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OUTHAMPTON has 11 public libraries managed by Southampton City Council. Since early 2021, six of them have a new on-demand printing service usable by anyone, not just library members.
These self-service print stations – run in partnership with Kuario, a CILIP Supplier Partner company – enable visitors to send print jobs from their own devices at home or on the go and to collect them at their convenience. They can do this without logging into library computers and they can pay via the Kuario app or contactless card. The new system has resulted in a 20 per cent increase in revenue from printing services, significantly beating expectations.
The average time required for visitors to complete a printing transaction has also been reduced from approximately 20 to five minutes, saving 10 to 15 minutes per transaction.
Before Kuario
Before the partnership with Kuario, Southampton Libraries relied on a coin-based payment system that did not meet modern customer expectations. Visitors increasingly expect fast, contactless payments and the outdated system was creating friction in their experience. Liz Whale, Information Skills & Area Manager at Southampton City Council, said: “A big advantage for the end customers is that small value contactless transactions are so
In an effort to coordinate spending and reduce
duplication, improve standards and prevent siloed solutions the council moved to a centralised IT provision across the council.
Behind the scenes of a technology upgrade
Pioneering technology at Southampton libraries was enabled by a new relationship with the council’s IT department. Liz Whale, Information Skills and Area manager explains how the pieces fell into place to make it happen.
prevalent on the high street that users expect to pay by card rather than through any kind of coin system.” This change made the service more accessible and hassle-free, driving higher engagement and satisfaction among visitors. In addition to improving the customer experience, operations behind the scenes have also been transformed. Managing cash micro-transactions across multiple locations had previously been a time- consuming, manual task for library staff. Kuario’s cloud-based platform streamlined this process allowing staff to focus on more customer-facing work. Liz said: “Previously there were a lot of small- value transactions for the back-office to account and reconcile. Now, it’s far simpler! Every two weeks, a single larger
Bacs payment goes into the council’s bank account for all our print copy and scan transactions.”
New opportunities
The new service has also boosted popularity with new and existing library users particularly among students and online sellers.
The impact of the pandemic on society – working from home, cash-free payments, and online buying and selling – has created new demand and new opportunities for public libraries. Liz said: “We are investigating the introduction of postal lockers, and we feel these services will complement each other. Printing return labels and then posting in the library will work for many
Left to right – Niels Schilder, Partner Sales Manager Kuario; Tam Le Product, Marketeer XPP; Liz Whale, Southampton City Libraries and Marcus van Der Waal Channel Sales Director Kuario.
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