{"id":19596,"date":"2021-03-02T11:28:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T11:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bibliotheca.wpengine.com\/oakville-public-library\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T16:10:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:10:59","slug":"customer-story-oakville-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/customer-story-oakville-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"In a Growing Toronto Suburb, remoteLockers Expand Library Access Beyond Branches"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLIBRARY STORY\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn a Growing Toronto Suburb, remoteLockers Expand Library Access Beyond Branches\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tExplore remoteLocker\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\nOakville, ON can\u2019t build libraries fast enough to keep up with the municipality\u2019s exploding growth. They needed a way to provide their growing population with access to library services and materials while the city\u2019s infrastructure caught up with demand. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\nUsing Bibliotheca\u2019s remoteLockers, Oakville Public Library built Express Stations in community centers and sports complexes in underserved areas. Patrons can borrow and return materials, participate in storytime, and access early-literacy computers at any of the locations. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\nEven after building a branch just across the parking lot, the circulation at the remoteLockers outstrips that of the nearby branch. The Express Stations are so popular that OPL has increased the number of remoteLocker towers to meet demand. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Express \u201cBranches\u201d Provide Library Access to Exploding Toronto Suburb<\/h2>

Located just 40 minutes outside of Toronto; Oakville, ON is a busy suburb experiencing exponential growth. The city is home to over 200,000 residents, and with an estimated growth rate of nearly 2% annually, that number is rising quickly. The Oakville Public Library serves this expanding community with seven full-service branches that see 1.2 million visitors a year. Still, the demand for library access outstrips availability. Using Bibliotheca\u2019s\u00a0remoteLockers<\/a>, Oakville has come up with an innovative way to bridge that gap \u2013 OPL Express locations.<\/p>


Meeting the Need ASAP<\/h3>

\u201cIt can take 15 years to open a new library branch from beginning to end,\u201d says Tara Wong, CEO of Oakville Public Library<\/a>. \u201cEven with quick growth and high-density housing, you have to wait a number of years to have the funding to actually build the infrastructure and services a community needs.\u201d<\/p>

This is a dilemma familiar to many fast-growing municipalities, and Oakville is no exception. To make matters worse, population growth means traffic snarls, which can make getting to the library branches before closing time difficult for some busy Toronto commuters \u2013 something\u00a0OPL<\/a>\u00a0is working to address.<\/p>

\u201cWe completely understand the challenges they are facing,\u201d says Wong. \u201cThe question becomes, how can we make it possible for them to make use of the library and its materials while we work on building more branches.\u201d<\/p>

So, three years ago, Oakville decided to open its first OPL Express location in Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Center (QEP). The OPL Express is built on the backbone of Bibliotheca\u2019s\u00a0remoteLocker \u2013 an easy-to-use, modular library holds locker solution that can be placed anywhere in the community<\/a>.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Growing demand from a growing community<\/h4>

remoteLocker<\/a>\u00a0allows library users to request materials from any library branch and have them delivered to a convenient locker location. The items can then be picked up any time the building is open. QEP is open most days from 6 am to 10 pm, much longer hours than those offered by the nearest library branch.<\/p>

The QEP Express station was so successful<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 regularly stocked to capacity within months of installation \u2013 that\u00a0OPL<\/a>\u00a0has since added additional towers of 10 lockers each to the existing remoteLocker for more holds storage and opened two additional Express locations. Each location is outfitted with\u00a0remoteLockers<\/a>\u00a0and offers other on-site programming like story time or early literacy computers.<\/p>

The second location, at\u00a0Sixteen Mile<\/a>, a sports complex, was installed just a year before a temporary branch was opened across the parking lot in the same area. The results have been surprising. Though a branch is nearby, the\u00a0remoteLocker<\/a>\u00a0circulation is outstripping the original QEP location.<\/p>

\u201cWe did a marketing survey in 2018 and discovered that inconvenient hours were one of the two key factors for people not using the library. So, we decided to leave the Express location open at Sixteen Mile, because the complex is open 18 hours a day,\u201d says Wong.<\/p>

To take maximum advantage of the circulation opportunities at the Sixteen Mile Express location,\u00a0Oakville<\/a>\u00a0is partnering with Bibliotheca to implement new remoteLocker tower designs.\u00a0One of the new towers features 15 smaller lockers within the same space that traditionally fit 10. Wong says the new tower with increased hold pick-up capacity is a welcome addition.<\/p>

\u201cSeeing the success of the\u00a0remoteLocker<\/a>\u00a0at QEP, it was a no-brainer to add on the latest tower types Bibliotheca developed,\u201d she says.\u00a0OPL<\/a>\u00a0will also be implementing the new transparent door lockers at the QEP location. The transparent door towers offer a browsable collection for patrons visiting the remoteLocker to pick up their hold items.<\/p>

\u201cThe transparent door lockers are quite large and visible to users of the community center, and we plan to use them to circulate \u201clucky day\u201d collections, sets of DVDs as \u2018binge boxes\u2019 for a rainy weekend, or a variety of items centered around a theme,\u2019 says Wong. \u201cWe\u2019re working through a few challenges within our ILS to bundle multiple materials together that will be checked out when a patron browses and borrows the contents of one locker, but I\u2019m really excited to see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>

In addition to standard materials, the transparent lockers can also be used to showcase non-traditional lending items like STEAM kits, instruments, or sports kits. Wong says this capability offers libraries a unique educational opportunity: \u201cWe think of the people who exclusively use the remoteLockers as gateway users. The lockers offer us a chance to let them know what other programs and services we offer, and to slip in a little marketing. Many of our patrons are very traditional users, and they don\u2019t even know about all of the things we do and lend, so the holds pickup is like a gateway to everything else.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

What\u2019s Next for OPL?<\/h4>

The library<\/a>\u2019s recent marketing survey revealed a significant opportunity to educate the Oakville citizens about everything the library offers. With the help of outside marketing advice, Wong is taking full advantage of that through email campaigns and rebranding. The library has a new logo and is currently updating the graphic wraps on the\u00a0remoteLockers<\/a>\u00a0to highlight the library\u2019s brand in its locations throughout the community.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"We completely understand the challenges they are facing. The question becomes, how can we make it possible for them to make use of the library and its materials while we work on building more branches.\"<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTara Wong<\/span>CEO<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\"Seeing the success of the remoteLocker at QEP, it was a no-brainer to add on the latest tower types Bibliotheca developed.\"<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTara Wong<\/span>CEO<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Kanskje du ogs\u00e5 liker<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kunnskaper og tendenser<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

remoteLockers help a Canadian library keep up with exploding community growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":75179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[316,449,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library-stories","category-library-technology","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115946,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19596\/revisions\/115946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bibliotheca.com\/no\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}