EvolvePlus Blog

The September 2021 release of the BookingsPlus PC & Resource Booking and Print Management solution has completed the initial beta testing and is now available for general release.

There are three key highlights for this release:

• Improve display for the PC Booking Schedule for staff to easily scroll across PCs (if there are a high number of PCs that can be booked at the branch)
• Automatic printing of booking slips
• Emails can be sent using the organisation's own SMTP server - so that the "sender" of the email can be the organisation's own email address

For more information on the cloud delivered BookingsPlus solution, you can visit the dedicated BookingsPlus website at bookingsplus.com.au or contact EvolvePlus to discuss how we can assist your library service.

We have recently published a new video overview of the EvolvePlus Overhead 3D People Counter solution. It shows how the solution counts footfall traffic in different directions whilst using the onboard Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect adults & children (based on height range), exclude staff from counts and provide gender statistics.

Also highlighted in the video is the EvolvePlus Dashboard & Analytics platform, which delivers interactive web-based charts, dashboards and reports that can be exported in a variety of formats including Excel, CSV and Word.

The June release of the Aurora Library Management System (Cloud Edition) has been released to all library customers. Highlights of version 11.6.16 include:

Electronic Resource Management

• The ERM module has been updated with the stage two enhancements, this module now includes the ability to upload eSound and eVideo Marc records which can be linked to a supplier. The module also now includes an activation tab that allows works to be loaded with a ‘Freeze’ status. These works have an activation and/or deactivation date set that will auto change the works from or to the freeze status on selected days. The activation process requires a schema update which AIT will rollout over the coming month.
• Works that are set to freeze status can be seen in the manage access tab.
• The matching routine can now be selected in the ERM module rather than relying only on the default matching routine selection in the suppliers details.

Auto Stock Rotation

The challenge faced by many organisations is how to effectively count people at entrances and facilities that may be located hundreds of metres from the nearest mains power source and have the data automatically transmitted to an online cloud platform for analysis and reporting.

Our LoRaWAN People Counting solution solves this challenge by installing battery powered People Counter sensors at the remote locations (e.g. parks, sporting grounds, public toilets, footpaths, buildings, libraries, visitor centres and leisure complexes) and automatically transmitting the footfall traffic data to a LoRaWAN gateway that is located hundreds of metres away from the entrance (and in some cases a few kilometres away with a high powered base station and long range antennas).

The counting principle is based on the interruption of a horizontal infrared beam from the Transmitter causing the LoRaWAN Receiver to record incremental counts. When the outer edge of the wide horizontal infrared beam is interrupted in either direction, e.g. by a person, car, bike, pram etc. the LoRaWAN Receiver detects this disruption and will send this information to the LoRaWAN Gateway. The allowable max distance between the Transmitter and LoRaWAN Receiver is up to 8 metres.

EvolvePlus have a range of outdoor people counters featuring secure, robust casing, ideal for environments such as public toilets, park entrances, festivals, footpaths and more.

The outdoor casing is moulded from the finest commercial grade plastic and designed to withstand the harsh outdoor elements whilst providing superior security for the battery powered people counter sensors. There are two different types of robust outdoor casing available:

• With black front cover to suit entrances up to 3 metres wide
• With clear front cover to suit entrances up to 5 metres wide

The people counter models available with the robust outdoor casing are:

Our ePortal web application enables insights of people counter movements via dashboards and analysis reporting across our various traffic counter sensors including Wireless, LoRaWAN, USB, Overhead Thermal and Overhead 3D with AI.

The ePortal module is available for Cloud editions of our People Counter solution, with version 3 featuring new interactive charts and monitoring of the sensor status.

Version 11.1.20 of the Aurora LMS (Cloud Edition) has been released to all library customers. Highlights of the release include:

Electronic Resource Management

The new ERM module allows operators to easily manage eResources by:

For enhanced people counter analysis of sales conversion ratios, visitor numbers, live occupancy, client dwell times, etc. our Overhead 3D People Counter solution can identify employees and exclude them from the footfall traffic counts.  The onboard Artificial Intelligence (AI) detects staff wearing specially designed name tags without having to use additional computers or devices.

This results in more accurate customer counts, sales conversion ratios and live occupancy dashboards that don't require manual adjustments to exclude staff from the counts.

How It Works

• Ensure the Overhead 3D People Counter sensor is installed at the recommended mounting height (3.0 to 3.5 metres for model PC2S) with suitable lighting levels
• Create Staff Exclusion tags for staff to wear (refer below specifications)
• Enable the optional Staff Exclusion plugin on the 3D sensor and configure the detection area to check either the left or right of the frontal upper torso of a person for the staff tag

Staff Tag Specifications

Height, width and shape:

EvolvePlus have expanded our range of IoT People Counter sensors with the introduction of the Overhead 3D People Counter solution. Available in both indoor and outdoor models, the Overhead 3D People Counters fit discreetly into the ceiling facing downwards and measure visitor traffic using 3D stereo technology.

