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The Complete Calendaring Solution for Libraries
LibCal:
LibCal:LibCal is a library-smart calendar tool, with calendars and bookable events, an online room reservation system, a customizable personal scheduler for one-on-one research consultations, and a template-based management tool for maintaining library hours.
- Calendars & Events - create calendars and manage event registration with customizable registration forms, automated emails, and more.
- My Scheduler - empower patrons to schedule consultations, on your schedule of availability, via their computers or smartphones.
- Room Bookings - build groups of rooms and outline the TOS, setup restrictions, add room images and capacity, and even route bookings through an authentication layer (LDAP, Shibboleth, etc.).
- Hours - manage opening and closing hours with reusable templates. Easily add exceptions and embed your widgets (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) anywhere.
- Lending Hub Module - From Library of Things collections to museum passes, LibCal's Lending Hub is designed to handle unconventional collections of all shapes and sizes.
- Interactive / Directional Mapping Module - Add interactive and directional space/seat maps for a more interactive experience.
Full Feature List | Download Brochure | Request Pricing & 30-Day Trial
From Library of Things collections to museum passes, LibCal's Lending Hub is designed to handle unconventional collections of all shapes and sizes. This flexible tool combines the existing Equipment Booking module with the new LibCal Museum & Passes eTickets functionality, allowing for both physical and digital ticket management, as well as equipment management functionality.
Components of the Lending Hub:
- Equipment Booking - Easily create and manage a visual catalog of physical items your library lends.
- Museum Passes & eTickets
- Physical Pass Lending - Control lending of physical museum/zoo passes that can be picked up at the library.
- Digital Pass Lending - Issue and manage downloadable ePasses for museums, zoos, and other venues that can be emailed directly to patrons.
- Visually Focused Public Catalog – LibCal offers an attractive layout displaying items in an easy to digest visual layout. Boost the visibility and increase public usage.
- All equipment information, all together – User manuals, terms and conditions, rules around lending, service history notes, replacement costs, lending history – all information about each item is stored together, so it’s easy to access and view the full picture of your equipment holdings at a glance.
- Reserve Multiple Items – Patrons add multiple items to a “cart”, which can include rooms and equipment, and complete their reservation with just one booking form - so patrons can reserve a presentation room, a projector, and a laptop all with one reservation. On the back-end, view all items contained in a single reservation at a glance.
- Fair for Patrons, Flexible for Admins - Ensure your patrons have fair and equal access with powerful, fully customizable lending rules. Plus, admins can reserve items for any length of time, even after hours!
- Check Items Out and In – LibCal offers a simple check in / check out process, so you know at a glance which items are available, and which are out with patrons. Our Check Out process includes several popular features, including customized check out and check in alert messages, hot swapping items (if a piece of equipment hasn't been returned yet, swap it for one that's currently available), and fully integrated email notifications.
- Fines Management that Integrates with your ILS - The Equipment Booking module includes robust fines tracking and management, which can integrate directly with your ILS or other payment systems with our full read/write APIs.
- Automated Availability with the Hours Module – The Equipment Booking module relies on the LibCal hours module to determine when items are available for pick up and return, so there’s no more managing availability on a periodic basis. Just set your lending rules, link your Equipment Location to the correct Hours Location, and you’re set to lend!
- Integrated with Authentication – We offer SAML, CAS, Shibboleth, Active Directory, LDAP, and SIP2 integration, so only permitted users can borrow items at your library.
Libraries Using LibCal - Live Examples
Academic Libraries:
- LibCal, University of Pennsylvania Libraries (Pennsylvania)Penn Libraries uses LibCal as an online room reservation system for students.
- LibCal, Johnson & Wales University Charlotte Campus Library (North Carolina)This North Carolina Academic Library uses LibCal for one-on-one consultation appointments, student room bookings, and more!
Public Libraries:
- LibCal, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Public Library (New Mexico)With 14,000 events, this New Mexico Public Library has events by branch. Read to Dogs, join the Lego Club, or do Crafts with Tina.
School Libraries:
Special Libraries:
Frequently Asked Questions
Custom domain mapping (CDM) allows you to choose your own URL for your LibCal system. Here are a few examples of real custom domains used by LibCal customers:
The amount of calendars, rooms, and my schedulers you have is based upon your subscription level.
There is no limit to the number of libraries and departments you can create and display hours for.
Yes. We currently offer room booking authentication for:
- LDAP / Active Directory
- SAML
- CAS
From 3” smartphones to 28” monitors, your users have a variety of tools at their disposal. LibCal automatically delivers the optimal display – whatever device they’re on.
There is no limit to:
- # of Calendar Events
- # of Accounts
- # of Libraries/Departments to schedule hours for
- # of custom Calender Event and Room Booking registration forms
There are limits based upon your subscription-level for the:
- # of Calendars you can create
- # of Accounts you can enable the My Scheduler on
- i.e. if your subscription allows for 20 My Schedulers and you have 40 accounts in your LibCal system, you can only turn on the My Scheduler for 20 of the 40 accounts.
- # of Rooms you can schedule Room Bookings for
Your content is your own. If you ever decide to cancel LibCal, we'll give you all of your data in an XML format within 30 days of canceling.
Nope! Room bookings can be used anytime you want to allow online self-booking. Here are some creative examples of Room Booking uses:
- DataStream / Bloomberg Computers
- Business Libraries use Room Bookings to allocate time to in-demand computers
- Software like SPSS / R Statistical Analysis Software, PhotoShop, InDesign, etc.
- Instruction Classroom
- Using Mediation > allow faculty/teachers to book instruction sessions
- MakerSpaces / Labs
LibCal is priced based upon the number of calendars/rooms/my schedulers you require. We have different packaging tiers based upon your needs.
Subscription Tiers
- 10 calendars / 10 rooms / 10 my schedulers
- 20/20/20
- 50/50/50
- 100/100/100
Need a custom threshold?
Contact us!
LibCal is a yearly subscription.