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Living Our Values 

As part of our Communication Strategy, we set out to collect user data using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) Survey asking clients to share information about Quipu’s Brand Identity and Customer Experience (CX). The NPS is conducted once every two years and measures general customer satisfaction and whether or not people are happy with products and services offered by a company.

In October 2021, you awarded us an NPS score of



This baseline score demonstrates Quipu's Value of Dedication and is considered “World Class”.

We continue to be committed to providing you with high quality products and excellent customer service. We are grateful for your feedback.
 
Thank you! #QuipuValues - Melissa, Scott and Robert
What Do Newborn Kittens, Mug Shots, and Libraries Have in Common? Why PITS® of Course!

This quarter we interviewed our very own Scott Stockton. Quipu Partner, System Administrator and PITS® developer. We were curious about his work on the PITS® product, which has seen a 77% growth in use over the past three years.

We wondered, did Scott ever see this growth coming? Yes and no. As a librarian, Scott had never worked at a service desk in a public library. Since working on PITS®, he’s become much more aware of the challenges that library staff face every day. Fortunately, by partnering with some of the most innovative libraries in the industry, he quickly understood the need for and potential of this product, and ensured that the platform was flexible and scalable toward growing its use and feature set.

What has been the most fulfilling part of Scott’s PITS® work? Making librarians’ and library staff’s jobs easier! With a better understanding of this aspect of library work, Scott takes pride in anything he can do to save staff time or help them feel safe. Many libraries are taking the ‘leap’ and moving from paper records to this web-based technology. 

Is there an opportunity for using technology to make this an even better system? Scott believes there are lots of opportunities to make this more sophisticated and we will see that in time, based on need.

You never know what kind of incident will get reported! Scott’s favorite? One of our PITS® libraries shared the story of finding a litter of newborn kittens. The mother had given birth in the library. Bet they have a new library cat (or two!) wandering the stacks.

Finally, we asked Scott how he meets challenges and responds to user needs. His answer: research! He is a librarian after all. While pondering user feedback and the challenges of incident reporting, among other human psychology questions, he wondered: 
  • Why don’t people remember faces? 
  • How can we help to get more accurate descriptions?
To get a better understanding of this and to improve the product, Scott dug into beauty and make-up websites, information about how people see and assign race, and he read the book Mug Shots: A Police Artist's Guide to Remembering Faces by Douglas P. Hinkle.

This research and book influenced changes in what options appear within the interface for end-users to help describe people. Our latest release won’t ask you for the weight of the person you are describing, but rather what “size” (think t-shirt sizing) they are. This has led to more complete and more accurate reporting.

We loved talking with Scott, and hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about his work with PITS®. 

The Quipu Group engages with users about their experience, feature changes, and needs on a regular basis and through user surveys. For the PITS® product, we have recently convened a small Advisory Board to assist us in ongoing development priorities. We look forward to sharing product updates that result from our work with you, our partners!
LIBRARY HAPPENINGS

Pets Get the Celebrity Treatment at Frisco Public Library

As you may have noticed, the folks at Quipu Group have a thing for our furry, scaled, finned and feathered friends, so when our Customer Support Specialist Pat Crawford spotted the Pets of Frisco Public Library post, we knew we had to share! Launching off a book list of recommended reads for animal lovers, library staff posted pictures of their own animal companions, and what a great-looking group it is - below is just a small sample!

Pets of Frisco Library
PITS® Solution Addresses Staff and Customer Safety Concerns

A study recently released by Urban Libraries Unite brought staff stress and trauma into the spotlight. Among the final recommendations is “a collection of policies & procedures written from the perspective of trauma-informed leadership.” This is where PITS®, the Quipu Group’s Patron Incident Tracking System, comes into play. PITS® supports local policies and can include the date and time of the incident, location of the incident, the specific rules of conduct that have been broken, information about the patrons involved, staff comments, and any additional support called for the incidents. For a demo, just drop us a line.

Our growing list of clients, since May 2022:
  • Anchorage Public Library (AK)
  • Bettendorf Public Library (IA)
  • Hayward Public Library (CA)
  • Rapid City Public Library (SD)
  • Sioux City Public Library (IA)
  • Toledo Lucas County Public Library (OH)
  • Vigo County Public Library (IN)
  • West Des Moines Public Library (IA)
"At Oregon City Public Library (OR), we had a very outdated and not user friendly way of tracking patron interactions. PITS® has helped us to be organized and efficient and has made searching for patrons so much easier. The staff at Quipu are amazing! They are very helpful, always available, and very nice people. We are very happy with the company and the product." - Denise Butcher, Library Operations Manager

eCARD and eRENEW Put Power in Patrons’ Hands

The last two years taught service providers the importance of making customer accounts easy to create and access online. For example, online grocery sales continue to grow, and Morgan Stanley is suggesting that e-commerce growth will remain strong throughout the year. And let’s be honest - ease of customer entry to library services can make the difference between gaining a new cardholder and supporter, or them skulking off in defeat to get another one of those deals from Audible (“but I have five credits left!”).

Quipu Group’s eCARD and eRENEW services allow community members to get access to library services quickly via online customized forms, whether it is their first library card, or the cherished one they’ve been carrying since childhood. Libraries control the level of access per local policy, whether it is a stand-alone institution or a consortia. Most recently implemented eCARD customers are County of San Luis Obispo Public Libraries and Santa Barbara Public Library - we're California dreaming!
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
We Look Forward to Seeing You!

We invite you to make a personal connection with Quipu's knowledgeable staff and partners at these upcoming conferences:
  • CALCON 2022 – September 9-10, 2022 – Confluence of Ideas
  • TLCU 2022 – November 1-3, 2022 – What’s Next? Moving Libraries Forward.
We will be on hand to share information about our new and current products, services and technologies; and to help you improve implementation, increase usage and maximize your investment in our eCARD, ePASS, eRENEW and PITS® products.

We look forward to seeing you in person (CALCON) or virtually (TLCU)! 
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