the
library. CLSI is aggessively.marketing its system and they have
a proven product that is being used by a number of libraries.
There are other automated circulation control systems available
on the market. However, the Librarian feels that the CLSI System
is clearly a superior system as far as the needs of the City's
library is concerned.
n
W
AUTOMATED LIBRARY CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
December 1, 1977
Page 4
The City of Huntington Beach acquired a CLSI System when their new
library building was opened in 1975. Two council members, members
of my staff and I have visited the Huntington Beach Library and
I am satisfied that the CLSI System is performing well in that
library. Although Huntington Beach was one of the first cities
to acquire a system from CLSI and there were a number of start-up
problems, the CSLI System has met the library's expectations and
they are satisfied with the system. The Huntington Beach Library
indicates that their biggest cost saving with the CLSI System
has been in the area of overdues. Prior to opening of their new
library and before acquisition of the CLSI System, they*had three
employees doing overdues. Using their previous manual system,
Huntington Beach estimated that they would need six employees to
do overdues after the new library opened since circulation was
expected to nearly double. With an automated system, Huntington
} Beach now only requires about four man-hours a week to process
' overdues.
The benefits of an automated system were evident in Huntington
Beach. Looking at the Huntington Beach experience, indicates
that Carlsbad could also effectively utilize an automated system.
The resulting cost savings may not be as dramatic or occur as
quicklx in Carlsbad, but an automated circulation control system
is an element of technology that Carlsbad should at some point
in time utilize. It is not possible to determine when the time is
exactly right, from a cost/benefit analysis standpoint, to acquire
an automated system. However, I am confident that if a system
were acquired this year, it would be easily justified on a cost/
benefit basis over the useful life of the system.
The growth of activity in the library during the past five years
is indicated in Appendix A. Statistics on registered patrons and
book collections indicate substantial growth in library activities.
A straight line projection of growth in these areas based on trends
of the past five years indicate the potential demands that will
be placed on the library in the future. Although these projections
may not prove to be highly accurate and many other factors should
be evaluated to obtain more reliable forecasts, it should be
assumed that library growth should at least keep pace with
population growth. In addition, if new or additional facilities,
such as a children's library or branch library are provided,
library activities will also show a marked increase.
AUTOMATED LIBRARY CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
December 1, 1977
Page 5
ACQUISITION OF AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM
There appear to be three feasible ways for the City of Carlsbad
to obtain the use of an automated circulation control system:
1. Purchase system for exclusive use by the
Carlsbad Library.
i
2. Joint purchase with the City of Oceanside with
shared ownership of central processor, software
f packages, storage units, and printer.
€ 3. Lease capacity and use of system owned by
' Oceanside.
Although it is not possible to give precise figures at this time,
since the total cost of the system will d*.pend upon the storage
capacity, software modules desired, and the number of terminals
and printers required, based on figures submitted in CLSI's
proposal the alternatives listed above were evaluated.
In evaluating ways of acquiring an automated system, the following
assumptions have been made:
Joint use of an Automated Circulation Control
System is feasible. In a paper prepared by a library
system analyst with the California State Library
(See Appendix C), a sample joint -use system was
evaluated for the Carlsbad, Oceanside and Escondido
Libraries. The cost estimates prepared on such a shared
system by the State Library analyst indicate that such
a system is feasible and within the financial means
of the cities. The shared use of a system is also techni-
cally feasible and in fact CSLI has attempted to market
their system on a shared --use basis.
Oceanside appears to be committed to acquire a
system regardless of Carlsbad's action. The City of
Oceanside is willing to purchase a system jointly with
Carlsbad, lease capacity and use of their system to
Carlsbad, or acquire and operate a system totally
independent of Carlsbad.
AUTOMATED LIBRARY CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
December 1, 1977
Page 6
Location of the computer (central processor and
storage units) is not technically important.
