StackMap

StackMap

www.stackmap.com

When patrons find a book in the online catalog, they have only a call number to guide them to their book. StackMap is a web-based software solution to provide patrons with a detailed map and written directions to an item with one click, without ever leaving the catalog.

All libraries, from large academic libraries with many floors of stacks to small public libraries, can help their patrons find items more easily. In simplifying the process from curiosity to holding a book, StackMap can save time for both patrons and library staff.

At CLA me and a couple other people checked out this booth of a vendor called StackMap.  The idea is that in the catalog, after a patron finds a book they can click on a link and it’ll show them a floor plan of the library and show them (roughly) where the item is.

It’s based on us giving them a floor plan and then we can designate what range of call numbers are on a particular shelf, and then the computer looks at the call number of the desired book and puts a little arrow on the map where it (mathematically) should be.

You can see what the patron experience is like here:

http://portico.lib.utk.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&vl(1UI0)=contains&scp.scps=scope%3A%28UTK%29&frbg=&tab=default_tab&dstmp=1352926088809&srt=rank&ct=search&mode=Basic&dum=true&vl(2509121UI0)=any&tb=t&indx=1&vl(48277845UI1)=all_items&vl(freeText0)=harry+potter&fn=search&vid=UTK

It costs $1000 to set up and then $2000 per year for maintenance, though this was just the rough ballpark figure that I was quoted.

They promote that it works with web enabled smart phones, but that’s because all it’s doing is creating an extra web page to appear when a patron clicks on the “view map” link.  It would work the same on anything web enabled.

It seems like a nifty idea, though now that I think about it, I think that all of our display walls and power walls would mess up the system.