Over 20,000 people entered the doors of the new Minneapolis Central Library for their grand opening in May 2006.

The new Central Library is part of the $166 million, 10-year capital improvement program, "Great Libraries for Minneapolis," which includes improvements to all 15 Minneapolis Public Libraries.

With the new facility came the opportunity to implement state-of-the-art technology. Sharon Kinsmith, Manager of Information Technology Operations, explained, "Our library was showing its age particularly in the area of technology. We made the decision years ago during the planning stage that we would open our new downtown library with a wireless network to allow our patrons to bring in their own laptops and connect to the Internet."

The PBX phone system they were using was installed in 1997 and it was time to replace it. According to Sharon, "We were also planning on replacing our T1 WAN between our buildings with 10 MB fiber, and we wanted a phone solution that wouldn’t require channelizing the lines for analog phone traffic."

Through the bid process, Marco was awarded two of the Minneapolis Public Library’s technology projects: one for a wireless network in the new Central Library and one to provide a new IP phone solution for their entire 15-library system.

The implementation of the Minneapolis Public Library’s new communications system began in the fall of 2005 for their 14 branch locations. Marco installed a Mitel 3300 IP enterprise communications system with 400 users and Enterprise Manager for system wide administration. Sharon explained, “Installing the phone systems at our branch offices allowed us to develop a routine as we did each building and by the end, it went pretty slick.”

From an administration standpoint, Sharon likes the benefits of the IP system. “The Mitel phone system has some nice features that make it easier to do moves, adds, and changes,” said Sharon. “The IP phones maintain their programmed identity no matter where they are and can be moved and still retain their same extension numbers. And since the phone traffic travels as digital “data” on the WAN instead of as analog phone signals, the fiber lines carry both computer and phone traffic in the same space. Phone traffic is given priority so that it doesn’t break up, and our calls sound just as good on the new phone system as they did on our PBX system.”

From a user standpoint, Sharon said their staff really likes the phonebook that shows up on their phone’s display panel. Users can now forward calls to their cell phone, and they have enabled the caller ID function which identifies who is calling on their phone displays. Sharon commented, “Our Mitel system is reliable and works great! It’s doing everything we asked it to do. I would recommend the system.”

Marco also installed a full HP data network with LAN connection for public and private use at all 15 locations. Wireless access points were installed at the Central Library to support public and private data as well as voice calls.

In addition to public Internet access, the library uses the wireless access points to connect their wireless voice communication system from Vocera. Wireless “Star Trek-like” badges worn around the neck on a lanyard allow their staff to communicate with each other instantly. The voice activated devices are also integrated with their Mitel phone system to allow users to dial internal extensions or outside numbers as needed. Approximately 60 staff members use the devices for security purposes, if they need assistance from another staff member, or to get research information.

Sharon said, “Marco’s staff have done their best to help us get this project done, sometimes going above and beyond the scope of the contract so that we would have our installation ready on time.”

“We’ve had a very successful experience with Marco. From beginning to end their efforts were focused on getting us the right solutions for our needs. I would recommend Marco to other organizations and wouldn’t hesitate to use their services again.”