The onboard Artificial Intelligence (AI) delivers high accuracy counting in challenging high traffic environments, as well as offering additional analytic features beyond in/out footfall counting. The Overhead 3D People Counter sensor provides the following analytics:

• In/Out counting across multiple count lines and zones (up to 99)
• Occupancy
• Count zone to only count if a person passed through the entire zone rather than a simple counting line
• Dwell time to only count people that stay in the zone indicated or longer than the specified period
• Adult/children counting based on height range (separate counts based on min/max heights)

The 3D people can be extended with the following optional plugins, which require specific mounting heights and lighting conditions:

EvolvePlus provides an extensive range of IoT People Counter solutions for both indoor and outdoor environments including libraries, retail stores, shopping centres, galleries, public toilets, office buildings, park entrances, leisure centres, pedestrian paths and more.

With so many different people counting models to choose from, including Wireless, USB, Display Only, Overhead Thermal, Overhead 3D, Single Side Laser and LoRaWAN, it can be confusing to know which model is best suited for your footfall tracking.

To help you choose the most suitable people counter we have created a People Counter Features Comparison page which provides a quick side by side comparison of the various features.

Our battery-powered LoRaWAN People Counters offer a reliable, user-friendly, and affordable people counter solution that provides valuable insights and footfall traffic analytics to organisations. LoRaWAN is a Low Power, Wide Area (LPWA) networking protocol designed to wirelessly connect battery operated IoT sensors over long distances.

One of the key features of our LoRaWAN People Counters is the choice to push the traffic data to either the EvolvePlus Reporting & Analytics platform or to your own reporting platform.

The following provides an example of how organisations can push JSON data from the LoRaWAN People Counters using HTTP Integration within The Things Network community edition. 

For public libraries considering implementing a new PC Bookings solution with Print & Copy Management, we've published a new solution overview video. 

The video provides a brief introduction to the BookingsPlus cloud delivered solution and shows at a glance some of the features including PC reservations, PC session control, print and copy management, patron walk-up PC bookings, room bookings, event bookings and more.

There are several settings available within BookingsPlus to assist libraries to maintain social distancing for Patrons using Internet PC Bookings and Print Management.

These include:

Use the Out of Order feature to disable PC reservations and usage on specific PCs (e.g. every 2nd PC) to ensure Patrons  on every 2nd PC to ensure social distancing is maintained between each PC. 

We've recently enhanced our Occupancy application for the EvolvePlus Wireless Counters to provide an additional visual alert when displaying a live count of the number of people currently inside your building, which helps comply with COVID-19 social distancing regulations.

The Occupancy app has a new setting to provide a visual warning of when the occupancy is nearing the maximum occupancy threshold. The colours used in the display of the live count display are:

• Green: when the current number of people inside is below the maximum or warning threshold
• Orange: when the current occupancy is getting close to the maximum threshold
• Red (with additional message & sound alert): when the current occupancy has reached the maximum threshold

The live count total is displayed on a responsive designed web page compatible with TV screens, desktops, tablets and smartphones that can be mounted at the entrance or accessed remotely by staff. The live count total constantly updates higher or lower depending on the number of people entering or leaving the various entrances.

With Governments imposing social distancing regulations to flatten the curve of COVID-19 businesses are now required to control the number of visitors entering their venue, facility or shop. Many have responded by assigning physical personnel to control the customer traffic at their entrances/exits.

The Connected Occupancy Clicker is a web app that is designed for use by security guards, attendants, greeters, concierge to manually count customers entering or exiting multiple entry/exit points. The recorded count data is automatically synchronized across multiple devices and provides a live occupancy count which can be displayed on TV screens, desktops, tablets and smartphones.

When the occupancy limit is reached, a visual alert appears on both the Connected Occupancy Clicker and the associated screen display.

WALGA has appointed EvolvePlus as a Preferred Supplier for the provision of Library Management Systems (LMS) to Local Government in WA. With EvolvePlus being a pre-qualified supplier it provides councils with a streamlined procurement process for implementation of the Aurora Library Management System without the overheads of a lengthy tender process.

Developed in Australia, Aurora LMS goes beyond the traditional library information system to deliver an extensive range of features that improves productivity of your library service including floating collections, suggestion management, inter-library loans and patron newsletters. Aurora helps staff to be more effective and more efficient at managing library information.

Whether your library service is a single service library, has widely distributed branches, or is part of a consortium, Aurora provides unified library management resulting in improved public access, flexible and intelligent stock management, email & SMS notices, and greater administrative control.

Our Occupancy People Counter solution featuring the People Inside Web Application enables organisations to view the number of people currently inside a venue. This feature is ideal for venues that are required to monitor capacity numbers in real time to comply with government regulations, liquor licensing laws, venue capacity limits, etc.

