Southport College is an independent Further Education college providing a diverse programme of education and training to a variety of learners across the North West.
The College first implemented a BioStore biometric solution in 2006 with the Heritage library management system provided by BioStore Platinum Partner, IS Oxford.
The biometrics have been a firm favourite ever since and in 2007 the library team won the Tribal Technical Innovation Award for their implementation of biometric technology.
When asked how using Heritage had improved the day-to-day running of the library and services offered to users, Kath Halfpenny, commented:
"The introduction of the Biometrics module in 2006 has improved our service enormously. We have dispensed with the need to present a membership card in order to access services and borrow resources, which has seen a significant increase in students’ uptake of our services. In the first year of Biometrics implementation we saw the number of students borrowing resources more than double in comparison to the previous year.
Biometrics also eradicated the problems associated with card-sharing and lost cards (lost stock, disputes over fines etc).
Biometrics have proved extremely popular with our core client-group of 16-19 year olds. They often comment on the system, saying how convenient they find it and enjoy the "high-tech" aspect of it. More mature students have also welcomed the system and we have virtually 100% uptake of biometrics registration.
Staff have enjoyed the benefits of the system and we have found that registering users’ biometrics takes much less time than allocating membership cards. The time saved has freed up staff-time to engage with students in a positive way, which is particularly important at the start of the year when the library-student relationship is being forged.
The college is currently working with IS Oxford to develop our use of biometrics with other applications such as exam registration."
For more information, please contact : info@biostore.co.uk