Neath Port Talbot Libraries is coming up to the first anniversary of launching Netloan Wi-Fi print across their 8 library sites. The libraries serve a mixture of town centre and rural communities. Lorensbergs spoke with Jeanette Jones, Senior Branch Librarian, who has been responsible for rolling out and launching the service across all 8 library branches.
“Since we introduced Netloan Wi-Fi print a year ago, I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s enabled us to do so much and we’ve reached a whole new audience with it,” says Jeanette.
“This is what we’ve heard from customers using it:
- It’s so convenient for when I’m out and about and I can collect my printing from any library.
- I’m always in a rush, and I can just pop in the library and grab my prints without using a computer.
- And this is what our staff have said:
- It’s so much easier using Wi-Fi print to print out things like labels and tickets. Users are already logged into their email on their phone, and they can easily upload it.
Meeting Library User Needs
“For some time now, customers have been coming in with their phones and asking if they can print from them. As we’ve been offering Wi-Fi in the library, they think ‘Why can’t I Wi-Fi print too?’” says Jeanette. “This was happening quite frequently, especially in our main branches in Neath and Port Talbot. They just wanted to run in, print what they needed and go without having to get onto a computer first.”
Jeanette heard about the Netloan Wi-Fi print module from account calls and the annual Netloan user groups. She arranged to have a demo with the Netloan account manager and could see how easy it would be to use. As soon as the library sourced the funding for it, they went ahead.
Demand for wireless printing had been increasing over recent years, especially with so much buying, selling and shopping taking place online. Customers have wanted to print return labels for Amazon or mailing labels for Vinted. They often need to print boarding passes and coach tickets.
Staff had been used to leading these customers to a computer and asking them to log into their email accounts:
“Often they wouldn’t know the password for accessing their email from a new device. It could become a frustrating process before they were able to print what they needed.
“These customers don’t always want to use other library services. They just want to come in and pick up their printing. So Netloan Wi-Fi print is of huge value, as it means we can still provide a service to these customers and provide something that they keep coming back for.
“They might rely on their phones in place of computers, but they don’t tend to have printers at home. Library printing is so important. Netloan Wi-Fi print is about supporting easy access to these important facilities.”
Introducing the Service
Setting up the service ready for customer use was very straightforward:
“IT was involved from the get-go and were involved with testing the service. There were no problems at all. I received some training and it was easy to pass this on to other staff so they could roll it out in their libraries. Like the rest of Netloan, it’s been very easy to use ever since.”
Key stats at Neath Port Talbot Libraries since introducing Netloan Wi-Fi print:
- Wi-Fi use in the library has trebled
- Wi-Fi printing is 20% of all print volume (all sites)
- Wi-Fi printing is 30% of all printing at Neath Library
As well as staff telling customers about the printing service, they hear about it from the library website and social media, from posters and QR codes dotted around the libraries, and from seeing staff help other customers in the library get started.
Customers of all age groups have welcomed using the new service:
“We have people working remotely here in the library with laptops and we have people studying. Coming to the library keeps them motivated, rather than just working from home which can be quite isolating. They can come and have a chat with staff when taking a break.”
Workways+ (employment support service) and job clubs make use of it. Plus it also supports opportunities for introducing new revenue-generating services to the library. The library has two rooms to hire out for business meetings and conferences. The ability for users to print wirelessly is an attractive service when hiring library space for these activities:
“We’ve got training and conference facilities. So we can say to these customers now, if you’ve got your laptop, you can use it to print while on the library Wi-Fi.”
With staff encouraging users with own devices to print directly from them, what has this meant for library computer use? With computer time needed for so much else, these facilities are still in demand and well used:
“The PCs are still very popular,” comments Jeanette. “Just now I can see there are 13 out of 16 PCs in use here in the library.”
Jeanette concludes: “The value of having Netloan Wi-Fi print by far outweighs the cost of providing it. It’s about supporting good access to an important facility – library printing. Our staff are completely behind it, and use has risen very quickly. Everyone finds it such an easy way to print.”
With thanks to Jeanette Jones at Neath Port Talbot Libraries for talking to us about their introduction of Netloan Wi-Fi print.