We currently have customers utilising this solution to assist with their compliance with the limits on organised gatherings due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 (internal gatherings of fewer than 100 people or outdoor gatherings of fewer than 500 people).

Our wireless people counters record the number of people entering and exiting a venue and automatically send the data every minute to the IMMOTION Cloud. We also offer Instant People Counters that relay data in real time without any lag to ensure you’re getting accurate to-the-second visitor numbers.

Version 10.1.22 of the Aurora LMS (Cloud Edition) has been released to all library customers. Highlights of the release include:

Circulation

• The ability to check a user’s address details has been updated. It is now possible to confirm an address down to the street level. The new process checks the street, street type, suburb and postcode and will promote more accurate address details in your data.
• User Lists have been enhanced to provide options when the operator does not know the exact name of a user they are searching for.  Left and right wildcards may be added using % and a prompt for these will come up automatically if no match is found. This function is activated in Name Search only.
• There is a new optional ability to bypass the reservation placement charge on the 'Place a reserve' screen. This provides an operator a way to place a free reserve for a user, when the payment for the reserve is normally deferred until the reserve is trapped. This override can be turned off and/or set only for specific operators.
• The ability to create 'blanket' reservations by linking several reserves has been added to User Links. The first item scanned into Returns fulfills the request and removes the other linked reservations for that borrower. This enables an operator to place reserves on a large print, adult fiction and YA fiction of the same work, and the user will only receive one of these copies. More than one set of blanket reservations can be added to a single user.
• Barcode browse has been added as a new search option in ‘Search Items’ this provides the ability to find items within the collection where they have special item barcodes or where the item barcode has been entered incorrectly

Cataloguing

• The Z39.50 search results have been modified to return a comprehensive set of results when searching specific libraries. The new process allows for more results to be returned for a single library search, however a multi library search will now only return the top 10 results per library.
• Drag and Drop now caters for records that already contain previous image links. It now replaces the existing JPEG & THUMB links rather than adding new 856 tags. The new image is uploaded to the server and overwrites the previous one. This is a much more efficient workflow for the operator saving time and preventing errors.
• The ‘Works to be done’ results list may now be refined by a database subset. Different departments can work on records without fear of writing over another departments records. This is particularly useful in a GLAM implementation.

Reports

• A new tab in Key Reports called 'Filter Items', allows an operator to create a list of item barcodes that can be used in other functions. This is the first step in making it easier for operators to find and action works and items for batch processes. Another new tab, ‘Filter Works’ will be coming soon.
• Collection Age of items in the statistics module no longer is limited by the start date of the CirculationHistory table. The program now uses date the item is added values which may have earlier dates due to a data conversion. These counts now also take into account the floating stock settings.
• The expired trapped reserves report now contains a new checkbox option to allow trapped reserve items to be shown if; no notice has been sent, but the reserve has been deleted.

System

• The background colour of the opening desktop screen can now be set per location. The same colour then persists on the status bar at the bottom of the screen. This helps operators know where the desktop they are working on is located. This is important for councils that use virtual workstations and/or floating profiles.
• A new function 'Change URLs' has been introduced to the Batch Runs screen. This allows an Excel file with a specific structure to be used to amend catalogue record URLs in bulk.
• A new shortcut icon is available on the desktop called 'Web reports available' this allows the operator to access a searchable list of all available web reports. There is also a section at the end that lists reports that are useful for the State Library statistical return. Please contact AIT if there are any reports that you would like added to this list.

The Aurora Library Management System is proudly developed in Australia to suit the requirements for Australian Public Libraries, Special Libraries, Education Library and Corporate Libraries. For more information on Aurora refer to the article Aurora LMS or Contact EvolvePlus for more information.

We've launched a new dedicated website for BookingsPlus PC Bookings and Reservations at www.bookingsplus.com.au

The new site provides quick access to the key features including library public pc client session control, print & copy management and seamless integration to library management systems using SIP2 and web services.

BookingsPlus PC Bookings and Print Management solution is a cloud delivered solution providing libraries with an easy way to moderate the usage of Public PCs. Both staff and the library patrons can view availability and make booking reservations effortlessly with a minimum of fuss.

The BookingsPlus PC Bookings client for Windows provides automated session control to ensure user sessions end on time, every time. Patrons login to their sessions using their library barcode and/or pin code, and once authenticated, patrons can view your acceptable use policy, which they must agree to comply with, before they can begin their sessions.

With BookingsPlus delivered as a Cloud PC Booking solution for libraries, you can customise the styling and branding of the PC Bookings client centrally without having to install any files individually on the library Public PCs.

Tip: display your logo on the login screen

To apply your library's logo to the welcome screen simply upload your logo via our EvolvePlus Support portal or email our helpdesk and we'll apply this to your BookingsPlus instance for you.