Since CLSI is providing a total system which
includes all hardware and software, no local
data processing personnel are required and no data
processing expertise is required. This would be
an on-line system and all input and output can be
done through terminals within the library. (Except
for printouts done on the printer). The cost of
a telephone connection between the Oceanside and
Carlsbad Library is relatively low ($40.00 installa-
tion charge, $14.00 per monthly charge).
PURCHASE OF SYSTEM BY CARLSBAD
Based on the latest price quotations, for a system which would
most nearly meet our present day needs (additional storage
capacity may be needed to meet the needs through five years), it
would cost the City of Carlsbad approximately $120,000 for the
purchase of the hardware and programming for a CLSI System. Sales
tax and start-up expenses would increase the total cost of the
system to $133,000. In addition, it is anticipated that mainte-
nance costs will run approximately $9,600 per year.
First year cost of such a system would be:
Lease/Purchase Payment (60 month,
5-5/8% Bank of America Lease/Purchase - $ 27,588.00
Maintenance - 9,600.00
Sales Tax 7,200.00
Installation and Shipping - 1,500.00
Special Supplies (bar encoded labels) - 6,000.00
Total: - $ 51,888.00
I
W
AUTOMATED LIBRARY CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
December 1, 1977
Page 7
This estimate assumes that there would be no additional costs for
conversion to an automated system. The library would convert over
to the new system gradually and no overtime or additional personnel
would be necessary.
For the second, through the fifth year of operation of the system,
the annual cost of the system (lease payments and maintenance only),
would be $37,188.00. The system would be paid for at the end of
five years, but maintenance costs would continued. The cost of
acquiring a system and five years of maintenance under this
alternative would be approximately $200,640.00.
JOINT PURCHASE OF SYSTEM WITH OCEANSIDE
This alternative assumes that the equipment would be purchased
jointly with Oceanside and the two cities would share the ownership
of the central processor, storage units, printer, and software.
Terminals within the libraries would be purchased directly by the
individual cities. First year costs under this alternative would
be approximately $40,530. Second through fifth year costs would
be approximately $26,938 annually. ;
The disadvantage of this alternative is that there would be
telephone charges of $14 monthly for a direct line between libraries
and the printer would be located in Oceanside making it necessary
to pick up hard copy reports in Oceanside. The cost of acquiring
a system and five years of maintenance under this alternative would
be approximately $148,282.00.
LEASE CAPACITY AND USE OF SYSTEM OWNED BY OCEANSIDE
The alternative assumes that Oceanside would own and operate the
system and lease capacity and use of the central processor,
storage units, printer and software to Carlsbad for a specified
fee. Over the life of the agreement, Carlsbad would gain an
ownership interest or permanent right of use in the system.
Carlsbad would be available to terminate the agreement, after
proper notice, to acquire its own system, which may be technologically
more advanced or to develop its own software system as part of an
advanced citywide data processing system.
AUTOMATED LIBRARY
December 1, 1977
Page 8
CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
The overall cost of this alternative would be about the same as
the joint purchase alternative. The Librarian has raised concern
about potential problems with a shared -use system. Although no
problems are anticipated, it is always possible that conflicts
could arise among the users of a shared system over management
and control of the system. This alternative was developed in
response to those concerns. The significant difference between
the joint purchase alternative and this alternative is that
Carlsbad would be able to terminate its use of a shared system
and utilize other automated systems. The City Manager of Oceanside
finds this concept acceptable in principle.
The advantage of this alternative is that if joint use of the
system proves to be unsatisfactory or if technological innovations
make the CLSI System obsolete the City of Carlsbad would be able
to make change more easily than under the other alternatives.
