AssureVault
Customer Success Story
At a Glance
Company Name: Kent State University
Industry: University Libraries
Key Challenges:
Barcode scan, pack and move 600,000 books to off-site, permanent storage
Provide all equipment and labor to barcode-scan 1.2 million pieces to identify all 600,000 books
Provide next-day delivery for circulation
Timeline: In less than 90 days
The Details
Tom Klingler, Assistant Dean, University Libraries at Kent State University, was looking for a miracle. Tom needed a company that could process his data file of 600,000 selected books, provide the equipment and labor to barcode-scan 1.2 million pieces in order to identify the 600,000 he needed to move. The job also called for scanning, packing, and moving the books to the company’s off-site facility. Plus, the company had to have the ability to make all the books available for circulation one day after they were moved. The timeline? The project needed to be completed in less than three months.
Project Scope/Need
As part of a large collection move project, Kent State University (KSU) needed to find someone who could barcode-scan 1.2 million items and retrieve, pack, and store 600,000 of them based on their specifications of age, subject matter, and circulation history.
They needed to find a company that could securely store these items, integrate with their automation, and provide next day delivery for regular circulation requests for this material. KSU needed to find the right company for the project and they found AssureVault.
The Move Process
During the move, AssureVault deployed ten teams of staff with laptops and barcode scanners. They moved out 600,000 books in just seven weeks – five weeks ahead of schedule!
During the moving process, books became available for requesting at their site the day after they left the library. KSU didn’t have to change anything in their catalog except a location label. They didn’t have to make anything unavailable for extended periods.
Patrons of KSU libraries are now requesting these items in the catalog along with other materials. And they are used to picking them up the next day at the library circulation desk.
Service Delivery
As stated by Klingler, “AssureVault employs some savvy systems staff. They were able to ingest our initial output file, test its integrity, and use it to scan and match against our entire book collection. Now that the move is behind us, every day we trade files back and forth that indicate books returned and books checked out.
They have come up live on our circulation system and are now performing the final circulation check-in process when the books return to their facility after circulating.”
Benefits Realized
For what KSU called “a modest up-front move cost and equally modest monthly storage and service fees going forward”, KSU now has 600,000 of their books in secure, climate-controlled remote storage, and the items are available for next-day circulation delivery.
AssureVault also provides a web portal that allows KSU to check inventory and request the permanent return of materials that need to come back to their campus to stay.
States Klingler, “Overall, we freed-up lots of space very quickly in our main library building, and we avoided the very expensive option of setting up, securing, and staffing our own off-site facility.”