CARL•Connect Staff’s tablet-friendly design praised for expediting staff workflows
After experiencing record circulation numbers of over 3 million items in 2017, Lexington Public Library in Kentucky went live with CARL in December of 2018. Since launch, Lexington Public Library has used CARL•Connect Staff throughout all their branch locations.
CARL•Connect Staff is a modern, web-based staff client designed by TLC to improve customer service by empowering connection through desk-free interactions. Using the sophisticated logic of CARL•X, the product adds flexibility for library staff members whenever—and wherever—patrons need assistance.
“The tablet-friendly design of CARL•Connect Staff has empowered our staff to abandon paper lists for pulling daily holds and to assist customers at their point of need anywhere in the library,” says Bobby Webb, a Virtual Branch Manager for Lexington Public Library. “The freedom from a traditional PC workstation and the convenience of cloud-based software updates are helping [Lexington Public Library’s] workflow to evolve from a customer service and a system maintenance perspective,” Webb said, adding that Lexington “eagerly awaits” the arrival of more web-based functionality to support future innovation.
TLC recently released updates to CARL•Connect Staff in version 1.6 that enhance the User Overview function. Check-in and check-out capabilities were improved to provide library staff with the ability to view outstanding transactions on a user’s account without having to navigate to account specific interfaces. The new User Overview feature is accessed during check-in or check-out with one-click hyperlinks and cuts out time-consuming steps that traditionally could bottleneck the process for librarians.
When User Overview is opened, library staff have access to all relevant patron data, including check-out, holds, and fine information. The interface is designed to display all the information in sortable, one tap tabs and columns. Librarians can scroll both vertically and horizontally, quickly navigating from items currently checked-out, charges, overdues, and lost items to holds information like In Queue, In Transit, and Ready for Pickup on a user’s account. The improvements to the User Overview were made to enhance workflows for librarians after consulting with TLC’s CARL•X customers. For more information, contact info@tlcdelivers.com.
About The Library Corporation:
TLC has operated continuously under the same ownership since 1974 and employs over 200 people dedicated to delivering enterprise software and hardware solutions to public, school, academic, and special libraries worldwide. TLC’s cumulative products are deployed in more than 1,100 organizations, representing over 5,500 locations in North America. TLC is certified by the U.S. General Services Administration, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, and the Women Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program. TLC’s Headquarters is based in Inwood, W.Va., and has additional offices in Denver, Minnesota, and Singapore. To learn more, visit TLCdelivers.com.
