Tech Logic, Boopsie Announce Partnership, New Mobile App
By David Rapp Jun 22, 2011Tech Logic, a manufacturer of library radio-frequency identification (RFID), sorting, and self-service equipment, and mobile app maker Boopsie announced a partnership yesterday in which the Boopsie for Libraries mobile platform will be integrated with Tech Logic's MyMobileLibrary product line. As part of the arrangement, Tech Logic will handle Boopsie's sales, marketing, and billing in the library market, according to representatives from both companies.
Boopsie, founded in 2006, is now used by more than 200 libraries worldwide. With the steady increase in mobile usage nationwide, interest in library apps similarly appears to be on the rise; in a LJ survey released in October 2010, 56 percent of libraries said that they currently offered or planned to offer services for mobile users.
Many library-centric companies, such as OverDrive and EBSCO, have released their own mobile apps in recent months to increase their products' reach. According to the Tech Logic/Boopsie announcement, the new collaboration will "enable Tech Logic to leverage Boopsie's mobile platform technology to enhance its product and service offerings."
As part of Tech Logic's and Boopsie's product-development collaboration, the companies will release the MyMobileLibrary: App this fall. It features the self-check functionality Boopsie launched this past April as well as interoperability with RFID systems that use the ISO 15693 standard, including Tech Logic's own MyMobileLibrary: Security Kiosk. Via the app, patrons will be able to check out items inside a library with smartphones, and then, at a kiosk, deactivate the RFID tags of only the items they have checked out. Tech Logic announced today that the Los Angeles Public Library's Silver Lake branch would be the first to put the app to work in August 2011.
Tech Logic's equipment is used at more than 400 libraries; its majority shareholder is library automation company The Library Corporation (TLC). Boopsie also provides apps for fields outside the library world, such as the real estate market, which will be unaffected by the new partnership.
