Page 16 - U4SSC Case study: Re-use of consumer goods and tools loaning, June 2020

4. Online Catalogue
Members can access the Library of Things’ online catalogue around-the-clock, browsing through
the available items at their ease and in the comfort of their homes. Once they have decided, they
can book the item required online and pick it up on site at the pre-arranged time.
5. Electronic receipts and reminders

Electronic receipts are highly recommended, along with the printed receipt as the latter is more
ephemeral than the former. Moreover, sending electronic reminders is a great tool, especially
for lending services, in order to remind members when the borrowed items are due back thus
eliminating the need to chase them down. For ease of convenience, the system can be set by default
to send out reminders a day before an item’s due date to the email listed on the corresponding
borrower’s file (Share Starter, 2012).
6. Inventory management tools

Even though a Library of Things can be started without this platform, exceeding a couple of dozens of
registered members or items in the inventory can quickly become highly troublesome. For example,
keeping track of everything on paper or by manually emailing one by one when items are overdue
will be a hassle at best – and impossible at worst. One of the solutions is to join online platforms
such as myTurn to help manage the library efficiently (Share Starter, 2012).
7. Social Media

Marketing through social media is becoming one of the most preferred marketing tools for
businesses to reach their target audiences. In fact, according to Statista, it is projected that by
2018, the number of people using social media across the world would be about 2.5 billion, with
a great majority of them checking these websites several times a day. Therefore, a presence of
social media will significantly help the organization’s exposure to the public, as well as attracting
more traffic to the official website thus increasing the chance of people signing up for membership
(Smith, 2018). The Upper Norwood Library of Things currently has 3 000 followers on Facebook.

10 Case study: Re-use of consumer goods and tools loaning, June 2020