The St. Paul Public library app! Who we work with is everything to us! We love working with forward thinking library services and librarians who feel the same as us about making a real difference to communities. But we don’t want you just to take our word for it because we know our case studies are living proof that we know what we’re doing.
When you’re thinking about investing in a product or service for your library like the St. Paul Public library app! what’s the first thing you do? Usually, it’s one or both of the following: You’ll likely ask your friends and colleagues whether they’ve tried the product or service, and if they have, whether they would recommend it. You’ll also probably do some online research to see what others are saying about said product or service. We are delighted to bring you just some of that customer feedback here.
The St. Paul Public library app! To transform the mobile experience they joined forces with several other Twin Cities metropolitan area libraries in choosing the SOLUS app to provide mobile services.
Minnesota is divided into twelve regional public library systems, for the purpose of delivering library services. MELSA is the largest of these systems, serving eight member libraries with more than 100 library locations.
The Twin Cities library systems like to cooperate where possible to make things easier for patrons who use multiple systems and so they can help each other with implementing new ideas and troubleshooting issues. Even though the Saint Paul Public Library’s website is responsive and will work well on most mobile devices, there are several reasons that they liked having the catalog and library information also available in a mobile app:
- Dedicated “shortcut” the library on the desktop of devices that many people are carrying around with them all day.
- Some patrons prefer to remain signed into their account rather than enter a username and password every time they place a hold, view checked-out items, etc.
- Patrons can manage multiple library cards in their household easily from the app, rather than having to sign in and out of each separate account on the website.
- The app gives them the opportunity to present information in several languages beyond English.
Their app was released to the public in early 2020, just at the COVID-19 pandemic and its ensuing library closures were taking hold. Saint Paul Public Library had promoted the app on its website and social media channels, and they saw patrons adopt the new app even as library doors were closed. When library services resumed for contactless pickup, they added information to the app about how to book pick-up appointments and added links to online booking forms.
Current Statistics (2022)
- Average devices/month: 1900
- New devices/month: 260
- Launches/month: 125,000
Most popular content:
- Nearest libraries
- Ebooks (OverDrive)
Launch Statistics (March – June 2020)
- New devices in March 2020: 5261
- New devices, March – June 2020: 10,608
- Launches/month: 8481
John Larson is the Digital Library Coordinator for the Saint Paul (MN) Public Library. He manages the library’s website and mobile app, trains staff on digital services, and works with the library’s marketing and communications department on the library’s online presence.
John has been with the Saint Paul Public Library for over 20 years as reference librarian, branch manager, small business resource center coordinator, and web librarian
If you’ve read some of our blogs or customer case studies and would like to know more about what we do, why not visit us at Solus. Or simply get in touch to speak to a member of our team to hear about how we can help you first hand.
