Spydus in Hampshire Libraries

Hampshire County Council is introducing a brand new library computer system, making it easier for customers to access information and services on the web and offering improvements for library staff.

From the comfort of home or the office, customers will be able to browse Hampshire County Councils entire stock catalogue with ease. The new technology uses more advanced search methods than the current system and will let customers reserve items to collect from a local library or even order items that are not listed.

Customers who register their email address can choose to receive email alerts when new books, or other material on specified subjects have been added to stock.

Transferring data is a complex operation: each piece of data has to be copied from the existing Galaxy system, converted into the right format for the new Spydus system and loaded into the new database, then all the data is indexed to enable the powerful searching in the new system. Hampshire has a large amount of data, with millions  of records relating to our customers, our stock, the transactions when items are borrowed and all the related administrative and financial information. This means the transfer has to be done in a number of stages, with different types of data being transferred and checked for accuracy at each stage. Each stage also has an impact on the service we can provide.

Library staff are working hard to introduce the new system and minimise disruption to the service while the new system and equipment is installed. There will be some unavoidable disruption from August 8 until the new system is up and running in late November.

Timeline of events

• From August 8, customers will be able to reserve items at their local library or by telephone but not on the web. Reminders for overdue items will no longer be sent,  but please be careful as fines will still be charged.
• From October 9, the reservations service will be slower than normal so customers are kindly being asked to reserve essential items only i.e. items required for work or study purposes.
• From October 14 the web catalogue will not be available but the rest of our website will operate as normal. At this point staff will only have limited access to information from the computer system, so customers are being urged to bring their library card with them on every visit.
• Throughout the autumn individual libraries will close for a few days while new computer equipment is installed and staff are trained. Details will be posted on the website and in libraries.
• During November the new system will gradually be introduced allowing customers to log on and try out the new features by the end of the month.

As a thank you to all Library customers, Hampshire County Council will be awarding library users one free reservation per customer during December

Did you know?

• Online reservations currently account for 40% of all reservations (2007/2008).

• Renewals over the web increased by 42% between 2006/07 and 2007/08 and in 2007/08 web renewals accounted for 20% of total renewals compared to 11% in 2006/07.   

• The use of on-line library resources has increased by 227% from 524,183 hits or sessions in 06/07 to 1,715,617 in 07/08. The most used resources are the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Britannica Online.