Powys County Council libraries were unable to continue with the facility to reserve books through the Library Catalogue during the pandemic. A different system was urgently needed to allow customers to request ‘book collections’ to be picked up from selected libraries or delivered to their door, the council came up with the Library Order and Collect Service.  

The council worked with the Library Service to develop a customer centred process which involves a customer facing web form triggering automatic workflow and emails to appropriate library locations. The council also developed an admin interface where Library staff can view the requests and select a date when the books will be available for collection. This action triggers an automatic email to the customer to notify them. Library staff then put together a collection of books suiting the customer’s tastes and leave them ready for collection on the date advised. 

There is also an ‘assisted-service’ version of the above developed for customers who prefer to interact by phone. This uses the same process and forms as the self-service version, but all communication is by phone.