River Falls Public Library (RFPL) is proud to announce that we are the first in our ten-county system to have an Automated Material Handling (AMH) System that checks in material and sorts it by collection type before shelving! These are a couple of the many circulation tasks that are very time consuming. Having an AMH system will make this work much more efficient.

A small radio frequency identification tag has been placed in all RFPL material so that those items will check in automatically when they are on the AMH conveyor belt. They will then automatically sort by collection type in one of seven bins before the items are shelved by staff. Often I am asked, how much time or money will be saved with the new AMH system? I explain that we have already reduced staffing levels since I was hired in 2018 and tasked with flattening the growth of the library budget. We have managed to do this with the implementation of many efficiencies, despite the steady growth in demand for library services since the turn of this century. Since the year 2000, RFPL’s circulation is up 35%, both incoming and outgoing loans to and from other libraries is up 1000%, programming is up 100%, program attendance is up 125% and the budget is up 125%. As of this year, our staffing level is up only 1% from 20 years ago. The AMH will position us to meet increased demands while still making personal connections with our patrons and partnering with other agencies to solve community challenges. Library staff would like to express gratitude to the River Falls Library Board of Trustees who approved financing for the entire AMH system from Library Trust Funds, which is made up of all privately donated dollars. So, thank you also to you, the River Falls community, for the many generous private donations you have made to the River Falls Public Library. _ Like you, we, the library staff, look forward to the end (or at least to a serious decrease) of the current health crisis, so that we can open up again and show you our fine new AMH system It is quite mesmerizing to watch. Children and adults will have trouble taking their eyes off of it. And it really helps us get your resources out to you much more quickly.

In the meantime, please take advantage of our robust curbside pickup and our expanding online programming. If you would like help selecting material to checkout, call us at 715-425-0905. We are also adding Saturday curbside pickup hours from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. starting October 24.