title
Approval of selection of bibliotecha to supply Automated Materials Handler (Book Sorter) for the Wauwatosa Public Library following Request For Proposal (RFP) process
body
Submitted by:
Robert Trunley, Assistant Library Director and Alanna Maddox, Library Circulation Supervisor
Department:
Library
A. Issue
In 2023 the City Finance Department approved Capital Improvement Project funds for purchasing a new Automated Materials Handler (AMH) for the library in 2024. The City and Library Board agreed the cost of the AMH would be split 50/50 between City funds and Library Agency Trust funds. Also, the Library Board agreed to provide an additional $10,000 from 2024 budgeted funds i.e. 7001 FIXED ASSET. The AMH will be modular, which will allow it to be expanded in a potential library renovation. Expansion might include additional bins and additional induction points.
B. Background/Options
The library’s current AMH is ten years old. It is under a maintenance contract for 2024 but the contract expires this year and will not be renewed by the vendor which is bibliotheca. The AMH is at the end of its useful life. With help from the City Purchasing Department, the Library requested proposals from three vendors. Library staff chose bibliotheca as the vendor whose proposal most fulfilled the Library’s needs.
Envisionware was significantly more expensive and did not give us the 7-bin sort we requested. They proposed a 6-bin sort and an 8-bin sort.
FE Tech was slightly less expensive than bibliotheca if we go with spring-loaded bins which is what we want to do. We have been in contact with an FE Tech library, however, and they were dissatisfied with FE Tech and the installation. It took weeks to get the equipment working properly and they are not satisfied with technical support. FE Tech is headquartered in Australia and technical support requests were being routed to Australia. FE Tech showed only one comparable installation in Wisconsin. Their other two comparable installations were in South Dakota and Helsinki, Finland. FE Tech has only 25 library installations in the USA.
bibliotheca offers a reasonable price (only slightly more than FE Tech) and we know after years of working with them how consistent and excellent their equipment and technical support are. bibliotheca has over 150 library installations in the USA and they have technical support staff local to Wauwatosa. All our other library circulation equipment is provided by bibliotheca and it is much more convenient to deal only with one vendor. Chuck Pomerenke (Facilities Manager) was very much in agreement on this point. Additionally, bibliotheca promises a refund for the unused portion of our 2024 maintenance contract. If the installation is in September for instance, we would get about $4,000 refunded.
Project Costs
7-bin AMH with staff and public inductions:
City: $ 47,466.50
Library Agency Trust: $ 47,466.50
Library 7001 FIXED ASSET: $ 10,000.00
Total: $ 104,933.00
C. Strategic Plan (Area of Focus)
Priority Area Three: Infrastructure
D. Fiscal Impact
Funds are budgeted in the capital budget for this item.
E. Recommendation
We recommend selecting bibliotecha to supply Automated Materials Handler (Book Sorter) for the Wauwatosa Public Library in the amount of $104,933.