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Manager be directed to negotiate the joint use of a
circulation control system with the City of Oceanside.
a -I
PAUL D. BUSSEY
City Manager
PDB/FNM:vm
ems,
APPENDIX A
REGISTERED
BOOKS
TITLES IN
VOLUMES IN
YEAR
PATRONS
CIRCULATED
COLLECTION
COLLECTION
1972-1973
17,285
183,369
60,630
80,914
1973-1974
17,004
188,343
65,529
88,571
1974-1975
20,669
213,545
70,975
94,607
1975-1976
22,758
222,703
76,409
97,521
1976-1977
27,891
259,875
82,095
102,547
PROJECTIONS
1977-1978
31,321
281,445
87,924
107,981
1982-1983
55,942
419,309
123,894
139,795
1987-1988
t
99,916
624,707
174,581
180,981
For the fiscal years 1972-1973 through 1976-1977, total numbers of
registered patrons grew 61.4% overall (12.3% annually), total book
circulation increased 41.7% (8.3% annually), number of titles in
collection increased 35,4% overall (7.1% annually), total number of
volumes increased 26.7% overall (5.3% annually).
Projections were developed using trend over past five fiscal years.
0
YEAR
First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
-IN
APPENDIX B
CUMULATIVE COST COMPARISONS
OF MAINTAINING
PRESENT MANUAL CIRCULATION CONTROL SYSTEM
VERSUS
AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR NEXT FIVE YEARS
PERSONNEL
COSTS
MANUAL SYSTEM
$ 24,000
48,000
104,000
184,000
276,000
AUTOMATED
INDIVIDUAL
SYSTEM
$ 51,888
89,076
126,264
163,452
200,640
AUTOMATED
JOINT -USE
SYSTEM
$ 40,530
67,468
94,406
121,344
148,282
The above figures indicate the estimated point in time when an
automated system would be more economical than continuing the present
manual system. For an individual system for Carlsbad alone, this
occurs during the fourth year of operating an automated system. On
a shared -use basis, an automated system becomes more economical during
the third year of operation.
4
APPENDIX C
-_ - - �MUE-��iti.D�1i vui.A1 ZOI:IT GCCOSTS
BY LIZ . ,GIBSON"
LIBRARY;•SYSTEMS ANALYST
CALIFOR14IA STATE LIBRARY
OCTOBER, 1976
I. Relevant Circulation
& Collection Statistics
STATISTICS
OCEANSIDE
ESCONDIDO
CARLSBAD .
v
ANNUAi CIRCULATION
300*000a
340,000
220,000
DAILY CIRCULATION
.-
AVG
—RANGE
1 600 b
500 — 2000
900 b
800 — 1200
EST: 700
EST: 500 — 1000
]; NO. PATRONS
EST: 40,000
EST:
40,000
EST: 15,000
COLLECTION SIZE
- --NO. TITLES
100,000
EST:
50,000
75,A00
—NO. COPIES
'130,000
70,000
95 000
x COLLECTION GROWTH
t
? TITLES ADDED
6,500
EST:
4,500
4,500
--COPIES ADDED
:1
11,000
7,000
6;000
II. DISTANCE from Oceanside in air miles.
Escondido
approx. 16
Carlsbad
approx. 4 -
4
I
a Excludes bookmobile circ at about 60,000/year as this is not figured in this
estimated, automated system.
b Presently caused by due date once per week. With a daily due date, the
ranges would flatten some.
13
III. Cost Calculations
.
!
COST PER LIBRARY
TOTAL COST
OCEANSIDE
CARLSBAD
ESCONDIDO;
A. Oceanside Only
I
1. One
time Costs
a.
Equipment
-Minicomputer & storage
EST: $70,000
i $ 70,000
Terminals (4 0 $4,000)
16,000
$ 16,000
'
b.
Programming/Installation
(Built-in portion of
package cost.)
EaT: 201000
20,000
i
c.
Conversion
1
-Bibliographic data:
;
Titles (100,000 d 17P.
title)
17,000
17,000
Copies (130,000 L66 f/copy)
7,800
7,800
-Patron data: (40,0000350
14,000
! 14,000
TOTALS
144,800
144,800
2. On -Going Casts
a.
Maintenance ($500/MTH)
60000
63,000
b.
Communications (in lib, so
i
none)
_
0
0
c.
