July, 2020 - 2021
MARINet
RFID Consultant
The MARINet consortium is composed of nine multitype libraries in Marin County. They have decided to move forward as a consortium to implement RFID. Lori Ayre is on retainer to support this process.
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Projects
2017-2018
Stark County District Library
Library Materials Handling Strategy Analysis
Stark County District Library was pursuing a series of initiatives to minimize redundancy in materials handling practices and reduce the time staff spend in the back office so they can spend more time out in the library engaging with customers in a variety of ways. The Library’s strategic vision included a dramatic reduction of materials handling activities in each branch and the elimination of service desks. Instead of working behind desks, the expectation is that staff will work with patrons side-by-side in the branches and spend more time delivering high-quality programming inside and outside of the library buildings. In order to achieve this vision, the Library explored a “pure central processing” strategy in which material is returned at each library location but only checked in at a central sorter. This workflow would be supported by two times daily delivery service. The expectation is that this approach would result in material check-in within a four hour window, physical delivery turnaround times of no more than 36 hours and a traditional “bookdrop” workflow for patrons. The Library sought consulting assistance to analyze the “pure central processing” strategy and to identify critical elements of a materials handling strategy that would allow the Library to achieve their strategic vision.
2018
Barrie Public Library
Library Materials Handling Consultation, Team Building and Leadership Development Workshops
The Barrie Public Library is a two branch system based in Barrie, Ontario. The Library serves one of the fastest growing communities in Canada and the Library expects to grow to a six branch system by 2031, with the first two branches proposed for 2022 and 2024. The Library seeks assistance in achieving higher levels of service performance and increasing efficiencies especially in the area of holds process, sorting, and delivery.
The scope of work with The Galecia Group includes a combination of materials handling analysis and recommendations provided by Lori Ayre along with change management, team building and leadership development workshops delivered by Cheryl Gould.
2018
NorthNet Library Systems
Library Resource-Sharing and Physical Delivery Consultation
NorthNet Library System was seeking assistance evaluating their physical delivery options for libraries interested in joining the Link+ resource-sharing network. Link+ is a very popular resource sharing network that is composed of a software component (INN-Reach by Innovative Interfaces) and physical delivery of items (provided by Tricor).
The goal of the engagement is to develop a solution for fairly distributing the total cost of Link+ between existing Link+ libraries and the new ones so that no current library pays more than their current costs and to develop a delivery model for getting items where they need to be in an acceptable time frame.
2016-2018
Faith in the City
"Faith in the City" Digital Mapping Project
"Faith in the City: Chicago's Religious Diversity in the Era of the World's Fair" [Note: the exhibit is currently offline while The Newberry re-organizes their digital exhibits.] is a digital humanities project focused on religious movements and figures in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The project, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and The Newberry Library, displays hundreds of historical points as well as essays from over a dozen prominent scholars related to the theme. The map technology allows visitors to toggle between a custom-generated modern map layer of Chicago and a georeferenced panoramic map from the 1890s, seeing how neighborhoods and the city itself have changed in the past 120 years.
2016 - 2017
NC Cardinal
Library Consortium Environmental and Organizational Assessment and Strategic Planning Consultation
The Galecia Group has been working with NC Cardinal since May 2016. NC Cardinal is a consortium in North Carolina which provides a shared Evergreen system for 31 library systems across the state. The engagement includes:
- assessing existing services and operations
- identifying emerging needs and aspirations of shareholders, and
- creating a 5-year strategic plan to grow the system, enhance the services, and define a sustainable funding model
The final deliverable was a recommendations document and a planning document that was developed during a one-day workshop with the NC Cardinal Board. It included a calendar of prioritized activities to pursue over the next 3-5 years with assigned owners for each activity.
This engagement was led by Lori Bowen Ayre with Galecia Associates Lucien Kress and Sam McBane Mulford.
2012-2017
Infopeople
Software Development for Library Service Organization Consult (Website, CRM, and Event Management)
Infopeople is a state-wide project that serves as the training arm of the California State Library, primarily serving libraries throughout the state. Infopeople's online and webinar students hail from libraries across the United States and several other countries, numbering in the thousands.
May, 2016 - 2017
PaILS
Library Consortium Environmental and Organizational Assessment and Strategic Planning Consultation
PaILS is a consortium in Pennsylvania which provides a shared Evergreen system for 37 library systems across the state. The engagement included:
- assessing existing services and operations
- re-evaluating the PaILS Mission Statement
- reformulating the PaILS Vision Statement
- identifying strategic priorities and developing activities to support them
- developing a plan to address challenges related to the need for stable funding for the disparate needs of a diverse group of libraries
- developing cost share formula that more accurately reflects current environment and supports sustainability
This work was led by Lori Bowen Ayre with Galecia Associates Lucien Kress and Sam McBane Mulford. The final deliverables included a recommendations document which served as the basis for a Strategic Plan which the consortium adopted. We then worked with them to develop a formal Strategic Plan used to guide the organization over the next 3-5 years.
2016-2017
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Library IT Technology Plan
Worked with library executive and IT teams as well as the County to develop a five year technology plan.
2016-2017
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library
Library Automated Materials Handling (AMH) and RFID Consultation
Engagement with Charlotte Mecklenburg as they plan their transition from barcodes to RFID and from manual processing to automated materials handling. They Library is in the unusual position of having to renovate one of the branches and will introduce their first automated materials handling system there. In order to plan how best to transition to RFID systemwide and how best to use automated materials handling, Lori Ayre has worked with the Library to evaluate potential vendors. With Ayre's support, the Library has selected an AMH vendor and will roll-out a longer term plan for implementing RFID in a way that will reduce the workload for Library staff throughout the transition. The project is ongoing.