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IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon

SMART LIBRARY FOR ENHANCED USERS EXPERIENCE AND EFFICIENT OPERATIONS THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Alternative title: SMART LIBRARY FOR ENHANCED USERS EXPERIENCE AND EFFICIENT OPERATIONS THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Awarded: NOK 7.0 mill.

On a yearly average about 1,1 million visitors borrow 1,1 million materials in Trondheim Public Library. Libraries are still very much about physical objects (books, newspapers, media, etc…) and therefore logistics and material handling are a big part of libraries (up to 30% personnel time). Moreover, libraries provide more service, such as cultural events. Budget limitations in combination with population growth, increases the gap between the number of employees and the population. At Trondheim Public Library, our employees are the most important resource. Freeing up time from routine tasks and having a more proactive resource management, will be of great importance to provide a higher quality service to patrons, improving at the same time the efficiency of operations. The main innovation of SmartLIB is the development of a smart library system exploiting the potentialities of data analytics (AI-based predictive analytics tools) to extract useful information in real-time for the planning and control of resources and to assist library staff, and advanced robotics (autonomous wheels by wheel.me) useful to improve the efficiency of operations and provide a better service to patrons. The most critical R&D challenges are: ? Development of the smart library planning and control, enabled by AI to provide real-time dashboard for monitoring of library assets and more efficient planning of operations (e.g. job allocation to staff, guidance to patrons, inventory management decisions, dynamic re-layout) ? Development of the smart digital assistance tool, to provide a better dialogue between library staff and patrons, and to further automate operations in the library with also link to smart material handling system, enhancing service level and efficiency ? Development of the smart material handling system, investigating advanced robotics (autonomous wheels by wheel.me) and various ML/AI methods for improving the inventory management and make the distribution system more dynamic

In 2019 1,1 million visitors borrowed 1,1 million materials in Trondheim and only 5% of the loans were digital material like e-books. It goes without saying that libraries are still very much about physical objects (books, newspapers, media, etc…) and therefore logistics and material handling is a big part of libraries (up to 30% personnel time). Moreover, nowadays libraries provide more service. They are places to learn, to experience, to create, playing an increasingly important role as a learning arena and a meeting place. The large growth in library use has not led to corresponding increases in budgets. Budget limitations in combination with population growth, increases the gap between the number of employees and the population. Our employees are the most important resource in our library. Freeing up time from routine tasks, such as logistics and material handling, and having a more proactive resource management, such as dynamic job allocation, will be of great importance to us in order to provide a higher quality service to patrons, improving at the same time the efficiency of operations in library. The main innovation of SmartLIB is the development of a smart library system that will solve the current limitations reported in the previous Section/above. More than just digitalization of products and installation of information points users can interact with or advanced material handling system, SmartLIB will exploit the potentialities of data analytics (AI-based predictive analytics tools) to extract useful information in real-time for the planning and control of resources and to assist library staff, and advanced robotics (autonomous wheels by wheel.me) useful to improve the efficiency of operations and provide a better service to patrons. This will contribute to create a smart system to support and improve the services provided by library, enhancing the accessibility and quality of its products, and raising the level of efficiency of its operations.

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IKTPLUSS-IKT og digital innovasjon