Supplies (Estimated
additional)
21000
2,000
d.
Conversion
- Titles added (6500d?17�/
title)
1,105
1,105
-Copies added (11,000r/0 0/
copy)
660
660
,
' TOTALS
9,765
99,765
B. Oceanside plus Carlsbad
1. One
time coats
.�
a.
Equipment
-Larger minicomputer & more
storage
EST: 1001000
50,000
501,000
-Terminals:
Oceanside (4e $41000)
28,000
16,000
12,000
Carlsbad (3e�' $4,000)'
,
b.
Programming/Installation
(Built-in but w/a few mo'te�
parameters) •
EST: 25,000
12,500
12,500
14
'
TOTAL COST
!
L"----
CO:.T PER LIBRARY
OCEANSIDE
CARLSBAD ESCdiJ))YD:
c.
Conversion
'
Bibliographic data:
i
titles. (EST. 140,600 unique;
;
OR 17(./title)
23,800
11,900
11,900 '
Cqpies
;
"Oceanside (130,00006�/
!
copy)
Carlsbad (95,000e.60/
13,500
7,800
5,700 j
.,
r
copy)
- Patron data:
Oceanside (40,000 6035� )
19,250
14,,000
i
Carlsbad (15,000 35 � )
5•250
TOTALS
209,550
112,200
97,350 j
2. On -going Costs
a.
Maintenance (EST $700/MTH)
8,400
41200
t
4,200 t
b.
Communications (4 miles@
$5/mileimth)
240
120
120 '
C.
Supplies
Oceanside (Est addt�l)
3,500
2,000
1,500
Carlsbad (Est addt►l)
d.
Conversion
,
- Titles added:
Oceanside (6500 P 17�)
1,870
Carlsbad (4,500 °V 17¢)
y
- Copies added:
;
Oceanside (11,.000L160
11020
Carlsbad (6,000 e, 0)
t
TOTALS
15,030
C. Oceanside Plus Carlsbad Plus
Escondido
'
i
1. One time Costs
" a. Equipment
-Lr„r Mini & more storage
EST: 1201000
-Terminals e $ 4000:
'
Oceanside (4)
Carlsbad (3)
$ 441000
Escondido (4)
j
b. Prograzwming/Installation
'
(Built-in, but w/addt*l
parameters)
1• .
EST: 30,000
1,105
! 765 '
i 660
36Q
8,085 6,945 ,
i
40,000
j 16,000
i-
10,000
N
f
15
r
402000 S 40,000
12,000 ;
16,000
i
10,000 10,000
I
R
COST PER LXBRARY
TOTAL COST
OCEANSIDE
CARLSBAD
ESCONDZDO
c.
Conversion
-Bibliographic data:
Titles (EST. 165,000
unique � W/title)
28,050
91350
9,350
9,350
Copies e 6 beach
Oceanside (130;000
7,800
'
Carlsbad (95,000)
17,700
5,700
Escondido (70,000)
4,200
—Patron data CO 35�
a
Oceanside (40,000)
14,000
Carlsbad (15,000)
33,200
5,200
Escondido (40,000)
•14,000
N
TOTALS
272,950
97;150
82,250
93,550
2. On —going Costs
a.
Maintenance (EST S900/MTH)
$ 109800
3,600
3,600
3,600 i
b.
Communications
(20 miles O$5/mil'as/mth)
1,200
400
400 a
400 i
C.
Supplies
i
Oceanside (Est. addt1l)
2,000
Carlsbad (Est. addt1l)
5,500
3
1,500
Escondido (Est. addt1l)
k a
-
2,000
d.
Conversion
Titles added 6`17¢
I
t '
Oceanside (6,500)
1,105
R
Carlsbad (4,500)
2,635
765
Escondido (4,500)
765
—Copies added (P64
Oceanside (11,000)
660
Carlsbad (6,000)
1,440
360
Escondido (7,000)
420
TOTALS.
21,575
7,765
6,625
7,185 ;
t �
,
16