TLC’s solid 2014 sets stage for prosperous 2015

The Library Corporation celebrated its 40th year of business by adding new customers, renewing relationships with long-time customers, and bolstering its offerings to public, school, academic, and special libraries.

TLC provides premier automation and cataloging products and services to more than 4,500 libraries worldwide. It stands out in today’s market of vendor takeovers because the founder still owns and operates the company. Seventy percent of TLC’s employees have been with the company for at least five years, while almost 50 percent have logged a decade or more of service. That gives customers an uncompromising knowledge base from a resource of people that care.

TLC had over 50 integrated library system sales in 2014 representing over 700 library sites. Among the new customers that TLC welcomed in 2014 were the Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma, Hartwick College in New York, West Florida Public Library System in Pensacola, Ohio County Public Library of West Virginia, Albemarle Regional Library in North Carolina, Orcas Island Public Library of Washington, Fayerweather Street School in Massachusetts, and Summit Free Public Library of New Jersey.

Los Angeles Public Library in California and Dallas Independent School District in Texas were just two of many significant library systems that renewed their long-standing automation services contracts with TLC in 2014.

New product developments last year included:

• CARL•Connect, an enhancement for the CARL•X™ ILS that features mobile, Web-based staff clients developed to empower desk-free interactions with library users, communities, and collections.
• An improved Academic Reserves tool for college and university libraries that is offered at no additional charge to users of TLC’s Library•Solution® automation system.
• eBiblioFile, which was introduced in 2012 as an on-demand data service to provide MARC records for eResources from OverDrive and 3M’s Cloud Library, upgraded to the new RDA cataloging standard. The growing list of eBiblioFile customers includes Toronto Public Library in Ontario, Orange County Library System in Florida, and the Regional Ebook and Audio Download System (READS) of Tennessee.
• RDAExpress™, a service that quickly and automatically converts a library’s MARC records to robust RDA records with enriched data and unprecedented discoverability, regardless of ILS vendor. The fast-growing conversion service has customers across North America including Kingswood University in New Brunswick, Canada; Lafourche Parish Public Library in Louisiana; and Chesterfield County Public Schools in Virginia.

Moving forward, TLC is leveraging its corporate stability and technological expertise to further develop products and services that enhance the viability and relevance of libraries worldwide for decades to come. Already in 2015, the company has welcomed the Hawaii State Department of Education to its family of customers, which means that every public and charter school library in the Aloha State is using TLC’s Library•Solution® for Schools automation system. Additionally, TLC announced an exclusive partnership with SocialFlow™ that makes TLC the media management service’s exclusive provider to the library marketplace. SocialFlow uses real-time data and business rules to determine what and when to publish to a customer’s social media sites to ensure the information reaches the widest possible audience.

TLC, which is based in Inwood, W.Va., and has additional offices in Denver, Singapore, and Ontario, Canada, was a 2014 recipient of the West Virginia Governor’s Commendation for International Market Entry, which recognized the company as one of the Mountain State’s top international business exporters due to its growing number of relationships with libraries in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Kenya, and many other countries. Additionally, TLC earned elite certification by the nonprofit Women’s Business Enterprise National Council of Washington, D.C., giving it the ability to compete for real-time business opportunities provided by WBENC corporate members and government agencies.

To learn more about TLC and its products and services, visit TLCdelivers.com, e-mail info@TLCdelivers.com, or call 1.800.325.7759.