Looking back at a year of growth and change

2015 brought significant change to library operations and outreach programs, so The Library Corporation diversified and enhanced its products and services to meet the evolving needs of an increasingly digital industry.

Integrated library systems are at the heart of TLC’s mission, with more than 4,500 libraries worldwide utilizing either CARL•X or Library•Solution. One of the most prestigious library systems in the United States, Loudoun County Public Library in Virginia, joined the TLC family in 2015 when it selected the CARL•X ILS. The number of Library•Solution users grew as well, most notably in the state of Hawaii. Every one of the 220 libraries in the Aloha State’s network of public and charter schools implemented Library•Solution to better serve the 180,000 K-12 students spread across Hawaii’s eight main islands. Some of the other libraries that chose Library•Solution in 2015 include Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, Ohio County Public Library in West Virginia, Columbia College in Vancouver, three libraries in a newly formed consortium in Venango County, Penn., and four libraries in the South Dakota Library Network that opted to leave their consortium in favor of partnering with TLC.

CARL•Connect, an enhancement that delivers mobile, Web-based services to the CARL•X ILS, grew in popularity after being introduced in 2014. Los Angeles Public Library in California and the Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma City purchased CARL•Connect last year, joining Monroe County Library System in New York and the Contra Costa County Library in California. The product’s feature set grew as well with enhancements to CARL•Connect Circulation and the introduction of two new components of CARL•Connect: Collections and Reports. Additional CARL•X updates in 2015 for LS2 PAC include a dynamic, social, and enriched mobile experience, allowing libraries to provide a higher level of engagement and offer new user-driven services including automatic renewal of library cards for users in good standing and a patron opt-in to receive e-mail receipts, SMS text messaging, and other personalized communications from the automation system.

Library•Solution and its suite of included modules – LS2 PAC, LS2 Kids, and LS2 Staff – added new functionality last year to benefit both library employees and patrons. Reading level integration is a powerful service that pulls data directly from Lexile® and Accelerated Reader™ vendors and associates and displays the information in the OPAC. Cataloging functionality in Library•Solution is an ongoing concern, with TLC’s ILS leading the charge to move beyond the outdated and limited MARC record system. Other major upgrades to Library•Solution in 2015 introduced a refined and simplified circulation interface, World Book integration, a new ILS launch page, and more.

Social media has become an integral communication tool for libraries, and TLC is helping them maximize the effectiveness of their Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn pages. TLC is the library marketplace’s exclusive provider of SocialFlow, a social media management and publishing service for the optimization of posts and tweets. SocialFlow generated tremendous interest in 2015, being the subject of a standing-room-only session at the ALA Annual Conference in June and a nationwide Library Journal webinar in September. Some of the prominent libraries that purchased SocialFlow last year are Los Angeles Public Library, Dallas Independent School District in Texas, Allegany County Library in Maryland, and Pine Bluff-Jefferson County Library System in Arkansas.

TLC’s digital cataloging products saw continued success last year as they provided valuable services to libraries that are adding more digital items to their catalogs than ever before. The company’s eBiblioFile service provides on-demand, RDA-ready cataloging records for e-resources from OverDrive and 3M’s Cloud Library, and its RDAExpress converts a library’s existing MARC records to the new RDA cataloging standard.

TLC has been providing library automation, cataloging, and data services since 1974. The company stands out in this age of corporate takeovers and mergers because its founder, Annette Harwood Murphy, still owns and operates TLC, and almost half of its staff has been with the firm for a decade or more. More than 100 people – a large number of whom are librarians – are employed at the company’s headquarters in Inwood, W.Va., and its offices in Denver, Singapore, and Ontario, Canada. To learn more about TLC’s products and services, visit TLCdelivers.com, e-mail info@TLCdelivers.com, or call 1.800.325.7759.