One catalog, shared by a network of municipal libraries
EU-cofinanced public catalog, heritage collection and bookmobile scheduling, run by library staff
2024
Single delivery
Public Sector / Libraries
Starting position
Starting position
- In-person only, no online catalog
Way to search library holdings
Community members had to visit or call to check availability
- None
Local heritage collection online
The dedicated local heritage (zavičajna) collection had no public-facing digital presence
- Offline / word of mouth
Bookmobile schedule communication
No shared, structured way to publish the bookmobile's stops and timetable
- Manual, in-person
Member and reservation management
No self-service way for members to register or reserve holdings online
Market size
A network of municipal libraries sharing one catalog and one platform
Municipalities and communities served
Approx. budget
10,000 – 49,999 €
Budget breakdown
Budget bucket per Clutch.co project cost category. Project co-financed through an EU digitalisation programme; exact figures under NDA.
4-phase delivery
Single delivery
- 1
Phase 1
Discovery, accessibility audit and EU programme alignment
- 2
Phase 2
Public catalog and local heritage collection frontend
- 3
Phase 3
Admin dashboard - holdings, members, reservations, bookmobile schedule
- 4
Phase 4
Launch, staff training and handover across the library network
A network of municipal libraries with no shared digital presence
Several municipal libraries in the network served their communities well in person, but had no shared online catalog, no digital home for their local heritage collection, and no structured way to publish the bookmobile's schedule or manage members and reservations.
No online catalog - checking availability meant visiting or calling
The local heritage (zavičajna) collection existed only physically, with no public digital presence
No structured way to publish the bookmobile's routes and schedule
No self-service member registration or reservation system
One shared platform, run day-to-day by library staff
We built a shared platform for the library network: a public catalog with live availability, a dedicated local heritage collection, bookmobile schedule and news, and a member/reservation system - all backed by an admin dashboard staff use directly, with no developer involvement for day-to-day operations.
Shared public catalog
Community members search holdings across the network and see live availability before visiting.
Local heritage collection
A dedicated, searchable digital home for the network's local heritage (zavičajna) materials.
Bookmobile & news
Bookmobile schedule, notices and news published directly by library staff.
Admin dashboard
Live counts of holdings, heritage items, members and reservations, managed by staff without developer involvement.
How the library network's digital presence changed
The network moved from in-person-only access to a shared platform that staff run themselves across every library.
Catalog access
Before
In-person only
After
Searchable online, with live availability
Members check before they visit, not after.
Local heritage collection
Before
Physical only
After
Searchable, dedicated digital collection
Regional history becomes discoverable, not just archived.
Bookmobile communication
Before
Offline / word of mouth
After
Published schedule and news online
Communities know where and when the bookmobile arrives.
Members & reservations
Before
Manual, in-person
After
Self-service via the platform
Staff manage members and holds from one dashboard.
A shared platform, co-financed rather than built alone
1 platform, network-wide
one shared build serving multiple municipal libraries instead of separate systems
Co-financed via EU programme
delivered under an EU digitalisation programme for public libraries, sharing cost across the network
10,000 – 49,999 €
Payback period
Recovered through shared cost across the library network rather than per library
Method
Comparison of a shared, EU-cofinanced build vs. separate systems per library
Confidence
Medium - based on delivered scope and programme co-financing; per-library figures are confidential
Programme co-financing terms and per-library figures are confidential and not disclosed here.
A live, shared catalog across a library network
The platform is live and in daily use by library staff across the network. The figures below reflect the platform's own dashboard at time of writing; the network's own usage figures continue to grow.
Catalogued holdings live in the public catalog
Before
0 online
After
≈ 8,600 items
At time of writing
Local heritage collection items published
Before
0 online
After
≈ 24 items
At time of writing
Self-service member accounts
Before
0
After
Live, growing
Since launch
Modules run without developer involvement
Before
0
After
4 (catalog, heritage collection, bookmobile/news, members)
Ongoing
“Our members used to have to call and ask if a book was even in. Now they check online, and our own staff manage the whole catalog, the heritage collection and the bookmobile schedule without waiting on anyone.”
Library Staff
Confidential - Municipal Library Network
