Some €77,461 was spent on the installation of the new turnstiles in the library on the Glasnevin campus, according to information obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
DCU library applied to the DCU Incorporation budget to secure funding to streamline the security systems and architecture between the O’Reilly library on the Glasnevin campus and the Cregan library on the St. Patrick’s campus.
The Cregan library has had this security system in place since its opening in 2014.
Previously, Glasnevin library only had electronic turnstiles to enter the library, however with this new security system in place, you now need to use your student card on electronic turnstiles to get both in and out of the library.
The new turnstiles are Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) enabled gates. This means they will be able to capture entry and exit statistics.
Following the incorporation back in September 2016, the DCU library is operating under a “One Library” system. This means that both libraries are to be managed as a single entity in terms of their service offering.
“The overall objective of this project is to streamline the efficient access to both libraries providing full equivalence of library service to users in both libraries.
“To achieve this objective, the infrastructure on both sites had to be identical and interoperable,” said Chris Pressler, Director of Library Services at DCU, in response to the FOI request.
The implementation of a “One Library” system is viewed as ‘successful’ by DCU library, according to Pressler.
Shauna Bowers