Tompkins County Public Library is expanding its digital tools for patrons with a new smartphone app as well as an online calculator that shows how much money using the library saves over time.

The TCPL “Shelf Serve” Mobile Checkout App, available for iOS and Android devices, puts your library account right into your hands. 

The Mobile Checkout App includes:

• A digital version of your library card that can be scanned at any service desk or self-checkout kiosk at the Library.
• A borrow items feature that lets you check out items like books, DVDs and CDs using your device’s camera.
• An account section that tracks your holds and items currently on loan. It also lets you request a renewal with a simple tap.

The app was developed by F.E. Technologies, which is the same company that developed the technology TCPL uses at service desks and at self-checkout stations. Access to your device’s camera is required to use the borrow items feature, but it is not needed to access your library card or to view your account and holds.

The Library Savings Calculator includes a list of frequently used library resources that allows you to plug in information on how often you have used those services and see just how much money using the library has saved you. Did you join us for the screening of A Minecraft Movie earlier this month? You can plug that in! Do you use Libby, Hoopla, Kanopy or Mango? That’s included too, along with things like using a meeting room, or borrowing a museum pass from the Library of Things. Using just one of every listed service, from book checkouts to tax preparation, adds up to $670 in savings!

As TCPL Interim Director Susan Currie pointed out in a recent Ithaca Times Guest Opinions feature, “Public libraries are an efficient cooperative purchasing system, leverage public funding to ensure equal access to information in all formats for all ages.”

The Library Savings Calculator is just one way to help track how that cooperative purchasing system is helping the community.

The calculator is adapted from a code developed by the Massachusetts Library Association and Chelmsford Library which is used by major library organizations including the New York Library Association.

Receipts are also available at any TCPL service desk or self checkout kiosk that show how much money you have saved by borrowing instead of buying.