Honorable mention for the Espoo City Library's LIRP system in the Quality Innovation Award Competition
The Library Resource Planner (LIRP), a system designed to streamline the handling of library materials, won the 2024 Innovation category of The Mayor’s Innovation Competition. Additionally, LIRP received an honorable mention in the national Quality Innovation Award competition organized by Excellence Finland. The Mayor also visited the Sello Library to learn more about the award-winning system.
LIRP – A System for Inventory and Collection Management
LIRP is a supplementary tool used alongside the primary library system. Utilizing RFID technology, LIRP enables faster and easier handling of reservations and new materials. As a result, staff now have more time for customer-oriented tasks.
According to Chief Library Services Manager Miika Miettunen, efforts to improve material handling processes began years ago: “In 2015, the average processing time for materials was 22 days. Today, it’s approximately two days. This has been achieved with significantly fewer staff resources compared to before. Of course, the renewal of work methods and content has also contributed to this improvement.”
Key figures in the development of LIRP were Information Specialist Urho Kaipainen and programming-savvy non-military service member Onni Rantanen. “Urho has attended user conferences and hackathons organized by the system provider in the United States, where he connected with an international developer community. The two-man, all-in development sprint lasted about two years, during which LIRP was built step by step, function by function”, Miettunen explains.
Mayor Introduced to LIRP at Sello Library
LIRP won the main prize of 5,000 euros in the Innovation category of The Mayor’s Innovation Competition. The innovation also progressed to the finals of the Quality Innovation Award competition, organized by our partner Excellence Finland, where it received an honorable mention.
The Mayor of Espoo Jukka Mäkelä visited the Sello Library on November 8, 2024, to see the award-winning LIRP system in action. Information Specialist Urho Kaipainen, one of the key developers, introduced the tool to the Mayor.
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