A Practical Guide to Mapping Your Library's Materials Flow

Identifying Critical Bottlenecks

Bottlenecks rarely announce themselves. They hide in plain sight, often in processes that have 'always been done this way.'
We find that the most common locations are:

•         Returns processing, where materials pile up waiting for check-in.

•         Sorting areas where staff manually separate items by destination.

•         Holds fulfillment, where paper-based systems create delays and errors.

Peak-time analysis is especially revealing. Your Monday morning backlog is a predictable result of weekend returns exceeding Monday processing capacity, a constraint that may not be visible during quieter periods.

Space utilization is another common culprit. When storage areas overflow, items end up in temporary holding zones, adding extra handling steps and making it harder to keep track of where things are.

The financial impact extends beyond staffing costs. Optimized workflows can reduce holds fulfillment from weeks to days, and reducing unnecessary handling extends the lifespan of your collection.

Measuring Time and Resource Investment

Once you've mapped your flow, quantify it. While mapping tells you what happens, quantifying it tells you how much, how long, and how often, and that is where the real insight comes from.

Once you have the numbers, you can start calculating real costs. Here you should go beyond direct labor: factor in time spent correcting errors, the longer-term impact of repetitive strain on staff wellbeing and retention, and the opportunity cost of hours that could be redirected toward patron-facing work.

Peak versus off-peak comparisons are especially revealing here. A process that runs smoothly on a Tuesday but creates a backlog every Monday morning isn't necessarily broken. It's just under-resourced at a predictable point. Quantifying that gap tells you whether the answer is a process adjustment, a staffing change, or a case for targeted automation.

Without these numbers, prioritization is mostly guesswork, but with them, you have a baseline to make decisions from. And later you’ll have something to measure your improvements against.

Optimizing Collection Distribution and Float Management

In multi-branch systems, collection imbalances are one of the most persistent workflow challenges. Understanding patron demand patterns and geographic usage helps explain why certain locations consistently overflow while others remain understocked.

Floating collections are particularly complex to manage manually. Without a systematic approach, such as that of an Intelligent Material Management System(IMMS™), rebalancing work can consume significant staff time. And the results are often outdated before the next review cycle.

Intelligent distribution, whether managed through software algorithms or well-defined manual policies, considers current inventory levels, local demand, and collection guidelines to make smarter routing decisions in real time. Libraries near high-traffic transit hubs, for example, tend to accumulate popular items quickly, while outlying branches deplete them. Accounting for this in your flow design prevents predictable imbalances.

The 'media hotel' approach stores items by available space rather than category — similar to how a large warehouse operates. Items are tracked by location in the system, not by where you'd expect to find them on a shelf, which frees up significant space without slowing retrieval. It's worth exploring if your branches regularly struggle with overflow.

Using Technology to Support Your Materials Flow

Self-service options reduce bottlenecks at high-traffic points by enabling patrons to handle routine transactions independently. Automated sorting reduces manual decision-making and frees staff for more complex or meaningful tasks.

Any technology you introduce should integrate cleanly with your existing ILS. Systems that communicate in real time — through protocols like SIP2 — provide accurate inventory information for both staff and patrons, reducing the errors that come from working with outdated data.

IMMS takes this further by combining automated sorting, real-time routing decisions, and float management into a single workflow layer. Rather than replacing your ILS, IMMS works alongside it, making routing decisions based on live inventory data, patron demand patterns, and your collection policies.

Smart lockers and intelligent hold shelves can extend access to materials outside staffed hours, improving patron convenience while reducing pressure during peak times. These are worth considering if your mapping reveals that hold collection is concentrated in narrow windows.

When evaluating technology, think in phases. Modular systems allow you to start with the highest-impact improvements and expand as your needs and budget evolve rather than committing to a full replacement of existing infrastructure.

Creating Your Action Plan

Once you've completed your mapping and identified your key bottlenecks, the next step is prioritizing. Not every inefficiency needs immediate attention. Focus first on changes that will have the greatest impact on staff capacity or patron experience, and that are feasible within your current constraints.

A phased approach helps manage change without disrupting service quality. Start with process adjustments that don't require new technology, then layer in automation where the case is clear. Evidence-based decision-making grounded in the baseline data you collected during mapping makes it easier to justify investments and track whether improvements are actually working.

Staff involvement matters throughout. People who understand why processes are changing, and who see concrete benefits, are more likely to make new workflows stick. Combine clear communication with practical training and revisit your metrics regularly.

Materials flow mapping isn't a one-time project; it's an ongoing practice. As patron behavior shifts, collections grow, and new technologies emerge, regular reassessment helps you adapt and continue improving.

Taking the Next Step

If your mapping exercise points toward automation, whether for returns processing, check-out, sorting, holds management, or float distribution, Lyngsoe Systems Library Solutions can help. We have worked with libraries across Europe, North America, and beyond to design and implement solutions that fit real operational contexts.

Our experience ranges from single-branch self-service or sorter installations to full multi-branch IMMS™ deployments, including libraries in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Multnomah, Auckland, and Arapahoe. Those implementations all share the same starting point: a clear understanding of how materials were flowing before any technology was introduced.

If you'd like to talk through your findings or explore what solutions might be relevant for your situation, we're happy to have that conversation.